Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Blog

Is your life a question mark, period, or exclamation point?

By

Disclaimer: This On-Purpose Minute is nearly 10 minutes long because it is an excerpt from a keynote address. I apologize that the video quality is less than ideal, but the message still comes across.

The Back Story:

This month, I’m celebrating my 7th anniversary of reclaiming my health and creating a lifelong healthy lifestyle. In March 2008, I was tipping the scales at over 240 pounds on my 5′ 9″ frame. While I’ve always had an athletic, muscular build, I was wearing what I jokingly called “My fat suit.” Somewhere within the bundled layers of my fat suit was a trim Kevin W. McCarthy seeking liberation. Perhaps you relate.

Over the years my weight had been steadily increasing with more work, less exercise, and poor eating habits. I would skip breakfast, often skip lunch, and then eat dinner and have desserts the rest of the evening. I’ve since learned that this is how Sumo wrestlers get so big. I did not have a healthy lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination.

About a year earlier I took on a business client project of co-authoring a business book on a very tight timetable. This resulted in even more rapid weight gain as I was sitting for days on end researching and writing. The good news is that when my client sold his business, the book created an extra $15 million in company value. The bad news is the book resulted in me gaining an extra 25 or more pounds over my existing steady weight gain.

In March 2008, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen booked me (sight unseen) as the keynote speaker for the July Take Shape For Life Annual Convention in Orlando. I asked about the program and got on it. I figured someone had to have figured out this weight thing because my feeble attempts at getting healthy weren’t working.

Three months later I stood on that stage a changed man from the inside out. Yes, I had lost 50 pounds but that wasn’t the half of it. I had learned to better understand my relationship with food and sweets, adopted a number of healthy habits, and discovered the power of using a systematic approach or program to health rather than using a diet.

As importantly, my weight loss inspired several of my friends, my business associates, and my wife to follow my lead. Within months ten people close to me were on the TSFL Program and also experiencing health gains. One friend, a Type 2 diabetic, was able to lose over 100 pounds and get off his medications. He tells me often that introducing him to Take Shape for Life probably saved his life. (Results vary by person so no medical claims are made here.)

Questions To Ask Yourself

1. How can we be on-purpose when we’re packing extra pounds and are unhealthy?

This typically self-inflicted health condition is within our control once we have a proven system to join with our decision to be healthy and apply our existing discipline that carries us well through life. This was much easier than I ever imagined! Over seven years later there’s still so much less of me to carry around since I lost my fat suit thanks to the power of making more informed and mindful decisions about living a healthier life.

The above 10-minute video excerpt is from my keynote address in July 2008. There’s a central question that I pose to the health coaches in attendance that is relevant to any of us about our life and work and being on-purpose:

2. Am I living my life with a question mark, period, or exclamation point?

To set up this video clip, I’m referring to the TSFL logo and referencing the “green dot” in the middle of the graphic to the right.

Enjoy this vignette and take it to heart. We only get one body to care for so get it right because getting it wrong is so costly. I hope this message catches the heartbeat of where you are in your life and inspires you to live boldly by beginning the process of being an on-purpose person in creation.

3. So What About Your Health?

Like I was, are you tired of wearing your fat suit?

If you already have a health coach, then press more deeply into the relationship to get the most benefit you can from the TSFL offerings.

If you don’t have a health coach and are ready to make a weighty lifestyle change to transform your life for the better, then let us help you. My wife Judith became a Certified Health Coach with TSFL as have I! Today, we help clients add health to their overall program of being on-purpose. Email me to set up a phone call. I’ll ask questions and help you determine if TSFL is right for you so you too can be on-purpose and live boldly into your life with an exclamation mark.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

P.S. This weekend Judith and I will be at the Take Shape For Life National Convention. Coincidentally it is in Orlando again and seven years later we’re living a healthy lifestyle as part of being on-purpose persons in creation.

Frances Hesselbein on Serving

By

shareasimageThis quote relates directly to being on-purpose.  Your 2-Word purpose statement begins with, “I exist to serve by…”  Being on-purpose, therefore, is a lifetime and attitude of being in service without regard to your current condition or place of employment.

