Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] I found myself thinking about something over the last couple conversations.
[00:00:09] We've been on a journey together.
[00:00:13] We began by talking about becoming.
[00:00:18] Then we ask a question that many of us spend a lifetime trying to answer.
[00:00:24] Who am I? I.
[00:00:27] Who am I?
[00:00:30] Today, I'd like us to think about another question.
[00:00:35] Now, this one may be just as important.
[00:00:40] What is my purpose?
[00:00:44] What is my purpose?
[00:00:50] For most of my life, I thought purpose was something you found almost like a destination.
[00:00:57] I figure if I worked hard enough or learned enough or accomplished enough, one day I would finally discover it.
[00:01:10] I'd finally discover my purpose.
[00:01:15] Looking back, I'm not sure that's how it works.
[00:01:22] Maybe purpose isn't something we just stumble across.
[00:01:27] Maybe it's something that quietly reveals itself.
[00:01:32] One season of life, one experience, one relationship, one conversation at a time.
[00:01:45] As I began reflecting on my own life, I noticed something.
[00:01:53] Many of the decisions that once seemed unrelated weren't unrelated at all.
[00:02:02] There was a thread running through them.
[00:02:06] I just couldn't see it while I was living it.
[00:02:14] When I was young, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.
[00:02:20] Like many people, I simply took the next step that seemed logical.
[00:02:28] I went to college.
[00:02:30] I got married.
[00:02:33] Life changed, responsibilities changed, plans changed.
[00:02:42] Some dreams came true, while others took a completely different direction.
[00:02:51] There were successes and there were disappointments.
[00:02:58] There were even moments when I wondered if I had somehow failed.
[00:03:06] And then one day I learned something that changed the way I viewed those moments.
[00:03:14] Failing at something doesn't make us a failure.
[00:03:18] It simply becomes another lesson along our journey.
[00:03:25] When I found myself working for IBM, I loved the work.
[00:03:29] I love solving problems.
[00:03:34] Somewhere along the way, another thought began to grow.
[00:03:39] I wanted to become a manager.
[00:03:42] Not because of the title, not because of the office, and not even because of the money.
[00:03:52] I believed that if I became a manager, I would have more opportunities to help other people, other people move forward.
[00:04:03] At the time, I don't think I called that purpose.
[00:04:07] I simply knew I'd like to do that someday.
[00:04:12] Then one day, that opportunity came and something interesting happened.
[00:04:21] The part I enjoyed most wasn't managing the budget.
[00:04:26] It wasn't reading reports.
[00:04:29] It was watching people grow.
[00:04:33] Helping someone discover confidence that they didn't know they had.
[00:04:38] Seeing someone accomplish something that they once believed was impossible.
[00:04:45] Celebrating their successes.
[00:04:50] Looking back, there was that thread again.
[00:04:56] Throughout my career, I also had the privilege of teaching and training others.
[00:05:05] People would sometimes ask me what I enjoyed most about teaching.
[00:05:10] The interesting thing is, I never really thought of what I was doing as teaching.
[00:05:18] To me, it Was always about helping people discover how they could do their jobs better, how they could live their lives better.
[00:05:29] I don't know if that sounds like much to you, but to me, it was everything.
[00:05:36] Teachers transfer information.
[00:05:39] Discovery changes people.
[00:05:43] I wanted people to leave those classes believing more in themselves than they did when they walked through the door to start.
[00:05:53] I remember someone once asking me the question, and it stayed with me for years.
[00:06:00] And that question was, what if we train them, certify them, and then they leave?
[00:06:08] I kind of smiled at the person and I said, what if we don't train them and they stay?
[00:06:17] There were others in the room, and they kind of laughed a little bit. But underneath that little bit of humor was something I truly believed.
[00:06:29] I always believed investing in people is never wasted.
[00:06:36] Even if a few of them do leave, most won't.
