Tip Thursday - Uncovering Purpose

Having a purpose, having a passion for what we do, is essential to our long-term success... at
anything!  Often we are led astray with the promise of big money, a big sounding deal, a big title. We become disheartened and disillusioned though when the positive feelings from these 'big' ticket items fade. To help you re-find, and redefine your purpose, ask yourself... If money was not an issue, what would you choose to do? Does what you are currently doing resemble this at all? In what way(s)? And... if not... why not?

Sometimes uncovering your truth is all about asking yourself the right questions.

Don't Hide in Your Job

We all have a job to do. You know, that thing your company pays you to do.  Odds are you have a description of it, a list of activities you engage in to produce a product or service.

However, this description can be misleading for many who, erroneously, come to believe that their 'job' is all that they need to do; to get paid, to get promoted, to get recognition. Imagine their disappointment to discover that their 'job' is typically describing the baseline requirement for their role.

Your job may describe a series of activities you need to complete to receive your pay but don't think that simply doing your job is enough for you to get ahead. It is far too easy to show up each day and simply 'do' your job, nothing more or less.  This doesn't help to propel either you or the organisation forward.

Sure, by doing your job you are technically doing what was asked of you, and that you are paid to do, but it is playing it safe.  You can't really fail, get in trouble or make much of a mistake if you are just doing your job. In short, it is far too easy to hide out in your job, not pushing or growing your skills and abilities.

If you're not stretching, you're not adding value

We can all spend our days just doing our jobs, but it is those that are focused on taking on the true work, on adding real value, that are growing themselves and the business.  These are the people that should get ahead, because they are not interested in merely doing their job, but in changing their job, in shifting it to get at the real work.

They aren't interested in sitting complacently within a job they are comfortable in, playing it safe. Instead, they look to expand their role, identify work that is valued and needed, and get it done. This is work that changes the landscape, that creates an impact, that makes a difference.  It is work that saves money, saves time, opens new opportunities, streamlines processes, creates new revenue streams, enhances the customer experience, forges new partnerships and drives new business.

"The last thing we want is to remain as we are"     Steve Pressfield, 'Do the Work'

It has been said that your job is what you are paid to do, while work is what you were 'made' to do. How much of this work have you taken on?  How much have you avoided by hiding in your job?

If your personal mantra seems to be 'I'm just doing my job', then you are likely hiding within your job avoiding doing the real work. Sure, you've got reasons but if you accept that all the reasons you voice are merely excuses for not doing the work then you see that the biggest obstacle to your success is you.  Ask yourself...

What new challenges am I prepared to take on?
What new skills am I looking to develop or expand?
What opportunities exist for me?  For my department?  For my company?
What could be done better or differently?
Am I adding value?
Am I stretching and growing?

Any negative responses to the above questions may mean that you are hiding out within your job, getting caught in the daily to-do list but avoiding taking on anything of true value.  Know that you were made for better than this, that you are capable of 'more'.  You have to see the purpose and value of more to be willing to take it on though. It is only by focusing on the work, rather than on your job, that you are going to be living a life of passion and purpose.

So many of my clients struggle with identifying their passion, believing that it is their passion that will drive their willingness and desire to do the work, when it is the other way around.  It is by engaging in the work, physical and mental activities that accomplish something of value, that they come to experience and identify their passion.

To live a more satisfying life, to get the recognition and promotions you want, to experience the growth and fulfillment of your potential, to add value to those around you...

Do the work and quit hiding in your job. 

6 Top Ways Corporations Kill their Employee's Meaning

The internet is full of articles outlining suggestions on how to motivate your employees, in an effort to get more work (presumably good work) done.  I believe I've written a few myself. Managers tend to find these articles appealing because they typically offer actionable steps to be systematically followed, allowing them to feel 'in control' of the motivational issue.

What isn't addressed as often though is the importance and necessity of injecting meaning into the work that people do.  In their book The Progress Principle, authors Teresa Amable and Steven Kramer share that of all the actions you can take or implement to engage your workers, the single most important and effective is to give them more meaningful work.

But, I hear you say, there is a limit of meaningful work to be done within the company, much of the work is relatively repetitive and boring, though necessary.  The key point to remember is that ALL work, at ALL levels, is important to helping the organization achieve its desired level of success - making it all meaningful.  Your job is help make those connections for your people.