I saw this quote today and took the liberty of setting it up with the image.

If you don’t know who Frances Hesselbein is then dig into her story and life.  She’s a remarkable woman

Read about the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute

Watch her at West Point where she serves.  At this time she was in her early 90s and is now in her late 90s.  Her spirit and pine box are both still open.

 

Frances Hesselbein, To Serve Is To Live. from Hesselbein Institute Videos on Vimeo.

Are you getting caught in the Work Trap?

By

Are you getting caught in the Work Trap?Three things prompted me to write this article.

First, the realisation that I need to get my working life into perspective and to practice what I preach!

Second, an article I recently read by Travis Bradberry on ‘How successful people work less and get more done’.

Third, a few weeks ago I had a complete weekend off – went boating, caught some fish, walked and talked with my wife Angela and our chocolate brown labrador – Poppy, (yes, dogs talk too) and generally chilled out.

Nice!

So much so that Angela and Poppy have talked about it nearly every day since!

And I want to do that more often as increasingly I’m working longer hours and often over weekends too! (Those of you who own a business or have high responsibility as an employee know how easily it is to get trapped into 24/7.)

I think there is a serious condition called the Work Trap and we need time to ‘unplug’ (no longer ‘unwind’) from the day-to-day to get more perspective, think more deeply and reflect on the bigger picture of our lives.

… people who work as much as 70 hours per week
only achieve the same amount as people who work 55 hours …

A new study from Stanford found that productivity per hour declines sharply when the work week exceeds 50 hours and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours there’s no point in working any more. Apparently, people who work as much as 70 hours per week (or more) only achieve the same amount as people who work 55 hours.

Successful people know the importance of shifting gears on the weekend to relaxing and rejuvenating activities.

Those who have participated in our Power of Your Purpose programs, will recall the activity where we work together on building your ideal On-Purpose day or weekend. Both of these create space and quality time for the things that matter most – your core wants and top priorities which align with your Purpose and Values.

This might be less difficult than you think!

Activities that successful people do to create life integration on weekends

So, drawing on the post by Travis Bradberry, here are practical things that successful people do on the weekend to re-enter work on Monday morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

1. Disconnect
Disconnecting is the most important weekend strategy on this list, because if you can’t find a way to remove yourself electronically from your work Friday evening through Monday morning, then you’ve never really left work. Making yourself available to your work 24/7 exposes you to a constant barrage of stressors that prevent you from refocusing and recharging. If taking the entire weekend off handling work e-mails and calls isn’t realistic, try designating specific times on Saturday and Sunday for checking e-mails and responding to voicemails. Scheduling short blocks of time to attend to emails will alleviate stress without sacrificing availability.

2. Minimise chores
Chores have a funny habit of completely taking over your weekends. When this happens, you lose the opportunity to relax and reflect. What’s worse is that a lot of chores feel like work. So if you spend all weekend doing them, you just put in a seven-day work week. To keep this from happening, you need to schedule your chores like you would anything else during the week, and if you don’t complete them during the allotted time, you move on and finish them the following weekend.

3. Reflect
Weekly reflection is a powerful tool for improvement. Use the weekend to contemplate the larger forces that are shaping your industry, your organization, and your job. Without the distractions of Monday to Friday busy work, you should be able to see things in a whole new light. Use this insight to alter your approach to the coming week, improving the efficiency and efficacy of your work.

4. Exercise
You have 48 hours every weekend to make it happen. Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a soothing neurotransmitter that reduces stress. Exercise is also a great way to come up with new ideas. Innovators and other successful people know that being outdoors often sparks creativity. Whether you’re running, walking, cycling or gardening, exercise leads to endorphin-fuelled introspection. The key is to find a physical activity that does this for you and then to make it an important part of your weekend routine.

5. Pursue a passion
You might be surprised what happens when you pursue something you’re passionate about on weekends. Indulging your passions is a great way to escape stress and to open your mind to new ways of thinking. Things like playing music, reading, writing, painting, or even playing with your kids can help stimulate different modes of thought that can reap huge dividends over the coming week.