[00:06:39] And even if they do, perhaps something we invested in will continue helping others long after they're gone.
[00:06:51] Throughout my career, I had the privilege of being mentored by some remarkable people.
[00:06:58] One mentor in particular, Bob, invested in me for more than 20 years.
[00:07:05] His investment changed my life.
[00:07:10] When I eventually had opportunities to mentor others, I realized something.
[00:07:17] I wasn't simply returning the favor.
[00:07:20] I was continuing something that had first been given to me.
[00:07:27] Looking back, there was that thread again.
[00:07:31] Helping people grow, helping people move forward, Helping people discover possibilities that they hadn't seen yet.
[00:07:41] Then one day, I realized something.
[00:07:46] I wasn't searching for my purpose.
[00:07:50] I'd been living it.
[00:07:53] Purpose wasn't hiding from me.
[00:07:56] It had been walking beside me all along.
[00:08:00] I simply hadn't recognized it.
[00:08:04] Maybe that's true for many of us.
[00:08:07] Maybe purpose isn't found in one dramatic moment.
[00:08:11] Maybe it's revealed through hundreds of ordinary moments, Moments that don't seem especially important until one day we look back and suddenly realize they've all been pointing in the same direction.
[00:08:29] So I began asking myself another question.
[00:08:34] Not what is my purpose?
[00:08:39] But what is purpose actually for?
[00:08:43] Is purpose simply something we're supposed to discover, or is it something that we're supposed to live?
[00:08:57] The more I reflected, the clearer the answer became.
[00:09:01] Purpose gives direction to our becoming.
[00:09:05] Without purpose, it's easy to drift.
[00:09:09] With purpose, our experiences begin pointing in the same direction.
[00:09:15] Now, purpose doesn't remove hardships.
[00:09:19] It does give a meaning.
[00:09:22] Purpose doesn't eliminate uncertainty.
[00:09:28] It does give us a reason to keep moving forward.
[00:09:33] Purpose doesn't necessarily make life easier, but it does make life intentional.
[00:09:45] And then another thought crossed my mind.
[00:09:48] Maybe purpose was never meant to stop with us.
[00:09:54] Maybe purpose is how we use everything Life has given us our successes, our failures, our experiences, our relationships, our wisdom, even our struggles.
[00:10:22] Maybe it's meant to help us make someone else's journey just a little bit easier.
[00:10:31] I realized that's exactly what had been happening in my own life.
[00:10:37] Not because I planned it, not because I always understood it, but because that thread kept leading me toward people.
[00:10:48] Helping them grow, helping them believe in themselves, helping them imagine the possibilities they couldn't see. Yet I think that's what purpose is for.
[00:11:03] Not simply to shape our own lives, but to leave the lives of others a little bit better because we were part of them.
[00:11:14] Looking back, I can finally see the thread that has run through my own life.
[00:11:21] And perhaps that's what looking back is really for.
[00:11:25] Not to live in the past, but to better understand how we're meant to live tomorrow.
[00:11:34] Looking forward, I think I understand more clearly why imagine the possibilities exist.
[00:11:44] It was never intended to tell people what to think.
[00:11:49] It wasn't created to provide all the answers.
[00:11:53] It exists to ask questions worth living with.
[00:11:58] Questions that encourage honest reflection.
[00:12:03] Questions that help each of us discover a little bit more about who we are, what our purpose may be, and who we're becoming.
[00:12:17] Maybe purpose isn't a question that we answer once.
[00:12:22] Maybe it's a question we continue living.
[00:12:27] Before we meet again, I'd like to simply leave you with one question.
[00:12:35] When you look back over your own life, what thread has been quietly running through it?
[00:12:44] And perhaps an even more important question as we begin to see the thread.
[00:12:53] What do you think purpose is inviting us to do next?
[00:13:01] Take care and live life to the fullest.
[00:13:05] Until next time, keep imagining the possibilities.
[00:13:10] Thanks and God bless.
