Pencils, Purpose, and the Point of It All

The success of love is in the loving—it is not in the result of loving.  
We are not called to be successful, but faithful.
MOTHER TERESA

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The scent of freshly sharpened pencils is in the air.  Target and Walmart aisles are brimming with color-coded binders.  Teachers across the land have prepped their Pinterest boards and perfected their passive-aggressive email closings.  And somewhere, a child is already counting the days until Christmas break.

Ah yes, the new school year has arrived.

It’s a season that comes with its own sacred rhythm—fresh starts, full backpacks, and the collective delusion that this year, we’ll keep everything organized. (Spoiler: You won’t.  And that’s okay.)

But this time of year, this reset, isn’t just for students. Leaders, this is your nudge.

This is your call to sharpen your own metaphorical pencils and re-examine what it’s all really for.

Results vs. Reverence
In one of my older blog posts from way back in 2013—before we used phrases like “quiet quitting” or “emotional labor” like we knew what we were talking about—I reminded leaders that the true value of our work is not in the results alone.

Now, I hear the spreadsheets shuffling and the KPIs whimpering.  Don’t panic.  Results do matter.  But they are not the point.  They are evidence.  Like breadcrumbs in the forest, they show where you’ve been—not necessarily where you’re going.

The point—and the power—of leadership lies not in the numbers, but in the nudges.  The daily, unsexy, mostly invisible actions we take that move people toward purpose, clarity, and courage.

The high-five after a failed pitch.
The quiet “thank you” to the burned-out team member.
The decision to pause the meeting and ask, “What’s really going on here?”

These things rarely show up in Q3 reports.  But they are the moments when transformation begins.

The Unmeasured Miracle 
There’s a reason Mother Teresa didn’t say, “We are called to hit our quarterly objectives.”

She understood something that many of today’s leaders forget:  We are not judged by our titles or trophies but by our touch—by the way we show up for others when no one’s watching.

So let me ask you something uncomfortably tender:

Have you fallen in love with the process again?

Have you remembered why you picked up the mantle of leadership in the first place?

Maybe it wasn’t for the glory or the title (although those are nice).  Maybe, just maybe, it was because you knew you could make a difference—even if just a small one, even if just in one life.

That is no small thing. That is holy work.

A New Semester of Leadership
As teachers and kids return to classrooms, armed with lunchboxes and optimism, maybe we can take a page from their book.  They don’t walk into Day One knowing everything.  They show up curious.  They fall.  They try again.  They ask questions.  They color outside the lines—mostly because no one told them not to.

What if your leadership looked like that?

What if this month, you let go of performance perfection and picked up purposeful presence?

What if you stopped measuring your worth in metrics and started measuring it in moments?

The results will come.  Or they won’t.  But the real miracle is in the way you live and lead between now and then.

So go ahead—sharpen your pencils, your purpose, and your perspective.

Someone needs your faithful leadership far more than your flawless execution.

And that, dear leader, is the point of it all.

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Have an amazing journey today!

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Alan Mikolaj is a seasoned coach and leadership development consultant with nearly 20 years of experience.  He is passionate about helping leaders transform their leadership, their teams, and their organizations.  He has an impactful, professional approach driven by a passion for meaning and purpose, a growth mindset, and a commitment to excellence and service in order to drive change and results.
Alan holds his Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and Associate Certified Coach credential with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and maintains their ethics and standards of behavior, including the standards regarding confidentiality.  You can learn more about them on the ICF website.
Transformational change starts with a conversation!
Schedule your free, one-hour session by clicking here: Discovery Conversation with Alan
Or call or email: Contact Page

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