Scott Perry's Blog, page 21

"I think it's supposed to be fun." - Scott Perry

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 Sha Sparks on her outstanding podcast, The Power of Investing in People. Tune into the entire conversation here.

[SHA] "So how important do you think it is to add playfulness to a company culture? "

[SCOTT] "Oh, wow, that's a great question."

"One of the first things that I did when I finally arrived at my branding, Creative on Purpose... I wanted to have a very clear definition of what those two things mean. So, for me, creativity is the simple human act of making change happen."

"When I think about the clients that I work with, oftentimes they are people who have kind of had their creativity... They're disconnected from their creativity. iI's been stripped from them by institutional schooling and occupation. And what a crying shame. Because we are born creative creatures."

"I think there are three defining characteristics of being human. We are inherently social creatures. We are born to work with and for and care for each other. We are inherently conscious creatures capable of reason and rational thought, not that we act reasonably and rationally all the time, we certainly don't. And we're creative creatures. We're creatures that solve interesting problems and we often do that in collaboration as conscious creatures."

"So, when you are a child and you decide that it's time to start walking, you don't have a conversation with your imposter about whether or not you're worthy of being a walker. You don't take an online course or go to YouTube for videos about how to walk. You see people doing this walking thing and you think, 'That looks pretty cool. it might be a way to get to the cookie jar!'"

"So you stand up and fall down and stand up and fall down and stand up and stay up and take a step and fall down and on and on and on... But, you know, there's there is a lot of laughter, the occasional bump or bruise, and it's an immersive, joyous, experience. And it's playful."

"I mean, if you think about the things that you learn to do first in life, in terms of talking, walking, reading, writing, riding a bike, these are impossible things and you do them with very little instruction. You know?"

"Hopefully, you grew up in a home where you got lots of encouragement but, you know, we are creative beings. So, I think playfulness is a crucial part of that."

"Natalie Nixon has a great frame for creativity where she says it's toggling back and forth between wonder and rigor. I think the walking example refers to that."

"Doing challenging things doesn't mean you have to have a frown on your face or, you know, know chin up and persevere through hardship. I think all challenging work can be done with joy and that's probably informed by my lifelong interest and love of Stoic philosophy in part."

"But I think long before I knew what Stoic philosophy was and how to live joyfully through all of life's challenges, I always believed that it's supposed to be fun. And I remind myself of that every day. And I remind my clients and the students in the Akimbo workshops and everywhere I go. It's supposed to be fun."

"I think it's supposed to be fun."

I just delivered an invitation to have fun doing work that matters. How can you bake a little playfulness into the difference you're making 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.)

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Don't push the river.

I live very near the New River, which, ironic given its name, is one of the oldest rivers in the world. 

I visit it frequently.

One reason I love it is that it's a contrarian. It flows north instead of the usual south and crosses a mountain range rather than descending from one.

My wife and I picnic by the New on summer weekends. I can feel its ancientness every time I step into it. The waters of the New feel wise and powerful as they swirl around my body.

 A Chinese proverb often springs to mind when I'm on the New.

"Don't push the river. It flows by itself."

This quote also comes to mind when I catch myself getting lost and worn out as I grit and grind my way toward some desire.

I call this "pushing the river" (meaning pushing against the river's current).

Pushing against the river is an exercise in futility and exhaustion. You can't change the direction of a river's flow nor slow it down.

Of course, you can also push with the river's flow.

Pushing with the flow is easier, of course, but it's no more useful. The river was heading that way anyway, and it will not arrive at its ultimate destination any more effectively or efficiently.

Whether you're pushing with or against the river, you're paying attention to something you can't influence, squandering your time, and wasting your effort.

Pushing the river feels like real work. River pushing is a seductive distraction and an impediment to making progress in the difference you're trying to make.

Where are you pushing the river in your endeavor today? What might be a better use of your time, attention, and effort?

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

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It's not your fault...

I think there's a distinction between an affront not being your fault and it not being your responsibility.

Most of us don't intend to cause harm through our words and deeds (at least most of the time).

However, between intention impact, there lies interpretation, and therein lies the rub (and an opportunity for bridging the gap).

When your words or deeds unintentionally or unexpectedly do cause harm, you have a choice.

You can argue, "It's not my fault" because harm wasn't your conscious motivation or intention (which likely won't help make things better).

OR

You can take responsibility for your words and deeds, make the empathetic leap to recognize their impact, express your regret, and try to set things right (which likely WILL make things better).

Apologies aren't always simply admonitions of guilt.