Viktor Frankl, Neurologist, Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, in his definitive book Man's Search for Meaning, wrote about how it was those individuals in the camp who held onto a sense of meaning and purpose for their lives that experienced the greatest survival rate within the concentration camps.

Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.  Viktor Frankl

Having an understanding of our 'why', giving our work meaning and purpose, is the biggest motivator of all.  No matter what work your people do, their job exists for a reason.  When you help them to understand that reason the work is more fulfilling. They feel more satisfied and their productivity levels increase.

In one study this concept was explored more fully. The researchers took a look at the fund-raising efforts of a University, in contacting their alumni.  The callers were divided into three groups.  The first group made their calls and went on their normal breaks.  The second group made their calls but on breaks they were given stories to read from previous callers, describing how rewarding they found the experience of helping raise funds for scholarship programs to have been.  The third group made their calls but on breaks they read stories from previous scholarship winners talking about how the scholarships changed their lives.

Most of you, I'm sure, expect that the second group was more successful than the first group in obtaining donations, and that the third group was even better.  All true.  However, what was astounding was 'how much' better the third group proved.  Reading about how much the funds raised impacted the lives of recipients, reading about all the 'good' they did with that investment, increased the success rate of callers by 250%!  Helping callers understand the true meaning and purpose of their calls drove the success by 250%.  This was huge and has equally large implications for you and your organization.  Imagine the impact on productivity if your people believed their day to day actions to have meaning and purpose.

However, simply helping your people to discover the meaning and value of their work is not enough, not if you engage in behaviours that negate or diminish their sense of value and worth.  You need to continue to demonstrate to people that their work has value if they are to cling to their sense of purpose.  Below are 6 of the biggest mistakes you may be making, in killing the sense of meaning and purpose in your employee's.

1.  Dismissing the importance or relevance of employee's work and input.  

Think of your behaviour in meetings.  Do you ever catch yourself rolling your eyes or sighing in exasperation?  These behaviours can leave employees feeling that their contributions do not have value.  When an employee hands you a report or assignment, do you toss it to the pile on the side of your desk without glancing at it?  Studies show that even taking the time to simply glance at it and respond with a 'thanks' or even a head nod, is sufficient to maintain their feelings of value and meaning.

2. Switching people off of teams before projects are completed.

Closure matters.  Moving people off of a project before it is concluded can undermine their sense of truly being part of something that made a difference.  The 'finishing' stage is an important part of bringing value.  There may be times that you can't help moving someone onto something else but express your gratitude for all of their inputs on the existing project and ensure you give them work that they get to see through to completion before moving them again.

3.  Constantly shifting goals and focus.

This is similar to the point above in that constantly changing the goals and targets of the organization leaves employees feeling disconnected to the outcomes.  It is tantamount to a form of Corporate ADD. How can employees feel that the work they are doing has any meaning if tomorrow the focus shifts and discounts everything they were engaged in to that point?

4.  Taking credit for your employee's ideas.

This one should be obvious.  If you take credit for the hard work of someone else they are not going to feel inclined to continue to work that hard.  When you steal their ideas and input you steal their 'why'.

5.  Assuming a policing role.

When your leadership style's emphasis is on making sure your people aren't doing anything wrong you highlight your lack of belief in their capability of doing anything right.  This leads them to minimize risk-taking, make fewer decisions or to try to implement anything new.  It is far more difficult to find anything meaningful in this work environment because it is now focused on maintaining and not on growth.

6.  Failing to link employee's contributions to corporate success.

Your people need to clearly recognise the connection between the work that they do and the corporation's vision/mission.  It doesn't matter if they are a big cog or a little one, the wheels don't turn if a cog of any size is not in place.

Recognising any of the above behaviours as your own is the first step.  Eliminating them is the next! There is no change without awareness.  Corporations may be good at coming up with the vision of the company, or even in identifying what Jim Collins (of Built to Last fame) referred to as Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAG), but they tend to miss the mark on living to those goals in the day-to-day management of activities. Observe your behaviours in each moment and assume accountability for them. Many are simply habits that you can modify to project a more positive and deliberate message.

Ultimately, helping employees to find their meaning not only makes them feel more engaged, but you might just find that your work feels more meaningful as a result.

It's a Matter of Moments

Our lives are a series of Moments strung together like one bead following another on a cord.  Most
moments in our lives don't stand out and remain indistinguishable from those that preceded it, or even from those that follow.

