A map is most useful if you know where you want to go

A map is only useful if you know where you’re going.

Most of us, myself included, have spent years following the daily grind without ever stopping to ask: “Where am I actually headed?”

I was just talking with one of my coaching clients the other day. He’s preparing to onboard a new full-time team member and has been putting a lot of thought into what it looks like to lead his team well. Beyond the mission and business goals, this business owner and leader is also thinking about how he can use his position to bless and grow his team.

Thinking Beyond the Business

He’s even planning to help his new team member, an eighteen-year-old, build a life plan. Reflecting on that conversation, I’ve come to admire this business owner more and more. He’s starting to grasp something I wish I’d seen much sooner in my own career: a map is most useful when you know where you want to go.

He can teach his team all the business strategies and disciplines in the world. He can train them to be incredible team members. But if they don’t know where their life is going, there’s still so much potential left on the table.

What If Someone Had Helped You at Eighteen?

Can you imagine how your life might have been different if someone had challenged you at eighteen to chart a course for your life? Even if you decided to change that destination later, at least your early years would have been spent with purpose and intention.

This Isn’t Just for Teenagers

That’s true for eighteen-year-olds—and it’s true for me and you, too. In fact, most clients I work with haven’t given this much thought for themselves. They’re incredible, driven, hardworking, and generous leaders and entrepreneurs — but many are also just wandering, accepting whatever default the day brings them instead of building a life on purpose.

What Does a Life on Purpose Look Like?

And please don’t miss this: I mean a life on purpose — not just a business. What do I mean by a life on purpose? Well, imagine you’re attending a funeral some years from now.

Can you see it? Can you hear the sniffles? Can you feel the somber atmosphere? A man rises to begin the service: “We are gathered here today to remember the life of…” — and then he says your name.

Throughout the rest of the service, your wife, your children, your siblings, your friends, your employees each takes a moment to share something about you.

What do you hope they’ll say? I don’t mean the polite, flattering stuff they’d conjure up. I mean: what do you hope they’ll say with conviction and sincerity?

Adjusting Your Life Plan

Now the hard part - is the life you’re building right now moving you toward that end? If not, maybe your life plan needs some adjusting.

My Own Example

Let me share a personal example — just a sliver of my life.

One of my goals is to be joyfully married to the same woman all the days of my life. I want to be more in love with her on the last day than I was on the first. I could elaborate on that (and I’d be happy to share more of my own life goals with you — just ask), but this will suffice for now.

That goal shapes the relationship we cultivate now, demanding I pursue her heart today. Because lasting marriages rarely happen by accident — they’re built over time.

Why Are You Doing It?

Back to my conversation with my client: he’s been experiencing the clarity and joy that come from beginning to build a life on purpose. Now he’s eager to help his team members — entrusted to him by God — do the same.

We’ve all spent years striving to build strong businesses that will last, and that’s a wonderful and beautiful thing. But why are you doing it? How does it fit into the life you hope to live? You may have a map and some tools, but do you know where you’re going?

To thriving,

Zach

P.S. If you’ve never considered building a life plan, there are plenty of resources out there that can help. One that I’ve especially appreciated is Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy.

P.P.S. One really important note: James 4:13-17 has much to say on this - reminding us that plenty of things are outside our control that may alter our plans. Melissa could die before me - a horrifying thought, but a reality. So we must hold our plans loosely, submit them to God, and then do our best with the day He’s set before us. If God wants to redirect my life, that’s His right. Until then, I’ll work to be a man who lived all of life on purpose.