Scott Perry's Blog, page 20

The Difference Between Purpose & Passion

Purpose and passion are terms that are often conflated and used interchangeably.

That is unhealthy and dangerous.

Here are five distinctions I make in my work helping others define the difference only they can make (AKA "their purpose") and living more passionately.

Purpose is your reason for being. Passion inspires your being.
Passion is what you bring to (and get from) what you do. Purpose is the reason why you do what you do. 
Purpose is the foundation of what you do. Passion is what fuels what you do.
Passion is about feelings and emotions. Purpose is the reason and meaning behind those feelings and emotions.
Living your purpose is a service toward others. Passion is what those you serve return to you.

I don't think one necessarily comes before the other. Purpose-driven living begets passion, for sure. But just as often, I see passionate living lead to purpose.

The distinction between passion and purpose really matters because they work best together. 

If you rely wholly on passion without purpose, you will exhaust yourself and burn out.

If you rely wholly on purpose without passion, you will feel disconnected and empty.

Toggling back and forth between purpose and passion is a dance worth knowing and practicing.

Which do you need to encourage more of today in your efforts to make a difference, passion, or purpose? What can you do to cultivate that?

Want to go further?

Explore the value of purpose in Creative on Purpose’s FREE mini-course, The Power of Purpose (access it at CreativeOnPurpose.com).

To take a bolder step into finding, defining, and refining the difference only you can make, consider The Purpose Solution online program.

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

Dr. Kate Lyzenga-Dean

Insight and inspiration for flying higher in the difference only you can make from guests who have appeared on Creative on Purpose Live.

This week's wisdom comes from a conversation with Dr. Kate Lyzenga-Dean founder of KLMD Wellness. Tune into the entire conversation here.

[DR. KATE] "I would say don't be afraid of stress itself. Endeavor to stress better instead. You have options."

"I think that the biggest shift that people can make when it comes to trying something new and making a difference is not being afraid of the stress. Learning to stress better and moving forward anyway."

[SCOTT] "Endeavor to stress better. I love it. A quotable line for sure."

Dr. Kate just delivered a powerful insight about how you can reframe your relationship with stress and make it the best teacher ever. How can you endeavor to stress better today?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

(BTW, you can watch this and every other entire interview in the Creative on Purpose Broadcast Archive. To learn more and access for free, click here.)

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

Where the Art of Living Begins

The art of living is the central concern of most ancient philosophical and spiritual traditions. 

And yet, we rarely discuss how to live a good life in our educational and occupational institutions.

Why is that?

I honestly don’t know. Yet, these questions have been my life’s most consistent preoccupations.

Yes, I know. I’m a weirdo.

I think the reason ancient peoples were so keenly interested in figuring out what it means to be human, what it means to be happy, and how to be more of both were the daily reminders about the shortness of life.

In the ancient world, it was likely you would have a direct and personal experience with famine, plague, natural disaster, war, or enslavement (often in combination).

Existential threats do tend to sharpen one’s focus.

And while you and I are certainly aware that these threats are still present in the world, it is unlikely that we will ever directly experience any of them.

And so, many experience what Thoreau called “lives of quiet desperation.” We live a life filled with distraction and empty pursuit.

Why?

Because we have not been taught or figured out that the meaning of life is not in chasing fame and fortune but in pursuing meaning and mission.

Where do you find your meaning and mission? It begins with defining the difference only you can make.

Again the ancient traditions are very clear about what that is. The art of living begins with identifying and living into your soul’s purpose.

Where can you begin to dial in your reason for being? 

I encourage you to begin by answering these 3 questions.

Who are you? What are your core values and guiding principles? What vision of a better world are you working toward?
What are you good at? What are your innate and inherent talents? What about your hard and soft skills?
Where do you belong? What’s your scene? Where are the people who share your values a need your talents to enhance their lives?

How do you define “the good life?” What is your life’s purpose? Where and when are you letting your life speak?

Want to go further?

Explore the value of purpose in Creative on Purpose’s FREE mini-course, The Power of Purpose (access it at CreativeOnPurpose.com).

To take a bolder step into finding, defining, and refining the difference only you can make, consider The Purpose Solution online program.

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

Commencement on Purpose

The local high school prom was last weekend here in Floyd, VA. That means commencement season is right around the corner.

Commencement is a fascinating word. It’s the day and ceremony marking the end of an academic journey, celebrated with speeches, awards, and certificates, and it is the day that a new journey in life appears.

Commencement is a starting line thinly disguised as a finish line.

Between the end and the beginning of any next stage of life is a liminal period—a threshold. For the graduate, this is the transition from dependence to independence. It’s a time of elation and expectation, for sure, and a time of disorientation and uncertainty.