There are 'those' moments we experience though, that are memorable.  Moments that stand out in our minds, our memories and our hearts.  When we string these moments together, the moments that 'matter', we begin to shape and define our lives.  These are the moments that give meaning to the life we are living and that influence the choices we will make for the life we will live in the future.  Our perspective on what matters therefore, is critical in giving definition to how we view our lives and how we continue to live them.

As much as we typically assume that our memory is nothing but a direct recall of events as they were, it is important to recognise that our memory is driven by our choices.  Our memory of an event is shaped by 'How' we choose to remember an event and even by 'What' we choose to remember about it.  Our interpretation of an event then serves to influence the way we view it and, ultimately, how we remember it...

• as good or bad
• in joy or sorrow
• in pride or shame
• as loss or gain
• in anger or forgiveness
• as experience or failure

It is our choice that shapes the moments we preserve and that, in turn, shape the story of our lives.

If you don't like the story you are telling then choose different moments.  Many of us have inadvertently allowed others to select our moments for us, giving a shape to our stories that doesn't serve us and that we do not want to be defined by.  If so, then it is time to invest in ourselves and spend the time in redefining our lives, by restringing our moments.

Take mental scissors to your string of moments, cutting away those moments that don't serve the 'you' that you know yourself to be, the you that you want to be.  Invest the time to recall moments that support this desired view, moments that are empowering, pride-filled and heart-felt.  Choose moments of joy and triumph, moments of love and giving, but also moments of challenge and adversity, sorrow and loss.  

We learn much about ourselves through how we are tested.  Choose moments in which you dealt with your loss, overcame adversity, pushed further that you thought possible or pulled yourself back up out of despair.  These too are moments to be remembered and treasured.  

String together moments that define the true you, your humour, your strength, your passion, your honour, your sensitivity, your courage, your vulnerability, your tenderness, your openness, your creativity, your curiosity, your weaknesses, your humanity.  String together moments that tell the story of you and wear these moments with pride.

Our lives are a series of moments, strung together.  Choose the moments that matter to you, to define a life that matters... to you.

Life Priorities - Got Yours?

What are your Life Priorities?

No... not your to-do list.  I'm talking about the true gut-wrenching priorities, the 'things' that you would sacrifice all else for, that you measure your success by, that you put your energy toward, that life isn't worth living without.

Got them?  Hmmmm.

For some of us, this is a challenging question.  Sure, we have some work priorities (you know, those files piled up on the corner of our desks) and we have some financial priorities (fixing the leak in the bathtub) and we may have some family priorities (coaching our kid' soccer team) and we may have some personal priorities (didn't we just renew that gym membership?)...  but what about at least one true, overriding, it-influences-everything-else priority?

I don't think that many of my clients would be able to articulate one and, if they did, would be very success when they measured their actions and choices against it.  Paying lip-service to a priority is not the same as using it as the target against which all choices are measured.  And yet, this week, while coaching in Switzerland (I know, I know, but somebody had to do it!) I have had the privilege of meeting some people who not only are extraordinarily clear about their life priorities, they have made choices and sacrifices in support of those priorities.  Willingly.  Unfailingly.  Without complaint.

It was their joy and pleasure to work in support of that priority, even if it meant delaying their own personal gratification, because it was in clear service of that higher purpose.  A powerful lesson to me as i listened to the intensity with which they felt this, the passion that filled them, the clarity of their mission.

It struck me that, working primarily in North America as I do... that we are sorely lacking in a clear sense of our Life Priorities and what having them implies for the way in which we live our lives because, if we really believed fully in one Priority in our Life... we would live in service to it.  We would make choices in support of it and derive happiness and satisfaction from the opportunity to do so.  I don't know about you, but I don't think I remember having these kinds of discussions with my friends.  And yet... why not?

In a time in which most people seem dissatisfied with their lives, their careers, their choices, their purpose and calling, it seems that there are those for whom it is simple and clear.  In the movie City Slickers,  Jack Palance holds up a finger and remarks that life is all about 'One Thing'.  What's yours?  What's that one priority in your life that gives it meaning, purpose and shape?  What your One Thing that serves to define your choices and is your yardstick of a life well-lived?

I've experienced first hand the beauty and power of having clarity over your Life Priority.  If you lack this, spending time discovering your 'One Thing' and making choices that serve it, is likely your best key to living your best life.

