Living a Life of Purpose: Going Beyond Work-Life Balance to Find Your Life’s Work
By: Darshita Gillies
Tags: Purpose, Discover Your Lifes Work, Impact, B Corp, Fintech

Finding Your Purpose

For me, finding my purpose meant looking beyond the boundaries of self, family, and organisation. This is where the concept of “work-life balance” fell apart. Only when I looked beyond our social hypnosis and viewed my work as a platform to express myself was I able to find my life’s work— my purpose. I am committed to converging my profession and vocation in ﬁnance and technology to deliver my passion and mission of enabling planetary well-being and prosperity.

We know that impact is complex. Over $1 trillion has been allocated to impact investments, yet there are no sophisticated tools or systems to monitor and measure net impact. I realised that the “impact gap” doesn’t lie in lack of money or good intentions; it lies in the lack of processes for efficient allocation of resources. I knew tech was the answer.

In the pursuit of purpose, it’s important to find that sweet spot between what you love (passion), what you’re good at (expertise), and what the world needs (mission).

My 5P’s Framework

The knowing of the why I do what I do is, in itself, an intrinsic daily dose of motivation. To help others live a life of purpose, I am sharing my 5P’s framework that can help you anchor yourself in your purpose, enabling you to achieve and create a thriving environment.

Presencing

The first step toward finding your purpose lies in presencing. Being aware of what’s going on inside and outside of you. Being aware of your action and the environment and also how your actions affect the environment. I resort to simple hacks like rhythmic breathing and meditation that bring my mind back to the present state for purposeful alignment of important tasks and milestones.

Purpose

I constantly check for alignment of my actions with my purpose. This helps me drop or reprioritise actions that don’t contribute to my ultimate goal and empowers me to wholly focus on the few essentials that really matter. I also try to instill a purposeful culture in my team that encourages everybody to not only bring their best to work but also feel comfortable enough to share their worst and seek support. We frequently invite external experts and coaches to host guest sessions with the team on purpose exercises that push us beyond our comfort zones and expand our horizons.

Process

The key is being disciplined in agility. Given the dynamism of the world we live in today, it’s important to embrace agility and carve out a discipline that works for you. Learn something new every day and keep track of both your personal and professional activities. We use ClickUp as a team for weekly sprints, and I use Notion as a tool for recording and tracking my daily pursuits, brainwaves, and eureka moments!

People

Having a thriving network of meaningful connections that you can lean into and contribute to is fulfilling and energising. The value you can derive from the joy, learnings, and challenges of others is immeasurable. Believe in the power of reaching out, value diversity, and embrace new thinking by being a part of communities and groups that challenge your status quo.

From the book “Leading From The Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies” by Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer.

Planet

The Iceberg Model from the book Leading From the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-system Economies by Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer changed my worldview. It aptly highlights the structural disconnects in the world, opening the door for all of us to bridge the gap between our purpose and what the world needs.

I believe that we are stewards of planetary assets and resources, and we have a responsibility to ensure we leave our home better than how we inherited it. Understanding the trade-off involved in making daily choices —from what products to buy to macro choices such as which companies to invest in —can be a start point. Everything has a “planet price.”