Before There Was a Blog...

Before there was The Intersection of Purpose and Now, there was an inspiring moment that I acted on...

...that's what happens at the Intersection of Purpose and Now - external inspiration, leads to internal motivation, leads to intention and purpose, leads to action, leads to results.  

I literally got off the phone about four years ago and got started. It wasn't always The Intersection of Purpose and Now. For a day, it was Improving Quality of Life. The Intersection of Purpose and Now started gradually a few months later, including one of my favorite all-time posts, Why Fly?  


Below is that very first post from December 2004, Living on Purpose, slightly edited.  I think it's fun and thought-provoking to read again. Maybe you will, too!


We Coach. You Get Results.
So i got off the phone with a coaching client -- I call him Mike The Serial Entrepreneur -- and I started my own blog. His productive rambling and eagerness for me to help him FOCUS to get what/where he wants...to become WHO he wants to BE - all inspiring me to start sharing my experience from the Coach's side of things.

Most people I work with, 1on1, in groups, teams and even large orgs, want to go somewhere they have never been, you might say. I help them discover where they are now, to BEGIN, then where they want to go, as well as how to get there.

I know a guy who wanted to go to The Middle of Nowhere...he's been there now. 

Mike is creating an incredible new thing that brings the ol' mom-n-pop neighborhood store to the 21st Century -- Hey, if you're going to shop the Net, why not still buy locally, right?

I'm blessed. I get to help people achieve more of their goals more often. It's amazing...I get hired to help them build their business, become more successful ($$$ and time), experience what they want to experience, become who they want to become, get happy, contribute the value they want to contribute.

And yet the most common goals that really get people fired up about themselves are things like 'becoming a better spouse', 'better parent', 'better friend', 'better Christian', 'better leader' or cleaning the gutters, losing weight and reading more books. Yet, along the way they learn to master their daily, weekly, monthly, annual routines (the future belongs to those who create it) and before long they, too, know their Purpose (deeply), start living On Purpose and a Goal-Directed Life, and begin to achieve Their Wildest Dreams.

Want some? Hey, its for sale (www.pdncoach.com). For now, why don't you just join me in my discussion. I look forward to your posts.

posted by The PDN Coach @ 2:47 PM, December 15, 2004

On Purpose Urgency

"Oh my gosh, I have to go!"


Have you ever realized, just in time, that you are supposed to be somewhere or do something different than what you are doing?  Think about it - that time you were engrossed in one thing and suddenly were reminded of something completely different that you "MUST DO NOW'.  


In that very moment, the thing you were doing is not quite as important as it was an instant earlier. You MUST DO something else NOW, with urgency.


The On Purpose Scenario
Now consider a different scenario: This time you recognize the same sense of urgency long before it catches you off-guard while focusing on something completely different.  This time, circumstances did not dictate your sense of sudden urgency because you did, well in advance of the moment in which you intended to take action. This time, you created your own sense of urgency because you are choosing to shift your focus and actions On Purpose.


How might your life be different if you had more moments like this, the second scenario? The On Purpose Scenario. These are not moments in which you are caught by surprise by a sudden crash of urgency, but moments created by you with a sense of urgency that is grounded in your own Purpose and timing.


This is The Intersection of Purpose and Now - when you know (really know) that you are doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right reasons, to achieve the right action, to serve a greater Purpose.


If you struggle to find The Intersection of Purpose and Now, or if you struggle with time "management", let me know. Maybe I can help.

If you want to be a thief, start stealing

"If you want to be a thief, start stealing."

Jared Vogel said this; he is one of my devotional Band of Brothers, with whom I meet each week at Panera Bread.

Such a simple, profound thought applies to so many, many human desires and conditions.

If you want to be an explorer, start exploring.

If you want to be generous, start giving.

If you want to be a listener, start listening.

If you want to be a writer, start writing.

If you want to be a lover, start loving.

If you want to be a good neighbor, start being neighborly.

If you want to be more humble, start avoiding recognition.

If you want to be more patient, slow down, wait.

