Scott Perry's Blog, page 45

What I've Been Reading - Spring 2020

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"Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn

Books are my go-to source for inspiration and information in my endeavors. Here are four books that currently inform my journey in developing Creative On Purpose and help me enhances the lives of those who collide with it.

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker

Cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker persuasively reframes the idea that the world is coming to an end and makes a powerful case for returning to Enlightenment ideals of reason and science to enhance human flourishing.

Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl

A timeless memoir and meditation on forging meaning and building identity by leaning into adversity with intention and integrity.

Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life, by Ozan Varol

An accessible and practical book offering nine simple strategies from rocket science that encourage you to practice habits, ideas, and strategies that empower you to turn the seemingly impossible into the possible.

Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business, by Paul Jarvis

A compelling call to action for everyone from lone freelancers to large corporations to facilitate transformation and encourage personal flourishing by intentionally remaining small.

These four books, more than any other of the dozens I've recently read, have had the biggest impact on my journey in building the Creative On Purpose brand and developing and delivering on its promise to help others fly higher in endeavors that make a difference. You can find them and other helpful resources in the Creative On Purpose Bookstore.

Let's keep flying higher together!

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get out of your own way and get going in endeavors that make a difference? Stepping Into Possibility is a 3-minute read that shares three questions that will get you unstuck and on track doing the work you're meant to do!

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Values Vs. Virtues

Values and virtues are terms frequently confused or conflated. Yet, the distinction between the two is worth teasing apart.

Values are your core beliefs and guiding principles. They're aspirational goals that provide you with a moral compass for navigating choices and decisions.

Virtues are your convictions. Values as lived and acted upon. Virtues are experienced and observed.

Put another way, values are theory, and virtues are reality.

For example, wisdom is a worthy virtue. However, if we deny our creativity or execute poor judgment, it is impossible to be seen as, or actually be, truly wise.

Equanimity and a sense of flourishing require harmony between virtues and values. And you can't make exceptions due to expediency or situational cherry-picking of when they apply and when one or the other doesn't.

This is why we feel internal dissonance and discomfort when the way we behave is out of alignment with or contrary to who we are.

What you do in many ways is who you really are.

Values and virtues are both critical, of course. And consonance and calm are achieved when they're integrated.

Are your virtues and values in agreement?

Let's go.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's endeavor together to make things better!

If you're ready to take a bolder step into possibility with your endeavor, consider Difference Maker Coaching.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Is resilience required?

Is resilience required?

The short answer is, it depends...

If you're happy with the way things are (and the way you are), then the answer is "No." Resilience is unnecessary if you're satisfied or settling.

If, however, you're a difference maker pushing the edges of possibility for yourself and those you seek to serve through work that intends to enhance the prospects and prosperity for all. The answer is undeniably, "Yes."

Work that matters is work that might not work. Failing, misfortune, and being ignored are just a few of the difficulties that you will meet daily. Endeavors that make a difference must be done with and for others. Refining, both the work and whom it is done with and for, is a never-ending challenge.

Resilience is a skill acquired and honed through doing the work. Doing human work. Committing to your craft and community, showing up daily like a professional, and doing all this with intention and integrity cultivates resilience.

Resilience is usually framed as returning to a state after being bent or stretched. We often associate resilience with recovery.

But resilience isn't merely a return to "normal" or the way things were. Resilience is about developing ourselves and growing into potential. Resilience is about flourishing regardless of the intensity or duration of the struggle or the ultimate outcome. 

Resilience isn't required for those who prefer to remain humble and hiding and watching from the stands. But for those in the arena, resilience is the reward for determined and deliberate effort toward aims worth pursuing. Although these efforts might not succeed, the effort itself is the reward.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If you're ready to get serious with your endeavor and do the work, consider Difference Maker Coaching.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Finding Solace in the Slog

What have you noticed about the moment we're all currently living through?

There is suffering, for sure. Sadly some of it could have been avoided. Now we're likely in for an extended slog through disarray and distress. Finding meaning or solace in this tumult can be a challenge.

And yet...

There are opportunities and silver linings in this situation as well. We're relearning and reconnecting with what it means to be human. Rediscovering that we are social creatures born with consciousness and a creative instinct. When the world presents problems, we imagine a better possibility and work together to realize it.

