On the other hand, do you know what happens when you choose a business direction that's not aligned with your life passions? You end up settling for an opportunistic approach toward your livelihood instead of selecting an endeavor that fuels you and helps you make a special contribution to the world.

You may have found yourself hopping from idea to idea, from career to career, or from business venture to business venture, accomplishing less than you're capable of achieving. If this seems familiar, it may mean that you're selecting opportunities that appear convenient, but that aren't closely related to your mission in life.

Below are three reasons why using a strategic alignment approach is crucial in helping us to develop and pursue goals that are worthy of our time and energy.

Alignment Reason #1 ? Marketing Message:

Developing branding and marketing materials that communicate with laser-like precision what we represent depends on a deep awareness of how our life passions align with our business purpose. And even if we are clear about our passions but haven't fully integrated them with other predominant themes in our lives, we can still send confusing messages to prospective customers, clients, partners, and employees.

Alignment Reason #2 ? Generating Momentum:

When we skip the step of investigating our higher purpose, especially when considering a mid-life business transition, the results can come back to haunt us. It's very common in any startup scenario to become burned out. If we're not passionate about the opportunity, it will be difficult to gather steam and develop momentum.

Alignment Reason #3 ? Competitive Advantage:

Pursuing what we love imbues our work with magnetic sparkle that attracts not only customers and clients but also potential business partners, adding to our competitive strength.

Furthermore, if we can elevate our business passions to the level of a compelling cause, we will be in a better position to entice prospective employees through our business philosophy. A vision-based attraction is particularly important during the startup phase when other forms of compensation tend to be especially low. It can thereby help us to create a greater competitive advantage by attracting an outstanding team.

In conclusion, from sending crystal-clear and compelling marketing messages, to maintaining our business momentum, to developing a distinct competitive advantage around an appealing cause, nothing speaks as powerfully as doing what we love.