6. Spend quality time with family
Spending quality time with your family on the weekend is essential if you want to recharge and relax. Weekdays are so hectic that the entire week can fly by with little quality family time. Don’t let this bleed into your weekends. Take your kids to the park, take your spouse to his or her favourite restaurant, go to the movies and go visit your parents. You’ll be glad you did.

7. Schedule micro-adventures
Buy tickets to a concert or play or get reservations for that new hotel that just opened downtown. Instead of running on a treadmill, plan a hike. Try something you haven’t done before or perhaps something you haven’t done in a long time. Studies show that anticipating something good to come is a significant part of what makes the activity pleasurable. Knowing that you have something interesting planned for Saturday will not only be fun come Saturday, but it will significantly improve your mood throughout the week.

8. Wake up at the same time
It’s tempting to sleep in on the weekend to catch up on your sleep. Though it feels good temporarily, having an inconsistent wake-up time disturbs your circadian rhythm. Your body cycles through an elaborate series of sleep phases in order for you to wake up rested and refreshed. One of these phases involves preparing your mind to be awake and alert, which is why people often wake up just before their alarm clock goes off (the brain is trained and ready). When you sleep past your regular wake-up time on the weekend, you end up feeling groggy and tired. This isn’t just disruptive to your day off, it also makes you less productive on Monday because your brain isn’t ready to wake up at your regular time. If you need to catch up on sleep, just go to bed earlier.

9. Prepare for the upcoming week
The weekend is a great time to spend a few moments planning your upcoming week. As little as 30 minutes of planning can yield significant gains in productivity and reduced stress. The week feels a lot more manageable when you go into it with a plan because all you have to focus on is execution.

Final comments

Trying to implement all of these at once will be overwhelming. So next weekend pick one or two of these to get you started. Commence with the ones that will give you the most meaning and fulfilment. Start planning your weekends intentionally. None of these will happen unless you are really serious about breaking the Work Trap.

While you are planning your next weekend, get some overall perspective back into your life and ask the big questions:

  • What is the ultimate purpose of my life, work, or career?
  • What am I living for?
  • What do I want my life to be about and stand for?

Wait for the answers to emerge from deep within you. They will come. Just give them time and space.

One more tip.

Start observing yourself more. Watch your actions and thoughts as you develop deeper self-awareness about your life and work. We are all so self-absorbed we give little time to being self-aware.

So now it’s up to you but many people find a coach useful for accountability. If you need some assistance to get you going, please give me a call or send me an email.

This is too important to be left to chance.

© Dr Edward Gifford, On-Purpose Partners®

Queensland, Australia

www.onpurposepartners.com.au

How to Make A Historic Contribution!

By

Please allow me to step out of an 8-year tradition of providing On-Purpose Minutes with minimal direct asking for anything in return but your attention. I need your help in two ways:

  1. Please share this message on your social media. We need to get the word out about this historic event. Here is the url: https://kevinwmccarthy.com/making-difference/
  2. Donate $8.50 to provide 1 Bible to the Babwisi people.

Bibles for Babwisi is a crowd source effort I’m spearheading with the Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce and Wycliffe Bible Translators.

The Babwisi are a defined people group living in western Uganda. Their heart language is Lubwisi. In all their history, they’ve never had the Bible in Lubwisi, so they’ve never read the Bible in their own language. In conjunction with Wycliffe Bible Translators, we’re campaigning to provide 5,000 Lubwisi Bibles this fall. Your donation prints and delivers the Lubwisi New Testament edition that includes select Old Testament chapters.

Please consider a donation now. Click here to donate directly on the Wycliffe site.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to insert this personal appeal. We’ll be back on Thursday with an On-Purpose Business Minute.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

Freeing Yourself from Divided Interests

By

Freeing Yourself from Divided InterestsWhen do I say “yes” and when do I say “no”?

Having recently had another birthday I got thinking about life, time, and what I might do with the remainder of my earthly time frame.

None of us knows what this time frame might be, but as we get older we sure know that our time on earth goes very quickly.

It’s a bit scary as well as sobering and challenging!

