Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

FAQ Kevin

Learning to Lead Starts With Yourself

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Watch this video interview I did with Factor77 to gain insight into on-purpose concepts.  Some of the questions asked and answered are below.

  • Was there something you went through personally that made you write your book?
  • What is your methodology for taking a step back in today’s world and being able to figure out what the heck you're doing?
  • Why do you say a balanced life is a myth?
  • So if you're doing what you love there should be no balance?
  • How do you go out and find the right people to keep you motivated?
  • How do you know when it’s time to stop and look around at what you're doing and take that first step?
  • How do you feel satisfied at the end of the day instead of stressed out?

Purpose or Purposes

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You have only one purpose in life.   Once you know that purpose, you are to align your life and make choices consistent with it so you are on your purpose, rather than off your purpose.  That’s the essential message of being on-purpose.

In business, and especially in the church community, many people write about their “purposes.”  Note the use of the plural form, a recent pop culture invention mostly due to Pastor Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life in which he tells people they have five purposes of Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Evangelism.  These are missions of the church, not purposes.  For all the good Pastor Warren’s book is doing, it is ultimately confusing people at the core of their being, but it is getting them engaged in life more profoundly.

You do not have many purposes in life.   You may have multiple visions and missions, but only one purpose.  You may have many reasons for doing something, but only one will to do it. (Read more about the subtle differences between purpose, vision, mission, and values by clicking on this sentence.)

Need further proof of the singular nature of purpose?   The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary doesn’t provide a plural for purpose.  Purpose is inherently singular.

For example, here is an excerpt from a devotional I read today, “God
will provide the necessary circumstances to accomplish His purposes in
your life.” This is incorrect because of the plural use of the word.  God has one purpose for your life, and, yes, he will arrange the circumstances.  To push the point just a bit further, let’s replace purposes with the word will.  This is a more accurate description of the usage.  God has one will, not a plurality of wills.

Reason and purpose are frequently interchanged.  Life purpose is a person’s one reason for being or raison d’etre.  Purpose in lieu of reason is an appropriate, but a less effective word choice.  Purpose is deeply about one’s intention or will.   I appreciate that one can have many reasons for doing something, but there is one intention.  To be otherwise is to be double-minded or confused.  That is the very challenge purpose clarifies for you.  You can’t have purposes or be on-purposes. The logic and semantics don’t support the concept of purpose – plural.

Avoid getting caught up in this sloppiness of use.  Strike the non-word purposes from your vocabulary. Purpose is a truly special and remarkably powerful word as applied to one’s life purpose.  Seek the singleness of strength of being of one mind, body, and spirit and you will be on-purpose.

Your comments are always invited.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

Time Management: Myth or Missing Link

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Too much to do and not enough time to get it all done.  For most of us that means it
is time to turn to time management.  Courses and seminars in time
management, software packages, PDAs like the Palm, and good old
fashioned daily planners like a DayTImer, Franklin Covey Planner, or Day
Runner, all hold great promise to help you get your life on track.  And
they do!  Kinda.  Mostly.

Time management is a smokescreen masking an underlying
problem.  Sure time management systems allow you to manage events, set priorities, plan your day, and schedule your appointments.  But are you making progress in life or are you just moving around meetings and activities?  Have you just become more efficient at being ineffective?

Solve the underlying challenge of why you need time
management and your time management problems narrow significantly.  In the end, it isn’t the tools and technology or time management that make a difference.  It is you!

[Read more…] about Time Management: Myth or Missing Link

How do I find my purpose in life?

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This is one of those questions that comes up hauntingly too often.
Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place.

Please, allow me give you the short answer about finding meaning and purpose in your life so you can get started.

Grab a sheet of paper and a pen.
Answer the question, “Why do I exist?”
Write everything you can think.  Do a brain dump.
Once you’ve completed this, distill your pages into one page.
Then, distill your one page into a paragraph.
Reduce that paragraph to a sentence.
Reduce the sentence to two words.
The first word is an action verb or gerund (ends with an “ing” like liberating, awakening, or igniting).
The second word is an object.
Give these words a generic beginning of, “I exist to serve by…”
Now you have written your purpose statement.
[Read more…] about How do I find my purpose in life?

Is The On-Purpose Person your first book?

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Yes! 

I wrote my first ever want list back in March of 1980.  On this list – which I still have in a file  – were written two prophetic vocational wants.  I want to write a book.  I want to be the world’s expert in something.  Little did I know that a decade later I would be writing The On-Purpose Person and would be propelled onto the international stage.