Have you ever asked yourself "What am I here for?" Or "Where have I gone wrong?" Or "What is my purpose?" Well today we'll dive into a book that will address those very questions.
Today we're jumping into the world of “The On-Purpose Person: Making Your Life Make Sense”, written by Kevin W. McCarthy. It follows the journey of a man that grew to be utterly unhappy with how his life had turned out. I'd even venture to say that he’d become depressed. There was even a point where he contemplated ending it all.
Our book begins with our main character, who describes himself as the self proclaimed “awkward kid” who hid in the crowd and went with the flow just so he could stay on others good side. As a matter of fact that was his strategy in college. Pretty much "just sit back, watch what other people do”, and do what they did. Now that worked for him. He became popular, he joined student government and he really enjoyed being the big man on campus (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So after he graduated he got a "good job" with a top firm, he got married because his "friends" we're doing the same and honestly it wasn’t a bad move for his career. Over time he climbed the ladder with his company, bought a nice house in the suburbs with a picket fence, had a car in the garage, had 2.3 kids. The perfect life right? Or was it?
Now somewhere along the way, even though he was "the boss", he lost the zeal for his job. He was in debt because the more he made the more he spent (like most of us). He became estranged from his wife, his parents, his siblings and even his kids. He was so busy making a living, he really didn’t have a life (sound familiar?). He was living a reactionary life and kinda doing what other people wanted him to do and it began to bog him down. He lost touch with his dreams, he began drinking, he even contemplated divorce and suicide (is ANY of this sounding familiar?).
It was around this time when he remembered hearing about a professor who people called “The On-Purpose Person”. It was rumored that he helped other people find their purpose in life and live "On-Purpose". Hang on ladies and gentlemen, here’s where life gets interesting.
In this book you'll meet seven key characters that come from all walks of life. They act as our main characters guide to being "On-Purpose". As with anything in life he has to go through a phase of Discovery before he reaches his Transformation and get to the Reward, of being On-Purpose.
Now when I read this book I was kinda wondered why our main character didn't have a name. Go look. I dare you. If you find it, let me know. And I was about a quarter of the way into the book before I realized (SPOILER ALERT!) that I was reading about myself. This book will probably help you to self actualize as well. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. This book is broken down into those 3 easy to follow stages that I spoke of earlier that helped him to begin his journey to live "On-Purpose". But the Discovery stage has 3 distinct steps.
Step one: Coming out of our own chaos takes one single step. I learned how to prioritize 8 fundamental areas of my life in The Tournaments which created A New Order. For all you competitive types out there, the tournaments are elimination rounds designed to help you focus on and prioritize what’s important in your life. To realize your purpose. To be an "On-Purpose" person. The tournament's really helped me to break down specific aspects of my life and gave me a really good place to start. I would challenge you to put your life through the tournaments so that you can figure out or confirm your On-Purpose life. Now I'm not going to go over the details of the tournaments in this blog but if that's something you'd like to see let me know in the comments.
Step 2: As I said, the tournaments helped me to focus my key wants. Now it was time to put the main draw to work. But first I had to understand the differences between being effective and being efficient. Being "Efficient” is doing things right. Being “Effective” is doing the right thing. LOL yeah that got me at first too, but when you read the book it will all be clear. You’ll learn, as I did, how to create the ideal On-Purpose day. To create a time budget so you can not only know when you’re "On-Purpose" but to be able to distinguish when you're living Off-Purpose. And don't worry about how unrealistic your first time budget WILL BE. You'll be adjusting it as you get closer to discovering your true purpose.
Step 3: Developing on purpose statements partly based on the two previous steps. I learned how to create specific and focused statements of purpose, mission, philosophy, vision and wants. This is where your pages might turn yellow with highlighter like mine did so be ready. You'll see how your life roles could be transformed into your mission. Here's a quick excerpt, "Your roles are transformed into a mission when you recognize that they're the pathway through which you live out a greater purpose. Actors in a play a have a specific role or mission in the performance. Our lives are very much like that. When we see the purpose behind our mission, we’re more apt to excel in our role. Our purpose compliments or matches our natural resources and gifts.”. Before delving into the transportation and reward phases, the book characterized and explained how how simplifying our roles and developing our purpose statements can help us navigate "The Seasons of Life".
I’ll leave the rest of the book for you to explore. Being On-Purpose with Passion and coming into your True Success will be a truly enlightening experience. Now no-one can tell you what your purpose is. While this book and other people can help you on that journey to being on purpose, it's still 100% your responsibility to find out what your purpose really is.
Question of the week: Do you know what your purpose? Are you living On-Purpose? And if not, would you like help to do so? Let me know your answer in the comments.
So who's this book for? Well, pretty much anyone. As you’ll read, the characters range from age seventeen up to well into retirement and from all different walks of life. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with this one. I would highly recommend you add this book to your self education library. You're never too young or "seasoned" to figure out how to "...get in touch with your dreams" and to live "On Purpose".
Hard copies are available on Amazon, digitally on Kindle and you might qualify to get the audio version for free on Audible. Check the links below. But if your on a tight budget, there are other ways to get this FOR FREE as well. Get yourself a library card and check your local library.
And remember, "Formal education can make you a living. Self education can make you a fortune." Seeya next time.
Amazon Hard Copy: https://amzn.to/35oMyLV
Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZMtY
My Audible: https://amzn.to/2SU1IG7
Comentarios