James Syngai – Discover Your Purpose at Chillibreeze

At some point in time during our childhood, often the question arose, what we want to become when we grow up. I’m sure someone has asked you as well.

How many of us grew up and became the people we wanted to be when we were young? I’m sure some had the dedication and opportunities to do what they set out to do, but for the vast majority of us though, our dreams of who we wanted to be and the realities of life can be quite far apart.

Take me for example, towards the end of my education; I wanted to be a molecular biologist. That never came to pass as I was unable to clear specific requirements. Sure I was disappointed at the time, but now I have no regrets whatsoever. I am content with how my life turned out so far, and I am continuously grateful that I get to be a part of Chillibreeze every day – it’s more special for me given that I’m one of the first employees of the company when it started operating from Shillong 15 years ago in 2004.

I know figuring out what to do with one’s life is hard but have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life?

I’m not trying to be all philosophical here or thinking about some high and lofty purposes that are nice to think about but impossible to attain; I’m talking about more down-to-earth and realistic purposes.

Discovering your purpose is more about finding your strength, your talents, what you’re good at and then having the right environment and work culture to be able to put these skills and abilities to good use and for a greater good. Come to think of it, maybe talking about the purpose of life does sound a little too philosophical; but what I mean has more to do with perhaps the purposes of work.

However, you must also understand that Chillibreeze believes in the Transforming Power of Work. We believe that work provides purpose.

Work is an important part of life. Quality, faithful, diligent, honest work is something that has a value in itself and should be perceived as a privilege and opportunity. It is not just a means to an end, but minute by minute and task by task, it can add value to others.

Notice the last part, adding value to others; this is what Chillibreeze is always working towards. This is where your purpose can come alive.

Here’s a very brief glimpse of my story and how I came about discovering my purpose.

Throughout my 14 years with Chillibreeze, I have been very fortunate to be a part of starting and building something special and long lasting – first, building our core overnight PowerPoint services that Chillibreeze is now known for and second, slowly building and leading a team of PowerPoint designers. In both endeavors, I gradually started to learn about my strengths and weaknesses.

For example, I discovered that I had pretty good administrative skills and this, in turn, proved to be very useful when we had multiple projects that needed completion at the same time frame. As the business grew and we were serving more and more customers, I even got a designation of “project coordinator” – we don’t have such names anymore by the way.

I also learned that I was a very good manager but not so much a leader (there is a difference between the two). Apart from utilizing my strengths, learning what my weaknesses are, helped me to not only be aware of them but also work towards getting better at them.

Being aware of my strengths and talents enabled me to focus on areas that match them and this, in turn, led to bigger and better opportunities.
More opportunities also meant more influence and responsibilities within the company.

Over the years, getting the chance to work on what I’m good and strong at has enabled me to discover what my passion and my purpose is.
Today, I can say without a doubt that my work in Chillibreeze has not only made a difference to the team here but also to our numerous customers in various parts of the world.

As humans, I’m sure we all have, at one time or another, wanted our lives to make a difference, to have a direct impact on someone – it can be even the smallest of impacts but an impact none-the-less.

Being a part of Chillibreeze and believing in the transforming power of work has allowed me to do just that.

Has your life made a difference to someone else?

Share your story in the comments below.