Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Coaching

What Is Personal Leadership?

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Leadership is a broad term that, like beauty, is often described as “being in the eye of the beholder.” Ask ten people to define leadership and you’ll likely get ten facets of this brilliant diamond. Most can agree that leadership involves other people but that’s an incomplete understanding.

Whereas leadership involves working with others, personal leadership is about working with yourself. You can’t delegate this responsibility nor should you miss this opportunity to better your body, mind, and spirit. Here is the only place in the world where you possess a significant measure of control through choice. The power of choosing can be exercised and strengthened or avoided and diminished.  

Ask yourself the following personal leadership questions:

  • What am I feeding my mind, my body, my heart, and my spirit to be a better person?
  • Am I reading books, articles, blog posts, and other content that inspire me?
  • Who in my life uplifts and calls upon me to rise above my problems?
  • Am I investing my time in healthy exercise, eating, and behaviors?
  • Do I have a plan to learn something new in the next 30 days … or the next year?
  • What is one thing I can start doing today to make my life better?

Self-care is not selfish; it is essential. The more you develop as a person, the more others are willing to follow your lead. The better you know yourself, the stronger your leadership potential will increase. In other words, as you win in your inner life, then your outer life is likely to thrive.

CLO Personal Leadership
Pre-Order Chief Leadership Officer by June 30, 2016 by clicking the image above.

In this On-Purpose Minute, personal leadership is defined as “The proactive process of meaningfully aligning and integrating your life around what matters most.” As this On-Purpose Minute briefly explains, there’s more here than meets the eye. You hold the key to the ignition to start the process. Be thoughtful and intentional about exploring possibilities to think about how best to align and integrate your decisions to produce alignment and integration about what truly counts.

Here’s where a personal 2-word purpose statement pays dividends. When you know your purpose, you have a personal, universally applicable point of reference for alignment and integration. Life becomes simpler because you’re aware of who you are, and you have a growing appreciation for what’s right for you. 

The sooner you decide to be the leader of your life, the better off we all are. That, by the way, is true prosperity—everyone profits.

Personal Leadership involves the person you see in the mirror. Most of us will readily admit we have different “voices” within us competing for our “best” interest. No one escapes temptation. The following expressions offer insightful evidence of our inner demons of discontent and the desire for a more integrated life:

  • “I have my own demons to battle,” a la Flip Wilson‘s famous line, “The Devil made me do it.”
  • “I must not be in my right mind.”
  • “I’m torn. My head says one thing, my heart another.”
  • “I need some time to get my head together.”
  • “I can’t seem to get my act together.”
  • “Why am I so easily distracted?”

Get started leading your life right now! Not tomorrow. Not next week. Right now!

Not sure where to start? Write down what you want. The Discovery Guide can help you sort it out simply, quickly, and meaningfully. Download the free preview with instructions and the forms you need to take the next step toward being an on-purpose person in creation, being the Chief Leadership Officer of your life!CLO hard book cover open

Pre-Order Chief Leadership Officer today!

Download the Opening Chapters here.

 

Are You Making Half-Hearted Attempts?

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Seven years ago, the decision to quietly add Health Coaching to our services at On-Purpose Partners was made, and it has been eye-opening for our traditional On-Purpose® coaching work with clients. The difference is the “BS Factor” is so much easier to detect with health coaching — either the client is gaining health or not. It is literally right out front and easily measured.

The scales don’t lie, but we do. Recently, one of our clients shared that he came to realize he would look in the mirror and see himself as thin. At 6′ 2″ and over 340 pounds — and NOT playing in the NFL — he was deceiving himself. Therefore, with high integrity, he could “lie” to others about his growing health problems because he didn’t “really” have one. Denial is dangerous to our health and well-being.

I was just as guilty gambling with my health! For too many years, I would look in the KWM Before and Aftermirror and see all the “muscles” I had gained over the years. Who was I fooling? Today, I’m soooo thankful for my health that I can’t NOT share good health with others. Ah, the making of a zealot!

I still battle with a tendency to eat unhealthy because I, like so many of us, find that food = comfort, legal pleasure, and “control.” Sweets, especially carbs in the forms of ice cream, chocolate, candy, and bread are my old coping mechanisms. I can’t afford to be half-hearted about my health.

Half-hearted attempts reflect delayed decisions and unproductive rationales.

  • “I’ll get around to being healthy.”
  • “That hot fudge sundae won’t kill me.”
  • “If I don’t call that client today …”

God gave us a whole heart so why make half-hearted attempts with it? Your purpose is symbolized by your heart.

Here’s the essence of the problem: when we don’t know who we are, why we exist, where we are going with our lives, and what’s important, then we’re not right with ourselves.

This being out of personal integrity stirs unhealthy emotions. The vast majority of us “drug” ourselves to dull the pain. My drug of choice is sweets. For others it may be alcohol, shopping, gambling, exercise, drugs (legal and illegal), sexual activities, gaming, sports, and so forth. Running from ourselves only gets us lost further from where we started.

The result: we’re half-hearted, too busy, and spread too thin even as the spread is widening between who we are and who we’ve become.

Get in touch with your identity via your purpose, especially. Invest the time to also clarify your vision, mission, and values. You’ll be prepared to be more fully engaged in your life. When you better know who you are, you’ll discover half-hearted attempts are episodes in your life, but they no longer define your life. You are literally a better person!

When you more regularly have the benefit of whole-hearted living, then half-hearted attempts are seen for what they are — a waste. Either make a decision to go for it or not. Dithering is destructive to body, mind, and spirit. Choose your battles to win.

