By Tristan J. Loo
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
Peter Drucker
A fellow coaching professional came to me because his publicity and marketing efforts were not producing the results that he wanted. He was sending hundreds of press releases out by fax to various media channels and he was getting virtually no response back. I asked to take a look at his press release and he handed me five pages full of single-spaced type! Well, any media-savvy person knows that a reporter is not going to read through five pages worth of material. A press release needs to be short and sweet and most importantly, it needs to get to the point. Although my friend’s press release was well-written, all of what he had to say in those five pages could really be summed up with one sentence, “If you have a dream, I’ll make sure you reach it.” I let him know that he needs to be able to tell people what service he offers in one sentence otherwise he doesn’t know how to really explain it at all. Well, my friend went back and crafted a wonderful one page press release with a catchy headline and he landed several interviews out of that effort.
This got me to thinking about life purpose and our legacy in life. Can we as individuals really condense what we truly stand for in one sentence? The answer is that we can and we should clarify who we are and our life purpose in one powerful and clear sentence.
Marketing Principles for Life
When a company hires a marketing consultant to redefine their image, the first thing that the marketing consultant might ask them is, “In one sentence, tell me what your business does.” This is a particularly useful tool for them because if the business owner can’t give the consultant a clear definition of what they offer in one sentence, then it’s probably too vague or unclear for any of their potential customers to really understand either. We can apply this same tool when trying to craft our life purpose statement. You’re life purpose needs to be crystal clear in order for you to understand what your legacy is and there is no better way of clarifying your life purpose than to use the same techniques that master copywriters use to create a compelling and persuasion piece of marketing.
Short and Sweet is the Key
Copywriters have long known that a great headline that grabs and captivates its readers does far better than a vague and boring headline. Not all copywriters, but most of them, stick to the short and sweet principle of designing headlines. They want impact and punch because that draws the readers in. Likewise, you should craft your life purpose statement as a single powerful sentence. The real test of your one sentence life purpose statement is when you read it to a stranger, will they say, “Aaahhh, I understand,” or will they say, “Huhhh? I don’t get it.” Your one sentence purpose needs to convey who you are and what you’re all about. If you need more than one sentence to sum up your life purpose, then you need to rework it until it is more clear in your mind.
What Will People Say About You When You’re Gone for Good?
Now I don’t want to get into a morbid topic, but the reality of life is of course death and how you will be remembered by others is what is known as your LEGACY. Our goal should be to strive to create a legacy for ourselves that will inspire people for generations to come. So a useful tool for this is to brainstorm with the end result in mind. Yes, I mean imagine that you are dead and attending your own funeral ceremony. What will people say about you? How will you be remembered? Putting yourself in this mindset will better aid you in designing your life purpose statement.
Boil it Down to Its Essence
In cooking terminology, the word REDUCE or REDUCTION refers to taking a liquid mixture and evaporating away the water content by boiling it down until the essence of what ever was in it is concentrated. Although there is less inside the pot in terms of volume than there was before, the small amount of essence left in the pot is really powerful. The same is true with your life purpose statement. I encourage you to think on paper and let you ideas flow out about who you are, what your values are, what you will be remembered for, and what you stand for and don’t be worried about how long it is. Just get the material on paper. Then once you have all that material, treat it just like a chef who is making a reduction and boil it down to it’s essence. Start getting rid of filler words. Trim off weak sentences. Concentrate long sentences into only a couple of words. Start shaving that writing down until you are left with only the essence of what you wrote about yourself. This is a great way to start off writing your one sentence life purpose statement.
Peter Drucker
A fellow coaching professional came to me because his publicity and marketing efforts were not producing the results that he wanted. He was sending hundreds of press releases out by fax to various media channels and he was getting virtually no response back. I asked to take a look at his press release and he handed me five pages full of single-spaced type! Well, any media-savvy person knows that a reporter is not going to read through five pages worth of material. A press release needs to be short and sweet and most importantly, it needs to get to the point. Although my friend’s press release was well-written, all of what he had to say in those five pages could really be summed up with one sentence, “If you have a dream, I’ll make sure you reach it.” I let him know that he needs to be able to tell people what service he offers in one sentence otherwise he doesn’t know how to really explain it at all. Well, my friend went back and crafted a wonderful one page press release with a catchy headline and he landed several interviews out of that effort.
This got me to thinking about life purpose and our legacy in life. Can we as individuals really condense what we truly stand for in one sentence? The answer is that we can and we should clarify who we are and our life purpose in one powerful and clear sentence.
Marketing Principles for Life
When a company hires a marketing consultant to redefine their image, the first thing that the marketing consultant might ask them is, “In one sentence, tell me what your business does.” This is a particularly useful tool for them because if the business owner can’t give the consultant a clear definition of what they offer in one sentence, then it’s probably too vague or unclear for any of their potential customers to really understand either. We can apply this same tool when trying to craft our life purpose statement. You’re life purpose needs to be crystal clear in order for you to understand what your legacy is and there is no better way of clarifying your life purpose than to use the same techniques that master copywriters use to create a compelling and persuasion piece of marketing.
Short and Sweet is the Key
Copywriters have long known that a great headline that grabs and captivates its readers does far better than a vague and boring headline. Not all copywriters, but most of them, stick to the short and sweet principle of designing headlines. They want impact and punch because that draws the readers in. Likewise, you should craft your life purpose statement as a single powerful sentence. The real test of your one sentence life purpose statement is when you read it to a stranger, will they say, “Aaahhh, I understand,” or will they say, “Huhhh? I don’t get it.” Your one sentence purpose needs to convey who you are and what you’re all about. If you need more than one sentence to sum up your life purpose, then you need to rework it until it is more clear in your mind.
What Will People Say About You When You’re Gone for Good?
Now I don’t want to get into a morbid topic, but the reality of life is of course death and how you will be remembered by others is what is known as your LEGACY. Our goal should be to strive to create a legacy for ourselves that will inspire people for generations to come. So a useful tool for this is to brainstorm with the end result in mind. Yes, I mean imagine that you are dead and attending your own funeral ceremony. What will people say about you? How will you be remembered? Putting yourself in this mindset will better aid you in designing your life purpose statement.
Boil it Down to Its Essence
In cooking terminology, the word REDUCE or REDUCTION refers to taking a liquid mixture and evaporating away the water content by boiling it down until the essence of what ever was in it is concentrated. Although there is less inside the pot in terms of volume than there was before, the small amount of essence left in the pot is really powerful. The same is true with your life purpose statement. I encourage you to think on paper and let you ideas flow out about who you are, what your values are, what you will be remembered for, and what you stand for and don’t be worried about how long it is. Just get the material on paper. Then once you have all that material, treat it just like a chef who is making a reduction and boil it down to it’s essence. Start getting rid of filler words. Trim off weak sentences. Concentrate long sentences into only a couple of words. Start shaving that writing down until you are left with only the essence of what you wrote about yourself. This is a great way to start off writing your one sentence life purpose statement.
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