Do you have stars in your eyes?

   I was listening to my Ipod touch and the song “Juke Box Hero” by Foreigner came on. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to ask myself, “What puts stars in my eyes?” All of us have dreams of doing well in many aspects of our life whether with family, health, spirituality or finances. What are you willing to pursue that puts stars in your eyes. What is it that causes you to want to throw caution into the wind to pursue a life of purpose so that you can become your own juke box hero.

  In the beginning of the song we find the soon to be hero on the outside of a concert unable to get into the sold out show. What is the show that you want to get into but feel that its not possible? Just imagine the roaring crowd on the other side of the door just waiting for your music to be played. They are cheering because they want you to ROCK. In fact they need you to Rock, that's what they have paid for and that's what they expect from you.

  But now you say, “Yeah I can rock but I don't have a guitar or instrument to use.” I have music in me but I don't know how to let it out for others to hear. You may be waiting for the perfect timing or opportunity before pursuing your dreams. You could go out right now and buy a cheap, used, beat up guitar and start practicing but what would everyone think? Maybe you let the thoughts of others control your actions and decide against buying used gear, so you try to save up money for a brand new guitar. Well along the way of saving for that brand new guitar other things become more important financially and the dream of being a juke box hero fades away.

  Your music is still in you, you haven't changed one bit, in fact you took the safest most “secure” route in life. Your at the same job years later making a little bit more than you used to and now you've worked your way up to 2 weeks “paid” vacation per year. Your friends and family congratulate you on doing the “smart thing” and not putting money into that silly dream you had. Even though at the time you could have afforded a second hand guitar but hey why risk it right. You never took the chance because everyone said it couldn't be done. When people tell you something cant be done like starting your own business or pursuing your purpose in life it doesn't mean that you cant do it, but it does mean that they cant do it. They let their fear of failure control your actions.

  Our juke box hero decided to become his own star and he wanted to make his own show. He succeeded by seeing himself at the top from the beginning and doing what needed to be done to get there. So now its time for you to get out there and do it. Live a little, become the person that you want to be, not the person others want you to be. Stop living in the day to day routine of a false sense of security working at a job you despise. Stop thinking that one day your gonna retire from that job and sit around and do what YOU want to do. For most of us retirement is a long ways off. Start doing what you enjoy so that when retirement age comes around you wont want to retire because your doing something you enjoy. Better yet your living on purpose.

Profit from Purpose, you deserve it!!!

www.ProfitfromPurpose.com

  

A great tool for finding your Purpose.

  Many of us go through our daily routine yet wonder, what should we do with our life. A great tool that is very helpful is something called the Prioritizing Grid. I discovered this grid in the book “What Color Is Your Parachute” written by Richard N. Bolles. It is one of the many tools that the author uses to create “The Flower” as he calls it.

   The Grid takes into account different “values” of life in general and allows you to prioritize them in the order that is most relevant to your life's values. Each value is compared with the others a few times over so that when the grid is finished, your values will be put in the order that is most relevant to you. An electronic grid was produced by one of the authors former students, Beverly Ryle, who has become a career counselor and author. The electronic version of the Grid can be found here: www.GroundOfYourOwnChoosing.com

   The nine values listed by the author are:

1. Mind
2. Body
3. Eyes and Other Senses
4. Heart
5. The Will or Conscience
6. The Human Spirit
7. Entertainment
8. Possessions
9. The Earth

   The exercise takes the nine values listed above and they are simply put into the slots given according to the number listed above. The grid keeps track of your answers for you. For example, which is more important to you vs. the other: 1. Mind vs. 2. Body then you'll compare 1.Mind vs. 3. Eyes and Senses and so on and so on. By the time your exercise is done you will have your values listed in order of importance to you.

   This exercise does not take very long, maybe 10 minutes. After you get your results you will put the top three values in the forefront of your thinking. The top three values together will help you to seek out and serve your life's purpose. This is a great tool to find purpose and meaning on a deeper level that allows you to focus more of your energy on the values that are most important to you. 

  Have fun with this exercise, and don't rush the outcome because this Grid will help you on your journey to find your life's purpose. More information can be found in the book “ What Color Is Your Parachute” by Richard N. Bolles.

   Profit from Purpose, you deserve it !!!

   www.ProfitfromPurpose.com

  

Are you leaving a legacy?

   The legacy that you leave is up to you. Your legacy is what you make of it. Most people want to leave their mark in this world but may be too busy to do so at this time, but maybe next year or the year after and so on. Today I'm going to toss out just a couple of simple ideas for you to be able to leave your legacy in some way shape or form.

   Blogging is a simple way to express yourself and doesn’t have to take up as much time as trying to write a book. You have the ability to read other blogs and leave comments for the author and others to read. Of course sitting down at your computer and pouring out your thoughts would be the best way to put yourself out there. Blogs allow you to give advice on things that you are knowledgeable about and will showcase your “smarts” to others who share your interests.