When we endeavor to make things better together, we forge meaning from difficulty, loosen the grip of fear, and mute the voice of anxiety. Whatever the outcome, when we put forth our best effort, we build character and cohesion.

Whether or not our situation gets better, we get better. We cultivate patience, resilience, patience, compassion, and humility. And we pour that into our next effort, knowing that our effort is the reward.

There are no guaranteed outcomes, and nothing lasts forever. That's why you and your endeavor matter. Making a difference when you can, where you can, and with whom you can is at the heart of what it means to be truly human and happy.

Onward.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If you're ready to take a bolder step into possibility with your endeavor, consider joining the Difference Maker Community or get a free membership when you sign up for a Difference Maker Coaching package.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Do the Work

Flying higher in meaningful endeavors requires committed and consistent effort. It's a daily practice of leaning into worthwhile challenges and interesting problems in the pursuit of making things better.

And it's definitely not for everybody.

But for people like us, we can't imagine doing anything else but to do the work.

Thinking about the work or educating yourself about the work is a seductive substitute. Still, to truly get better in your endeavor, there's only one path. Do the work.

To some, it sounds exhausting. But when we do the work with intention and integrity and do it with and for the right people, the exertion is exhilarating.

We get better in our endeavor when we reach for the edges in our knowledge and ability and maybe just a bit beyond. Stretching and striving to create possibility.

We know we're heading in the right direction when we meet and feel resistance. Fear is a compass. Failure is part of the gig. Resilience and resolve are not just rewarded, they're required.

Our stumbles are a signal to find relevant resources to navigate the hard parts and help us continue stepping into possibility. Taking small steps daily provides ample opportunity to celebrate results. We can then reflect on where we are now so we can define and take our next steps.

We develop a mindset for thriving while striving through the posture and practice of doing the work. Ready? It's time to do the work.

Let's go.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If you're ready to get serious with your endeavor and do the work, consider Difference Maker Coaching.

If these are ideas you can get behind, please share this with others!

Commitment

Commitment is a word we all use, but I'm not sure we all fully understand what it means. Here are some reflections from a recent conversation inside the Difference Maker Community and on the Creative on Purpose Broadcast.

Commitment Is a Promise

You're putting yourself on the hook. If you're pledging to stand up to be seen and speaking up to be heard, make sure whatever you're committing to is worth it. Best to do so deliberately and with integrity and intention.

Commitments and Priorities

Your commitments speak to your priorities. You may not see this, but others surely do. Choose your commitments wisely.

Commitment Is a Habit

Commitment speak to your beliefs and revealed through repeated behaviors. Be conscious of your commitments. 80% of our activity is unconscious, so weave in mindfulness into the routines and relationships to which you're committed. 

Don't Confuse Commitment with Overcommitment

Commitments aren't always something to which you should say, "Yes." There are at least as many unhealthy as healthy commitments. Overcommitment is a seductive form of hiding and self-sabotage.

Commitment ≠ Certainty

Worthy ends are never guaranteed. Commit before you're sure. Clarity and resolve come through commitment and doing the work. If it's clear your commitments are not leading anywhere worth going, you must quit. Continuing would be delusional. But don't confuse lack of success with the value of your commitments. The most worthwhile commitments require the most effort and failure. That's why they also bring the most fulfillment.

Commitment Isn't a Solo Enterprise

Making commitments to yourself is fine, but rationalization, justification, and the rest of the noise clanging around in the echo chamber of your mind will surely thwart your most earnest promises. The most satisfying commitments put ourselves on the hook and are done with and for others.

Commitment Is a Verb

We pay a lot of lip service to our commitments, but are we living them? A commitment not lived isn't a commitment. It's a false promise. Live your commitments every day.

What are you committed to today? Who are you committed to do that work with and for?

Let's go.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If these are ideas you can get behind, please share this with others!

The Gift of Adversity

Today often looks and feels a lot like yesterday. It's easy to assume that tomorrow will look and feel very much the same. This is the seductive delusion woven by the status quo. Every day is more-or-less "another one of those."

And then something happens. Things go sideways. The world gets turned upside down. Every day is a topsy turvy carnival ride. Suddenly everything is uncertain.

"Adapt yourself to the circumstances in which your lot has cast you; and love these people among whom your lot has fallen, but love them in all sincerity." - Marcus Aurelius

Our instinctual response to unpredictability and the unknown is anxiousness. Adversity causes the evolutionary imperative for "fight or flight" to kick in. You find yourself lashing out or hiding under the covers.

