The Purpose-Over-Passion Alignment Filter
Keep work that serves your purpose without making the journey miserable.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 93%
Justin Colby's filter separates purpose from passion and then looks for alignment between them. Passion may attract someone to an activity, but he argues it carries only part of the load when difficulty arrives; a sufficiently important purpose supplies the conviction to continue through the inevitable storm. The same filter also permits quitting: if a company has no connection to the founder's purpose, uses the wrong strengths, and creates misery that reaches the family, a possible future payday is not enough reason to keep it. Colby applies this to his own seven-company portfolio, including releasing a tech company through an acquisition while leaning into entrepreneurial education and podcasting. The output is a smaller set of commitments that match who the founder is now rather than preserving an identity built over the previous 20 years.
Origin
While describing seven current companies, Justin Colby said he expected to reduce them to two or three. His tech company was in acquisition due diligence, and he contrasted its lack of purpose with the energy and impact he experiences through The Entrepreneur DNA podcast.
Core principles
- 01Passion alone is too weak to carry you through every storm.
- 02Purpose creates the conviction and stamina to continue.
- 03A possible future payday does not justify a decade of misery.
- 04A business identity can change as the founder changes.
- 05Purpose and passion together are stronger than either one alone.
How to run it
- 1
Name the present purpose
Define the impact or role that matters to you now, without assuming the identity that built your past must define your future.
Pro tip Describe what you want to be known for today, not only what has made money before.
- 2
Test every commitment
For each business or role, ask whether it advances that purpose and whether it uses your natural strengths.
Watch out A company can sound impressive and still fail the alignment test.
- 3
Price the lived cost
Account for the years of misery, the effect on your spouse and children, and the experiences forgone while waiting for a possible payout.
Pro tip Evaluate the journey as well as the theoretical exit value.
- 4
Distinguish storms from misalignment
Do not abandon meaningful work simply because passion dips during difficulty. Continue when the purpose remains strong; reconsider when the purpose itself is absent.
Watch out Using temporary discomfort as proof of misalignment can disguise ordinary resistance.
- 5
Release and concentrate
Sell, hand off, or reduce commitments that fail the filter, then lean into the work where purpose, energy, and strengths converge.
In the wild
Colby said his seven-company portfolio included tech, real estate, a stake in a gold mine, and two education companies. He was in due diligence to sell his tech company because he had neither passion nor purpose in that space and did not want a possible payday ten years later to justify misery that affected his family.
→ He is actively shrinking the portfolio and concentrating on entrepreneurial education, podcasting, and selected real-estate activity that better match his current purpose.
After 20 years as a real-estate investor, Colby no longer wants that to be his only identity. He wants to be known for bringing people together and helping entrepreneurs, while retaining some real-estate activity rather than treating the change as an all-or-nothing rejection of his past.
→ His brand and workload can evolve without discarding the useful business foundation he already built.
Common mistakes
Following passion without purpose
Enjoying something does not mean you will tolerate the daily demands required to operate it when conditions become difficult.
Keeping a company for a hypothetical payday
A distant exit can conceal the cumulative cost of years spent miserable and the effect that has on family life.
Treating an old industry as permanent identity
Holding on because you have been known for one field for 20 years can block work that better fits who you are now.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders pruning a portfolio, changing industries, or deciding where to concentrate their time.
Not ideal for
Short-term unpleasant tasks that still clearly support an important purpose and do not impose a sustained personal cost.
From the transcript
“But if I'm miserable for the next 10 years and that's reflective on my wife and my children, it does no good to make that…”
“If you're purpose driven of what you're trying to go and create, then the money is going to come. And if that can alignment with…”
“When the storm comes, your passion can waver, right?”
From the episode
From Wholesaling to 7 Companies