Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Tips, Trends, & Techniques

Kevin, How Did You Lose Weight And Keep It Off For Two Years ?

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Many people have asked me to reveal the secret to my success with losing my weight and keeping it off.  This On-Purpose “Minute” gives you the skinny on the keys to my weight loss, keeping it off, and staying at a healthy weight. Warning: this “Minute” is a bit different from what you might be used to seeing.

After watching the video, keep reading as I share my update and a surprising residual insight to this whole healthy experience.

OK!  So I had a bit of fun there with you in this On-Purpose Minute.  Hey, it’s the summer so it’s time to cut loose a bit.  Did you watch it all the way?  Hopefully, you hung in there with me and learned my many “secrets.”

From March to July of 2008, I lost 50 pounds.  Candidly, about 10 pounds have crept back on me here on my 2nd anniversary.  I’m in much better shape so I hope some of it is muscle weight – or is that a rationalization?  The tips I gave you work amazing well, if you apply them.

More importantly, I’ve learned a few things about myself, too.  Keeping a healthy weight isn’t nearly as hard as I imagined it to be.  Certainly my behaviors and habits are much healthier, yet there is still this unnecessary and unhealthy desire – call it an occasional lust – for sweets.  It isn’t a physiological need, but an emotional longing of some sort.  But what?

Some unmet need, hurt, frustration, or anger causes me to run to my drug of choice.  I’m working on understanding what the heck is happening and the pattern.  It mostly rears its ugly head at night.

Thankfully the weight loss and new habits have given me a margin of health, a fresh start, and a clearer mind, but there’s more work to be done on good (not so old) old Kevin.  By stripping away a pile of fat-boy producing habits, I’m getting to the root of my issue(s).  It is all good!

My prayer would be that you, too, get on a journey of healthy on-purpose living.  Your personal insights refine and enrich your life if you will go to them instead of running from them.  If you have a health coach, then work with them.   If you need a health coach, then please contact Judith McCarthy at judithmccarthy@cfl.rr.com to learn how you can do what I did.

Authorship: Making Yourself Write

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The Writing processImage by brainpop_uk via Flickr

About once a week a would-be writer approaches me to ask for my pearls of wisdom for how to write a book.  The answer is simple: start, finish, edit, rewrite, edit, share, rewrite, and stop short of being totally satisfied.  (Tip: You will never be completely satisfied.)

The first step, "Start!" is the most difficult.  After that the Finish step is the most difficult, followed by the edit step… you get the picture.  Writing is work folks. 

I stumbled upon 50 Strategies For Making Yourself Work, an article by Jerry Oltion.  It offers great advice for getting the writing process started.  These 50 strategies are accurate and spiced with humor.  

So read (oh, yes, and apply) Jerry Oltion's advice.  Surely, there is at least one of these strategies to get your book started sooner rather than later.  So now you know how to write a book – easy wasn't it? 

How to sell a book?  First, the writing is the easy part.   Need I say more?

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Are You Working Smarter to be On-Purpose?

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Cover of Upgrade Your LifeCover via Amazon

Time management is one of the great challenges.   This video at FastCompany.com by Gina Trapani, the author of Upgrade
Your Life and founding editor of Lifehacker.com was worthwhile viewing.   In short, do you know what is important to your life and work?

Here are some related past On-Purpose Minutes you may want to review:

Do You Want A Balanced Life?

Is Your Life Getting Better?

What's the Deal with Time Management?

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin


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The AT Adventure Begins!

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June 26, 2010

Charles, 19, and Anne McCarthy, 17, our son and daughter head from Amicalola Falls State Park, just north of Atlanta, GA., to go on a 30-day hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT).  Judith has been sick so I took them up and walked the first three miles with them to Frosty Mountain.  This video picks up the start of their adventure on the Approach to the AT.  The back story is below the video.

Please
enjoy this 5-minute video and then I invite you to use the comments section below to share what adventure you would do if you were brave.

Back Story: Charles has been hiking the AT since he was ten when he went to Camp Deep
Woods for Boys, a truly life-changing experience for him thanks to
Kells Hogan, the Camp Director.  At the Christ
School Outdoor Program, Charles continued his love of outdoor
adventure and training.  Anne, on the other hand, is a novice hiker but a
game competitor. 

This all started this winter when Charles posted a request on Facebook inviting people to join him on the AT.  His itinerary was planned to attract others to join him for the entire hike or to join him part way.   The only person who responded was Anne!  Kudos to her for stepping up.  Kudos to both for thinking it was a cool idea to hike the AT with their sibling.

Some think Judith and I are crazy to allow our older teens to hike the AT alone.  We think we're crazy not to support them in this adventure.  There is tremendous support and services along the way.  This is wilderness, but not raw and unmapped wilderness.  Both kids' abilities to reason and make good decisions are strong.  Here's an amazing opportunity for them to work together as a brother and sister
while testing personal character and endurance against what nature can
throw their way.  Leadership is about facing fears and challenges both
physical and mental.  Frankly, we couldn't be more proud of them both.

We also figure that this hike will either bond them for life or one of them will the kill the other.  Clearly, we're betting on the former outcome and feel the odds are heavily in our favor.  I guess the theory is this:  What our failures as parents didn't produce in them they are likely to beat each other into a better relationship on this trip!  Tell me now who is crazy!

