What’s your favourite day?
“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favourite day,” said Pooh. (#1)
More profound than he may have imagined, Winnie-the-Pooh touches the heart of something important: the fact that today is the only day. Taken seriously, this has implications for work and life satisfaction.
What practical use can you make of this?
Last week, when we raised this point with a friend who was feeling angsty about setting goals for 2026, he shrugged it off, “Nice idea, maybe, but so what? Work, careers, businesses all run on timelines.”
Sure, that’s the dominant view. But it’s not the only one. If you can find a way to act on Pooh’s insight, it can influence what work you prioritise on a daily basis – and increase your sense of fulfilment with work (and life).
As you race towards the end of the work year, then the season’s festivities, and then holidays, you might feel a niggle of “What’s the point?” What are you really up to – especially if you’re not too keen at the thought of getting back to work again in the New Year?
Torment of the timeline
You can view your work or career along two different “lines”. The timeline view tends to focus on goals and objectives set in the future – near or distant. It’s the sequence of unending deadlines and targets.
The other line is your purpose-line. It’s what your purpose is. Why are you doing the things you need to do today? It traces how your purpose shows up. It includes the enduring values you hold, the contributions you want to make. It’s the context that enables you to make sense moment by moment of why you are doing what you do. It’s how you will feel fulfilled at the end of today.
As you extend this purpose-line to include more of your working life, you are likely to see features of the broader landscape around your work that were previously invisible. You will see today’s activities clearly in their alignment (more or less) with the motivating reasons behind doing what you are doing, including where and for whom you are working.
Purpose-based prioritising
What tends to happen when you bring a purpose-line perspective to your day’s activity, is that you prioritise today’s to-do list differently. This is critical given that today is actually all you have in which to do anything – so it should include at least some activity that contributes to your purpose. Whether you are working or not. Satisfaction lies in this direction.
Here’s the trick though: Use both lines but understand that the timeline gives no meaning. It is just a planning tool. Use it to manage your diary, but not your career – use your purpose-line for this. Doing meaningful work and the fulfilment you will find from it comes from aligning your actions with your purpose.
It’s okay to be modest – the realities of working mean it can be hard or impossible to stop one activity and start another better aligned with your purpose. But take heart, it’s about progress, and it’s gradual – and it starts with being clear about what your purpose for working really is. That’s where your purpose-line starts.
Act today
Our friend decided not to set any New Year goals. Instead, he wrote a simple statement of his purpose for working – a New Year’s “gift-to-self”. You might like to do this too. It can be simple as ….
“My purpose for working is to: … So the steps I take today on this purpose-line include: …”
Fill in the dots. Remembering that a purpose is not a time-bound event, it does not exist on a timeline. It’s something meaningful you can advance every day and be pleased that you have.
Cheers to a purpose-filled day!
Frances and Max