Let’s Talk About Purpose And Why Many Fail To Discover Or Achieve It
There is no shortcut to achieving your purpose other than investing the hours.
Man blinked. “What is the purpose of all this?” he asked politely. “Everything must have a purpose?” asked God. “Certainly,” said man. “Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,” said God. And He went away.
― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
There is an ongoing conversation about purpose — possibly a thousand year old conversation. It is being discussed in religion, in philosophy and today it has reached the corporate world. Today, the topic seems to be on everyone’s lips — even more for the next generations (GenZ, Millenials and whatever the next label may be).
As corporations are facing a ton of challenges today, purpose may look like the silver bullet that solves all other problems: lack of candidates, unengaged workforce (Gallup 2019), rising complexity, information overload and a disruptive, fast-changing VUCA world. At the same time, different disciplines (psychology, philosophy, education and theology) commonly agree that identity formation and purpose finding are life-long processes.
Many young people are becoming more and more sensitized to the finding of purpose. They are well aware of the fact that the world cannot continue to revel in its norms and this is reflected in Greta Thunberg’s ‘Fridays for Future’ revolutionary movement, but also in a rising number of socially engaged entrepreneurs. And that is a great thing as the younger generations are becoming more and more “radical” (school strike, civil disobedience as a signpost not accepting things as being set in stone) in terms of the Latin root word “radix” meaning “root”.
They are addressing the issues that are really important and deeply rooted in our world. But at the same time, we all are trying to put this together in a world governed by established systems such as hierarchical, tayloristic organizations, following growth economical patterns, maximizing shareholder interests and so on.
But what if there is another approach? At Lumen, we believe in craftsmanship. We see life itself as a form of art, and this explains why we have a lot of artistic side projects. You can also view this through a spiritual lens. Take a close look at Kintsugi being used as a metaphor to mirror life transformations.
What if the answers are not on the current paths we tread? What if the search for purpose is the wrong methodology? Could purpose possibly find you if you invest the time and not by watching tons of YouTube videos or waiting on your Instagram feed to bring you a revelation?
Investing the hours: Takumen
The Japanese approach of “Takumen” is a complete embodiment of this approach. In the traditional craftsmanship of the Japanese, you find this principle over and over. To become a sushi master, you have to invest 6 years of just merely cooking rice to perfection. A knife will take thousands of hours to reach perfection, after which it is then handed over to the customer and then lasts longer than a lifetime.
Unfortunately, we live in a fast food, microwave society and we all look for shortcuts these days. There are hundreds of thousands of high-quality videos online that teach us productivity hacks in a great narrative and creative way. One example is Matt D’Avella talking about this phenomenon here. But at the same time, all the media and tons of great books about life hacks, growth and performance can lead us to the thought that reading them is already enough.
There are abundant amounts of research that proves that all our new year’s resolutions are going to fail — because it is so hard to change habits. There could only be one way: to radically change your context, your environment (such as moving into another area, country etc.) and putting up a few but strict rituals with a very high discipline which then leads into purely investing hours to get a routine out of it as a result. Therefore, by just focusing on a few things and then investing a significant amount of time into it, you become an expert and discover your purpose.
Incidentally, one of the world’s most forward-thinking luxury car manufacturers, Lexus, made a short movie about it. They emphasize the importance of investing the hours: if you invest ten thousand hours, you gain experience and abilities and become what we call a “subject matter expert”. Invest twenty thousand hours, you get to a point where you discover your “calling”. But invest 60 thousand hours and become a master of the art. At this point, you are able to shift the paradigms of the art itself and are able to invent a new approach to the art form, which leads to innovation. There is a lot to discover in that video, so I highly recommend it and leave you with that to make your own assumptions from it.
At Lumen, we are all about the 20,000-hour line and to be honest, we are still discussing calling, purpose and how to make a difference. I think this conversation will continue to be had with my friends and colleagues for the rest of my life. That’s why I am glad we do not share only business and friendship, but also our personal desires and thoughts around purpose and meaning.
A concept that really got me thinking is the discovery of the Japanese purpose communities called ‘Moai’, who were discovered in the ‘Blue Zone’ research. The resident people of the Okinawa region in Japan are full of aged men and women (90 to 100 years of age) who remain agile and active even in their old age. They do not stay active because they have to, but because it is an essential part of life to engage in the social community through work. By this, financial, social, physiological and psychological support is ensured.
As I am personally on the 40,000-hour mark (20 years of work, at least 250 days a year), I am really looking forward to hitting 60,000 hours — whether it is with work or arts. The best is yet to come.
For more inspirational videos:
Sasuke 佐助 — famous Japanese blacksmith
https://vimeo.com/200981567
Japanese beautiful Hakone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvOMHoLRBY&t=21s
Written by Klaus Motoki Tonn for Lumen Partners
