The Professor of On-Purpose
James gave me permission to post this photo he took of a special little guy in his life. 
"As far as an expression of happiness, this picture I took this past weekend on a camping trip shows it all. The two of us went camping."
Thanks for sharing with us James.
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
"Who is the happiest person you know?" It was a simple question. The answer, however, proved to be more challenging than I imagined.
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This was today's On-Purpose Minute. It drew such a large response that I posted it here in hopes that email conversation and wisdom of the viewers would accrue to more than just me. Please share your thoughts on this On-Purpose Minute by adding your comments. Click on the headline of the posting and it will open up to a comments section. Go for it!
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
PS: To subscribe to The On-Purpose Minutes (Tuesdays) and On-Purpose Business Minutes (Thursdays), click here for your free subscription.
We all have our travel war stories. I just had to add my most recent experiences to the "I wonder what they are thinking" file.
Wireless Wonders
OK, so I check into the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, AZ for a convention. My wife and I just traveled way too many hours thanks to a thunderstorm over the Atlanta airport that had us missing our connecting flight and the next flight because it was already overbooked. I go to power up my laptop to handle a few items while my wife is taking a bath before we crash for the night.
I'm greeted by a screen that informs me internet connections are $12.95 per 24 hour period or $3.95 per hour. Let's face it – when Hampton Inn can give you free wireless access, why is a five star resort gouging its patrons by making wireless internet service a profit center? Frankly, I was ticked off about it. Here I was stuck for four days at this beautiful resort and I couldn't shake the feeling I was being raked over the coals. At least they didn't have a meter on the water for the shower and bath tub.
Thinking there might be some sort of group rate or discount available, I called the front desk and asked if there was a group rate for wireless service. "No," the woman told me. Admittedly, I vented my frustration when I said, "Gee, Hampton Inn gives you free wireless; you would think the Phoenician would have this service for free." Her response was priceless: "Sir, we're a five star resort not a Hampton Inn."
The message I got was if you can't afford the car, then don't complain about the price of gasoline. So come on Phoenician, get into the 21st Century of basic services for guests.
Great place to stay otherwise!
Delayed Thinking
So we're heading home from the trip to Phoenix. Delta Airlines calls my cell phone around noon Eastern time to say our connecting flight from Cincinnati to Orlando is delayed from 8:15 PM to 10:00 PM. I'm impressed.
We arrive at Cincinnati to find the 10:00 flight time is still the mark. About fifteen minutes before boarding we're informed that the flight departure is now delayed to 11:30! So with a 1 hour and 49 minute flight that puts us home at 1:30 am. Thankfully, we've adjusted somewhat to the three-hour time difference in Phoenix.
What few of us in the airport realized was the food court and all shops closed at 9:00 on this Sunday evening. That meant you had about 200 souls and two vending machines tucked behind the food court half a concourse away. Now Delta had only about ten hours to make other arrangements for the plane, but they bet they could get this one on the ground fixed. About 10:30 someone from Delta threw a flat of water and some biscuit cookies and peanuts on the counter and announced, "Come and get it."
Judith and I were fine sitting there. It was the families with all the little kids heading to Disney World for whom I felt true compassion.
Fortunately, when we got on the plane, the flight attendant, Peter, had a plan. A free movie and headsets for everyone. He did a great job of apologizing to the passengers. The movie was 17 Again. You aren't going to believe this, but the plane landed just before the movie ended. So if anyone knows how the movie ended… email me!
It gets funnier…
Bathroom Humor
We land in Orlando just past 1:30 AM. Judith and I head to the baggage claim to get our bags. The Orlando airport is empty except for passengers from our flight and another from Atlanta. They place all of us at carousel 30. About this time, nature is calling me so I head to the bathroom for an on-purpose pee. I see it has one of those bright orange cones in front and a cleaning cart. I walk in and a woman is cleaning the men's room. She scolds me for coming in and tells me to leave. I comply.
I walk half a concourse to another men's room. It is closed with a barricade. I walk back up to baggage claim 30 hoping the attendant is finished. She's standing in front of the entrance blocking people from going in. Get this… a male attendant is standing in front of the women's bathroom entrance blocking women from going in. Do you think they could have switched?
So here you have about 400 people all waiting for the bags with the only two bathrooms within 500 yards being blocked by staff of the opposite sex from the bathroom they are cleaning. Could they have switched bathrooms? No! Could they have accommodated the only two flights left to come into the airport at now 2 AM? No! My Spanish is not good otherwise I might have argued the point. What were they thinking?
I just had to laugh… fortunately not hard enough to wet my pants.
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
The SCI FI Channel has changed its branding. Check it out with this link.
At On-Purpose Business Advisors we inevitably end up in branding because of our core work on business design and strategy. Branding is one of the first external expressions and places to create alignment with customers.
I had to laugh when I saw the new name. SCI FI says it all. Syfy – what does that say? There are 
some names you just don't need to change. That said, a logo update would certainly be in order, but to change the name at this point to Syfy is just plain stupid. Perhaps they have some magic hidden up their sleeve with this new name. I sense someone got paid a great deal of money to develop a new look and name. Unfortunately, the emperor's new clothes made it through tight-lipped committee after committee for approval.
