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Are You Making Half-Hearted Attempts?

February 13, 2018 By kwmccarthy

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

Most of us think we decide with our head, our rational logic. What if that is only half of the equation—and not even the better half? We trust our decisions with our hearts, so being half-hearted or uncommitted messes with our minds. Consider the costs of a lifetime of flawed decision-making on our well-being, income, opportunities, and relationships. Scary, huh?

Before making a big decision, have you ever been told to “Sleep on it overnight”?

This wise counsel was intended to provide time for your heart to catch up with your racing-ahead mind. It’s a way to go from being half-hearted to being wholehearted.

In time, feelings and thoughts will emerge beyond your initial thinking. Sleeping on a decision often provides the ample space and time needed to gain the fuller perspective that leads to a more peaceful and wisely reached decision.

Instead, the heart needs to precede the mind in key, conscious decisions.

Few of us, however, are trained or experienced to know how to first take a decision to our heart.

Here is where your 2-word personal purpose statement can serve you well. On the front end of a decision, ask yourself if what you’re about to decide is on-purpose. Use your purpose as a way to be heart-centered. This gives some assurance that you’re likely to be bringing expression to your purpose in your decision.

Discover your 2-word Personal Purpose Statement at ONPURPOSE.me. This online app will guide you through a process of selecting a purpose statement, plus you’ll receive a 10-email course that’s practical to being on-purpose. The limited-time reduced launch price is currently available.

In life and work experiences, I’ll estimate that the vast majority of our decisions are made in the mind, and the heart is left in exile.

We disadvantage ourselves when our heart is sidelined when making decisions.

I’ve often struggled to get in touch with my feelings when making a decision. I tend to rattle thoughts about in my brain in attempts to discover the best answer. Later on, I’ll be pondering the same matter and realize I’m not comfortable with my decision. Is that doubt, fear, lack of confidence, or what?

It is that I forgot to go to my heart to make the decision. Therefore, I’m not peaceful so I’m inclined to go into something vital half-heartedly. That’s a big mistake.

Learn to listen to your spirit speaking—that small, still voice caught in the wilderness of our brains. Matthew 6:21 attempts to inform and transform our way of thinking. It links the act of treasuring and our hearts. You can’t treasure everything, so discern with your heart and make your decisions with your whole heart.

P.S. Here is a really interesting article from the Institute of HeartMath about making decisions with our heart. Solution for Effective Decision Making

Is Your Career In The Midst of A Tough Shift™?

February 8, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Job loss, underemployment, a part-time job instead of a full-time job, less pay for less rewarding work. Or perhaps you just don’t like the job you have. You are in the midst of or contemplating a Tough Shift™.

Don’t go through it alone! And, you’re not alone.

Stock market volatility, technology changes, and the gig economy might have you considering other career options.

When the U.S. economy catches a cold, the whole world sneezes! This unfortunate effect has many people spinning and caught in a round of chaos and confusion. Couple this with technology changes and the personal fallout from job loss and underemployment—it all amounts to a serious worldwide tough shift.

Change is never easy, but change under duress is even tougher.

Fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety creep into us. This affects us at some profound subconscious level and begins to be communicated. Our nervous vibe causes others to view us as desperate and risky. This perpetuates our greatest fears from the tough shift.

Is now the time to explore starting a business?

It can be an intimidating undertaking but there are many options to explore out there. For decades I’ve worked with business start-ups to design, advise, and guide the growth and development of the business plan and leader.

Don’t go it alone.

Find a business advisor or mentor who can see clearly into your blind spots. Yes, you’ll invest a few dollars, but you’ll gain time to market and create a more profitable and better working operation. There are no short-cuts to business creation, but why add unnecessary delays and detours out of your own inexperience?

So while you’re looking for a job you can be creating one, too … for yourself. Who knows, you may never have to go to work for someone else again!

This On-Purpose Business Minute offers some simple and calming insights.

Are you ready to tackle the underlying issues, so you’re tough shift proofed?

Are You Managing Your Profits?

March 9, 2017 By kwmccarthy

Profits are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, the business dies. However, the body of the business is your strategy, structure, and systems that are organized and managed in such a way that profit is the natural outcome.

It is so easy to get focused on managing to a profit that we forget the body of profit creation. Avoid falling into the pit of managing numbers and forgetting that profits are the result of a team of people being well led and organized to serve a customer base with sufficient value to produce a profit.

Your profit and loss report makes a statement about what matters most in your business leadership. “Follow the money!” was the advice of Deep Throat, the Watergate secret informer. Following the money reveals much about the priorities of the business leaders and managers.