What I do know is that each of us has a Purpose and we are called to live this out in all aspects of our lives whether it is work, family, relationships, finances, or in our physical, intellectual, and spiritual life accounts.

I also am aware that confusing and divided interests have a high cost.

… The more divided our interests,
the more diluted our lives can become …

Every relationship we nurture, every activity in which we engage, every cause we get involved with, and every decision about what we will own and where we will live has a time, energy, concentration, and often financial cost attached to it. They all require some investment of life. The more divided our interests, the more diluted our lives can become.

To use a business analogy, the advice consistently received and given at business marketing seminars and workshops is to ensure your target market is “an inch wide and a mile deep”. Using a scatter gun approach to business is costly both in terms of time and money. A laser beam is more effective than a fluorescent light when it comes to focussing on your target market!

… Knowing your number one core want or top priority
is exhilarating and freeing …

I don’t want to push the analogy too far. But I am suggesting that our life in general should be like knowing our targeting market. We need to use a laser beam when it comes to investing our time wisely and intentionally in each of our seven life “accounts”. Knowing your number one core want or top priority for each, is exhilarating and freeing.

Your life will no longer be “out of control” nor will you get pulled in a thousand different directions as you live up to others’ expectations.

Here is an example of someone who undertook this process as part of the On-Purpose® Personal Leadership and Coaching Program.

After brainstorming his wants in each of the seven life accounts (usually around 12 to 16 for each life area) he developed his “core” or number one want for each. These were his heart’s desires and reflected his current season of life. (Our wants and priorities do change as we find ourselves in different circumstances and as we transition to different life seasons.)

Life Account (LA): Vocational/Career
Core Want or Top Priority (CW): Work to be a creative expression of my life’s meaning

LA: Spiritual
CW: Be closer to “god”

LA: Family
CW: Become a stronger leader in my family

LA: Physical/Health/Recreational
CW: Feeling radiant

LA: Social/Friends
CW: Invest time with those who energise and uplift me

LA: Intellectual
CW: Being creative – researching, writing and sharing

LA: Financial
CW: Develop wisdom in my attitude and use of money

LA: Other
CW: Honestly confront my relationship with “Tammy” (alias)

Now you might see this as a fluorescent light across his life, but over 100 “wants” were lasered down to one for each of his life accounts. Through using the On-Purpose® Tournament Process he was able to move from confusion to clarity. (Each of these was turned into an On-Purpose® SMART goal with accompanying action steps to achieve these.)

This process can give you profound insights into your life and confidence to move in the direction of your chosen visions, missions, and values.

These of course are not your Purpose but they nevertheless should align with it.

… We can live with clarity and not in a state of confusion …

So when we get clarity around what matters most in our life, we no longer need to march to the beat of other people’s drums. We can live with clarity and not in a state of confusion.

What will be certain is that you will not be heard to say … “my life is out of control” and that is because you are free from divided interests.

You will be able to confidently, clearly, and more consistently say “yes” to your carefully considered top priorities and “no” more often to those things that take you off track, drain your energy and distract you from aligning your life to your Purpose and core values.

… your life is too important to be left to chance …

So, how about undertaking an “audit” on your life? Divided interests are costly and your life is too important to be left to chance, distracting projects, and unnecessary anxieties.

Maybe it’s time for you to re-examine your relationships, vocations, activities, commitments, possessions, and living arrangements and to find what you want most from life.

Are you up for the challenge?

As Socrates once famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living!”

Maybe right now you are wanting to manage your life better and get the important things done; have more time with your partner, family and friends; unshackle the thinking that has held you back; set clear, purposeful goals in your seven “life accounts”; do the things you really want to do and get more fun back into your life.

… be clear about what you want,
prioritise these, action them and implement them …

Our On-Purpose® Life Planning and Coaching Program will lead you to your core wants in all areas of your life.

Our unique tools and processes ensure that you will be clear about what you want, prioritise these, action them and implement them.

You will gain a clear vision for each of your seven life “accounts”, you will have clear missions for your life and values that are in alignment with your purpose, visions and missions.

Now how powerful is that?