The new logo makes me think this is a Styrofoam cup business, a paper company, or a pharmaceutical conglomerate with some made up name due to some chemical compounding. Certainly not an edgy science fiction television channel.
The good news is the execution on the web site is stunningly well done in terms of navigation, look, graphics, etc. They've kept the traditional purple (outer space?) for highlights. There is a lot there and they manage it nicely. So kudos to the team that took what was probably given to them and took it boldly where few have gone before.
For now, all I can do is sigh, fyi.
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
You know of my passion about purpose and living on-purpose. A friend sent me a link to an article: a recent study of seniors and how those with a stronger sense of purpose live longer than those without. It doesn't matter what the purpose is.
"It can be anything — from wanting to accomplish a goal in life, to
achieving something in a volunteer organization, to as little as reading a
series of books," said study author Dr. Patricia Boyle, a
neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and an assistant
professor of behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center in
Chicago.
Read the rest of the article here.
Join me. Live long on-purpose!
SeaWorld Orlando has Discovery Cove where you can swim with the dolphins and the Penguin Encounter where you can watch penguins frolic and play in a frozen environment.
Move over Orlando, Pittsburgh has bested SeaWorld with Super Mario's Mansion where the whole family can swim with the Penguins AND the Stanley Cup.
I grew up in the Pittsburgh, PA area and we Pittsburghers do love our sports. My brother, Bob, who lives there, keeps me up to date with lots of happenings around town. Sports are something fun we've shared as kids, especially since we were a family of athletes.
Mario Lemieux is the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team's former star and hockey legend naturally threw a party at his home for the championship team. My brother has some friends who attended the team party and forwarded these photos. (Note that the kid in the yellow flotation device is not wearing Red Wings.)
Don't be too alarmed by the scene. The Stanley Cup is traditionally hoisted and jolted by the winning team. It is revered enough to fight for; real enough to be enjoyed. The Stanley Cup adds yet another page to its history of storied adventures.
Let's hope that Cup can swim!
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
Mario's Mansion outside of Pittsburgh:
The Stanley Cup on display before it takes a dip in the pool.
Janet Cronstedt and I began doing business together in 1999. Quickly we became friends and have remained that way since. We do very little business together but we remain connected thanks to email and cell phones.
She is one on-the-go lady these days. Janet was the Senior Vice President of Take Shape For Life, the health coach company and plan that helped me lose my 50 pounds a few years ago. In fact, Janet introduced me to Dr. Wayne Andersen, the Co-Founder of TSFL, who engaged me to speak at their National Convention.
Below is the full article Janet wrote in her weekly column for TSFL called From My Heart to Yours. Her story of becoming an on-purpose person humbles and excites me. Enjoy getting to know my friend, Janet.
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
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“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both!”
James A. Michener
When I turned 50 my husband asked me what I wanted for my BIG birthday. I responded with, “I want to go away on a weekend retreat to Orlando, FL, which promises that I will walk away with a clear idea about what on Earth I am here for.”
Try saying that to your spouse of 30 years! There is not a doubt in my mind that Bob would have so preferred I said, “A piece of jewelry.”
That weekend and my discovery at the Power Up On-Purpose seminar, hosted by Kevin McCarthy, author of The On-Purpose Person, changed my life. It led me to leave a comfortable job, affiliate with a new company 3,000 miles from home, and for the first time in my 58 years, live on my own 50% of the time. Married at 20 and entirely dependent on my wonderful husband, that was probably the most difficult part of it all for me!
My purpose, awakening worth, continues to guide me, stretch me, shape me, challenge me, scare me, excite and reward me in amazing ways. I exist at TSFL to awaken worth. YOU matter to me and awakening your worth gives me joy every day in every way. I enjoy every precious moment!
As Dr. A says so well in Chapter 21 of Dr. A’s Habits of Health, “until there is purpose, life lacks vibrancy and is at some level, joyless.”
Chapter 21 ROCKS. Read and re-read it. Share it. Let it lead you to purpose. You and those you touch will never be the same.
Better together,
Janet Cronstedt
SVP
“Without fulfillment, we can’t achieve optimal health.” — Dr. Wayne Andersen
John Francis has a remarkable personal and professional story. He is an intelligent man with a warm and gentle spirit that I personally find engaging and attractive. I'm profiling him here, however, not necessarily for his vocation within the environmental field; that is noble in his niche. More importantly, here's a man who has silently and literally walked into his calling only to discover the importance that going more deeply into who he is requires change, release, and willingness to leave the past behind and to step into the present and future in spite of the risks of losing one's known identity.
This video featuring John Francis on TED is compelling – a 20-minute peek into a man making a difference based on the strength of his convictions, yet recognizing how his strength had become a prison. Toward the very end of John Francis' talk, you'll learn life lessons about the On-Purpose® process that is always underway in our lives.
One day in 1983, John Francis stepped out on a walk. For the next 22 years, he trekked and sailed around North and South America, carrying a message of respect for the Earth — for 17 of those years, without speaking. During his monumental, silent trek, he earned an MA in environmental studies and a PhD in land resources.
Today his Planetwalk foundation consults on sustainable development and works with educational groups to teach kids about the environment.