Planning your Becoming

It's that time of year where the internet abounds with ideas for setting your resolutions, suggestions on keeping your resolutions and consolation to those that break them.  You can find tools and articles to help you set your goals, ways to make them SMART, and systems to help you break them down into manageable bites and schedule them.

Instead, I want to suggest that you add a dimension into your goal-setting this year.  All too often we focus on what we want to do or have.  Our focus is on what we want to 'get' out of and from our goal setting, but we spend little time reflecting on what that achievement will make of us.  We are all shaped by our experiences in some way.  What we live through, the way we approach and experience it, will shape the person we become.  It therefore makes sense to devote some time to considering, and planning, our Becoming.

“The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.”  Jim Rohn

We can all set goals that are achievable, allowing us to check them off the list and feel good about ourselves in being able to do so.  However, asking ourselves whether that goal aided us in becoming 'more' of the person we want and hope to be, is likely going to be a more challenging criteria.

Instead of simply establishing that almost inevitable New Year's resolution of weight-loss (come on... we all likely have a few pounds to lose after the holidays!) consider instead that the goal is not simply to lose weight.  In Planning your Becoming you take this a step further.  Perhaps you have always struggled to lose the weight, or perhaps your challenge was not in losing but in keeping the weight off.  The goal then is not truly to merely lose the weight but to gain the ability to remain with a lifestyle plan that allows you to create and maintain a healthy weight.  What do you need to 'become' in order to make this true of you?  A weight-loss plan merely becomes the vehicle by which you become the type of person that no longer needs a conscious weight-loss plan with a definitive start and stop, you simply 'are' the weight you want to to be, leading a lifestyle that supports that - effortlessly.

Your efforts shift slightly as your focus shifts.  No longer are you rewarding and celebrating each pound lost as the milestone, but instead rewarding the resiliency to stick with the plan, you recognise each donut you say no to as a nod to your determination, each sit-up and push-up as a testament to your internal strength and determination.

These are the life-lessons that surround us, that have not only helped shape the person that we have Become thus far, but that continue to shape us into the person we will be in the future.  Who do you want to be? Craft and plan now for your Becoming.  Build goals that test and strengthen and build the character traits you admire, the skills you want to possess, the values you believe in.  It's not simply about checking things off of the list, it's about checking the right things off.

Take a look at your list of resolutions and goals for the year and assess what their accomplishment truly means to you.  What life lessons will they provide, what character traits do they support or allow you to test or discover, what values do they build?  Who you Become is within you to create.  Begin shaping it consciously by establishing goals and accomplishments that support your Becoming.

Everything we do teaches us something about ourselves.  Spend your time wisely, teaching yourself those things that are worth learning.

Life Lessons from the Movies - The Legend of Bagger Vance

If you haven't had the opportunity to watch the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance... do.  There are a number of life lessons that may serve you (plus... it's a good movie!).  In this clip from the film, Will Smith is a caddy providing advice to his golfer, played by Matt Damon.

What's your authentic shot?

What is your true calling in life?  We all have a perfect shot out there, one that is in perfect harmony with all of our gifts and talents, but we have to get out of its way and let it choose us.  Too often we get caught up in the 'shoulds' (what we 'should' be, do and have) and wind up following someone else's prescribed path for us, rather than our own.  Sometimes we continue along a path we chose for ourselves (perhaps as far back as high school) simply because we feel we have invested too much time, energy and money in the path to simply walk away from it.  Sometimes we force fit a path into our lives because we like the sound of it, the money we get from it, or the prestige that goes along with it. Regardless of the reason, we are cluttering the field and throwing obstacles in the way of uncovering our authentic shot.  We get so caught up in living the life we have designed that we fail to hear or respond to the signals we get that clearly tell us that we are destined to walk a different path, that our passion and calling lies on a different field.  We need to still the voices, still the noise, clear the clutter and get out of the way of our authentic shot.  Allow it to choose and flow into you.  That's where you find your passion, where you enter flow and...

Where everything that is... becomes one

Stepping into our Passion

I'm writing this post as I am attending the Millionaire Speaker Camp in Chicago. This time around I am here not as a student per se (though when can you truly avoid being a student in any situation?) but as a speaker and coach to those formally going through the process.  I have the opportunity and luxury to watch these individuals struggle to uncover their message, to give voice to their why, to push beyond their existing barriers, to carve out something 'new' for themselves.  These people inspire me.  They should inspire you.

