The Inside Job — Rediscovering Purpose

Sometimes purpose isn’t found in the storm; it’s found in the stillness that follows, when we stop trying to control the outcome and start learning to wait.

After every storm, there’s quiet, and that’s where the real work begins.

We talk about finding purpose as if it’s hidden somewhere out there: in a job, a project, a title. But purpose isn’t external. It’s internal, an inside job.

It often goes missing during the noise, when we’re chasing deadlines, solving problems, or trying to prove ourselves. Then something happens that forces us to stop. To pause. To wait.

A few years back, I found myself in that kind of moment, sitting in the Houston airport during a massive snowstorm. Flights canceled. Lines everywhere. Everyone is on their phones, trying to rebook, find hotels, and find control.

I just sat there. Watching the noise.

There was nothing I could do to move the storm, no shortcut to clarity.

Eventually, I found myself stuck in a hotel for days. It wasn’t the first time. I remembered another trip years earlier, consulting for a company out of Chicago. Another snowstorm hit. The city shut down. The hotel restaurant closed. I had to walk to a store, pick up supplies, and store my food on the ledge outside the window to keep it cold.

It sounds small, but that moment stayed with me.

Waiting. Watching. Thinking.

Wondering if I was still heading in the right direction, not in the city, but in life.

That’s the quiet I’m talking about. The waiting room between what was and what’s next. The place we hate to be, but often the only place where we hear what really matters.

Purpose rebuilds in that stillness. It doesn’t arrive with speed; it comes with surrender. It shows up in patience, perspective, and gratitude for what we can control and what we can’t.

Sometimes we need the storm. It forces us to slow down, recalibrate, and realize the compass has always been inside us; we just had to stop long enough to find it.

Coffee Reflection:

What’s your version of the storm, that moment when you had to stop, wait, and rediscover what truly drives you?