A Recap

In the previous post, we have been talking about the importance of people in our pursuit of purpose. We have already ascertained that purpose is not something that you can hack alone. You need people. You need connections. You need networks. However we have also seen that it is not only the good people that matter, also the “bad” ones. In that article, we shared about “Haters” to open up the discussion on the different kind of people that you need in the pursuit of your purpose. At times, the “bad people” can open your eyes and be much more “valuable” to you than your close friends ever could be.

Personally, I normally hit high levels of “revival” after an encounter with either the right or wrong person. Either way, people are like walking banks where we both deposit and withdraw as we interact. As an author, woe to all the “bad” people in my life, they tend to end up in the pages of my books as examples…but I digress.

In this post, we shall  look at three other important groups of people that you need in their pursuit of purpose.

2. Hypocrites

A moment of silence please. These are the most dangerous people that you need. Why is that? Their importance in your pursuit of purpose is always known after some time. Hypocrites get easily excited about vision and want to jump on board. What they lack is the spine of commitment and follow through. I can see you smiling because you can count them by all your fingers and toes too, but you will still be counting when you are done with your hands and legs. Hypocrites teach us two things: First, they teach us that not everyone will be on board with our purpose. They teach us that not everyone will be excited and happy about our purpose and vision. Secondly, they teach us not to share our passion and vision with just about everybody. In the end, they help to show us how passionate we are about what we are pursuing. One characteristic about hypocrites is that they have too much theoretical knowledge. However they are devoid of action. Working with hypocrites will teach you a lot along the way. You need them to teach you the lessons of life, but not to be involved in your vision. So fire them as soon as you can.

3. Hustlers

I love this bunch. These are fellow sourjorners, fellow passionate pursuers of purpose. Wow! They are the people that either directly or indirectly inspire you. You look at the monumental things that they are pulling off in their lives and you get challenged. We need these guys by the droves in our lives…but the question is..how many are they out there? Hustlers are highly skilled, highly talented and highly focused people. They are those who know what their purpose is and they are pursuing it to the hilt. The beauty of the hustlers is that there is a portion of their pursuit that can easily lock into your purpose. Probably you needed a highly skilled person in a certain thing that will contribute to fulfillment of your purpose. That is why Moses needed Bezaleel that gifted artist and architect to build the Ark of the Covenant. What a hustler. Today, we need graphic designers, publishers, video editors, marketers, PR officials and so on. Woe to you if you get a pretender of a hustler. Excellence should be the hallmark of your pursuit of purpose. So you need this bunch.

4. Helpers

These are appointed specifically to help you pursue the vision to the end. There are many of these by the droves. You ask: How come I have never seen one? Well, chances are that either you have not clarified your vision or you have not leaned into it long enough and asked all the questions that need to be asked. David had a Samuel. Moses had an Aaron. Adam had an Eve. You get my point. Helpers come in three major categories:

Lifters

These are sons of encouragement. They boost your spirit and soul when you are afraid, when you are down and when you are tired and feel like giving up. They might not give you something materially as a resource, but the spiritual capital they will give you is invaluable.

Lock Busters

These open doors for you that usher you directly into your purpose. TD Jakes needed a lock buster for he was once obscure. I believe that each of us in life has several lock busters in our lives. In fact, we can track our greatest achievements in life to the influence of a Lock Buster. That includes jobs, influence and so on. Lock Busters put their reputation on the stake for you. My being here professionally is connected to one Lock Buster in my life. Now, these can only open the doors for you, but what you do after the doors are opened is up to you. Oprah has lock busted the lives of very many would be obscure people. The thing with appearing on Oprah though is that by that time, you should have some fruits off your vision and pursuit that people can partake. If a Televangelist like Benny Hinn hosts you on his show, you are guaranteed to reach over one Billion people at once world wide. The thing is that to get to a position of being lock busted, you must be doing something and showing some promise.

Lighters

These are the ones that kindle your vision to fruition by providing the necessary financial help that you need. They are people who are loaded and resources are not a struggle for them. Lighters look at the end product of your vision. Their main interest is the impact that your vision or purpose is bringing on earth. They might not have time to get their hands dirty with the vision in terms of organizing, logistics and all. However, they have the necessary resources to fund it.

If you are to attract the attention of a Lighter, it follows then that your vision must be white hot with clarity and it must of course serve the better good of society. I am told there are people with billions of dollars idling in their accounts. They are looking for visionaries with specific bias of impact in society. They can’t find them. Lighters are so attracted to daringly massive dreams and visions. They are not few in number…they are actually in abundance. What lacks of course is the vision.

In your pursuit of purpose, you might not be able to escape interacting with all these four types of people. W need them all. Like we have already shared earlier, your vision is something that you might not be able to pull it off alone, even if God gave you 200 more years to be alive. God has structured life in such a way that we need each other in order to be productive.