The attendees in this program are looking for a way to give voice to the knowledge, expertise and passion inside of them.  They have something to share and are struggling to create a process for doing so.  Many have never spoken in front of groups before.  Many are introverts who are not comfortable in doing so. Most are not looking to create a speaking career to create celebrity or fame but simply because they know this is the venue they require to reach the most people with their message.

In short... these are people with a mission and the passion to make it happen.  And they are willing to push through the barriers and fears that would hold them back and prevent them from doing so.  They have small wins, they have setbacks but they keep bouncing back and plugging themselves back in.  I have been given the gift of being able to share in a small part of their journey.  They are making me laugh, making me cry and making me applaud until my hands hurt.

I want the same for each of you.  I want you to be kicking your fears to the curb, standing up and saying 'I will not settle for less any longer.  I will not BE less any more'.

But... you have to be willing to take action.  You have to be willing to take a step, however small, that moves you into your voice and your passion.  We all have a passion and purpose.  We all have a reason that we are here, for ourselves and those around us, that requires us to play big.  Certainly bigger than we likely are right now.  Even one small step begins to create a desire for more.  It gives you a taste of what could be that creates a hunger for more.  What are you hungry for right now?

I am blessed to be spending time with a group of individuals that are hungry.  They are out to change the world and it is inspiring to watch them reach out and grab onto what they need to make it happen.  Fears are shaken and sloughed off, barriers are broken and left shattered in the wake of their growth and their change.
I wish the same for you.  You need to wish the same for you.  You need to not only wish for the same but to step up, step out and start.  This is your time to make things happen for you and there is never a better time than NOW!

Setting your Life GPS

I may have many skills in life but having a good sense of direction is definitely not one of them!  My son, at
age 4, was already correcting and directing me when driving together.  It means that, for someone like me, the GPS proves to be one of the greatest inventions of all time.  It helps me to get where I'm going, and to arrive on time, without needless detours.  When heading out the door on a business trip, especially somewhere I've never been, my family will ask if 'Hugh' is accompanying me.  (yes... I have named my GPS Hugh, given that I have it on the Australian man's voice setting!)

When I'm just driving in familiar surroundings my GPS is all but useless to me.  (sorry Hugh)  It lets me know where I am, but I don't need to know that if I already know where I am.  The only time that it proves its worth is when I've told it where I want to go and it helps me to get there.  This is especially helpful when I've lost my way.  If I know where I want to go, Hugh is there to help put me on the right path.

Life is not all that different.  If we know where we are already then we have little need for assistance from anyone else.  We are operating in the familiar and comfortable, in the 'known'.  It is when we step off the beaten path though, and begin to venture out into the unknown that we could use some help in finding our way.  However, we need one essential piece of information if others are going to truly be of assistance.  We have to be able to tell them where we want to go.

The GPS in our car is all but useless if we do not let it know our destination.  So too the receipt of any life advice.  We need to, in essence, GPS our life.  We need to take the time to determine our desired destination and then seek out the help and advice we need to get there.  Without that clear understanding of where we want to end up, people's advice (well meaning though it may be) will often serve to steer us off course.  Moving, perhaps, to a destination of their choosing, but not to our own.

Taking the time to set our Life GPS helps to ensure that the actions and steps that we take move us in our desired direction, and help to keep us on course.  The only downfall with my Life GPS, unlike the one in my car of course, is that it doesn't sound like Hugh Jackman!

Life-Hacking - Could Yours Use a Little?

Life-hacking.  This is a real term, a real phenomenon.  Popularized by Tim Ferriss, through his best-selling book The 4-Hour Work Week, life-hacking is helping people to redesign their lives, their work, their paths, their approaches.  According to Wikipedia, life-hacking ...

refers to any productivity trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to increase productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life; in other words, anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever or non-obvious way might be called a life hack.

Take Alex Day for example.  This young UK singer/musician hacked the UK music industry such that, with no manager, no producer, no agent and no PR help... took his single to #4 on the UK charts on Christmas Day, their biggest day of the year.  Oh... and he did it in 8 weeks.  Unheard of perhaps, but he hacked the system.  He looked for alternatives to the 'typical' processes, worked around the 'way it works' established systems, found a couple of loopholes and...  made it happen.  (see his story here)

Consider musician Amanda Palmer.  In her Ted Talk, aptly named the Art of Asking (here's the link), Amanda describes how, after being dropped by her record producer (because her band didn't bring in enough sales and revenue), she put her album out for free and simply asked people to pay what they'd like for it.  She netted well over a million in sales.

