Kevin W. McCarthy

Professor of On-Purpose

who am I

Do You Have a Compelling Why?

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“The compelling why” is not the same as your “why” — your true reason for being.

The concept of a compelling why is really just an important mission that captures our heart and spurs us on with unfolding energy, vigor, and determination. But missions eventually end. At that point, does it mean our reason for being ends too? Of course not!

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Getting on the bandwagon for a good cause is worthy.

But what if there’s more to life than a compelling why?

In today’s On-Purpose Minute, consider the importance of knowing your simple why and the profound manner in which it can inform your life, keep you from costly distractions or dangerous detours, and help you make much better decisions across the board.

Your why can be thought of as the pilot flame. A meaningful cause or a “compelling why” brings added fuel and focus to a fire already burning within you.

Think of your simple why as your purpose in life.

Purpose answers the big question, Why do I exist? When you know the answer to this question, everything else in life has context and meaning. This is a powerful and healthier place to be in your life and decision-making.

At On-Purpose Partners, we help clients write their why in 2-word purpose statements. From decades of experience we know that when this core question is answered short and sweet, life and business improves—period.

A “compelling why” is often batted about by motivational speakers, sales trainers, and leaders to engage people in their cause or vision of the future.

Getting swept up in the moment or the movement regardless of whether it is a charitable cause, a sports team, or a political candidate is exciting and worthwhile. Most of us are drawn to a compelling why and jump on board because it is a good fit or it aligns with our purpose.

Examples of a “compelling why”—really a meaningful mission—are below:

  • A single mom working two jobs to provide a college education for her children
  • Mothers who from their loss of a loved one start MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to educate and advocate against drunk driving and drivers
  • Volunteers who work to stop human trafficking, hunger, oppression, or other social needs

Worthy causes touch each person’s soul differently. Have you ever considered why one cause is meaningful and engaging to you … while others are not, yet someone else is on fire and passionate about the same cause? Personal experience and preference certainly play into the attraction, but there’s more below the surface.

Your why lives below the surface.

This is the On-Purpose Principle at work where the purpose of the person and the purpose of the organization have high alignment. Therefore, you’re more inclined to be engaged or compelled to participate with the preciousness of your time, talent, and resources.

Would you like help in discovering your 2-word Personal Purpose Statement?

Go to ONPURPOSE.me. On-Purpose.me logoThis 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.

Are You Making Half-Hearted Attempts?

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What are the “benefits” of making a half-hearted attempt? There are none! It is merely an action of hedging one’s bets, a means for buying time, a time-filler, or an occupation until something better comes along.

Therein lies the problem! We’ll trade our precious lives hoping that luck will strike us with something better coming along or working out in our favor. This blind optimism is often professed as faith. In truth, it is sophomoric (wise fool) with roots in victimhood—a sure path to discouragement, disillusionment, and heartbreak. Why be half-hearted?

The alternative? Be strategic. Discern what matters and why. Trials and errors will still have their way with you; however, you’ll have a context of understanding whereby your lessons will be absorbed more readily and more fully learned. Be in growth mode. Resist the gravity of decay and lead your life from your heart—the strength of who you are. Exercise your purpose!

Yes, at first, it will probably be slow-going and awkward. But you can learn to live your life strategically, wisely, and in alignment with God’s design. Practice it and soon you’ll master the art of living by design instead of haphazardly.

If you find yourself living half-heartedly, then get a clue! Now is your time to become more strategic. Grab this free, wonderful, and simple-to-use tool called The Discovery Guide Preview that includes forms for “Want Lists and Tournaments” to help you become more clear about what matters most to you. Discover the margin and places in your life where focus and clarity will move you into a posture toward whole-heartedness. You’ll be far more prepared to commit fully into being you and to live by design—being on-purpose!

More resources:

The On-Purpose Person: Making Your Life Make Sense is a great starting point to begin the process of becoming who you are truly meant to be and become. (Kindle and Hardcover available.)

On a very limited basis, I am available for one-on-one coaching to walk with you through The On-Purpose Process. Contact me to learn more.

Is your life a question mark, period, or exclamation point?

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Disclaimer: This On-Purpose Minute is nearly 10 minutes long because it is an excerpt from a keynote address. I apologize that the video quality is less than ideal, but the message still comes across.

The Back Story:

This month, I’m celebrating my 7th anniversary of reclaiming my health and creating a lifelong healthy lifestyle. In March 2008, I was tipping the scales at over 240 pounds on my 5′ 9″ frame. While I’ve always had an athletic, muscular build, I was wearing what I jokingly called “My fat suit.” Somewhere within the bundled layers of my fat suit was a trim Kevin W. McCarthy seeking liberation. Perhaps you relate.

Over the years my weight had been steadily increasing with more work, less exercise, and poor eating habits. I would skip breakfast, often skip lunch, and then eat dinner and have desserts the rest of the evening. I’ve since learned that this is how Sumo wrestlers get so big. I did not have a healthy lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination.

About a year earlier I took on a business client project of co-authoring a business book on a very tight timetable. This resulted in even more rapid weight gain as I was sitting for days on end researching and writing. The good news is that when my client sold his business, the book created an extra $15 million in company value. The bad news is the book resulted in me gaining an extra 25 or more pounds over my existing steady weight gain.

In March 2008, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen booked me (sight unseen) as the keynote speaker for the July Take Shape For Life Annual Convention in Orlando. I asked about the program and got on it. I figured someone had to have figured out this weight thing because my feeble attempts at getting healthy weren’t working.

Three months later I stood on that stage a changed man from the inside out. Yes, I had lost 50 pounds but that wasn’t the half of it. I had learned to better understand my relationship with food and sweets, adopted a number of healthy habits, and discovered the power of using a systematic approach or program to health rather than using a diet.