Show Up

I’m low on the shrewd scale. I too often take what people say at face value. It wasn’t until we had the health coaching business that I realized how much people say that they will do but don’t actually do it. Many are highly regarded colleagues, thought leaders, coaches, leaders, and professionals. It has been eye-opening for me to come to terms that it is about 50/50 between the dos and don’ts on commitments.

A friend taught us an expression years ago that Judith and I still use today. Here it is: “Mr. Say am here. Mr. Do ain’t showed up.” There it is in a nutshell! We’re overworked, stressed, getting fatter, and whatever other pennies we earn, we pay in pounds packed on the waist. When we don’t show up, the weight gain shows up.

Personally: Are you making half-hearted attempts to get healthy?

  • If a health coach forwarded this message to you then ask him or her for their help. Learn how easy it is to get healthy when you have a professional health coach guiding you. And then make the commitment whole-heartedly.  
  • If you need a Health Coach, then email me and I’ll get you a free 30-minute consultation with one of our Certified Health Coaches.

At work: Are you frustrated with your half-hearted work? 

  • Do you dream of starting a business where you can give meaningful and profitable expression to who you are? 
  • Please email me to set up a time to visit so you can be more fully engaged in your life and work.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

 

Is Your Life Getting Better?

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Note: The video mentions an upcoming On-Purpose Leader Teleseminar. For this updated On-Purpose Minute, I instead want to refer you to the Power of Your 2-Word Purpose Statement webcast, linked below.

Are you or is someone dear to you the proverbial “victim of circumstances”? Don’t Be! A victim of circumstances is a person in an unfortunate position, but those circumstances need not dictate your future.

You may not be able to control your circumstances, but you can manage your responses. Resigning to your current set of circumstances can be negatively habit-forming and send you in a downward spiral. This response means that you’re on the fast track to becoming a victim, no longer of circumstances, but of self-inflicted circumstances.

Choose a better option. In this On-Purpose Minute, we’ll be looking at how you can order your life around a different, healthier perspective of managing your life.

Are you ready to finally know your purpose in life — in two words! Yes, your life will get a whole lot better by being on-purpose.

The Power of Your 2-Word Purpose Statement may be just the introduction for you to order your life, define what’s most important, and begin living as an on-purpose person in creation.

 

What Is Your Cost of Being Off-Purpose?

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Put on your financial hat for an On-Purpose Minute. If I asked you to pay me $1.22 to help you save a portion of $1,000, would you “risk” it? Most likely, yes. It is an easy business decision. In fact, you would probably ask, “What’s the catch?” There is a catch!

Prior to the 30-minute webcast of The POWER of Your 2-Word Purpose Statement (watch here), I conducted a survey of registrants. One of the survey questions was, “If you had to put a U.S. dollar figure on being disadvantaged without or a weak purpose, vision, or mission statement, which best reflects your cost of being ‘off-purpose’?” 

The multiple choice answers can be found in the first seven columns (see chart below) plus “Other.” Over 47% of those surveyed indicated the cost of being off-purpose was over $1,000,000. Astonishingly the write-in text for the “Other” included words like immeasurable, incalculable, and priceless. At 22% it ranked highest. Not bad for an un-choice!

To be on-purpose, you need to make an intentional choice to actually do something about it. The ROI is amazing, especially for those in the 47%  group. Immeasurable, incalculable, priceless? Yes!

Cost of off-purpose breakdown p1

Are You Starting A Diet on Monday?

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Don't Diet!

"Diets don't work," flatly states my friend Dr. Wayne Andersen, the author of The Habits of Health and Living a Longer Healthier Life, and mentor in Judith's (my wife) health coaching practice.  Diets are short term decisions, not long term behaviorial and lifestyle changes so they don't work.

Don't Exercise Either!

Exercise is inefficient and often ineffective for healthy weight loss.  Exercise is important, but it needs to be in the right context of an overall program of health.

Do Invest 3 Minutes to watch A Weighty Conversation!

Below this video message is information to connect with a Health Coach of your choice or Judith.  Watch the message, then keep reading.



Do A Program, Not A Diet!

Your health rests upon making a better decision right now! 

  • If your Health Professional or Health Coach sent you A Weighty Conversation, then get back in touch with him or her to help you.  They will guide you.
  • If you need a Health Coach, please contact Judith McCarthy.  Email her right now and you'll soon be on your way to a healthier (and happier) 2011.

            Judith McCarthy, Certified Health Coach

            JudithMcCarthy@cfl.rr.com <copy and paste into your email message

My Story

This is the program that helped me lose my weight and keep it (mostly) off for over 2 years!  Is your lifestyle preventing you from really being more fully on-purpose?

Join me.  Over the holidays I packed on more than a few extra pounds and I'm starting back on the program Monday to lose 15 pounds!  Regardless of whether you need to lose 15 pounds or 150 pounds, join with me to live a healthier weigh… on-purpose!

Be Wise!

If you are on Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol medication or obese, be sure to consult your doctor. Your health coach will work with you and your doctor to get you to a healthy weight and lifestyle.  Don't take unnecessary risks!

Quotes on Health

"As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in your self."

Adella Davis (1904 – 1974)

"Look to your health: and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blesing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can't buy."

Izaak Walton (1593 – 1683)

Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people.  So overweight people are now average.  Which means you've met your New Year's resolution."

Jay Leno (1950 – )

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