Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Simply On-Purpose®

How Do You Measure Your Meaning or Purpose In Life?

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[This question in the blog post title was posted on Quora. Below is my response.]

Life is 100% meaningful so there’s no need to measure it. The simplest explanation is this, in the cosmic sense either life is meaningful or it is isn’t.

In some scientific manner, I can’t prove that life is meaningful. So it takes a leap of faith, not necessarily religion, to embrace the concept of absolute meaning. In short, each of us gets to choose our absolute worldview: either life is meaningful or it is not. Semi-meaningful isn’t a choice.

Given the choice of life is meaningful or meaningless, why choose coloring your life with the despair and hopelessness of the latter? Even when the current condition or situation or relationship appears meaningless, meaning is at work in the background waiting to frame it with hope and possibilities. It means being expectant and seeking it. The other option casts us deep into the darkness of the ultimate “living” void.

Purpose provides a more personal connection to the cosmic meaning of life. It’s our unique understanding of who we are and how we belong on the planet. Purpose, like meaning, is always present in our lives.

Where it gets confusing is our awareness of whether we are on our purpose–aligned with and giving expression to our purpose or not. That’s being on-purpose or off-purpose, respectively.

“Highest and best use” is a term used in the appraisal (measurement) industry. In times of “highest and best use” of the expression of purpose we’re apt to check the box and say, “Yes, that’s meaningful.” In “bad times,” we’re erroneously declaring, “That’s not meaningful.”

The measure of meaning, therefore, is relative against an absolute benchmark. In this sense, how meaning is measured is up to the individual to define their version of “highest and best use” and “lowest and worse use” and all that is in between.

The point is this: you have one life that is rich in meaning and capable of higher and better expression of your purpose. Your choice is free of your current condition or circumstance. Therefore, choose the life is meaningful worldview and you’ll inherently have a 100%.

What Are Core Values?

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Purpose and values are strongly related. Purpose precedes values. Purpose is by definition good. Values without purpose being inherently good can be easily abused. Values, you'll discover, will often be in conflict.

How does one resolve a values conflict? Your purpose provides the swing vote or trump card if needed.
For example, most people would say that a value such as "Family first" makes a lot of sense. Now consider that if that family is the mob and you as a family member happen to cross the family. Another value kicks in—you cross the family, you die. Murder, even an "honor killing" is still murder.

The values came in conflict! A purpose statement that is by definition "good"—a rather biblical concept from Genesis or "of God"—has a higher probability of engaging our deeper spirit or consciousness that murder is absolutely wrong regardless of the circumstances.


I'm sharing with you this brief Simple Truths movie about core values. It offers a solid "core" reasoning for investing in knowing your values and better knowing yourself.

Are you ready to clarify and write your purpose and values plus vision and mission? Enroll today in The On-Purpose Leader Experience. The next six-week cycle begins October 23. Watch a free one-hour preview and enroll at this same site—discount prices currently show in the shopping cart, too, so you can save $50 or $70 on your enrollment for one or two persons.

Purpose Redeems the Past, Part 2

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Thelma was working with a woman named Shirley about a purpose and plan for her life using On-Purpose® tools and methods.  In the course of the coaching, Thelma asked her client to write down her career aspirations.  Shirley refused to allow herself that luxury because her dreams were gone based on some choices she had made in years passed.  This inner city single mom of two children under ten years of age worked two jobs to just barely make ends meet.  She worked a clerical job during the day, went home to fix dinner for her kids in the evening, and then went to work as an orderly at a mental hospital at night.  This exhausting routine was her life.  There was no emotional margin for dreaming.

Thelma is a strong woman who as a single mom herself raised a son and a daughter.  She refused to take no for an answer from Shirley.  Finally Shirley relented under Thelma’s unwavering insistence.  Turns out that this woman was musically gifted.  She could read music, play any instrument, and dreamed of creating an inner city symphony orchestra for at-risk kids.  She would teach them to play instruments and what it meant to be a part of a musical ensemble.  This would be a way to a better life for those kids.

[Read more…] about Purpose Redeems the Past, Part 2

Purpose Redeems the Past, Part 1

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“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

Do you feel like you’ve wasted away so much of your life that you’re now living with regrets?  Where have the days gone?  When did I detour from the dreams and designs of my life and get in a rut?  Have I become a person as Thoreau described – one who is living a life of “quiet desperation”?  Fear and doubt cloud judgment, belief, and confidence. 

