Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Blog

Am I Irritating The Living Hell Out of You?

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Typically when someone is irritating the living hell out of us, this bothersome behavior provokes the fight or flight impulse. While the expression is often used, what if there really is more than meets the idiom?

How many of us find ourselves or someone close to us caught in a living hell within our body, mind, spirit, and financial condition?

There’s nothing worse than this sense of hopelessness except resignation to the hopelessness and denial.

On-Purpose® is about awakening us to face our “living hell” by getting to the core of our being which by definition is good, pure, and whole—our purpose. Here is the keyhole to the escape hatch into being true to ourselves.

Choose hope!

Putting a name on our situation strengthens us to face it more directly, boldly, and successfully.

Why not experience the promise of “on earth as it is in heaven” on-purpose? Yes, I hope tshareasimage(5)his message irritates the living hell out of you … and you’ll thank me for it.

Escape Your Living Hell

On a highly selective basis, I’m looking to mentor and develop quality people who want to build a true business as a coach. This will mean learning, ongoing dialogue and development, determination, and a long-term commitment to stay the course. You’ll be helping your clients get to a healthier place in their lives in the most robust sense of well-being. For you this means work, learning to engage clients, and growing as a leader on-purpose.

Interested? Email me why you think this sounds like you. I’m conducting interviews to work with 3 people.

Is Your Leadership Being Choked?

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As leaders, we’re prone to move from one task to the next with mental speed and insightful clarity.

Distractions, busyness, and just plain old bad habits have a way of gradually yet persistently working their way into our lives. Pretty soon we’re enslaved in activities and relationships that take us off-purpose.

In today’s On-Purpose Business Minute, I share a metaphor and lessons learned from a day of hard, back-breaking yard work and getting my hands dirty. As you can see, my mind was also hard at work.

As leaders, it is important that we get to the root of matters.

Paying attention to the details while still seeing the big picture isn’t always easy. Even if you’re not very good at both, at least be aware of the importance of both to avoid getting blind-sided. Surround yourself with complementary talent and trusted advisors so you grasp a greater perspective and insight into an important matter. This will free you to do more of what you do best more profitably.

No sense getting lost in the bushes and choked out of the beauty of how your business can bloom and grow.

Need some help with getting to the roots of your leadership? At On-Purpose Partners, we offer 1:1 executive and personal leadership coaching. Learn more here.

How Do You Build Your Confidence?

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Pointer: I make reference to The Service Model™ in this On-Purpose Minute. Here is a link to review, purchase, and download a copy. Click Here for Your Copy.

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Look at the kid in the front row, fourth from the left! Yep, the one with the rolled-up pants (room to grow) and checkered jacket. That’s yours truly in Mrs. (Lois) Johnson’s Kindergarten in Bethel Park, PA! My guess is the photo was taken in 1960 and I’m five years old. I was one of the youngest kids in this class.

Mrs. Johnson Kindergarten

I was blessed with a very happy childhood. I don’t look really happy on the day of this photograph. Come to think of it, none of the boys look too thrilled to be this close to girls (yuck!) and under such tight control with our hands in our laps!

In reviewing my report card from those days, I read “Kevin is young and lacks confidence.” Fortunately, my parents decided to hold me back a year so I could grow in confidence. Yes, I repeated kindergarten! My parents’ wisdom set me on a more positive trajectory for life. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Odd that I still remember those words and that label “Kevin … lacks confidence.” It used to really bug me that I was a person who lacked confidence. As I’ve matured, I realize how wrong my understanding of that statement was. Mrs. Johnson was offering feedback to my parents so they could make informed decisions to remedy the matter rather than labeling me. I’m the one who mistakenly “owned” the label. Five- and six-year-old minds do things like that. Sadly, so do 25-, 35-, 45- … year-old minds, too!

Each of us lacks confidence at the start of anything new. Confidence can apply to a skill or aptitude but not to the very nature or soul of a person—that’s just too destructive.

Have you bought a lie that you lack confidence or some other such nonsense? Don’t!

Let’s rephrase the statement and shift your perspective. You just haven’t yet found the bedrock of your beliefs and faith upon which to grow in confidence! I promise you that this solid ground for the soul exists in you. Like innate leadership, you have a place where you are designed and destined to be confident. It is a birthright that you may need to claim (or reclaim). Keep looking!