© Dr Edward Gifford, On-Purpose Partners®

Queensland, Australia

www.onpurposepartners.com.au

Bibles for Babwisi: Do Something Historic!

By

You may not be able to make a mission trip to the Babwisi people in Uganda, but for a few dollars a Bible you donate can reside in the country indefinitely!

To learn more and donate, please go to Bibles for Babwisi. $8.50 = 1 Bible. Think about the last $8.50 you spent: Did it have the potential to transform a person, a family, a community, and generations to come? Do something historic and donate.

Ready to make history together? Imagine never having the Bible, the world’s best selling book of all time, in a language that was your own. That is the situation for the Babwisi people who live in Western Uganda, an area famous for gorillas and chimps that brings tourists, but has never seen the Word of God in the heart language of this 100,000+ people group.

For the past 10 years, Wycliffe Bible Translators and The Seed Company have worked with Babwisi Christian leaders to translate all of the New Testament and large parts of the Old Testament, such as Genesis. This summer we’re hoping to see 5,000 Bibles printed and dedicated in the fall to the Babwisi people.

I’m proudly involved in this project through my participation in the Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce. Please consider joining me. Judith and I are investing in 10 Bibles/month for the 3 month campaign.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

Ambition. At What Price?

By

 

What does ambition mean?  For some it is the desire to make a difference.  This is the sweet, soulful heart of ambition. In contrast is blind ambition that tramples all in its path to accomplish an end, perhaps even a noble end at that, which is fraught with unhealthy costs. Much of this rests on your view of people.  

Which will mark your life, career, and legacy?

Herein lies the rub for many a business person. To what lengths are you willing to go to realize your ambitions?

Results, especially in the form of company sales and profits, are outward and tangible measures of success. Measurable signs, however, tell just a portion of the story. If you want to know the full story, ask the people along the way who helped to produce the results.

Here’s a painful example. For 12 months spanning 2008 to 2009, I worked nearly full time with a CEO client to author a book that codified his corporate culture, leadership development moves, and business strategy for internal use. Intending for the company to go public via IPO, the book also targeted Wall Street analysts and investors so they could readily grasp what truly made this company great.

The IPO market at that time dried up with the challenges in the economy. Instead, the company was purchased by a national competitor for $130 million. By the CEO’s own admission, the book helped them get more than $15 million in greater value for shareholders over the IPO price, plus they kept their name, and the CEO was offered the position of President over the merged companies.

“Wow!” you may be thinking, “That CEO had to be a happy man.” You would think so. Eight months after delivery of the manuscript, a client satisfaction clause I wrote into the contract was used to deny issuing me an “earned” six-figure stock bonus despite verbal assurances from the CEO to the contrary. My concern for my client’s satisfaction and best interests was used against me. Ouch! That hurts on so many levels.

Just because one can take advantage of another person, does that mean one should? Best-selling books on the art of war and being a prince would say go for it. But I say there’s nothing noble in selfishness and greed. True nobility is knowing one has the upper hand and using it to raise up the other person instead of jamming them down further.

The deeper value is seeing people as being above things. Translate this to mean relationships are greater than transactions. Results with responsibilities and citizenship can coexist and produce true greatness.

For a couple of decades I’ve worked with my CEO clients to get them to stop saying things like, “Our people are our greatest asset.” Assets are bought and sold as in slavery. Relating people to assets dehumanizes them and places them on par with the photocopier. By the way, the investment in the photocopier maintenance agreement often far exceeds the equivalent “maintenance agreement” for the people in training, development, and benefits. How sad is that!

Along this same line, the term Human Resources certainly doesn’t advance the cause of people much more. Resources are just another name for commodities or assets that are traded, discarded, and otherwise moved about indiscriminately. The Human Resources Department is a blind co-conspirator in the loss of human identity and dignity. Instead, rename the department to something like, “People Development” or “Talent Management” but not “human resources” anything. It is degrading.

I hold no delusions of grandeur that either the perfect person or company graces the face of the planet. Self-serving serpents slither the planet preying on others. We are all capable of being this way, yet deep within our spirit we yearn to a higher self, call, and standard. We’re better to aspire and fail than to have no aspiration at all.