Two recent examples that I have simply tripped over (I didn't even go looking) that both highlight individuals that were willing (and able) to think outside of the proverbial box and try a different approach.  They weren't constrained in their minds by 'how things work' because those systems clearly weren't going to work for them.  Rather than give up or move on or... even worse... conform, they invented a new process, one that would give them the results that they were after.

How might this work for you?

How many times have you limited or restricted yourself from going after something that you want because there weren't enough resources to make it happen?  Because you didn't have the time to invest?  Because you didn't have the skills?  Perhaps all of these would be true if you were following the 'tried and true' approach to the issue but... what it... you reinvented the approach so that you didn't need the money, the expertise, the knowledge the... whatever is holding you back?  You create the rules and... go for it!

Re-invent.  Re-design.  Re-craft.  Re-tool.

When it comes to your life don't hate it... hack it!  The possibilities just grew exponentially!


(and... if you haven't read this yet...  here's the link to go buy it.  Read it.  Learn from it.  Do it.)

Finding Your Passion

When it comes to choosing a career direction we are often told to 'Follow our Bliss'.  The goal being,of course, to engage in work that we love and are passionate about.   For many of my clients this proves to be good in theory but much more difficult in practice.  Most lament that they don't seem to feel passionate about any job and therefore they feel they must settle for something that they are perhaps only mildly interested in.

Often the challenge in determining what 'job' might push your 'passionate button' rests in getting past the title. We have preconceived notions not only of what specific jobs and roles do, but of whether or not we are capable or suited to do them.  All too often we discount opportunities simply based on their title, and all that conveys to us.  'No, I wouldn't like that' or 'No, I don't have the skills for that' or, even worse, 'No, I could never do that'... are the phrases that limit our choices and restrict us from truly being able to explore, and determine, where our true passion lies.

The following exercise has proven useful to many of my clients in uncovering new paths and new sources of passion for them.  If you're feeling a little stuck or want to establish that 'path of purpose and passion'... give it a try.  You might be surprised what you discover about yourself, your interests and the path you could be on!

The Work...

Step One.  Get rid of your labels.  We want to start with a clean slate, no preconceived notions about what a 'job' is or does or whether you would be interested in it, good at it, or qualified to do it.  So... no focusing on titles, just ignore them completely.  For our purposes they are completely irrelevant. So too with job level...  we don't care what it is, how much money it pays or where it's located.  Also irrelevant.

Step Two.  Go to the job boards and read as many descriptions of different jobs as possible.  Read descriptions from different areas, disciplines, levels.  There is no pre-qualifying what might be a fit for you.  We are working from the broadest part of the funnel here, so you want to go as wide and broad as possible.  You don't currently know where your passion lies so don't disqualify anything before you check it out fully.

Step Three.  As you read over the descriptions, highlight for yourself any aspect of the description that strikes you as interesting or exciting.  It doesn't matter whether it is practical for your lifestyle or whether you have the skills to do it.  Keep an ongoing list of these elements, adding to the list any segment from any description you read that stirs your soul, or that moves you even a little!

Step Four.  Once you have uncovered a number of items and recorded them in your log, start to categorize them by their key skill and functional areas.

Step Five.  Analyze any of the trends and insights that you gain concerning the areas of interest that are now uncovered.  Spend some time thinking about how it fits to your current career path.  Are you on the right path already?  Are there some minor shifts and tweaks you need to make to strengthen your interest and passion?  Is it a major change that is needed to set you on the right course?

Step Six.  Determine what you need to create this new direction for yourself.  More education?  A coach or mentor to help bolster your skills?  A new role entirely?  Consider what you need to set you on the right path and list them.

Step Seven.  Should be intuitive...  go out and take action.  Even one step in the right direction will feel empowering and help stir the embers of your passion, filling you with purpose.

Oh, and one final caveat.  This is your list, your choices, your passion.  Other people get to choose their own path, don`t let them choose yours.  Sometimes what others want for us will not align with what we want for ourselves.  Uncover your passion and pursue it.  You only get this one go `round...  it`s a much more interesting ride to fill it with work that you love and that fulfills your purpose than spend it working to fill someone else`s.

