The meaning of life is to give your gift away

One of my key teachings to my clients around leadership and communications is:

“When you are sick to death of communicating your message…

… you are probably halfway there.”

See: “Leadership — Repeat ad nauseam” and multiple other posts.

Today I’m therefore repeating a thought I’ve shared many times before in different forms, and it is around this quote that I first shared in a post over three years ago, entitled: “Purpose, work, gifts, sharing”:

“The purpose of life is to discover your gift.
The work of life is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away.”

David Viscott

The quote from Viscott above came back to me this week when I had a one-hour mentoring call with a business owner through a programme with a network I support. They emailed me after the call to thank me and to note some specific learnings and actions they will take (I love it when people get specific!). However, at the end, they finished with: “I really do appreciate you sparing the time.”

This choice of language does sometimes come up when I take time to listen to people unconditionally, offering them space and time for reflection, then (if they wish) then offering insights, ideas for them to use for…