A friend of mine emailed this to me yesterday. Take it for what it is worth.
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E-Myth Mastery
Excepts from Chapter 9: The Purpose of Purpose
Most people seem obsessed with the notion of purpose. The world seems to be divided into those who believe they know their purpose and those who are searching for their purpose. I don’t think I know anyone who is blasé on the subject-doesn’t know, isn’t searching, doesn’t care. People who say they’ve found their purpose are judged to be mature, grounded, inspiring, on track. The ones who are searching, the majority it seems, are seen as anxious about it, frenetic, insecure, lost. Have you ever noticed how people don’t want to admit that they don’t know what they’re doing here? It seems to be a good thing to know what your purpose in life is.
…Dear reader, I’m about to rain on your parade. And here it is in a proverbial nutshell: There is no purpose to purpose!
“What!” Sarah said.
…I told her that “purpose” the word, is deceptive. That there’s a narrowness, a strictness, a rigidity to the word that is very different form the energy or essence of purpose…
Then why is the E-Myth and the work you do so important to you, Michael? Why are you doing it? Sarah asked incredulously.
Candidly, Sarah, I have no idea. It just is…
What were you hoping I would say, Sarah? That business has always fascinated me? It hasn’t. That the plight of people who own their own business is of deep concern to me. It isn’t. That my father’s failure in his small business which literally killed him, made me vow to help others like him avoid his fate? It didn’t. That my Primary Aim in life is to transform small business worldwide? It isn’t and never has been. These are the reasons people most want to hear and are inspired by. But they’re just stories, Sarah. Empty stories…
The only answer I can give you to your question about why the work I do with small business is so important to me is, I don’t know…
But what about purpose? Sarah asked. How does what you’ve said fit with what yo’ve said or at least implied about purpose…
We have a purpose, Sarah, to create. And creation does no need anything other than itself to justify it. Creation, the act of producing something out of nothing, the love that one finds in the pure act of it, is enough to last a human beeing a lifetime.
The question for me is not why this work is important to me, by do I behave like its important to me? Do I give my creative focus the time and attention and passion it deserves? Do I take my life seriously, or not?...
…If I have any purpose in this life that feels real, it is to not lie to myself,.. That’s how I want to live my life, not lying to myself. …
And that is what the true essence of purpose is. It’s a vision, no matter how that vision comes to you. And vision comes to people in the strangest, most unpredictable ways. ..vision will all but knock you off your feet. Purpose, in the sense of a vision, is what passion serves.
…Vision is a reason to live. You can call it purpose, but the minute you turn it into a purpose, it calls forth the part of you that is more focused on results than process…
Purpose doesn’t free you, Vision can.