"I'm sorry" is often simply an acknowledgment that you're psychologically mature enough to embrace the vagaries of human connection and emotionally advanced enough to engage in navigating toward mutual understanding and respect.

Most of us are doing the best we can, and we're ALL works in progress.

Having the humility to hold space for consideration of what others are experiencing when colliding with our articulations and actions creates space for grace for everyone involved.

What happens if the next time you're on the giving end of a misunderstanding, you respond with curiosity and compassion rather than react with certainty and righteousness?

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

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How to Find Your Purpose

Why is purpose (AKA “the difference only you can make”) so elusive? A big part of the challenge is the misconceptions about where purpose resides.

Maybe you’ve been told that your purpose is “out there,” and you need to go find it? Or perhaps you were told it’s “inside” and you need to excavate it?

Here’s the thing. Purpose isn’t a destination to be discovered or an asset to be mined. Purpose is a process. If you want to cultivate purpose, define an endeavor to do on purpose. Engage in that work for a purpose and with purpose.

Finally, do that thing with, and for people you care about.

Here’s an overview of the 3-step approach we use at Creative on Purpose to help people like you define the difference only you can make so you can stop feeling lost, overwhelmed, and empty and start thriving in an endeavor that matters.

The first step is to identify who you really are. What are your core values? What’s your vision of a world worth working toward? What are your guiding principles? 
The second step is to define what you’re good at. What are the hard skills you learned in school and on the job that lights you up? And what are the soft, human skills of connection, communication, collaboration, and creativity you’ve been honing ever since you exited the womb?
The third and final step is to determine where you belong. Where is that? You belong with people who share your values and need your talents to enhance their lives.

What happens if you take a few minutes to dial in who you really are, what you’re really good at, and where you really belong? How might that change everything?

Ready to investigate your purpose, define the difference only you can make, and live your legacy? A great place to start is with Creative on Purpose's Let Your Life Speak online program. Learn more here.

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

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Robbie Swale - "Don't wait for inspiration."

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 Robbi Swale, author of How to Stat When You're Stuck. Tune into the entire conversation here.

[ROBBIE] "I think a lot about practice and, you know, really one way to frame that would be, 'Who's the person you want to become?' That kind of thing you're talking about, 'How do you live your legacy?'"

"What's one way you can practice doing that even for 12 minutes a week? That's the kind of answer that comes to mind."

"But the other thing that came into my mind when you were talking about a tip is I had this funny experience with my book which is that I had this Steven Pressfield quote at the start because I love The War of Art. It made a huge difference to me, and when I was publishing the book I thought, I'd better check this quote, and I couldn't find it."

"And I had no idea what it was. Like, how I possibly misquoted this and where is it? And I read The War of Art pretty much again, and Googled loads, and couldn't find it."

"And then I realized that it was actually, I was quoting myself, not Steven Pressfield. That I'd written once about Steven Pressfield, and I'd kind of taken something he said and boiled it down to a different sentence."

"He talks about muses and angels at the end of The War of Art, and in a way, I changed that. And this is a really important thing to me."

"That what I'd written that I thought was Pressfield but it turned out was Swale."

"Our inspiration is always around us, and it's only when we make a start that we let inspiration in so that's the other thing. It's like, don't wait for the inspiration. Make the start." 

Robbie just delivered a powerful insight. Don't wait for inspiration but simply make a start. How might starting invite inspiration to come to you 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!

What is purpose?

Who are you?

Why are you here?

Where are you going?

How do you engage with the world?

What is your reason for being?

These are questions about purpose. Your purpose. Your reason for being.

Defining and refining your purpose builds identity, forges meaning, and creates common cause and connection.

Purpose is the platform upon which a life worth living is built. It is at the heart of the art of living well.

Leaning into and leveraging your purpose provides a sense of fulfillment and flourishing through life's trials and triumphs, victories, and inevitable vicissitudes.

Purpose matters. It matters a lot.

How do you define and describe your purpose? How do you leverage the difference only you can make in your daily endeavors?

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

ps If you need help finding and refining your purpose, you may find this new offering helpful!

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Are Goals Always the Answer?

Setting big goals and establishing long-term strategies are all well and good, especially once you have a lot of clarity about and confidence in your endeavor (AKA "the difference only you can make").

But if clarity about what you're building, who it's for, and confidence how it works and why people will want it are elusive, it might be better to think in causes and campaigns.

Crafting your endeavor as a cause helps you think more expansively, act more generously, and focus on the integrity of the journey.