   Authoring a book is another great way to leave a legacy. This will take more time but it has been said that about 80% of Americans have a book in them. My Grandfather wrote a book of poems that he was so passionate about that he took out a 2^nd mortgage on the old farm house. The book may not have been seen as a success in some peoples eyes but I guess it depends how you measure success. The book of poems my Grandfather had written inspired me to seek my legacy. I want to help others find their purpose and help improve their lives. Don't you think that my Grandfather would be amazed with the impact his book had on me if he was still around? I am going to help change others lives by serving my God given purpose thanks in part to his book.

   YouTube, hey why not. If you want to truly express yourself in a video that’s a great place to post it. I am not a Justin Beiber fan but that’s where he got his start. The number one highest viewed video of all time contains Bieber and has over 500,000,000 hits within a year. Wow that is half of a billion views. You may not reach that many hits but look at the video where Charlie keeps biting his brothers finger, that is at around 300,000,000 views. If you have something that you really want the world to hear or see through video that is a great way to do so.

   Of course these are just a few of the many ideas that are out there including things like pod-casting, newsletters and so on. The most important thing to take from all of this is that you can leave your legacy in a way that technology makes easier year by year. So the point of all of this is to not leave this world with your music inside of you. Impact someones life for the better in some way and you will always be remembered.

Profit from Purpose, you deserve it!

Work is love made visible. Is work really that big of a deal?

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste,

it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple

and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread

that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of grapes,

your grudge distills a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing,

you muffles man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

All work is empty save when there is love;

and when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself,

and to one another and to God.

                                 -KAHILL GIBRAN, THE PROPHET

All too often we go through our lives doing work that pays the bills. The concept of doing work we love doesn’t seem to make sense because if that were true it wouldn’t be called work. Well what would we call work if we did something we enjoyed? During the late 1800's in Australia there was this new concept that called for a shorter work day. Men were getting tired of working 10-14 hours per day. It wasn’t about the pay they were receiving but rather their free time. So they came up with this concept:

• 8 Hours Work
• 8 Hours Recreation Time
• 8 Hours Rest

Now with that concept in mind, does it seem like they loved their work? If they truly loved their work they would not have pushed to work less but rather work more. The word “work” almost seems like a dirty word in that we do it out of necessity. Just imagine going up to someone like Jesus and telling him he can only work 8 hours per day. Yes I said Jesus, the Son of God who was sent to this world to forgive us of our sins. How much could Jesus have accomplished in an 8 hour day? How many fewer miracles would have been performed and what would God have thought about His Son serving his purpose for 1/3 of a given day? We are children of God, how does God feel about the work you are doing? Are you using the natural gifts and strengths he has given to you?

Would Jesus have been a different person while at work than He was in his free time? This brings me to wonder if you are a different person while you are at work rather than at home or around friends and family? How are you different? Are you nicer to people at work than you are to your spouse or children or is it the opposite? What steps are you willing to take to fulfill your God given purpose?

Profit from Purpose, You deserve it!

Source of Kahill Gibran quote: Dan Miller author of 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE

85% of finding your purpose is understanding yourself.

Wow!! Look at the number 85, its amazing to think that so much of finding our life's purpose is looking inward. That means there is only a measly 15% left over from the 100% needed to live a purposeful life. It has been stated by Dan Pink that a great life happens when using your strengths and your understanding. As far as strengths go, they should be used 85% of the time. Funny how that 85% keeps popping up, well at least it wont be easily forgotten.

So here is a simple formula I recently picked up. This concept should be looked over and have more thought put into it as well. Your daily life will be impacted in a positive way if this process is put into action:

• Do what you are naturally best at 85% of the time
• Do things that you are able to do well 10% of the time.
• Focus on doing things you are weak at 5% of the time.

Too many times people focus on their weaknesses. When you spend most of your time trying to strengthen your weakness it can have a negative outcome. The negative outcome can be seen in a couple of different ways. One of the ways you will feel the impact is self doubt. You'll realize that no matter how hard you try you cant seem to overcome that certain area of weakness. If you cant overcome something so meager how can you excel in this or do great at that? You lose thought of how well you do the things your naturally good at and focus on what you cant do. This negative thought process can wreak havoc on your strengths.

So now you must ask yourself what your strengths are. If your curious about how to find your strengths, it may help to ask yourself a few basic questions.

• What things do I do well naturally?
• What gives me a sense of enjoyment?
• What did I do well as a child before my ego got involved?
• What type of things have I done because I like to do them?

