What
Is Your Highest Goal?
by
Francine R. Gaillour, MD, MBA
The
first conversation I have with someone who comes to me in
search of guidance or clarity of direction about their
career eventually leads to this question:
"What
is that special gift you were meant to share with the
world?"
You'd
think this question would stump most, but in reality we have
some strong clues about our "life path", our
"special gifts" and our "highest
calling."
One
person states laughingly they want to reach hundreds of
people by writing a best-seller; another relates she
remembers her "peak experience" was writing poetry
in college. Another envisions himself building the
world's most renown clinical center in his field.
Herein
lie two inherent challenges: 1) uncovering our "inner
knowing" of what our individual greatness actually is,
and 2) getting back on or staying on that path.
There
are several methods and resources I use when working with
clients to address both of these challenges. One book
I find very useful is: The
Highest Goal: The Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment, by Michael
Ray. For over 25 years, Ray taught a class on Creativity in
Business to Stanford MBA
students. As part of the class he used an unconventional (non-left-brain) approach to
finding your professional path. Fans of Jim Collins, author
of Good
to Great, may be interested to know that Michael Ray was
Jim Collins' "guru" when Collins was himself a
student at Stanford.
A
Defining Experience of Highest Goal
Michael
Ray's perspective is that we all experience a "defining
moment" of our highest goal usually around
adolescence. What we experience is a feeling or
knowing that "we are great, that we have a connection
with everything, that we have potential." Almost
all of us can remember that moment, usually with a little
help from a coach or counselor, or a good friend. The
trick is to hold on to this highest goal once we recall it
because the experience that created it holds the secret to
personal and professional fulfillment.
Obstacles
to Following our Highest Goal
Why
do we lose sight of that moment where we felt in flow, full
of personal power and possibility? Ray suggests there
are two obstacles that get in our way of living our life in
tune with our highest goal:
Obstacle
1: We Sub-optimize
According
to Ray: "We may have an experience of the highest goal
in our lives, but we quickly pull back to the lesser goals
that society calls success. We often get frozen in our
accomplishments, which may be great, but not the highest or
optimal that we can attain."
Obstacle
2: We Give in to the Cruel Grip of Socialization and
Comparison
According
to Ray, the second obstacle is a result of the bombardment
from media, schools, parents, and friends, all of which
"tell us to chase a successful life that will be
admired by others." "That influence invades our
dreams and our deepest thoughts. It holds us with a
cruel grip. We buy into the game that society
convinces us we should be playing, even if it draws us away
from who we are at the core. We consistently compare
ourselves with others. We lose the power that comes
from doing what is right for us."
For
Michael Ray, you can map out two life paths that predictably
diverge from the get-go as soon you let these obstacles
cloud your memory of and attention to your highest
goal.
|
Two
Alternative Life Paths |
| Do
what you don't like, but should |
Do
what you love and find meaningful |
| Get
experience doing this |
Get
experience doing what you love |
| Become
great at doing what you dislike |
Become
extra good at doing what you love |
| Gain
opportunity to do more |
Gain
more opportunity to do what you love |
| Live
life empty of meaning |
Live
life full of purpose and meaning |
Eastern
tradition often refers to the concept of "dharma"
which is like "life purpose." A quote from that
teaching summarizes Ray's philosophy:
"Better
one's own dharma, however imperfect, than the dharma of
another perfectly performed."
If
you want to do some pondering about your Highest Goal, I
highly recommend Michael Ray's The
Highest Goal: The Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment. And if you're
interested in having a coach walk you through an
exercise to explore your memory of Highest Goal,
contact us to arrange a complimentary coaching session.
Francine
R. Gaillour, MD, President of
The Gaillour Group, and Director of Creative Strategies in
Physician Leadership, is
an Executive and Business Coach who helps her clients discover express their full potential.
She can be reached at francine@physicianleadership.com
or at (206) 686-4205
.
|