Thank
you fellow National Speakers Association member Jana Stanfield
whose song, If I Were Brave provides the music score.  She's
gracious about granting permission for use.

For the record, I did
jog from Frosty Mtn. back to the car in just under an hour.  I had a few
stops to chat with other hikers, drink water, and walk some of the
uphill sections.  Then I hit the road and drove home to Winter Park.  What a great day!

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Wander Woman, by Marcia Reynolds

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41vuiFxLoeL._SL160_ This interview with Marcia Reynolds about her new book Wander Woman, hit me with a mix of appreciation and sadness.  Please watch the interview, read the rest of my comments, and then add your thoughts to the conversation.  What's your take on the interview? 

Marcia's observation of high performing women and her discussion of their challenges, frustrations, and ambitions parallel some my experiences with female executives.  My deep appreciation for her comments is the manner in which she has truly drilled deep to get to the subtle nuances of the Wandering Woman condition.  She paints an accurate picture as best I can tell for this stage of personal leadership development.

In particular, Marcia's concept of Wander Women wanting a knight instead of a king for a marriage partner intrigued me.  I have to wonder, women who are reading this, do you agree?

My sadness with the interview (the book may provide further insights) was that Marcia is scratching the surface on vital women's issues such as identity, life balance, relationships, purpose, meaning, work, community, leadership, etc… yet there's an absence of inherent hope and joy in Marcia's underlying demeanor.  Again, just one man's intuition here that something is missing.  Is it the absence of a strong spiritual component that I sense?  Is it a woman wandering in an unsettled way and striving to make rational peace with it rather than getting the matter resolved in her heart?

The Old Testament story of Moses and the Jews wandering in the desert for 40 years comes to mind as I begin to grasp this concept.  Let's hope that Marcia Reynolds will one day be able to write a sequel, The Promised Land Lady.

Wander women, I must ask you, is being a wandering woman what you want?  Is this concept simply an unresolved justification for stopping short of really knowing who you are, why you are here, where you are going, and what's important along the way?  Can high performing women be settled souls instead of wandering women?

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

Here is a related On-Purpose Minute that you might find helpful:  How Do You Manage Disappointment?

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Drive By Daniel Pink

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I've been a fan of Daniel Pink's since I first read A Whole New Mind.  I've been reading through his latest book, Drive when this YouTube video came across my computer screen.  

In the late 1980s when I pioneered the On-Purpose approach I felt the truth of what was wrong with the current thinking in personal and corporate leadership.  At the time, I knew the concepts were ahead of their time.  In The On-Purpose Business I predict the Age of Purpose and Meaning following the Knowledge Age. 

Patiently, I've waited, watched, and worked.  So here I am 20 plus years later.  Along the way Jim Collins' books, Built to Last and Good to Great, validated the principles of On-Purpose with extensive research far beyond my resources and experience. 

Now comes Daniel Pink to share the importance of purpose in organizations.  I love it!  Society is catching up but still not quite there.  As important as purpose is, it isn't as important as being On-Purpose.   On-Purpose is the moment-to-moment alignments of living out the defined purpose.

With this caveat, I just love this video featuring Daniel Pink.  The more we get the word out about purpose and being on-purpose, the sooner the world gets to a healthier and more whole place.  

Please share your comments on this video or any other thoughts.

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The On-Purpose Leader Experience

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Do you want to be a better leader of your life?

For the longest time you've promised yourself you would work the
process in The On-Purpose Person, right?  But you haven't!  Today
you can make good to yourself on your promise.

Join me for The On-Purpose Leader Experience, a six-week immersion in being on-purpose that will transform your life for good.  Here's
your
chance to do right by yourself.  You will:
OP_leader_logos_blue

  • Clarify and organize your life around what matters most
  • Write your statements of purpose, vision, missions, and values
  • Gather, mix, and mingle with other On-Purpose Persons
  • Gain membership to a 24/7 private web group supporting your journey
  • Ask questions of Kevin on conference calls and in forums and
    discussion groups
  • Have a workbook with everything you need to work the On-Purpose Process and track your progress.

Enroll
today in the full six-week experience for just $127.  Enroll with a friend and
your investment is $1.80 each per day!  Look for the Companion Special (2
persons for only $150).

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

PS:  Did you catch The On-Purpose Leader Experience
webcast?  Invest an hour and improve your life and your business.  CLICK
HERE to watch the first webcast.

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The On-Purpose Leader Experience: Session 1 Replay

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OPLeaderimage "What am I going to do when I grow up?" 

It is funny
when we say it, yet the price of not really knowing who we are as
grown-ups is needlessly expensive to every aspect of our lives.

I
get it!  You're stretched to the max and burdened under more
commitments than you have time.  Life is wrapped so tight, that you're
not sure where to begin with making your life make sense.

Now, you
can test drive The On-Purpose Leader Experience which is based on
The On-Purpose Person.  Listen and watch the replay of the introductory webcast by CLICKING HERE.   You will be taken to
the replay page.   Be sure to click on "SLIDES" in the upper left hand
corner so you can watch and listen.

The program includes five
remaining webcasts, replays, and web site support.  Enrollment for
this series ends: Tuesday, June 1, midnight. 

Experience what it means to be on-purpose and to be in a community of on-purpose persons in creation.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

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