Imagine entering a destination into your GPS and then spending the next three hours driving in the opposite direction.
Sounds ridiculous. Yet many of us do a version of this every day.
Your day begins with good intentions. Then the emails arrive. Meetings multiply. Deadlines move up. An unexpected five minute question takes an hour of your time.
By lunchtime, the destination you chose is barely visible in the rearview mirror.
The Problem Isn’t Purpose
Most leaders have a pretty good sense of their “why.” Yet, when leaders feel disconnected, frustrated, or unfulfilled, they often assume they need a new purpose.
A bigger, better, more exciting purpose.
Sometimes that’s true. If your why is borrowed from someone else, driven primarily by ego, or no longer reflects who you’ve become, it deserves a closer look.
But the more common problem isn’t finding the why. It’s living it.
Instant Thought Experiment
Think about one thing that matters deeply to you: Your family. Your health. Your team. Your community. Your faith. Your impact.
On a scale of 1–10, how fully are you living that priority right now?
Now ask yourself: If a documentary crew followed me for the last thirty days, would they conclude this was one of my top priorities?
Notice both answers.
Mirror — Questions To Ask Yourself
༄ What matters most to me right now?
༄ How much time and energy am I actually giving it?
༄ Where is my calendar telling a different story than my values?
Window — Learn From a Patient Safety Pioneer
Many healthcare leaders share the same why as patient safety pioneer Dr. Peter Pronovost: reducing preventable patient harm. What distinguished Pronovost was not simply his purpose. It was his relentless focus on turning purpose into practice.
Rather than stopping at good intentions, he worked with frontline clinicians to implement simple checklists, create systems for accountability, encourage staff to speak up, and continuously learn from mistakes. Those efforts helped dramatically reduce central-line infections and influenced patient safety practices around the world.
Plenty of leaders shared the same why. Pronovost paid unusual attention to the how.
That consistency matters. Research in Self-Determination Theory shows that wellbeing increases when people act in ways that align with deeply held values and intrinsic motivations. Fulfillment comes not simply from identifying what matters, but from expressing it through your daily choices.
Bottom line: Live your current why more fully.
The Amare Leadership Breakthrough session is an intensive, highly focused single coaching experience for leaders who are ready to address something significant and longstanding– something that needs changing now – and without any long-term coaching. This is deep, direct work. Learn more by emailing: connect@amareleadership.com or book your call directly here: https://calendly.com/moshe-amareleadership/breakthrough-call .
Resistance — Why This Is Harder Than It Sounds
As a leader, you already know what matters. The challenge is that what matters most is rarely what demands your attention the most, like quarterly targets, staffing challenges, and the endless parade of urgent (but not necessarily important) issues competing for your time.
Busyness can create a comforting illusion of progress. You can spend an entire day working hard, solving problems, and checking boxes – while slowly drifting away from the things you care about most. You get reactive in your clear why gets crowded out.
Door Into Action
1. Confirm your why. Make sure it’s a purpose worth serving, not just a goal worth achieving—for yourself and your organization.
2. Notice the drift. At the end of each day, identify one place your actions aligned with your values and one place they didn’t.
3. Name the resistance. Identify the distractions, habits, or fears that repeatedly pull you away from what matters most.
4. Protect one priority. Schedule time this week for a person, activity, or commitment aligned with your why that has been crowded out by busyness.
5. Ask for a mirror. Ask someone you trust where they see a gap between what you say matters and how you spend your time.
6. Pause before reacting. The next time something feels urgent, ask whether it truly deserves your attention or simply demands it.
Amare Team Talk
At your next team meeting, ask: What’s one thing we say is important around here, but don’t fully support with our time and energy?
Keep the conversation focused on actions, not slogans. The goal isn’t to create a better why. It’s to create better alignment between words and actions.
Your Inspirational Challenge
Before you go looking for a bigger purpose, a better purpose, or a more exciting purpose, spend a week with the one you already have.
Prioritize it with your actions. Live it. Don’t allow it to be crowded out by busyness.
The good news is that you may not need to reinvent your career, your organizations, your relationships, or your life. You may simply need to redirect your attention.
You might gain tremendous fulfillment by living your current why more fully. And along the way, discover that your example inspires others far more than your words ever could.
With love,
– Moshe
Today’s Amare Wave Wednesday Quote
“Well done is better than well said.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Click here and read more Amare Wave Wednesday newsletters on related topics:
Slow Down, You Move Too Fast: The Hidden Business Costs of “Always On”
What’s the Most Important Thing You Can Do As a Leader? It Isn’t What You Think
Three Questions Every Great Leader Must Ask — Your Answers Reveal Your True Potential
Are You Here for the World? How to Stay On Purpose in Challenging Times
4 Ways to Be an Aligned Leader and Why It Really Matters
Original article published on Inc.com.