Your definition of profit frames your leadership and management methods. If net profit is only about the dollars and cents, then your cost of doing business is likely too high because you’ll have high turnover of team members and customers. Profitability is a financial as well as a human measure for adding and creating value. Ignore either one and your P&L will suffer. Invest in both and you’ve increased your probabilities for profiting.

Everyone profits when we recognize it is profits AND people, not profits or people.

Yes, financial profits matter. Integrating people and profits is the role of leadership and management, respectively. So how are you doing?

In the long run, your business’s valuation will reflect the attitude and excellence of the corporate culture you’re establishing. Short-term fixes (coupons and discounts) to stimulate profits are drug-like highs and can often undermine or compromise the core values of a business. This sends your best employees scurrying to the doors because it signals leadership panic plus a loss of stability and commitment to the people and brand promise.

Want to increase your profits? Increase your contribution, capacity, and capability to add value to your employees, customers, and stakeholders. Always look for substantive ways to create fundamental improvements in profitability. Everyone profits when we recognize it is profits AND people, not profits or people.

Is It Fair To Profit Off Of A Sick Person?

March 10, 2016 By kwmccarthy

Apart from the political implications, the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare is rich in life, business, moral, and economic lessons. Since this Minute was recorded in November 2009, an erroneous and displaced argument continues to be frustratingly waged in a legal, economic, social, political, and medical firestorm. It seems, however, that there is a deeper moral question at work here.

On-Purpose Business Minutes aren’t political in nature. They’re intended to get you below the surface to strategic issues that touch our lives and inform our thinking. By design, my goal is often to disturb your thinking in a manner that gets you closer to the root of the matter — to the purpose. Until you know the purpose, you can’t align your life to be on-purpose. This Minute will likely deliver on disturbing thinking!

My jaw dropped in stunned amazement as I heard Florida Congresswoman, now Democratic National Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz make the following statement on the November 22, 2009, ABC News broadcast of This Week With George Stephanopoulos. The following quotation from Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s comments can be found in context at this link in the show transcript.

“I hope we can all agree that we have to get rid of the profit-driven, insurance company-driven health insurance system that we have, where it’s insurance company bureaucrats, Senator Coburn, that are getting in between patients and their doctors.

“To suggest that this (healthcare reform) bill will put government in between patients and their doctors is really disingenuous …”

What has changed since 2009? Her comments are important because they reflect the crux of so much of the misplaced debate in the U.S. over healthcare reform. The failure to address core principles is a classic case of arguing sentiment over underlying values and structure that make their way into policy. Read between the lines of what she is saying here about free enterprise, economics, and so forth when she calls for “get[ting] rid of the profit-driven, insurance company-driven health insurance system.” Ask yourself if her comments represent healthcare reform or a reflection of an underlying philosophy of socialism or ignorance of the free enterprise system that created the amazing medical standards of care in the United States?

Here’s where I fall out on the matter … Yes, it is not only fair to profit off of a sick person — it is essential to the health of the individual and greater society. When the business side of doctors’ practices, insurance companies, hospitals, and medical supply companies are healthy, then the people are healthy. Free enterprise tends to increase access to healthcare, raise the standard, and make it more affordable to all. Legislation by definition comes between people’s relationships and behaviors. This burdens the delivery system with additional costs of compliance and drives up costs.

The debate over access to health insurance is a straw man argument. The true question to ask is, Can a sick or injured person gain access to healthcare? Yes! That is not a problem thanks to the Hippocratic Oath and community-based hospital systems that allocate dollars from revenues generated to care for the indigent. Persons in need are not denied healthcare. “The Emergency Medical and Treatment Labor Act (EMTLA) passed by Congress in 1986 explicitly forbids the denial of care to indigent or uninsured patients based on a lack of ability to pay.”

Health insurance is simply a means to pay for services on a shared risk basis that opens up more options to policy holders who choose to participate with their dollars. When every person has access to healthcare, why must every person have health insurance? The moral argument is basically settled. The ill and informed are cared for whether they can afford it or not. Society has deemed that to be essential to the well-being of the nation.

Access to healthcare is a right. Health insurance, however, is a choice — not a right. Choice, however, is the essential element of a free market economy.

Choices come with consequences. Many a time I can look back at my choices and wish I had chosen differently. But I live with my choices and learn from them.

