POWERED BY PURPOSE BLOG

The following blog was submitted by the November Powered by Purpose guest speaker, Sara Davis.

In 2016, my dad passed away. This hit me particularly hard - harder than any other loss I'd experienced up to that point and for many layered reasons. Mainly, I lived far away from my parents for many years, and I didn't see it coming. Even though he was weakening from his leukemia diagnosis, I could not imagine a world without my dad in it. He was such a force of life. And aside from the primary loss (his death), I was mourning the secondary losses, like the milestones he'd never be there for and the constant cheerleading he'd always done from the sidelines of my life.

 My dad was a strong advocate for community work, and though I didn't know it at the time, he was working through me in some ways—to connect me back to the core of who he was and who I am. I walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela route in Spain to spread his ashes. I walked for him, but I found myself opening up with other pilgrims about my story and grief. I was leading with vulnerability for the first time in my life. As a result, I found myself starting to heal and formed deeper connections with those around me.

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Powered by Purpose was honored to lead a workshop at last month’s Women Lead Change conference, focusing on the benefits of purpose in the workplace and individually. As part of our panel discussion, Tammy DeHaai, vice president of People Strategy for Graham Construction Company, presented how her organization puts their purpose in action. Not only have they put in the work to identify Graham Construction’s organizational purpose, they also prioritize efforts of putting it into practice that helps empower employees to recognize their own purpose and how it fits into their role with the company.

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This blog was based off the September 2022 Powered by Purpose Speaker Series event presented by Steve Whitty and Dr. Aimee Beckmann-Collier.

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This blog is being re-posted with permission by its author, Beth Shelton, Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa CEO. Shelton was the August Powered by Purpose guest speaker. Watch Shelton's Powered by Purpose video here.

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Guest blogger, Michelle Weil, Organizational Engagement Consultant, ethOs shares her insight on the importance of working for a purpose driven company.

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Erik Dominguez, public speaking and storytelling coach with Speak Up Stories, encouraged our Powered By Purpose Speaker Series attendees to share - publicly - something they like about themselves for 30 days. He took on the challenge himself and shares what he learned from his experience in this guest blog. 

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In this guest blog, Tony Wilson, motivational speaker and author, shares the inherent process we go through to create our reality and encourages readers to be more intentional about the thoughts we have in every moment.  

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In December of 2019, I helped host a women’s retreat in Des Moines. Since the retreat took place right before the new year, it was a good time to help participants take time to think about their priorities and values. Identifying individual values is critical as you work toward defining or revisiting your life’s purpose. Even more importantly, your values help you live out your purpose, guiding not only the thoughts and people you allow into your life, but also the activities you say “yes” or “no” to participating in.

As a new year approaches again, it is a good time to re-evaluate values—especially after the year we’ve all endured!

Follow the five steps below to narrow down and identify the values you find most significant to your own purpose.

1. Print out (or write down) the list of values below. You may find it helpful to cut out each word into its own square, allowing you to move around and prioritize the values that most resonate with you as you work through the list.
   
   
2. Narrow the list down to 15 values that you identify as important to you by eliminating those that aren’t as important to you.
   
   
3. Take a moment to think about this list and narrow it down again to eight values. Removing words from your list doesn’t mean they aren’t a part of your life or that you don’t respect or value the words meaning; it just means they are less important in your day-to-day than the remaining values.
   
   
4. As an effort to consider what is truly the most important to you, narrow your list down again to four values. Theses final four are the most important to you at this point in your life and hold the most weight.
   
   
5. Intentionally make space for the four values. Choosing behaviors, activities, words in conversations that align most with these final four will show you where your interests and passions are and allow you to live your most authentic life. 

Family
Courage
Comfort
Diversity
Trust
Forgiveness
Creativity & Innovation
Fun
Fitness
Mindfulness & Presence
Adventure
Change
Professional Achievement
Commitment
Personal Achievement
Wisdom
Benevolence & Generosity
Fairness
Time Off
Adventure
Faith/Spirituality
Growth
Accountablility
Nutrition
Kindness
Drive & Determination
Teamwork
Balance
Recognition
Love
Structure
Volunteerism & Service
Simplicity
Punctuality
Curiosity
Joy
Authority

About the Author:
Jessica Nelsen is the Community Impact Coordinator in Health for United Way of Central Iowa. She also co-owns Sisterhood Soup, an organization working to connect women to a community of supportive sisters and empower them to discover their inherent magic.
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Welcome—we’re excited to have you here! The Powered by Purpose blog is meant to provide information, thoughts, ideas and inspiration for exploring, discovering and living your life with purpose.

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