The story of three bricklayers isn’t an uncommon one. Most of us have probably heard it, read about it or even narrated it to someone.    

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For those who don’t know the story: 

One day in 1671, Christopher Wren (a famous artchitect who was asked to design St. Paul Cathedral)  observed three bricklayers on a scaffold, one crouched, one half-standing and one standing tall, working very hard and fast.

To the first bricklayer, Christopher Wren asked the question, “What are you doing?” to which the bricklayer replied, “I’m a bricklayer. I’m working hard laying bricks to feed my family.”

The second bricklayer, responded, “I’m a builder. I’m building a wall.”  

But the third brick layer, the most productive of the three and the future leader of the group, when asked the question, “What are you doing?” replied with a gleam in his eye, “I’m a cathedral builder. I’m building a great cathedral to The Almighty.”

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There are many interpretations to this story.

We have only one take away from this story:

When times are tough and long stands the uncertainty, it’s easy for doubt to creep in. It is easy to lose compassion towards your sacrifices and pains. It is easy to question intentions in the first place. It is easy to lose creative energy to solve tough problems. What, in that case, you must ask yourself and do?

No motivation works for the long term until you have found your purpose. Purpose is the reason in the first place that you are in the game. The reason you exist defines the outcome. Silent or shared with others, your reason to exist will come alive.  

This is your why, your purpose of what the business stands for and what you as a leader stand for. And it is completely agnostic to outer circumstances. You define your outer circumstance with who you are and what you want to become.

Your pursuit every day to the very future that manifests the purpose is the key driver for ought to remind. 

Hence, the key for you to not lose sight of the purpose is to set tremendous power of reminders. Reminders can be in the form of anything that incarnates and embody the purpose and its living life.  

It could be in your heritage centre among the maze of family history books or family museums if you are a family business, or it could be in your mission statement with visual elements defining the purpose and the outcome once it comes alive and its impact. 

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But the most promising way to create this new reality through each day’s decisions across the organization and each day’s actions that follow through — is to build your organization’s architecture, structures, systems, processes, practices, policies, and procedures tuned to it. Meaning your organization design reflects the following: 

1. A way in which when people execute their day’s tasks every day – they all produce exact outcomes every time for decades and beyond i.e. Purpose-centric outcomes 
2. A means your organization uses to carry out tasks of thinking, design, & execution that adhere to principles that ensure integrity to purpose 
3. An end in which organization’s results speak quantitatively and qualitatively about delivering purpose with profitability as accomplished
4. A daily insightful encounter with everyone inside your organization working and others who connect with the organization. The encounter reflects in behaviours of each way of working that WHY of purpose. 

All the above four must be in tandem, and it is only possible with what we have seen in most silently growing organizations for centuries: they have built a 93% of agile, intelligent systemic architecture while 7% is what people dependent work in their organization. This outcompetes them and outclasses them from the mass. 

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Also remember: 
“He who has a why to live for can bear any how.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

The above once you accomplish in reality – you will never lose sight of the purpose.

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What does having a purpose do?

It gives the biggest power – The power of visualisation.  

When you visualise, you connect your entire brain function which includes emotions, desires and logic to the future that you want to create for yourself. 

When you visualise with the belief that you deserve to become what you visualise, your actions and behaviours automatically align with the future picture of yours.  

Visualization is about projecting your faith to summon the universe for help. It is a way to connect and trust higher intelligence beyond ours to deliver what we believe we deserve. 

It is not about projecting your desired image on your mental screen. You don’t project what you desire to achieve. You believe what you project. You believe in emotions. If you fear not investing emotions while you visualize because you don’t want to be too in it and probably learn that you failed — then it won’t work a miracle. 

You win wars when you go invested in thinking you won’t return. You win, or you increase your chances of winning many folds when you accept death as a probable result. You have made peace with death, and then you go to war, and then you are the most dangerous weapon in war. You win or die in that you still win.  

These are the emotions when you combine and do visualization. It connects you with the universe. Your vibrations become powerful that universe delivers circumstances and means to achieve your dream. 

Powerful visualization has an embedded faith that whatever you want is here in abundance, except you ought to become first for that. It is the person and their becoming that counts. Things and desires all get acquired as per who you are and what you become.

Visualization is hence a powerful way to fast-track your becoming. Behind this, you have to put your systemic best efforts, ideas, thoughts, strategies, plan and discipline daily to break your sweat for what you want that the becoming will be an answer to. 

This won’t mean that life won’t be struck and thorns won’t be in your way to build yourself, but if you keep going and don’t give up – no dream is too far to reach. 

Practical steps for visualization: 

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The power of visualisation, as described by accomplished leaders in their field:  

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Now, you ought to work for results.
You and those who are part of executing your dream ought to work daily with discipline, focus and commitment.

In the organization context,
this is where the purpose-built structures, systems and execution infrastructure for daily performance form 93% of the organization’s decisions, work, and tasks execution engine, and rest 7% is formed of people. 

People who will diligently use the 93% unquestionably to move the mountains to keep  the purpose alive every single day delivering over a chosen period the outclassed results you want your dream to be.

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In organisations to reach the vision, it takes more than visualisation.  It takes: 

1. Firstly, systematic alignment through well-designed systems 
2. 24*7 communication function to keep the purpose alive in behaviours and actions
3. An organisation-level mechanism to create continuity of flow of decisions, information and ideas.