18: Defining your super power

It doesn’t matter where it is, when it is, or what it is.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a Nashville bachelor party, wedding dance floor, summer barbecue, late night conversation with friends by a fire pit, playtime with Charlie, breakfast with Jordan, happy hour on the beach, weekly reflection, client appointment, lunch with a colleague, debate with my leadership team, or coaching session with a mentee. For me, there is nothing more gratifying than making someone smile bigger, think deeper, laugh louder, go harder, or act faster. My objective is to leave people with an extra spring in their step and a lingering thought on their minds. It is why I strive to inspire, connect, and engage the people in my life every day. My roles and environment simply serve as the platform to live this out as best as I can.

Whether you explicitly define your purpose or personal super power like this or not, it’s important to have a general idea of what it is. It could be the difference between passion and stress. Simon Sinek says, “Working hard for something you don’t care about is stress, working hard for something you love is passion.” I’ve felt both.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve continued to inventory the things in my life that bring me passion, and further pursue the things that will keep that passion alive. I feel it’s important to occasionally take stock of how I’m spending my time, and what I’m working towards to determine how I can better position myself to maximize this personal super power. As I reassessed that inventory this week, I feel confident in my game plan to fulfill this purpose as the year progresses.

How about you? I encourage you to think about your personal super power by finding the common themes that connect what you do best and what you love most. Then, look at your current situation and your future goals. Do they match up with this purpose? Assess how you generally spend your time and who you generally spend it with. Ask yourself if your current circumstances and environment are allowing your super power to thrive. If not right now, are you at least on a path to do so in the future? Are you in the right roles? Are you stretching yourself with the right challenges? Are you working on the right things?

If you are, I’m sure you’re feeling passionate. If you’re not, I’m sure you’re feeling a little stressed. Either way, it’s never too late to find this purpose and pursue it. Now is as good a time as ever to check.