Look into the eyes of that little boy on the first row then and today in the video. As a person, does he lack confidence today? I’ve been a speaker in arenas in front of thousands. I’ve been on TV and radio broadcasts throughout the USA and Canada. People without confidence don’t do that.

How Do You Build Your Confidence?

There’s the question I’m placing before you. I’ve found the readers of this blog are a bright bunch of people. Please share your insights, comments, or quotes in the Comments section below. Let’s help one another become more confident as leaders of our lives.

Quotes About Confidence

Readers of The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business Person know that I start each chapter with a quotation. For this post, I turned to my book of quotations about confidence specifically. These quotations will stimulate your thinking:

“I had no vision of the scope of what I would start. But I had confidence that as long as we did our work well and were good to our customers, there would be no limit to us.”

    Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart (1918–1992)

“To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can.”

    Sydney Smith, Anglican Clergyman and writer (1771–1845)

“Fortunate is the person who has developed the self-control to steer a straight course toward his objective in life, without being swayed from his purpose by either commendation or condemnation.”

    Napoleon Hill, Author, Think and Grow Rich

“Calm self-confidence is as far from conceit as the desire to earn a decent living is remote from greed.”

    Channing Pollack, U.S. Magician and Hollywood Actor (1926–2006)

“Confidence is the feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.”

     Cicero, Roman philosopher, 1st Century B.C.

 

I leave you with one parting On-Purpose Proverb:

“Awareness of one’s lack of confidence indicates that your heart and your head are still talking. They just need to get the rest of the body moving so the next lesson can be learned more readily.”

Is Your Career In The Midst of A Tough Shift™? (part 3)

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(Be sure to read to the end to learn how we’re helping good, willing-to-learn people start their own business.)

With the continuing changes in the economy, there seems to be this “tough shift class” of Corporate America employees—talented, experienced people—who are in transition every few years. Generally speaking, I see them as what used to be middle management in sales and service positions. They’re the new migratory workforce. In the past, they may have migrated from branch to branch within a company and had continuity of employment. Today, however, they’re migrating from company to company. These fits and starts in and out of jobs wear on one’s confidence.

Here are 3 smart reasons to start your own business in the midst of your job search:

  1. You’ll be a better employee when you do get your next job. You’ll be able to Think Inc!—a concept from The On-Purpose Business Person whereby every person thinks like the president of his or her own company.
  2. You’ll do a better job search because you’ll better understand yourself and what matters most to you. You’ll improve your marketability and odds for landing in a better, more on-purpose place.
  3. Your business venture might work! Join the ranks of being an independent business person whose only boss looking at them is staring them in the mirror. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up on Shark Tank!

Prospects for this rising middle management migratory workforce are not necessarily improving. Technology is working against them. In the front end of the Knowledge Age, automation of systems and controls shrunk the middle management class. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are replacing their decision making and oversight and decimating their numbers yet again.

Here’s how to find the job of your life.

Hedge your bets. 

Here’s the hard reality. Your working career is likely to be a series of tough shifts composed of company changes. Regardless of whether you’re looking for a corporate job or working in one now, you are in the midst of a tough shift or you will be soon!

The involuntary income gaps between “gigs” disrupt financial and retirement planning horizons. It can also wear on the soul.

Starting a business is the perfect hedge for job jumping.

When you get “re-organized out” of your old company you’ll immediately have something to look forward to investing more of your time into until you land again or your business replaces your income. It dampens the lows and lifts the spirits.

Pressure and risk are high when you’re in the midst of a tough shift. If your business isn’t ready to launch, then you have to keep looking for that job. However, if you’ve been working all along on your business and the career tough shift comes along then you’ve some involuntary freedom—Voila! What a perfect time to take your solo ownership opportunity to the next level.

Beat Your Drum

The continuing ups and downs of the economy and the growing ranks of the dis-incentivized non-working can be disheartening. Perhaps you fear falling into such government dependence. You have a choice and it can start today.

Let your life beat with the drum of being true to yourself by being on-purpose. The world will not necessarily or readily step to your new beat, so that’s why you want to ramp up your business adventure now.

You possess the power to transform your world and bring your dreams into being.

Are you asking yourself, “Am I ready for a tough shift … to a new job or business opportunity of my own?”

Everyone, yes everyone, needs to start a business at least once in their life. Aside from marriage, which I highly recommend, little else that you set out to do will challenge, educate, and mature you into a better person or even a better employee.

Starting a business is demanding.