Finding Your Purpose

As I write this it is the long-weekend here in Canada and I am enjoying the break up at our family cottage.  Okay... 'break' might be a bit of a misnomer since I am busy cleaning out cupboards of any traces of the mice that decided to join us over the colder winter months, cleaning out the gardens, putting the dock in... and whatever pieces of work I've brought with me from the office because... there's always something!

However, it is a totally different environment from the one I left behind and it definitely feels 'break-like' because of that.  As I sit here, early morning, sipping my Chai and watching the mist rise from the lake as the sun catches hold, the sole loon drifting past the end of the dock...  it seems the perfect time and place to think about the concept of Purpose.

I just finished a number of weeks of intensive coaching sessions.  Although we were there for an entirely different intent, it was interesting how often people would ask me what 'work' I thought they were suited for.  They were looking for some direction in finding work that was more satisfying to them, that seemed to 'fit' them better than what they were currently doing.  In essence, they were wondering if I had insights into their Purpose.

Like many, they were frustrated that others had seemingly found 'it' while they continued to struggle with finding anything that seemed to resonate within them, something that filled them with joy, satisfaction or... calling.  I recently came across a great exercise designed to help you discover your Purpose.  Anyone can do this exercise... even those of you that do not believe in the concept of Purpose!  This is taken from the blog of Steve Pavlina, a Personal Development guru.  I do recommend checking out his website (www.stevepavlina.com)

The Exercise:  Sit down in a quiet place at a time that you won't be disturbed (and yes, this means no phone calls, text messages or emails either!).  Take out a blank piece of paper, write My Life's Purpose across the top and... start writing.  Write down anything and everything that comes to mind.  No qualifying.  It doesn't matter if it's practical, doable or even remotely interesting to you.  Keep writing.

Push out the thoughts as though it's your life's mission to fill page after page of ideas.  As Steve puts it, you keep writing ...

...until you have the answer that makes you cry.  This is your purpose.

For some this will come quickly, you are looking for the moment where you write down an idea that fills you with emotion.  You might experience smaller emotional moments along the way that are signs you are getting closer to your true purpose.  It is that larger emotional surge, the idea that resonates fully within you, that defines your purpose.  You don't even have to believe in the idea of  a life's purpose for this exercise to work!

The perfect exercise to do at the end of the dock on a peaceful day at the cottage, or on your back patio, in a coffeeshop with your favourite beverage, or hunkered down over your kitchen table.  The location doesn't matter.  You can do it on a laptop, in a journal or on the back of a napkin.  Hmmm... make that napkins...  you're going to need a bunch!  The main point of course is that you need to DO the exercise, not just think about it.  I'm heading out to the end of the dock, you head on out to what is going to be comfortable for you.

Let me know how this goes for you, what you discover... I'm anticipating a more Purpose-ful and Purpose-filled life.  Not a bad outcome at all!

Be the Change, Be Your Change

I recently watched the movie 'Machine Gun Preacher', about ex-drug-dealing biker Sam Childers and his ongoing support of 100's of homeless Sudanese children.  Then, this week I, like over 30 million others, watched the viral YouTube video Kony 2012, Invisible Children's efforts to dedicate the year 2012 to not only helping raise awareness of the atrocities and crimes committed by the LRA's leader Joseph Kony, but to create enough outcry that those with power are compelled to take action.

Kony has been wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity for decades, and yet he continues to abduct children from their homes, forcing young girls to becomes sex slaves and young boys to become soldiers in his army.  To date it is estimated that he has taken more than 30,000 children.  Their voices have not been loud enough for resources to have been committed to the search and capture of Kony, but the Kony 2012 initiative is designed to lend our voices to theirs.

This is a campaign initiated by a few, who were also told that their voice was too small to make a difference, that were told they would not be able to create the change in the world they wanted to see.  However, they were unwilling to accept this answer and to accept that wrong could be allowed to persevere. Instead, they looked for a way to make it happen, to create the momentum for change.  They found their voice...





This is the big-scale picture of change.

My message to each of you today is not based on the need for each of you to get involved with this campaign,  this is not a blog focusing on political action or global change initiatives.  This is a blog focusing on personal change, personal growth and empowerment.  Instead, consider this a call to not only help change the world but to perhaps begin to make the personal changes you need to... for you, by beginning to embrace the message that the young people of Invisible Children did, that

We CAN make a difference,
We CAN be the voice of change.