If you want to be a leader, start leading.

If you want to have a Purpose, start thinking and doing things with great intention...Now.

NOTE: please, please feel free to add to this list in Comments! Thank you, Mark.

The Operating System for Motivating People

"The secret to high performance isn't rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive - the drive to do things for their own sake, the drive to do things because they matter."

~Daniel Pink

Inevitably, participants in the kickoff sessions for my leadership development programs identify one of their top expectations for learning as "how to better motivate employees". Organizations try to motivate people in three ways: more often than not through two forms of Extrinsic Motivation, and seldom through Intrinsic Motivation.

1. Fear - we've all experienced fear as a motivator at some time in our lives. Fear is an extrinsic motivator that only produces short-term benefits in a few circumstances. In the long run, people can learn to live with fear, or they simply leave. In either case, fear produces a negative lasting impact on both the organization and the lives of the people in it.
2. Incentives and Rewards - while fear provides the "stick", incentives are extrinsic motivators that provide the "carrot". They seldom have lasting impact but can be useful for short-term purposes if carefully selected - very carefully. One of the biggest problems with this form of motivation is that "this year's bonus often becomes next year's entitlement."
3. Intrinsic Motivation - traditional notions of management, like fear and rewards, work great if all you want is compliance, but if you want engagement self-direction works much better. People will do more, produce more and perform better if they want to. This is one of the most simple and true facts of human behavior and yet most leaders don't get it.

Daniel Pink, in an address at the 2009 TED Global conference in Oxford, England, (video is available below) superbly makes the case for intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. He also lays out the three elements that make Intrinsic Motivation work:

• Autonomy - the urge to direct our own lives
• Mastery - the desire to get better and better at something that matters
• Purpose - the yearning to do what we do in service to something larger than ourselves

Pink refers to these three elements as the "building blocks of an entirely new operating system for business"...and he is absolutely correct.

Rewards and incentives do work, but there is a vast amount of scientific evidence that incentives and rewards only work on a narrow band of mostly mechanical applications or with repetitive tasks. Yet organizations continue to pour resources into Pay-for-Performance and similar systems. Extrinsic rewards not only reduce productivity and performance, they destroy creativity and innovation.

Want to create a motivating environment in your organization? Provide autonomy, mastery and purpose. Leaders who create this kind of motivating environment are the best leaders of all. Help employees develop a line of sight to something important that transcends their self-interest, giving them a "true north", a sense of purpose. Begin by helping employees identify their goals, what they want to achieve, where they want to go with their lives, what they want to have, the kind of people they want to become.

I want to be an Archer...

Leadership Development and Strategic Planning - these are keys to success and core services provided by my business. Individuals, teams and for-profit, government and non-profit organizations - everyone wants a plan for future well-being. Everyone has the same concern: How can we ensure that we come up with an achievable plan that will actually get implemented?

I believe there are at least five key elements for leading yourself and others to achieve On-Purpose results, whether through personal leadership, as part of a team, or if your aim is to help your organization grow.

To illustrate these qualities, I like the "Archer analogy", shared by Mark Winton, owner of an electrical manufacturing company in South Africa.

You might have the best long bow in the world, with a quiver of the best arrows that are hand-crafted with lethal tungsten tips. But without the Archer (leader) to pull back the string with massive force (intent) and aim it toward a target (purpose and vision), then let the arrow fly (action), you have just a nice ornament, not a lethal weapon. (It would probably be better up on the wall next to your company's mission statement)

So you need all of the following to hit your target:

• Leadership
• Intent
• Purpose
• Vision
• Action

When you have all of these elements you have a rare combination of purpose and meaningful action necessary to arrive at The Intersection of Purpose & Now.

Having "Vision" alone is like saying "I want to be an Archer!" So what's the plan...will you simply run at the target with arrows in your hand?

Pick up your powerful bow and your sharpest arrows with the straightest of shafts. Take aim and hit your target. Win!

Success is the continual achievement of your own pre-determined goals, stabilized by balance and purified by belief.

"Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world."

~Joel Barker