For instance, my current cause is to help others find fulfillment by defining the difference only they can make and live their legacy.

Campaigns encourage organization and action toward short-term intentions that keep sunk costs down (less wasted time and effort) and nurture a return on investment in lessons and experience.

My current campaign is a 5-week online program that helps people find, name, and engage their purpose.

Do you have the clarity and confidence necessary to create and commit to a five year plan? What initial cause and campaign could you test first?

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

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Nancy Cook - "Get to know and trust yourself."

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 Nancy van den Burg Cook, founder of Empathy Revolution. Tune into the entire conversation here.

[NANCY] "Well, there are two pieces to it. One piece is to really take the time, [to take] psychological tests [and] other types of tests, and really get to know who you are, what your talents are. Nobody else is telling us."

"So there's a sense of settling in and learning more about who we are, and then trusting that when we find something that we love our energy is just going to flow into the world. That energy is dying to get into the world. And if we can't find a way to get it out it kind of turns on us."

"So it's double. It's really going with what's right for you and that takes some work. And then from there, you know, the energy will come. That's my thing."

"I'm always telling people 'It will come.' 'Really? No, it'll never come!' 'Yes, it will come!' And then you go forward, you know?

[SCOTT] "Yeah, I love that. I'm hearing a call to trust ourselves and also trust the process or trust the cosmos."

[NANCY] "Exactly" 

Nancy just delivered a powerful call to action to know yourself and to trust yourself. How might you practice both 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.)

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The Lone Wolf Trap

I was kind of a lone wolf as a kid. I didn't belong to or run with one pack.

I'd like to tell you it was because I was strong, self-determined, and self-sufficient.

But the truth is I was often teased, bullied, and excluded.

Later in life, as a professional musician, I spent most of my career as a solo artist.

The behavior we learn young sticks, even when it impedes your thriving.

Lone wolfing it through life might sound romantic or rugged, but it's not. It's just lonely.

We're inherently social beings who thrive through connection, communication, and collaboration.

It took some deep inner work to realize that being a lone wolf was really a seductive way of hiding from my pain and potential.

And through a sequence of fortunate circumstances and collisions, I learned and embraced the value of fellowship—belonging to a body of companions in a spirit of comradeship.

Fellowship sounds old-fashioned because it is old-fashioned.

In fact, it's olde fashioned. It combines two words from the Middle English spoken back in the 13th century—"fellow" (one who shares with another) + "ship" (condition of being). 

To be in fellowship is also to be in communion—to be in community through common cause.

There are many virtues in fellowship and communion—belonging, worthiness, safety, support, and accountability, to name a few.

Fellowship and communion also encourage building identity and forging meaning, two essential elements of what the ancients called the "art of living well."

Are you crafting a life that expresses who you are, what you believe, and where you're headed? What endeavor is the vehicle for letting your life speak through you? What role do fellowship and communion play in your pursuit of living well?

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

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Resignation

I'm not enamored with calling the departure of so many from traditional occupational situations "The Great Resignation." Still, the conversation around it is interesting.

There's absolutely much to be done about improving conditions at work. We need to create occupational situations that are more physically, psychologically, and spiritually safe.

And we need to do much better to make those spaces diverse, inclusive, and equitable.

And, I assert we also need to extend the conversation to include the lack of satisfaction many feel about what they do to make a living.

Many do not find fulfillment in what they do to get by. This is distressing, and it's not their fault.

Compulsory education leverages conformity and compliance and normalizes defining our worth based on how we measure up against arbitrary standards and each other.

Yes, we are creatures who embrace the status quo. We like to know where we stand and what's expected.

However, we also possess an aspirational nature and an instinct to explore the edges of our understanding and ability and a need to work together to step into our potential and possibility.

And perhaps most importantly, human beings make sense of themselves, their situation, and each other through storytelling.

Choose your story, choose your future.

If what you do to make ends meet doesn't fuel a story about purpose, passion, prosperity, or prestige (or, better, a combination of these), then increasing remuneration or flexibility about where you work from is foolish.

What's more, creating equal access and opportunity to do work that doesn't matter is an empty proposition.

In our conversation about improving the world of work, it's time to stop treating symptoms and focus on the underlying disease.

It's time to reflect on what work is really for and how to create employment that encourages and leverages the human skills of connection, communication, collaboration, and creativity. 

It's time to acknowledge that what we do informs our narrative about who we are, where we're going, and why it all matters.

What happens if "the daily grind" becomes a call to make a difference? What small step can you take into defining the difference only you can make? How can you bring that into your work?

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

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