Has there been any point in your life that you would hit the rewind button if you could? When thinking about that concept keep in mind that you really shouldn't just focus on the negative outcome of the particular situation. It is important to remember that you need to look for the good things in any bad situation. You need to use that negative situation in a way that you learn from your mistakes so you wont put yourself through the pain again. Think about how much wiser you have become because of those situations you have gone through. Think about all of the great advice you can pass on to others so they don't experience what you have. Find strength in your negative experiences as well.

Finally, put your ego aside. As Dr. Wayne Dyer states “Ego stands for Edge – God - Out” We all have natural God given abilities within us that we can be great at but we put them aside to serve our ego. Too many times we lose focus of why we were put on this earth. Our ego has its own motives whether it is a big house, a lot of money or even power. If you seek money all of your life you'll never have enough of it. However if you seek your life's purpose to the point that others cant distinguish your work from your play, that's when you'll know you are on the right track.

Profit from Purpose. You deserve it!

"20 percent time" versus "100 percent time" The decision is yours.

A concept that I have recently learned about is something called “20 percent time”. It is time that is allotted by a company that allows an employee a certain amount of time in a given week for self directed projects. People generally use this time to create something they are passionate about. Companies like Google, Atalassian and GE have different names for this self directed time but the end result is similar. Many great ideas have come from companies that allow “20 percent time”.

Google as an example, has had some very well known things that have been created by the use of “20 percent time”. Some of the projects that were developed by Google are Google News and G mail. One Google employee is quoted as saying “Just about all good ideas here have bubbled up from “20 percent time”. How amazing is that? The two most popular items you may be familiar with from Google were due to someone using 20% of their time to follow their passion. This does make one think about the 80% of the time left over to do your “regular” work. The “regular” work that you do because you have to.

What if Google got rid of “20 percent time” and did “100 percent time”. Just imagine the amazing, in fact endless possibilities if they used a new and improved “100% time” module. Does this mean that Google has only reached 20% of their potential since they have been in business? One can only speculate about that. How much of your potential has been reached in the last week, month or year? Do you allow yourself any time in a given week to pursue your passions?

What is holding you back from your “100% time”. Are you ready to pursue what you love full time?What if you didn’t work at a regular job that just got you by 100% of the time. What if you did what you loved 100% of the time? If you’re not ready for full time pursuit of your passions, what can you do with some of your free time? It is obvious that you are able to do some pretty amazing things with the time you use to pursue your passions. If you get discouraged just look at what others have accomplished and strive to better yourself and become more like the successful people that you admire.

Take inventory of your free time and put it down on paper. Everyone has 168 hours in a week. Of course most of us have obligations like work and sleep. However most of us have time to watch television at night for maybe a couple of hours. Take your TV time and turn it into “20 percent time”. In other words do something your passionate about that will help you to better yourself in the days ahead. Get out of the rut and seek your purpose in life. Its time to Profit from Purpose. You deserve it!

What motivates us?

   What motivates us? What is the reason that we wake up in the morning and head to work. Are we heading to work because of money or are we driven by our purpose in life? The video explains that our motivations are extremely interesting. We are not always driven to do better because of more pay or a bonus. In fact in most cases we do worse or may even crumble under the pressure of trying to reach the bonus. What really jumped out at me, is that if we take the issue of money off of the table then people will focus more on their work. It is so important to seek purpose in your life before you seek the pay. The video is proof of that.

  There are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction.

1. Autonomy: desire to be self directed or to direct our own lives.
2. Mastery: the urge to get better at doing things.
3. Purpose: result or effect that is intended or desired.

   During the workers limited discretionary time when they are free to do what they want, how they want, people seem to do better and more meaningful work for free. If a person can escape the standard work model, they can excel while serving their purpose away from work. So why not base our lives on that fact? More people and businesses are gearing towards the purpose motive rather than the profit motive. If a person focuses solely on making profit and not on serving a purpose bad things can happen. How many of us have dealt with a business or person realizing that they do not care about me, they only care about my money. We put up with crummy service and bad products when this happens. On the other hand, how wonderful is it to deal with someone that truly cares about your experience with themselves or their business.

   For example: Zappos, is an on line shoe company. Zappos sells shoes to customers that make a purchase without trying the shoes on. Zappos is built on two-way trust. Customers trust Zappos money-back guarantee with free shipping in both directions. Zappos also provides excellent customer service, the people on the other end seem to care about you as a person not just an order number. Now stop and think for a moment. If you walked into a local shoe store and couldn’t touch or try the shoes on would you buy them? Probably not. So how did Zappos grow to be a huge hit? Simply put, Zappos cares more about their purpose than their profit.

   What a lesson for each of us to learn. If we seek our purpose in life we can profit from it as well. When dealing with others it is truly important to put their needs before our own. We all have this great God given purpose inside of us that is screaming to get out. We have potential to make a difference in this world and to make this world better. We must put faith in our abilities and seek our purpose in life. Live your life on purpose and Profit from Purpose. You deserve it!!