I’m inviting the graduates iI know to embrace and enjoy both the excitement and anxiety of this moment. Why? Because peril and possibility will always be present from this moment on if they are going to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Commencement is a reminder that we are always in a period of transition. We are forever sitting between an ending and a beginning. The present moment is the conclusion of the moment that just was and the start of the moment that will be.

Within any moment you’re in is the opportunity to frame yourself and your situation and choose what you wish to become next. Why not do this with intention (a specific aspiration) and integrity (being true to yourself)?

How are you helping the graduates in your life reflect on and prepare for “what’s next?” How are you preparing for the same?

Go Further

You and the graduates in your life can further explore the value of purpose in Creative on Purpose’s FREE mini-course, The Power of Purpose (access it at CreativeOnPurpose.com).

Consider The Purpose Solution online program to take a bolder step into defining the difference only you can make.

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

"If the only thing that you're entitled to is that you will die..."

Insight and inspiration for flying higher in the difference only you can make from guests who have appeared on Creative on Purpose Live.

This week's wisdom comes with a twist. This insight from a conversation I had with Meridith Grundei and Joseph Bennett on their outstanding podcast, Are You Waiting for Permission? Tune into the entire conversation here.

[JOSEPH] "Memento mori, 'remember that you will die,' how does that play a part in us following our purpose in our daily life? Even if we're just washing the dishes, or cleaning up after the kids, how can that play a part in how we live our lives? "

[SCOTT] "Yeah, well that's it. It's the central question. You've just arrived at it."

"If the only thing that you're truly entitled to in this world once you enter it is that you will die, then the only meaning that your life has is the meaning that you forge in that journey from womb to tomb. And that means, you know, that that's the call. You know?"

"When you recognize that, it becomes your responsibility. Because, again, we're not gonna get a lot of help from most of our traditional institutions, educational and occupational."

"And so, I think it has a lot to do, Joseph, with paying attention. Because your time on earth is finite. You have a limited amount of time. You have a limited amount of attention. And you have a little limited amount of energy. And you are actually in control of that."

"You have agency over where you spend your time, who you spend your time with, how you spend your time, and what you spend your time on. And you have that same power over your attention and your energy."

"So why not cultivate more presence and mindfulness in your life around who you associate with and who you don't associate with, what you do do and what you don't do?"

"And again, bringing that purpose and passion into every single activity will help sharpen the focus and help you find your purpose."

"And I'll just throw in one other thing that we use at Creative on Purpose. Meridith has probably seen the Venn diagram, the process that we use to kind of fast track us to getting to a starting point."

"We work people through a values exercise because we think that who you really are is based on your core values, guiding principles, and your vision for the world that you want to co-create. What your core talents and skills are, hard skills and soft skills, and those things that you were born with a specific kind of an instinct and an intuition for. And then, where you belong. You belong with people who share your values and need your talents to enhance their lives."

"And if you dial in those three things and think of it as a three-piece Venn diagram, you're going to arrive at a place where you can start to really bring a level of intention and integrity to everything you do and that will help you cultivate more purpose in your life."

I just delivered a reminder that any meaning your life has must be forged within your journey from womb to tomb. How can your impending demise motivate you to make a bigger difference with the time you have left today?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

(BTW, you can watch this and every other entire interview in the Creative on Purpose Broadcast Archive. To learn more and access for free, click here.)

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

The Purpose Paradox

Do you know your life’s purpose?

If you answered, “No,” you’re not alone...

According to recent polls, only 25% of people in the United States have a clear sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.

57% are searching for greater purpose and meaning.

Purpose is how we build identity and forge meaning in our lives. Purpose matters. It matters A LOT.

Not knowing or being disconnected from your purpose is the primary source of frustration and suffering for many.

Of course, defining and finding our purpose isn’t something we teach in school. Nor are we asked to bring and leverage our purpose on the job.

So, if you don’t know your life’s purpose, it’s not your fault.

And yet...

Knowing how essential purpose is does make it your responsibility.

But how do you begin a pursuit of purpose?

Here are a few suggestions that might help.

Define what purpose is and why it matters.

Purpose is your reason for being and helps you find fulfillment and forge meaning in your life.

Think about who purpose is for and where it’s found.

Purpose is for everyone seeking significance through their internal and external experience.

Decide how to find and activate your purpose.

Purpose is not a destination; it’s a process. The more purpose you bring to your aims and actions, the more clear and confident you’ll become about your purpose.

How might you approach defining the difference only you can make (AKA "your purpose") on, well, purpose? Maybe purpose is easier to find when you do it with and for a purpose?