To the original question, the profit motive fuels the engine of creativity and innovation across all sectors of the economy including bio-medicine and healthcare. Entrepreneurs and business people are like economic ants swarming to find a strategic, market, or price advantage crack to gain access to and serve customers. In some minds, this behavior is seen as being unsavory and “disingenuous” and greedy. On the other hand, the profit motive fuels cost reductions, stimulates product/service enhancements, and drives down costs to the consumer in total. Free enterprise creates freedoms in a free society. Within the free enterprise system the legal system catches and punishes those who violate the law. Profit, however, is not a criminal act.

Purpose, however, is an even greater force than profit. Purpose can lightly be thought of as the inherent desire to contribute to the well-being of another person, what is often called “Making a difference.” Purpose is service. When service and profit are integrated then the heart and the head come together to produce high and noble outcomes that profit us all.

Profit with purpose is a reason the USA has the greatest medical delivery system in the world. It is also why the USA is the wealthiest nation in the world. This combination of moral clarity, technical excellence, and business acumen provides remarkable strategic advantages.

Reform is needed, but to radically alter the course of the socio-economic sanity is the greatest threat to the health of our citizens, country, and the world — especially the coming generations.

How to reduce the costs of healthcare for yourself and the country?

Here’s the Kevin W. McCarthy Solution: 70% of Americans are overweight. Let’s encourage every American to get to a healthier place — to take personal responsibility for what they eat by making healthier choices. The rising cost of the healthcare crisis will end. Doctors will be able to practice acute care medicine instead of wasting their time and talent patching up and medicating our self-inflicted “wounds.”

The true culprit to our the healthcare crisis is a nation’s collective choices of unhealthy habits and lifestyles. Personal responsibility matters deeply in one’s health and well-being. Dumping the cost of one’s unhealthy decisions onto our neighbors isn’t loving them. It is asking our neighbors to underwrite the consequences of our poor choices.

The greatest “pork” in ObamaCare isn’t in the bill itself — although it is massive. The real “pork” is in the people who are weighting down the economy with the mindless self-selecting of diseases like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, cholesterol, and more. These obesity-related diseases lead to strokes, heart attacks, cancers, premature disability, and death — an ironic and discriminating form of Darwin’s natural selection, but a waste of human life by any measure.

Do you love your country? Then, get to a healthier place! Stop the slow killing of yourself starting today. If you can’t do it on your own, then get help. There’s no sense giving away your hard earned “profits” when you can gain health and lower the full costs of your healthcare.

Your comments are appreciated.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

P.S. Need assistance? Ready to see “the waist” go away? Talk with the Health Coach who forwarded this message to you.

Need a health coach? Talk to my wife, Judith. She can help you get to a healthier place. Go to www.ahealthierplace.com or call her at 407.927.1642.

President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address

November 4, 2014 By kwmccarthy

It is election day in the USA. If you are a U.S. citizen, please get out and vote; but before you do, please consider watching President Kennedy’s inaugural speech in light of current events.

I recommend reading at least the last three paragraphs of President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address presented below. May it inspire and amaze you in 2014. It shows up in the video at about 12 min. and 30 seconds.

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“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.

“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

“Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

What Are Your Answers To Life’s Great Questions?

September 3, 2013 By kwmccarthy

Dare You Risk Leading Your Life Better?

The On-Purpose Leader Experience Early Bird Savings End Sept. 4

Click the links at the bottom of this post and the discounts will already be applied.

Here they are: The 7 Great Questions about life that haunt us until we answer them, deny them, or simply overwhelm them in a soulless chase for gain and/or pleasure.

Who am I?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
How will I get there?
What is important?
Is life meaningful?
Does God exist?

You may think, With all I have to get done, I realistically don't have time to mess with these questions. Here's a tip for life: until you begin answering these questions, they will mess with your life. The sooner you start, the better off you'll be.

Don't put your life on hold until you have definitive answers. Simply, explore your possibilities. Make it a joyous adventure of daily discovery as the layers of your life unfold before you with a sense of wonder and excitement.

Think it's impractical with all you've got going on? Hardly! There's a hard dollar cost to being off-purpose that is costing you in very real terms. Stop wasting your life in trivial pursuits.

Answers to these questions fill in the soul gaps—those places within us that we know are there, but aren't quite sure we want to or know how to get there. It can be a scary place to visit, like a closet of dashed hopes, painful memories, unrealized dreams, disappointments, and pain. On the other hand, it is also a journey of hope and healing to the heart of who you authentically are. Here's the only place on the planet where you can discover your true identity and begin the process of re-orienting your life on the strength, function, and contribution you have to give. Transformation begins in the spirit. Knowing and bringing expression to your purpose will raise the spiritual and practical trajectory of your life forever.