As importantly, my weight loss inspired several of my friends, my business associates, and my wife to follow my lead. Within months ten people close to me were on the TSFL Program and also experiencing health gains. One friend, a Type 2 diabetic, was able to lose over 100 pounds and get off his medications. He tells me often that introducing him to Take Shape for Life probably saved his life. (Results vary by person so no medical claims are made here.)

Questions To Ask Yourself

1. How can we be on-purpose when we’re packing extra pounds and are unhealthy?

This typically self-inflicted health condition is within our control once we have a proven system to join with our decision to be healthy and apply our existing discipline that carries us well through life. This was much easier than I ever imagined! Over seven years later there’s still so much less of me to carry around since I lost my fat suit thanks to the power of making more informed and mindful decisions about living a healthier life.

The above 10-minute video excerpt is from my keynote address in July 2008. There’s a central question that I pose to the health coaches in attendance that is relevant to any of us about our life and work and being on-purpose:

2. Am I living my life with a question mark, period, or exclamation point?

To set up this video clip, I’m referring to the TSFL logo and referencing the “green dot” in the middle of the graphic to the right.

Enjoy this vignette and take it to heart. We only get one body to care for so get it right because getting it wrong is so costly. I hope this message catches the heartbeat of where you are in your life and inspires you to live boldly by beginning the process of being an on-purpose person in creation.

3. So What About Your Health?

Like I was, are you tired of wearing your fat suit?

If you already have a health coach, then press more deeply into the relationship to get the most benefit you can from the TSFL offerings.

If you don’t have a health coach and are ready to make a weighty lifestyle change to transform your life for the better, then let us help you. My wife Judith became a Certified Health Coach with TSFL as have I! Today, we help clients add health to their overall program of being on-purpose. Email me to set up a phone call. I’ll ask questions and help you determine if TSFL is right for you so you too can be on-purpose and live boldly into your life with an exclamation mark.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

P.S. This weekend Judith and I will be at the Take Shape For Life National Convention. Coincidentally it is in Orlando again and seven years later we’re living a healthy lifestyle as part of being on-purpose persons in creation.

The On-Purpose® Pal

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Meet The On-Purpose® Pal! He’s here to help you better differentiate purpose, vision, mission, and values.

Regardless of whether you are writing a purpose, vision, or mission statement(s) for your life or your business, having a clear understanding of each of these essential words and related concepts is likely the difference between being just good or truly great.

Life begins at your purpose. It is the heart of your heart. When your heart, head, and hands are aligned (in that order) within your values, then you are on-purpose. There is an order and relationship here that provides structural integrity.

Confusion around the very meaning of these words creates a muddled strategy. Unclear thinking undermines confidence and performance.

Yet few people or organizations really give the meaning of these core words of strategy a passing thought. What a costly mistake!

In organizations, imagine the bewilderment when each word carries different meaning to each person. Is it any wonder why a team can’t get on the same page?

By the way, on the personal side, you are not a purpose-driven person. You are a called person. Called by your purpose which is inherent to who you are. Think of purpose as your spiritual DNA. It just is! Therefore, your purpose is not dependent upon externals for value or validation. Are you getting a sense for the internal strength found in knowing your 2-word purpose statement?

Your natural desire to make a difference is really your purpose wanting to come into expression. This longing of the heart works to inform your mind and move you into action so your purpose comes to fruition. Your values guide your course for right and wrong while you are being and doing life (or work).

Attaching each strategic word/concept to a tangible body part makes the words take on a visceral and very real power. Regardless of whether your heart longs, breaks or sings, what’s happening is a meaningful matter. That’s because purpose lives at the heart of the heart. It is at the core of your identity.

If your head hurts, chances are you’re confused and conflicted and don’t have a clear vision for where you are headed. When you don’t know what to do, your mission is messed up. When your stomach turns, then your values are being compromised. Your body is talking if you’re listening. Pay attention!

“What should I do with my life?” Here is a mission or hands and feet question seeking an actionable answer. It is actually a surface question, however. Dig a bit deeper and the odds are high you may have a vision and/or purpose matter that precedes the mission question.

Values are essential governors of right and wrong. Violate your values and you gag and your stomach turns. This gut reaction is your body telling you you’ve made a bad decision.

Purpose, vision, mission, and values are meant to provide inner strength from above. Yet the incorrect use of these words rots the root of our growth and results in the challenges of modern life. Align your heart, head, and hands (and feet) within your highest values and you are On-Purpose! Get these concepts clearly articulated and you have given yourself a huge strategic advantage in life, business, or other endeavors.

Want to learn more? Click each cover to buy the book.

 

 

Soul searching begins with sole searching.

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“Who am I?” is one of the most profound questions you will ever seek to answer. Much of our identity is erroneously formed by others’ opinions of us and shaped by experiences that reinforce and refine our sense of self.

Yet, the true answer to the question is found from above and within. It takes quiet time and solitude. Oddly, being contemplative is harder than it looks—I’m so programmed to equate action with productivity that rest feels like I’m playing hooky from life.

Being alone is not the same as solitude. When I’m alone I can fill the emptiness with television, email, web surfing, reading, or any number of business related activities ill-intended to avoid confronting the real me.

Soul searching is a time of resting in God’s presence, listening for His voice, and seeking His will. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is within and we are to seek it first. Yet, most of us pursue fame and fortune “out there in the real world.” Eventually, even precious Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz discovered, “There’s no place like home.”

And when my sole searching leads me to my soul, indeed I have found the kingdom of God. I’m home where God intends me instead of where the world might like me to be.