Personal values include anything from altruism to concern about personal appearance. They most typically include things like music, family, integrity, loyalty, health, and religion. They can be internal, interpersonal, or cultural. A value by itself does not become a purpose, but it forms the basis for the desires and passions that lead us to purpose. If you don’t value community service very highly, then feel free to decline to serve on committees. Don’t let neighbors talk you into being president of your Homeowners’ Association. As you become conscious of your values, the values clarification will give you strength to resist doing things that other people might think you should do but that bring you no sense of joy or satisfaction.

If you compromise your values, you lose your self-respect, which soon will be followed by your self-esteem. The only time you can compromise a value is for the sake of a higher value. For example, you might value both loyalty and truth, so when your boss asks you to do something deceitful, what do you do?

This actually happened to me. I lost a great position in a company because I would not sign my name to a document asserting what our sales had been because I knew that some of the products listed as being sold were actually sitting in a warehouse. That company had my loyalty; I had worked hard to make them successful. But I would not compromise my integrity by agreeing to this lie. Of course, top management really believed that I should be a team player and just sign the thing, but it was too much to ask. I would have felt dirty. There are lots of things worse than being fired from a great job.

If our Washington Politicans and Wall Street Executives would follow suit, we would not be facing this 1 Trillion dollar disaster, which grows by the minute!

Value conflicts are painful but rewarding because they drive you deeper into yourself to find your own truth.

Have you faced a similar situation lately? Have you stood up or compromised your values while making a decision? Please share your story!

The destination is not the ultimate aim. The joy comes from the journey. Purpose is bound up in the process.

Bon voyage!

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com

From my humble beginnings I have been able to purchase, turnaround and sell 22 companies which I operated in 43 countries and generated in excess of 1.8 billion US Dollars in revenue.

I have been truly blessed, and in 1991 I decided to commit the balance of my life to helping individuals and organizations worldwide to define, implement and live a life on purpose. I am pleased and honored to report that we have worked with over 100,000 individuals, entrepreneurs and corporate CEO’s worldwide. We have accomplished much over the past 17 years… our coaching, consulting, teaching and mentoring programs touch hundreds on a daily basis.

However, I am very concerned that the fabric of our free enterprise system has been pushed to the limits by arrogant, greedy, and irresponsible Wall Street Executives and Washington Politicians.

What happen to the words truth, honor, character, integrity, accountability and responsibility and why are they important to this discussion? 

In my mind they are extremely important, especially in light of the current negotiations creating this huge bailout plan being hammered out in Washington in order to avert an economic meltdown. The men and women leading these large enterprises have forgotten the meaning of these words. It is the spirit within these words that is critical if this bailout plan is to work.

Unfortunately, the bailout plan is needed, and it needs to be put in place quickly. At the same time, we need to ask how the financial system came to require a rescue of this magnitude.

This time around, assets are evidently rotten in so many places that no financial institution wants to risk doing business with any other financial institution without government backstop.

Such fear recently threw a huge wrench into the wheels of commerce because business cannot function without credit, and banks cannot function without the ability to draw on one another’s resources as needed. Some radical, comprehensive step from government was necessary, or else outcomes as bad as — and perhaps even worse than — those of 1931 and 1932 would have been inescapable.

Naturally, a plan of this magnitude has stirred a storm of commentary, but two important potential results deserve more attention than they have received.

The first is the risk of moral hazard within the bailout itself. That is, if government is going to make good so many losses throughout the system, why would anyone set limits on future risk-taking? The situation could turn into a free-for-all that makes the recent disregard of risk look like child’s play.

The second problem is more philosophical, involving what the bailout plan reveals about the functioning of the free enterprise system. This raises disturbing questions. Although I must say I agree with President Bush’s observation that “the risk of not acting would be far higher,” we should be aware of the secondary effects of what we are getting into.

My position on government bailouts of institutions on the verge of failure has been clear ever since the procedure was formalized in the savings-and-loan crisis in 1989, under the first President Bush. I have favored these steps, even though such rescues reward those who took more risks than they should have and are ultimately paid for by those more prudent.

FROM this viewpoint, government bailouts create moral hazard and therefore might seem a mistake. If the government always comes to your rescue when the chips are down, why limit your risks? Why be responsible?, why operate with character and integrity? Why be accountable?, Why not go for the home run every time? What does it matter if you put the system over the edge, so long as you have a chance to make money by lying and cheating while Uncle Sam takes care of everything if you lose? How could any rational individual pass up those kinds of opportunities?

We could avoid this conflict of interests by refusing to bail out the irresponsible, arrogant risk-takers and letting the financial miscreants squirm in their own juice. That might provide satisfaction to moralists, but life is not so simple. An epidemic of unpaid bad debts would devastate lenders and ignite a conflagration that could pull down the economic and financial structure, ruining everyone.