And, in particular, that we can be the difference we want and need in OUR lives.  It is never too late to begin to live the life we want.  We just need two things to make it happen.  Clarity and Courage.

Clarity.  

• Clarity of Purpose (What do you want?)
• Clarity of Possession (What do you have?)
• Clarity of Person (What do you need?)

Courage.  To take the first step.

Invisible Children are working to ignite the world, envisioning change on a global scale.  They didn't back down when told they could not, they simply looked for new ways to fulfil their 'I Can'.  The biggest audience for their video are young women from 13-17 years and young men from 13-24.  Our children have learned 'I can'.  We have helped to shape a generation that can see how their one voice can make a difference, that it can, when added to the voices of others, change the world.

How can you then deny to yourself the power of your voice to envision, and create the change that you want and need in your life?  You have as much power as you need to make it happen.  You need only to create change for one, by influencing the actions of one.  Be your one.  Because, in the end...

You are the difference you want to see in your life, so begin by going out and doing something different.... today.

A Time to Reflect...

This is the time of year when it is nice to take some time to sit down (in my case with a nice steamy hot cup of Chai Latte in hand) and reflect back on the past year and to then look to the one ahead.  All too often we fall into the trap of only doing one or the other. 

1. We always look backward.  For some... there is the strong tendency to always be looking into the past, at what they have achieved, at how they have lived so far.  This is a necessary part of the reflection process, for we need to take time to recognise and celebrate how far we've come, how much we've achieved, but don't make the mistake of getting so mired in the past though that you can't see how much further you can go.
2. We always look forward.  For others... the future holds the biggest allure and they are always looking for 'what's next'!  They are constantly pushing and driving toward achieving and doing 'more' with their lives.  We certainly want to use our look to the future to inspire us to continue to grow and learn, to discover more of the world and ourselves, but we also want to ensure that we acknowledge all that we have lived through, for our past helps to shape the person we've become.

Both of these elements needs to be considered.  First, to reflect back on the past year and to acknowledge and embrace all my achievements, everything that I have experienced and accomplished.  For me, this was a busy year, packed with lots of new opportunities and TONS of new learnings.  As I have looked to venturing into creating some training programs to offer my clients through the online learning platform, I have had to battle my own technological learning curve.  It's been work but it is coming together and I definitely feel good about stepping outside of my comfort zone and taking up the gauntlet of giving it a try.  Without trying there is no knowing. 

As much as there has been a serious amount of work this past year there have also been times to spend enjoying friends and family, from time spent at the cottage to time spent in Europe, to smaller moments catching up over lattes.  An essential part of any life well lived I believe; the balance of experiences, the richness of relationships.

Looking forward I am excited about the possibilities that this year will bring.  The new program launches in January and so we will see not only if all the work from the past year pays off, but what other possibilities it opens up moving forward.  I've built in a 90 day health challenge and am now consciously committing to my Third degree black belt in TaeKwondo.  Travelling, cottaging... all help to shape the way my year will unfold. 

Reward backward, motivate forward.      Cindy Dachuk

What about you?

How was this past year for you?  What did you accomplish and achieve?  What special moments did you capture in your heart?  Did you take time to fully celebrate each?  If not... take the time now to list everything that you accomplished and recognise and reward those achievements.  Reinforce the action you took, no matter how small it may seem to others, that helped shape who you are and that took you a step closer to who you will become.

What about this coming year?  What plans are you making for steps that move you forward?  What are you looking to learn, to experience, to try?  What relationships are you committed to starting, developing, growing?  What actions are you planning to take to create a fuller, richer, more meaningful life for yourself?  Open your mind and heart to your dreams and build a step or two toward them.  All journeys begin with a single step... what will yours be?

Remember... you are the difference you want to see in your life, so go out and make a difference... today!

How to Live Before You Die

In my book - It's Time Now, Choose the Life you Really Want, I talk about the fact that we have limited time on this earth, that we need to ensure we are living a life of our choosing, not the life someone else has chosen for us.  The bottom line of course is that we all only get one life to live.  It makes sense that's it's the life we want for ourselves.

I recently came across a Commencement speech that Steve Jobs delivered to the graduating class of Stanford University in June, 2005, in which he shared three stories with the students.  In particular, hang in for the third story - as always, Steve Jobs says it so much better than I ever could...  check it out here.