Mission-Driven Work is Not Martyrdom

When I was a nonprofit leader, I sat square in the middle of an organization that was fiercely mission-driven and had high standards and ambitions. Even though we weren't in the type of work where there were emergencies, everyday certainly felt like one.

Like so many nonprofits, we were understaffed and under-resourced. We were stretched thin and determined to serve beyond our capacity. 

It was a marathon, but we were sprinting the whole way.

I tried to channel our ambition into priorities. Before each staff meeting, I'd meet with the Executive Director to outline our priorities for the coming weeks. I was able to narrow it down to a list of no more than five. 

I recently read Greg McKeown's book, Essentialism, which completely changed how I think about "priorities:"

"The word 'priority' came into the English language in the 1400s and it was singular. It meant the very first thing. It stayed singular, very sensibly, for the next 500 years! Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start speaking of 'priorities.' So while we can find ourselves feeling that everything is a priority, literally by definition, it can't be." 

Here was the problem: by setting five priorities, we were failing to set an actual priority.

We wanted to continue to knock it out of the park in all areas. But in doing so, we compromised all of our efforts and ran the risk of burning out our whole team.

📝( You might want to grab a pen for this...)

Committing to one priority instead of five gives us a filter for our work. McKeown calls it "one decision that makes a thousand." 

Doing things well requires tradeoffs and saying no to some things. To set this kind of focus we need to give ourselves permission to not be all things to all people. We need to practice that discipline in order to understand that the world won't fall apart when we do this—it actually gets better.

For me, it's taken time (3 years and counting) to rewire myself from the nonprofit martyrdom approach.

When this year began, I had a post-it wall full of exciting ideas for Penney Leadership—new offerings, new ways to share ideas, new questions to pursue and answer. 

But as January came to a close, a singular priority emerged: Protect the asset (also from Essentialism).

When I'm reaching out in too many directions, I exhaust myself and don't perform well. By the time Friday night rolls around, I'm facedown on the couch breathing deeply and trying to calm myself down (it happened). 

I am the greatest asset to my business, and if I'm flaming out, that's a problem. It's on me to rein it in and get myself together so I'm whole and ready to serve others.

Starting now, I won't allow myself to use the word "prioritIES" anymore. It will always be singular: priority. 

My priority now is to set up and honor boundaries that allow me to show up as my best self to serve others; to create tools and resources that can be leveraged for use again and again. I will focus my energy to bring you the best and most useful stuff. In McKeown's words, I'll do less, but do it better. 

We need to change the idea that being mission-driven = martyring ourselves to a cause. 

Mission-driven work is about strategically serving others to make a meaningful impact. (<-- the key words are "strategically" and "meaningful," both of which imply discernment and tradeoffs.) In order to make an impact, the work must be focused and sustainable. 

You may not be a senior leader of your organization, but you are the senior leader of your life. 

Ask yourself: What's the most important thing now? 

It likely won't be a simple answer. You'll have to cut through the noise of all of the "buts" and "have to's" to get to the heart of it.

As McKeown says: "By creating the space to think and listen we can discern the first or prior thing among many other good and worthy tasks."

There are many things you can do. But what will you make your priority?