It is also rewarding because you have the independence to pick and choose what you’ll do and whom you will serve as your clients or customers. Risks go with these rewards so be smart.

Chances are you’ve uttered the words more than a few times: “I should start a business.” So … what are you waiting for? Even if the business never opens its doors, the benefits of starting a business are far greater than you’ll ever know unless you’ve done it.

Need some help with starting your own business?

Consider On-Purpose Personal Leadership Coaching. Whether you are starting a business or wanting to improve a current one, this offering is a great way to get the help you need.

Selectively, my wife and I are also helping people to start businesses as independent health coaches. Email me with your interest and we’ll set up an interview. It is rewarding work on many levels.

Are You Like A Fly On A Window?

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We construct our lives as best we can, yet it is hard to see the boundaries and borders we’ve created around us. Certainly, some enclosures provide protection and support. Yet, some barriers are self-inflicting and limit our life with an unhealthy—even an unnatural—manner and lessening result that leaves us being off-purpose.

It sucks to be stuck in life.

Heart WorkOn July 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan challenged then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with the words, “Tear down this wall,” and the world soon changed. Look at your own life and ask, If President Reagan were to speak to me, what walls would he challenge me to tear down in my life?

Are you ready to stop banging your head against the window pane of life? Do you see the life you imagine, but an invisible barrier prevents you from getting to the other side? Now is the time to do the hard work of your heart work.

Are you ready to do your heart work but you don’t know how?

Here are some ideas:

Visit our online bookstore for more ideas.

Is Your Career In The Midst of A Tough Shift? (part 2)

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Career Advice?

Early in my career a well-intended business person told me, “Keep your personal life and your business life separated.” At the time, I remember questioning that advice. Perhaps if I had pursued a career in Corporate America that Industrial Age advice might have served me well.

I ignored that advice and followed my heart with the guidance of my head.

Today, I wholeheartedly believe just the opposite is not only true but the healthiest approach to living life and having well-being in your person, work, and relationships.

I’ve been a business owner for over 50 years.

It started with selling candy on the school bus. I tended to eat my profits. My older brother did collections and my parents’ dental plan covered the cavities. Heading down and staying on a path of independent business ownership eventually led me to be in the business of helping clients integrate their work and life to be on-purpose. For over 25 years, I’ve been sharing that message with anyone who would listen. Today, the world is ready and hearing this message.

But what if your life feels compartmentalized, scattered, and struggling with a Tough Shift? Now what? The disintegration of life and work may be an effective (and necessary) survival tool for working ill-fitted jobs, but is dying better than thriving?

Integration of life and work is where it’s at.

On-Purpose can help you to live into your greater calling and find your happiness.

Put on-purpose business principles and planning to use in your personal and work life. As a business advisor my focus is principally on company growth through improving the business acumen and leadership capacity of the people within a well-defined business strategy. We help our clients create On-Purpose Business Plans. You can do the same for your career by creating a life and career plan, especially leveraging ONPURPOSE.me, the online 2-word purpose statement discovery tool.

Over the years, many a client has come to me seeking life and career advice.

Usually, the call comes when they’re in the midst of a tough shift—job loss or job dissatisfaction. Most of us struggle with time management, but that isn’t the underlying issue. We’re fighting financial worries, but that isn’t the true problem either. We’re trying to steady a shaken confidence, but that isn’t the problem.

The real problem is we haven’t identified what’s most important … really important–willing-to-pay-the-price-important.

  • We take on too much.
  • We spread ourselves thin.
  • We never develop our true strengths, passion, and purpose.

The idea of spreading our risks actually compounds it. Try excelling at something you’re not called to do. No amount of extra time, energy, and effort can produce a truly satisfying result. We’re simply off-purpose. What a waste!

If you find yourself in the midst of a tough shift, such as out of work, underemployed, on-the-fence about your future, or downright unhappy in your present job, then On-Purpose® is a fun, workable process designed to free you to be true to who you are.

Here are some suggested resources:

  1. Read The On-Purpose Person.
  2. Run Want Lists and Tournaments to get very clear about what’s most immediately important. Use The Discovery Guide free preview.

    6a00e551c6499c883401bb07bf7954970d-120wi.png.jpg
    Mary Tomlinson rocks as an On-Purpose Personal Leadership Coach
  3. Hire a coach to help you. There are plenty of talented, capable “life coaches” available. Mary Tomlinson is delightfully exceptional at walking clients through the entire On-Purpose personal planning process using On-Purpose Peace. We also have other recommendations to On-Purpose Pros as life and career coaches.
  4. Make appointments for your dream! If you don’t, no one else will. You’ll always be subject to fulfilling the dreams of others while your dream dissipates through the days spent instead of invested.

