Incubating Purpose
I had coffee with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, both of us in a similar line of business. Chatting about a new project my friend is creating, she shared her inner conflict between fearing it should be ready and ‘out there’ against a deeper sense of knowing, it just wasn’t ready yet. When she asked me what I thought, I said; ‘It appears to me you are still incubating’.
With so much pressure in the world to have everything launched or completed, incubation can feel like a radical idea. Yet, an essential element of everything meaningful in life – a business project, a personal goal, a relationship, or a period of personal transformation – is time. Fundamental to your role in the process is to resist the temptation to shorten the time needed for creation. You need to be strong enough to provide the necessary container of time and nurture for whatever is incubating to come fully into form.
Common wisdom suggests the need to jump before you are ready or push yourself to the next level. At some point, this will be true. You will need to be ready. But when it comes to purposeful ventures of any sort in life and work, only you can know the difference between when you should push yourself through the fear towards action and when more incubation is necessary.
In 2019, just after I finished my MSc, a contact of mine reached out to suggest he introduce me to a firm in New York he sensed I could work with. I remember vividly having a full body ‘no’ response to the suggestion. Rationally, it seemed like a great opportunity, but my inner wisdom told me the business wasn’t ready. More importantly, I wasn’t ready. I was still becoming this new version of myself. To say yes to that opportunity would have been to force the birth of someone and something not yet ready for the world. I was still fragile from an intense period of growth and change in my life. I was still incubating, and I knew the timing wasn’t right.
If I sound wise it was hard-earned wisdom. I didn’t always listen so clearly to myself. I learned to honour my process through my mistakes. Previously, with my ideas still in their infancy, I had shared my thoughts with someone whom I trusted. I came away shocked that someone would pick my ideas apart with such lack of care for me and the period of intense change I was going through. I felt exposed and vulnerable for days afterwards. I learned two valuable lessons from that meeting. The first was to trust myself more because notwithstanding the criticism I had heard, I still absolutely understood my vision was the correct path for me. If anything, their reaction confirmed my ideas and propelled me forward. The second was that my vision for myself and my work was my baby. I was responsible for birthing it into the world. Part of that process meant I was responsible for protecting it as it, and I, were finding our feet.
To really live, work or lead ‘on purpose’, you have to be willing to do things your way. When I work with purpose-led entrepreneurs, leaders, or individuals, cultivating greater trust of self is key to the process. You must have the courage to listen to your own wisdom and intuition and incorporate what you know to be true for yourself, your life or your business into your decision-making. To not seek external counsel but recognise your own voice as the one that matters most. Sometimes more incubation will be what is needed, another time it may be you need to push yourself to be ready for an opportunity that arises. The point is only you can really know which is right at that moment for you.
Longevity is the very nature of purpose and purposeful work. When you zoom right out and think about what you will do with your life and work, one meeting does not have the power to make or break you or your trajectory. An extra few months of incubation will be nothing in the context of an entire life. Purpose is an investment. A long-term investment. It is your responsibility to set the appropriate time line for what you will contribute to the world. It is your responsibility to ensure you do not expect it to deliver results too early. It is your responsibility to set the right conditions so it can maximise its long-term impact in the world.