Impact. Value. Purpose.
With a constant barrage of media at every turn of our head, these buzzwords pop up in leadership conversations every day and their meaning has been diluted through overuse.
(Not unlike that catchy tune that becomes increasingly annoying as radio stations play it every five minutes from November through January. E.g. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”.)
But impact, value, and purpose are important, regardless of whether you’re a nonprofit or entrepreneur. How often do you ask yourself:
What impact am I having on the world?
What value am I providing to the people around me?
Am I living a purposeful life, or am I going through the motions out of habit?
I know, these are super existential questions from someone who’s usually chatting about budgets and cash flow and balance sheets.
Part of why I believe the concept of impact and purpose is important is because it is the foundation upon which our strategic and financial planning is built. In other words:
If we want to have X impact on the world, we need Y resources to accomplish that.
Before we dive into reviewing and reflecting upon 2019 financial statements, I challenge you a simple exercise to be more thoughtful and intentional this December.
Are you game?
- Set 15 minutes a day as entirely uninterrupted time. Maybe you use your time to make a to do list for the week, or meditate, or sip your coffee, the requirements being that you are alone and single-tasking (no scrolling Instagram while drinking your morning tea).
- We will get to your end of year income and expense numbers later, but right now, I want you to calculate the impact you’ve had this year. How many people have you served? Your team, your clients, your community? (Pro tip: use your uninterrupted 15 minutes to calculate this number!)
- Now that we understand the impact we’ve had this year, regardless of the bottom line, what is the impact we want to have next year? Set your impact intentions for 2020 and focus on that growth metric as you work to close the year.
Just as it’s important to be present for the simple joys of this magical season, I also think this is a wonderful time to slow down and reflect upon the purpose behind what we do.
I’ve set aside some time over the past couple weeks to reflect upon our 2019 impact – read our full 2019 Year in Review here.
I’d love to hear the impact you had on the world in 2019; add a comment and share!
PS – We are thrilled to be opening the doors to our one-on-one coaching program again in January, where we work through stuff like this every week to help you grow your business thoughtfully! Fill out the application here and we’ll see if you might be a good fit!