Go into this planning process with a focus on your life and you’ll come out with a life and career plan that informs your vocational aspirations.

Smooth out the tough shift and step your life into a higher gear—on-purpose!

Make Appointments for Your Dream

Are You Making Half-Hearted Attempts?

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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

Most of us think we decide with our head, our rational logic. What if that is only half of the equation—and not even the better half? We trust our decisions with our hearts, so being half-hearted or uncommitted messes with our minds. Consider the costs of a lifetime of flawed decision-making on our well-being, income, opportunities, and relationships. Scary, huh?

Before making a big decision, have you ever been told to “Sleep on it overnight”?

This wise counsel was intended to provide time for your heart to catch up with your racing-ahead mind. It’s a way to go from being half-hearted to being wholehearted.

In time, feelings and thoughts will emerge beyond your initial thinking. Sleeping on a decision often provides the ample space and time needed to gain the fuller perspective that leads to a more peaceful and wisely reached decision.

Instead, the heart needs to precede the mind in key, conscious decisions.

Few of us, however, are trained or experienced to know how to first take a decision to our heart.

Here is where your 2-word personal purpose statement can serve you well. On the front end of a decision, ask yourself if what you’re about to decide is on-purpose. Use your purpose as a way to be heart-centered. This gives some assurance that you’re likely to be bringing expression to your purpose in your decision.

Discover your 2-word Personal Purpose Statement at ONPURPOSE.me. This online app will guide you through a process of selecting a purpose statement, plus you’ll receive a 10-email course that’s practical to being on-purpose. On-Purpose.me logoThe limited-time reduced launch price is currently available.

In life and work experiences, I’ll estimate that the vast majority of our decisions are made in the mind, and the heart is left in exile.

We disadvantage ourselves when our heart is sidelined when making decisions.

I’ve often struggled to get in touch with my feelings when making a decision. I tend to rattle thoughts about in my brain in attempts to discover the best answer. Later on, I’ll be pondering the same matter and realize I’m not comfortable with my decision. Is that doubt, fear, lack of confidence, or what?

It is that I forgot to go to my heart to make the decision. Therefore, I’m not peaceful so I’m inclined to go into something vital half-heartedly. That’s a big mistake.

Learn to listen to your spirit speaking—that small, still voice caught in the wilderness of our brains. Matthew 6:21 attempts to inform and transform our way of thinking. It links the act of treasuring and our hearts. You can’t treasure everything, so discern with your heart and make your decisions with your whole heart.

P.S. Here is a really interesting article from the Institute of HeartMath about making decisions with our heart. Solution for Effective Decision Making

 

Is Your Career In The Midst of A Tough Shift™?

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Job loss, underemployment, a part-time job instead of a full-time job, less pay for less rewarding work. Or perhaps you just don’t like the job you have. You are in the midst of or contemplating a Tough Shift™.

Don’t go through it alone! And, you’re not alone.

Stock market volatility, technology changes, and the gig economy might have you considering other career options.

When the U.S. economy catches a cold, the whole world sneezes! This unfortunate effect has many people spinning and caught in a round of chaos and confusion. Couple this with technology changes and the personal fallout from job loss and underemployment—it all amounts to a serious worldwide tough shift.

Change is never easy, but change under duress is even tougher.

Fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety creep into us. This affects us at some profound subconscious level and begins to be communicated. Our nervous vibe causes others to view us as desperate and risky. This perpetuates our greatest fears from the tough shift.

Is now the time to explore starting a business?

It can be an intimidating undertaking but there are many options to explore out there. For decades I’ve worked with business start-ups to design, advise, and guide the growth and development of the business plan and leader.

Don’t go it alone.

Find a business advisor or mentor who can see clearly into your blind spots. Yes, you’ll invest a few dollars, but you’ll gain time to market and create a more profitable and better working operation. There are no short-cuts to business creation, but why add unnecessary delays and detours out of your own inexperience?

So while you’re looking for a job you can be creating one, too … for yourself. Who knows, you may never have to go to work for someone else again!

This On-Purpose Business Minute offers some simple and calming insights.

Are you ready to tackle the underlying issues, so you’re tough shift proofed?