{"id":73851,"date":"2022-07-20T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T14:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=73851"},"modified":"2022-08-02T14:34:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T18:34:52","slug":"why-did-you-start-your-business-know-your-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-did-you-start-your-business-know-your-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did You Start Your Business? Know Your Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why did you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-a-small-business-started\/\">start your business<\/a>? Are you clear on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-life-purpose\/\">your purpose<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Business startups already have a ton of unknowns. Your business&#8217;s purpose shouldn&#8217;t be one of them. When you&#8217;re clear about the reason you started your business, you&#8217;ll be more fulfilled and motivated to stick with it\u2014and your chances of success will go up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn more about getting clarity on your business&#8217;s purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-your-business-s-purpose\">Your Business&#8217;s Purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Why did you start your business? An essential element of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/successful-mindset\/\">successful mindset<\/a> involves knowing your purpose. As entrepreneurs Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba explain, the startup journey is treacherous and filled with unknowns.<strong> If you don\u2019t have a clear and compelling purpose for starting your business, you won\u2019t be motivated to stay the course<\/strong>. Therefore, think carefully about <em>why<\/em> you\u2019ve chosen to take this route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Ali and Kubba assert that it\u2019s important to have a strong, compelling \u201cwhy\u201d motivating you, but they don\u2019t offer any actionable ways to make this mindset shift. In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/goals\"><em>Goals!<\/em><\/a>, Brian Tracy recommends that you <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/goals\/1-page-summary#step-5-find-your-why\">list all the reasons you have for pursuing each of your goals<\/a>, as the more reasons you have, the more determined you\u2019ll be to push through obstacles. For example, if your goal is to make a six-figure income, your reasons might include providing a comfortable life for your family, being able to save for retirement, and having money to care for your aging parents.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-inspire-yourself\/\">motivate yourself<\/a>, Ali and Kubba recommend setting both self-serving <em>external<\/em> goals (like earning a certain income or becoming famous) and other-serving <em>internal<\/em> goals (like trying your best to improve elderly people\u2019s quality of life or to connect college graduates to career opportunities). Self-serving external goals often make you feel good in the short term, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with using them to motivate yourself. However, Ali and Kubba state that <strong>you need other-serving internal goals because they give a greater sense of fulfillment that isn\u2019t dependent on external circumstances<\/strong>. In other words, if you\u2019re internally motivated, you\u2019ll feel like a success even if you don\u2019t achieve the outcome you want because you know you\u2019re trying to do the right thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: While Ali and Kubba claim that you need other-serving internal goals to motivate yourself and find fulfillment, the Dalai Lama asserts in <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-art-of-happiness\"><em>The Art of Happiness<\/em><\/a> that the <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-art-of-happiness\/part-1#your-purpose-is-to-seek-happiness\">only goal you need is the goal to make yourself happy<\/a>. Like Ali and Kubba, the Dalai Lama acknowledges that external goals only bring fleeting pleasure. However, he claims that our focus should be on finding fulfillment inward, not outward in a grand mission to help others. Although working primarily toward your own happiness may seem selfish, the Dalai Lama points out that training yourself to be happy makes it easier for you to show kindness and generosity to others, adding goodness to the world.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ali and Kubba warn against being overly ambitious even when you define your other-serving, inspirational purpose. For example, don\u2019t say you\u2019re going to solve global warming, eliminate the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/gender-pay-gap-2023\/\">gender wage gap<\/a>, or become the first trillionaire, as those are completely unrealistic. Instead, <strong>identify a purpose that\u2019s ambitious, inspiring, <\/strong><strong><em>and<\/em><\/strong><strong> realistically matches your circumstances<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambitious-goals\/\">Ambitious Goals<\/a> Bad?<\/strong><br><br>Ali and Kubba recommend that you avoid setting overly ambitious goals. However, others disagree. For example, in <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-10x-rule\"><em>The 10X Rule<\/em><\/a>, Grant Cardone asserts that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-10x-rule\/chapter-9\">you need to set lofty, unrealistic \u201c10X\u201d goals because they\u2019ll keep you inspired and motivated to exceed expectations<\/a>. He says that if you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/set-realistic-goals\/\">set realistic goals<\/a> with an average payoff, you\u2019ll likely devote only halfhearted effort because your goals aren\u2019t big enough to inspire you. In Cardone\u2019s view, the more ambitious your goals, the more motivated you\u2019ll be to devote the effort needed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-overcome-obstacles\/\">overcome obstacles<\/a> and succeed.<br><br>Similarly, in <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-obstacle-is-the-way\"><em>The Obstacle Is the Way<\/em><\/a>, Ryan Holiday asserts that you must boldly set unreasonably aggressive goals because they\u2019ll energize and inspire you to produce your highest-quality work. <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-obstacle-is-the-way#strategy-3-set-unreasonable-goals\">Moderate, realistic goals, he says, are based on a fear of failure<\/a> \u2014people lower their expectations because they assume they\u2019re less capable than they actually are. In effect, goals become self-fulfilling prophecies, so Holiday recommends stretching your vision beyond what feels comfortable.&nbsp;<br><br>Ultimately, everyone is different and will be motivated by different types of goals. Therefore, it might <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/melania-trumps-be-best\/\">be best<\/a> to experiment with goals of different levels of ambition to see what works for you.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why did you start your business? Are you clear on your purpose? Business startups already have a ton of unknowns. Your business&#8217;s purpose shouldn&#8217;t be one of them. When you&#8217;re clear about the reason you started your business, you&#8217;ll be more fulfilled and motivated to stick with it\u2014and your chances of success will go up. Keep reading to learn more about getting clarity on your business&#8217;s purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":73854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,79,42],"tags":[701],"class_list":["post-73851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneurship","category-motivation","tag-the-unfair-advantage","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Did You Start Your Business? Know Your Purpose - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why did you start your business? Startups already have a ton of unknowns. Your business&#039;s purpose shouldn&#039;t be one of them. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-did-you-start-your-business-know-your-purpose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Did You Start Your Business? Know Your Purpose\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why did you start your business? Startups already have a ton of unknowns. Your business&#039;s purpose shouldn&#039;t be one of them. 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