Take heart!  Your purpose is an antidote that redeems the past, inspires the present, and directs your future.  What once appeared as a waste of days transforms into a season of preparation.   There’s a full harvest of past life and work lessons that are now readied for gathering.  In due season you plant seeds that bear fruit in the future born from the lessons of the past.

Purpose provides boldness and clarity.   Deliverance from past transgressions may be too hard for you to imagine.  Yet, time and again, miraculous turnarounds begin when the simple act of articulating your purpose takes place.

Gordie Allen, CEO of Leads Plus, Inc., of Killarney, Florida had three brothers scattered across the US.  Since their parents had died the sons drifted apart and seldom spoke to each other.  Gordie attended an On-Purpose® Person workshop in 1994.  There he clarified his purpose and felt compelled to reconnect with his brothers. He devised a simple strategy.  Each Tuesday he would contact one of his brothers in order of birth.  So the first Tuesday he would contact his oldest brother, the second Tuesday his second oldest and so on.  Years would pass.  When Winston, his second oldest brother, died suddenly of a heart attack, Gordie was the only family member who could give a meaningful eulogy because through those years he had followed the routine.  Since the funeral the three remaining brothers have grown closer.

Purpose Causes You to Want to Make a Difference

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There are a variety of opinions about life and purpose.  Let me assure
you: You have a purpose!  You were born with it.  It is your undeniable
spiritual DNA.  Even if you don’t think you have a purpose – you do.
Designed into your life is your purpose.  Life is meaningful… your life
is meaningful and is making a difference.

You have a reason for being here.  Your unique contribution is needed
every day and in every way. You may never know the difference you
make.  You fit into the Grand Design.  Purpose is indifferent to
circumstances because in any situation your Purpose is at play and is
needed.  That means that you are important in a significant way and you
belong on this Planet.  You are making a difference with your life.

Our culture is one of immediate gratification; but that’s not the way
real life typically works.  Not necessarily knowing the difference we
make is a bit of a raw deal, isn’t it?  Here we are doing these good
deeds on the job and in life, and we don’t get noticed and recognized.
But as mothers have reminded us for centuries, “A job well done is its
own reward.”

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Making A Difference?

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“I wish I could believe that one person could make a difference.”
Tracey Ullman
Comedic Actress

“If you feel rooted in your home and family, if you’re active in your community, there’s nothing more empowering. The best way to make a difference in the world is to start by making a difference in your own life.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Comedic Actress

“One person can make a difference. In fact, it’s not only possible for one person to make a difference, it’s essential that one person makes a difference. And believe it or not, that person is you.”

Robert A. “Bob” Riley
66th Governor of Alabama

Two Simple Questions

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Simply being On-Purpose® begins by asking the two simple questions of Purpose: Who am I?  Why am I here?  These pivotal questions engage our move away from self-centeredness toward a life of purpose.  Seeking meaningful answers to these two questions will alter your life for the better forever. 

Through my first three plus decades I hacked away to find answers to these questions.  In the 1980s a series of life changing events cut a tiny pass into the wilds of my heart and I experienced a moment in Eden.  I knew Joy for the first time – and it wasn’t about me.  But being me by abandoning me didn’t make sense.  I couldn’t trust that concept so I kissed bliss goodbye and retreated to the “security” of my old neighborhood – life on the Avenue.

But my old way of life had been rocked.  Before I didn’t know what I
didn’t know.  Now I knew there was a better place but it appeared
risky.  Treading on the new path felt so foreign.  Once I realized I
was living in the moment, the moment was gone.  I longed to live in
this new place, but I slid back into habits.

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It’s (Not) About Me

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Recently I was shopping at the local Publix grocery store.  Standing at
the checkout line was a trim woman in her thirties wearing a hot pink
T-shirt with the message, “IT’S ABOUT ME” in three-inch capital letters
trimmed by pink sequins.  I believe she’s right.  Pastor Rick Warren’s
book, The Purpose Driven Life, begins Day 1 with the statement. “It’s
not about you.”  I believe he’s right.

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