Go Further

You can further explore the value of purpose in Creative on Purpose’s free mini-course, The Power of Purpose (access it at CreativeOnPurpose.com).

Consider The Purpose Solution online program to take a bolder step into defining the difference only you can make.

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

Emergence

As a coach, I hear the word "transformation" quite a bit. Maybe too much...

In Seth Godin's Akimbo Workshops, where I served as a head coach for four years, "transformative" is the number one word students use to describe their experience after completing a program.

"Transformative" is also the word my coaching clients most often use to describe what happens after working with me after several weeks.

But here's the thing, when I ask these students or clients to name the exact moment their metamorphoses took place, they can't.

Why is that?

It's seductive to think that epiphanies can be engineered or that the magic of transformation can be manufactured. But can they really? I believe these levels of insight and understanding take time and require more than great design.

Transformation happens incrementally over a series of transitions rather than all at once in a single moment. Epiphanies emerge over time, even when it feels like a sudden moment of sudden realization.

Progress is, well, progressive. It's a journey, not a destination.

What if getting from where you are to where you want to be (or more correctly, who you are to who you want to be) is a pilgrimage of becoming and not some sort of "certificate of transformation" handed out on some "graduation day."

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

Lindsay Recknell - "If it matters to you, it matters (full stop)."

Insight and inspiration for flying higher in the difference only you can make from guests who have appeared on Creative on Purpose Live.

This week's wisdom comes from a conversation with Lindsay Recknell, Expert in Hope and founder of Mental Health in Minutes. Tune into the entire conversation here.

[LINDSAY] "If it matters to you, it matters. Full stop."

"There is always going to be somebody in the world who has it worse than you, who has it better than you, who is going to judge you, who is going to support you. It doesn't matter."

"What matters is what's going on for you. What you are feeling called to do. What feels like is an alignment with your purpose. If it matters to you, it matters, and you get to do it."

"You get to explore. You get to learn. You get to talk about it."

"If it matters to you, it matters. Full stop." 

Lindsay just delivered a powerful insight about the work you get to do. What matters to you? How might you start doing more of that today?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

(BTW, you can watch this and every other entire interview in the Creative on Purpose Broadcast Archive. To learn more and access for free, click here.)

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

A Leader of Leaders

I believe that too often we conflate leadership with expertise and authority.

We assume others must have more knowledge and power than us and therefor look for leaders beyond ourselves and our circle.

But what do great leaders do, really?

A dictionary definition of leader is "one who guides or directs." Leadership, it seems, isn't about having the jurisdiction to demand people follow roadmaps. Rather, leaders earn the trust and permission to provide a destination and a compass.

A leader is merely someone who sees, steps into, stays in, and shares their power to frame the choices within a situation. They then simply make the best decision they can, and take a next small step into possibility.

Leadership has nothing to do with certainty and overconfidence. If the destination and path are clear, who needs a leader? Simply follow the directions to the destination.

But when the destination lies at the edges of our understanding and abilities, when the way is fraught (which indicates it's worth it), then we need leadership.

Leadership isn't a job  title or role bestowed upon a few. Leadership is a choice available to anyone willing to trust themselves and engage their inner-authority over their perceptions and actions.

And great leaders? Great leaders are leaders of leaders.

A leader of leaders acknowledges their own power and sees and encourages it in those they seek to serve.

A leader of leaders recognizes that power isn't a finite resource to be hoarded by a few but a renewable resource that increases as you empower others.

Where do you see the need for real leadership? When will you embrace your agency to make change worth making with and for others? How can you lead in a way that empowers others to engage their inner authority? 

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!

Clarifying Your Purpose

Purpose is an evolving thing.

Just as you are a work in progress, the difference only you can make is something that is refined and iterated over time.

Here are 3 questions you can ask yourself daily to help you clarify and stay in your purpose and decide your next small, bold steps into possibility in endeavors that matter.

"What's working?" - The routines and relationships that are working should be amplified and leveraged until they stop working.
"What's not working? - The habits and connections that are not working should be examined.
"What needs work?" - You need to examine what's not working. Are you doing the wrong thing, or are you doing the thing wrong? 

If you're doing the wrong thing, ignore sunk costs and stop.

If you're doing the thing wrong, use the notice, name, and navigate process to decide how to decide what to try next to fix it.

And remember, purpose isn't a destination. It's a process. Defining, refining, and activating the difference only you can make is not a one-and-done deal.

It's like sweeping the floor—a daily discipline that must be returned to frequently.

How are you answering the three questions today? What's working? What's not working? What needs work? 

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose. 

If this resonates, please share it with a friend!Cla