Being “On Purpose”

My last boss was, and is to this day, an incredible technologist, a bonafide geek. My knowledge of technology grew 20-fold while working alongside him, yet one of the most important things he taught me wasn’t about technology; it was about making my efforts count.  In the rush to deliver technology change, sometimes we forget to deliver the most important thing:  purpose.

In 2015 we were implementing changes to our ticketing system, the system where enterprise users create tickets for technology issues. In the final weeks leading up to implementation, we realized we needed to update email notifications when tickets were closed.  We quickly cobbled together a new notification and began testing.  I sent a test notification to my boss, fully expecting him to say it was fine.  He called and I listened as he picked apart everything that was not fine.  In his final words to me, he said something that will stick with me forever:  

Make it on purpose.

Make it on purpose.  Make it on purpose.  Make it on purpose.  Over the years I’ve found myself repeating things three times when they matter.  I want to commit them to memory and chew on their underlying meaning; I want to make them part of my daily habit.  Making things on purpose is one of the most important elements of my day, thanks to a really crappy first effort on a technology change.

What was so terrible about the email notification?  I mean, why should it really matter, right?  First of all, it was hot pink.  The notification was in a table format and the cells were shaded hot pink.  Second, there was very little information contained in the notification, and what was there wasn’t really helpful.  Last, the title of the notification was so ambiguous folks probably would have sent it directly to trash.  The entire purpose of the notification wasn’t achieved.  We reworked the notification and I repeated my new mantra in my head.  We changed the cell color from retina burning hot pink to calm blue.  We made sure the information contained in the email was worthwhile and had valuable hyperlinks. We altered the title to be informative and personalized.  The new notification was on purpose.  

I recently sat down with a local general contractor and construction management company to help them reveal their purpose.  As I read through hundreds of pages of documentation, I took notes.  The company is amazing, but it was hard to glean that from their public facing documentation.  This reminded me of that first try on the email notification: There was plenty of amazing stuff available, but it just wasn’t purposefully pulled together. After I finished the documentation review, I worked with a creative company who took my notes and made them into an on-purpose, beautiful portfolio.  There wasn’t any magic here; it was just a matter of taking the best parts of this construction company's value and being out-loud about it in a succinct way.  Being on purpose.    

Those four words — make it on purpose — changed my life.  Making things on purpose started to creep into everything I did: writing emails, making cookies, any and all changes.  I started looking at my own life, my own purpose.  In launching my business, I am constantly making sure my website, business cards, note cards, blog articles, proposals, project plans, and everything I produce is thoughtful and purposeful.  

If we listen hard enough, there are amazing nuggets of wisdom thrown our way almost daily.  Repeat those nuggets three times and commit them to memory.  Understand their deeper meaning and act on them.  You never know when something small can make a huge impact.

— Jill P.

• Edits by Elyse Goldberg