Acting With Purpose Has Consequences

Tiger Woods, arguably the best golfer in the world, recently won the US Open. Not a surprise, except that he had knee surgery earlier this year and had not been cleared by his doctor to play. Tiger did not heed his doctor's advice, played in the tournament, and won... and lost. Tiger re injured his knee and will now miss the rest of the 2008 season. Mistake? No. Not if his clear purpose was to win the US Open.

One of our most passionate points in Juggling Elephants is that we must act with purpose to accomplish those things that are most important to us. We just can not get everything done and accomplish all that life offers us. We must pick and choose the most important things. The flip side of that strategy is that acting with purpose also means we will "lose" something in the pursuit of those most important things.

I talked with a business owner last week who said, "My business has not been as successful as some would say it could have been over the years, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice more time away from my family. I'm happy with how things have turned out." Again, acting with purpose has rewards-and consequences.

What about you? If you acted with purpose more often, what would you gain? And what would you lose? And would the win be worth the loss?