The On-Purpose Leader Experience starts with you. Come as you are. None of us have it together. We're all dysfunctional to some degree. Let the one who doesn't have a measure of chaos, confusion, hurt, distress, worry, or pain cast the first stone.

Join this six-week conversation (Sept. 24 – Oct. 29) that includes peer-to-peer interactions, phone and online on-purpose coaching from me, and more. Once a week we have a 30-40-minute live webcast that is recorded for replay later. You'll walk the steps of the man in The On-Purpose Person. You will:

Connect with on-purpose persons in creation in our private social network: The On-Purpose Planet
Write your two-word purpose statement
Clarify your core wants
Identify your TOP Want
Participate in live webcasts with me
Have access to webcast replays 24/7
Develop a meaningful time management approach
Get answers to the 7 Questions above

Here's a fun, easy-to-do, and efficient way to sound deeply into the spirit of who you are. What's more, you'll be creating systems and strategies that will save you time, help you to make better decisions, and eliminate costly detours. The upside is amazing. You'll discover:

Refreshing clarity and rare focus in your life
Authentic alignment from your heart outward
Clearer thinking to make wiser decisions
Renewed strength and energy
The abundance of being who you are and meant to be
An internal gyroscope to guide you
Improved confidence and growing personal leadership
The POWER of your Two-Word Purpose Statement

The On-Purpose Leader Experience Enrollment information:

Click here for: Single Enrollment: $197 — early bird: $147

Click here for: Dual (2 persons) Enrollment: $297 — early bird: $227

Guarantee: A 100% refund is available until the start of the third webcast.

What Kind Of Business Owner Are You?

April 2, 2012 By kwmccarthy

Business owners are anyone with a job to do.

In The On-Purpose Business Person I write about the Think Inc! mindset and the importance of taking on responsibility. Blame is the easily spread dung of cowards. They avoid consequences, but will revel in results.

To assume responsibility for leading one’s life and work is a heroic effort. To put oneself on the line along with the ensuing consequences (good or bad) takes guts. If you’ll simply get started with assuming responsibilities, you’ll be amazed at how it feeds your confidence and fuels your growth. Rarely will you blow it. Always will you learn from it. The more you attempt, improve, and succeed, then the more opportunity and increasing responsibility will come your way.

Hopefully, you have an executive coach or mentor who helps you sort and think through your responses and lessons when you miss. Also, the person can give you perspective when you hit the mark and help you raise the bar of the possible next.

One of the most important roles of a business owner is to set and create a culture or an environment. How well are you doing with those around you? We can be slack about it or intentional. We can encourage the taking of responsibility or we can crush it. The same holds true at home. It reflects an approach to life, marriage, rearing children, or volunteering for a committee at a not-for-profit.

As a result of this On-Purpose Business Minute, please challenge yourself to truly reflect on this important aspect of leading by taking responsibility for yourself, your actions, and your choices.

Just what kind of business owner are you?

Do You Really Know Who You Are?

September 15, 2010 By kwmccarthy

Do you really know who you are? Are you maturing or just getting older?

Purpose is ultimately a spiritual matter. Most of us are on neutral ground when we talk in terms of mind, body, spirit. For two decades people of many faiths and even people of no faith have participated in and benefited from the On-Purpose^® Approach as it is. It just works because the principles are universal!

When Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce President Mark Goldstein urged me to offer the program from a solidly Christian point of view to the Chamber members, I resisted. Not because I was unwilling, but because I am the Board Chair and didn't want to abuse my position. Mark pressed hard upon me and prevailed with the Board's blessings. Could they really say no? See the problem?

My Christian faith is the central point of integration for my life. Generally, I don't wear it on my sleeve, nor do I hide it. I like the idea of having "living water language" that is both secular and sacred. So much of Christianity is riddled with jargon and scripture references that is an unnecessary barrier to entry to the faith. Jesus taught in parables when not dealing with the religious elites. On-Purpose makes faith more accessible to all.

Therefore, in partnership with the Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce, I am thrilled to share with you the replay of the first ever On-Purpose Leader Experience for Christians. Here is a link so you can listen. (55 minutes plus 20 minutes of Q&A)

If you are serious about maturing as a leader of your life, then you want to invest an hour of your life to transform your life. This six-week experience is that good. Registration for this experience closes after Monday, September 20. Please listen in and join me for the next five weeks so you, too, can…