But every situation, no matter how dire, presents as many opportunities as it does challenges. In fact, problems and misfortune are often a great gift. They remind us that nothing is ever really certain and  we possess everything we need to forge meaning and develop ourselves in even the most difficult circumstances.

Since the dawn of time, when life presents challenges we've gathered to employ our ability to reason to create and execute a plan to overcome obstacles. Whether the challenge is surviving today to try again tomorrow or deciding which brand of jam to serve at tea, the best way forward is to congregate, consider, and compass a way through.

The gift of adversity is it reminds us of what it really means to be human and how little we need to be truly happy.

What challenging circumstance do you face today? Who can you convene? What better way can you conceive? How will you create the possibility you wish to step into?

The only way out of any challenge is moving through it together.

Onward.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If these are ideas you can get behind, please share this with others!

 

The Possibilitist

What do you call someone who looks for and steps into possibility despite uncertainty or adversity?

I call a person who cultivates and demonstrates that approach a possibilitist.

A possibilitist is someone :

who sees the opportunity, lesson, or a silver lining in any situation.
who frames circumstances to reveal choices.
who sets their aim and plans with intention and integrity.
who's instinct is to find the others and lean in together.
who accepts what happens and then starts again.

 A possibilitist isn't reactive or reckless. Advancing into uncertainty requires responsiveness and deliberation. Their impulse is to not hesitate, hide, or hinder. Instead a possibilitist's instinct is to acknowledge, act, and advance.

I'm a possibilitist. What about you?

Let's see and step into possibility together.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If these are ideas you can get behind, please share this with others!

What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do

Human beings are fascinating.

No creature on the planet is better equipped to connect and work through challenges or make things better. We are inherently curious, social, creative, and aspirational beings.

At the same time, when we can, we settle for the status quo. We are comforted by knowing where we stand and what's expected. More often than not, we're happy to settle for the way things are and the way we are.

But sometimes events conspire to make the status quo obsolete. Sometimes settling for another day just like yesterday is not an option.

In a moment like this, you have a choice. Sit and wait for things to sort themselves out or for someone to sort them out for you. Or seize the moment. Decide to take the initiative to find the others and endeavor to make things better.

If we choose the latter, we become agents of our destiny rather than passive recipients of our fate.

When we get together and lean into challenges with intention and integrity, we create the possibility of exiting difficult circumstances better than how we entered them.

But where to start?

Start where you are, with who's around you, and with what you have. Together, set a goal and a strategy to get you there. Commit to showing up to do the work in front of you deliberately and daily. Do this with and for each other. 

Who can you convene, and what can you initiate today that will help make things better?

Let's endeavor better together.

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If these are ideas you can get behind, please share this with others!

Every Day Is a Chance to Start Again

Every day each of us is presented with a choice. To do the same things the same old way, or to try new things and new approaches.

When things are going well, or at least well enough, the natural thing is to just show up today like we did yesterday. But when things are broken, expecting what worked yesterday to work today is probably unhelpful or even foolish.

It's natural to slip into reactive attitudes and behavior when things go sideways. Shutting down, tuning out, and sitting still, are encoded default human responses to crisis. The hope is that things will sort themselves out, or someone will fix things for us.

While these knee-jerk responses are common, they don't promote anyone's health or wellbeing. What helps us flourish through troubles is the opposite of what our instincts encourage.

Crisis reminds us of what it really means to be human and happy is to shun our selfish impulses and lean instead into our social and creative nature.

In the earliest days of our species' existence, we survived only because of our proclivity to gather, face difficulties, and leverage our creativity to solve challenging, often existential problems together.

Today you can choose to remind yourself that we're in this together and treat this day as a chance to start again. To show up when you can, as you are, with what you have, and for who you can is a decision you can make daily.

Solving interesting problems is at the heart of human creative endeavor, and things have never been more interesting for most of us than they are right now.

There’s never been a moment when collaboration and creativity are more needed. Who can you convene, and what can you start to collaborate on and create today that will make things a little better for everyone tomorrow?

Let's make things better together!

Scott Perry - Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Download the Creative on Purpose Handbook, and let's go!

If these are ideas you can get behind, please share this with others!