Gazing with admiration upon the shells of “successful” men and women may provide inspiration, but it tends to deliver little instruction. You know better. Get the true back story from the secretaries, bookkeepers, janitors, clerks, delivery persons, and cafeteria workers in corporate headquarters. Look at their personal life. Are their personal lives as captivating as their business headlines? You’ll soon discern whether the person capturing the headlines and your attention is gold-plated or 24 karat solid gold.

Do this: Whether you’re leading your life, a team, or a business, you need to decide: Ambition, at what price? Knowing your purpose and defining your values is a great start to building a life and a career where you can put your head to your pillow at night and sleep soundly.

Engage Kevin for One-on-One Coaching to help you be on-purpose and keep your ambition in a healthy check.

____________________________________________________________________________________  Here are some famous ambition quotes regarding money for your consideration and amusement.

“Money makes the world go around.” $100 bill stack

From the song Money (Watch the performance!) in the Broadway play Cabaret sung by Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey.

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

 1 Timothy 6

“A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.”

Jonathan Swift

“Get all you can [money], without hurting your soul, your body, or your neighbor. Save all you can, cutting off every needless expense. Give all you can.”

John Wesley

“With money in your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome and you sing well, too.”

Yiddish Proverb


What Is A Vision?

By

Vision is a gift to glimpse into the future with a creative clarity and belief that what isn’t will one day become. Vision comes in many forms and manners. Vision is larger, much larger, than a goal. Vision is what prevents the people from perishing according to The Book of Proverbs. Vision is personal, yet it can be shared and can engage a group to greater heights.

Vision is the second of four key strategic concepts for better leading one’s life, family, and/or organization. In context and order, here are these what I call “deep strategy” concepts: Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values.

If you’re asking about vision, then you are likely in the midst of seeking a deeper understanding or clarity related to direction. Vision answers one of The Great Questions: Where am I going?

What is a vision, really? If you’re confused as you read books or surf the web, then you’ll only be more confused. Sadly, there is no standard accepted definition for vision or its related strategic concepts of purpose and mission. We’re doing life and business in a Tower of Babel world. Our language is confused around these vital concepts. By casually co-mingling and using them synonymously all of society pays the price for the confusion and poor communication.

In the absence of standards for strategic language, for nearly three decades, I’ve led the charge to fill the void by offering a standard portrayed in The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business Person. Meet The On-Purpose Pal—a cartoon character who provides a simple, yet highly memorable depiction of how purpose, vision, mission, and values are different, yet connected. 

There’s much to learn about purpose, vision, mission, and values. This post isn’t the forum, but let me give you one way to better understand what you’re wanting to know. Answer the following “Who am I?” questions and you’re on the road to what you’re really after—a life of meaning and purpose with a clear identity, direction, plan mixed with strong confidence, and hope for the future.

  • Purpose: Why am I here? Our being.
  • Vision: Where am I going? Our seeing.
  • Mission: How will I get there? Our doing.
  • Values: What’s important along the way? Our choosing.

Answered these questions? You’re well on your way to being an on-purpose person in creation.

Story: Trusting One’s Vision

Vision can be cooped up inside us longing to escape if we will just dare to express it to the world. Years ago one of our certified On-Purpose® Professionals was coaching a woman who shared a vision for an inner city orchestra. At the time the client was a single mom working two jobs and caring for her two children. Dreaming was a luxury this single mom believed was ill-afforded to her. With some gentle prodding by my associate, the client risked putting words to paper. Her vision began to take form. Cautiously, she began to share her vision.

Remarkable events unfolded within three weeks. At church one Sunday, a local high school principal approached her with this statement: “I heard you are gifted with teaching music.” 

“Yes,” was her simple response.

The principal continued, “Over the summer, my high school received funding for an entire orchestra. I have stands, instruments, sheet music, and an acoustically designed studio. But guess what I don’t have? Someone to develop and lead the students. Would you be interested in the position?”

The rest of the story is one that ends happily.

So, what is your vision? Are you prepared to allow the world to conspire for your benefit? Share your vision in the comments section. Who knows what might happen if you do.