Finding Purpose

By Thami Nkadimeng

‘Purpose’ is a concept I had to understand and which I often speak on. To me, purpose is the intersection where passion and talent meet. The two are both vital to purpose; there are, for example, some people who are talented but who lack passion. Nelson Mandela, for instance, was a talented boxer in his early years but that was definitely not his passion, and therefore it was not his purpose.

The manner in which I got my first job was perhaps an indication that my working life was going to be a ball of fun and an unpredictable bowl of ingredients that would eventually come together to make something delicious – skills and passion finished off with a drizzle of talent and a large dollop of purpose.

In my case, I am extremely talented at putting events together, from conceptualisation to implementation and execution, but I have absolutely no passion for the attention to detail it requires. Thank goodness I have now landed on the other side of events, where I am part of the event. My past experience of putting events together has, however, made me very understanding of the organisers, because I understand what it takes to put a successful event together.

An example on the other side of this equation is the ‘wooden microphone’ category in the talent-search competition Idols South Africa, for people who have a passion for singing but not necessarily the talent for it!

This reminds me of when I was young and dreaming of being behind a microphone. I initially thought that my imagination was telling me to be a singer – that singing was my passion – so I asked my mom to drop me off at the auditions for Popstars (South Africa) one morning. I did not even make it through the preliminary round but it was a great experience – I found out that while I may have loved singing, I did not have a talent for it. Today, I use my microphone to help others have constructive conversations and to be the golden thread in conversations, ensuring there is direction to achieve objectives at any level in a hierarchy. It is both my talent and my passion – it is my purpose.

Life has a beautiful way of bringing together the passion and talent for you in an attempt to give you tools to reach your purpose – I have never met a person who is living out their purpose and who does not have both the passion and talent for it. I encourage an exercise to undertake if you are struggling to figure out what your purpose is. It will require a bit of time and complete honesty, and you will have to try to be objective. It may not give you the answer like a loud-sounding gong but it will certainly give you an indication and direction towards the correct route.

Write down all your passions. Next, write down your talents. Now review both lists and try to determine which passions and talents can co-exist…

Want to learn more? Get your copy of the inspirational Finding Purpose book by Thami Nkadimeng, published by NB Publishers and available at leading book stores and online.

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