We were on the verge of such an outcome in the last few weeks, as banks froze up in fear of every piece of paper being tainted. As a result, they refused to enter into the most routine transactions with one another. The choice is between two cruel outcomes: the high probability of an irreparably damaged financial system, or an overload of moral hazard. I prefer dealing with moral hazard now as well; but preserving the system — and society — must now have top priority.

My views have developed over the years, from the bailouts of single entities like Chrysler 1980, U.S Airlines 2001, Lockheed 1971, Penn Central 1974, New York City 1978, and other groups of companies like savings institutions in 1989 and over the years. But these relatively simple transactions have only a distant family resemblance to the Paulson-Bernanke plan for a huge bailout of countless financial institutions, to say nothing of possible help to households that took on mortgages that would work out only if the home price kept rising.

There is an immense difference between a plan for a comprehensive bailout and the far simpler process of bailing out Bear Stearns or even a dozen or so Bear Stearnses. The justification is the same, but the grim consequences in terms of moral hazard are of an incomparably greater order of magnitude.

Hence the federal government declares, “Thou shalt not fail,” there are no limits to how far future risk-takers will go. Who will see any need to pay attention to the possible consequences for the government’s budget, the market for its bonds, the taxpayers, its creditors and, indeed, the whole economic structure?

Furthermore, there are limits to how freely Washington can dispense largess. We no longer owe the national debt to ourselves, as we did in the 1930s, when deficit financing was first proposed as viable policy to overcome the Depression.

Financing the government today depends heavily on international entities’ willingness to buy our bonds, but some accept our obligations only when they see some kind of control over the volume of issuance. They will perceive very little control in plans whose limits are porous and uncertain.

My second issue goes to the foundations of the economic system in which most Americans believe, and take for granted. Though we sometimes give it more lip service than respect, it is rooted in individual decision-making in free markets. In theory, at least, the less government intervention, the better; the mantra is that markets know best. Huh! The Mantra should be markets know best when they are lead with integrity and accountability!!

We often hear this refrain, and history confirms its importance in the most profound issues of economic policy. It justifies our revulsion with Communism, our philosophical distance from the current Chinese system, and when greedy Wall Street Executives and Politicians, not markets, try to shape our system.

Faith in free markets made icons of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who made deregulation a policy cornerstone. An echo in our own time was the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, legislated in 1933 to separate investment banking and commercial banks. Its repeal was a key contributor to the calamities now gripping the banking system.

TODAY’S crisis thus emerged from a combination of disasters operating in free markets with no integrity or accountability, but wreaking ruin as they developed. The sub prime mortgage mess, the huge leverage throughout the system, the insidious impact of new kinds of derivatives and other financial paper, and, at the roots, the vast underestimation of risk could not have happened in a planned economy. A super jumbo bailout is the inescapable result, but at some point we must confront its more profound implications.

As we move into the future, and as the crisis finally passes into history, how will we deal with this earth-shaking blow to the most basic principle of our economic and free enterprise system?

I will be announcing my solution to a sound recovery on October 4, 2008. The foundation of my solution will be rooted deep in my belief system and 40 years of international business experience which has allowed a poorer than poorer southern boy to achieve huge success.

Join me on October 4, 2008 at 10 am PDT as I lay out my Tribe of Five Plan.

Register at www.whatsmypurpose.com/tribeoffive

With appreciation,

Jim White PhD
Author and Creator What’s My Purpose, A Journey of Personal and Professional Growth, What’s My Purpose Life Mastery Course

This inspiration is a wonderful example of passion, or as I like to break it down, PASS-I-ON. By living according to her purpose and sharing herself with the world, she’s making a huge difference in the lives of millions of women everywhere.

Torres also serves as an excellent example of how passion, once ignited, must be served. Her journey to the 2008 Olympics began when she was pregnant with her daughter Tessa, who is now 2 years old. The four-time Olympian was awaiting the birth of her child by swimming a few times per week and even so, she found herself racing the middle-aged men swimming in the lanes beside her. Her passion for competition and swimming were stronger than ever, and so a week and half after Tessa was born, she began training in earnest for what would be her next Olympics. In the process, she was serving her passion – that inner sense of urgency – with a single-minded intensity.

Having been an elite athlete for more than half her life, Torres had the financial resources to devote to her most recent Olympic ambitions. Her purpose and drive led her to think her strategy through carefully and hire a retinue of massage therapists, professional stretchers and coaches to carve out a physique that’s not only the envy of women half her age, but superior even to the conditioning she possessed 8 years ago.

Torres’s purpose was always to be a world-class swimmer. And using her singular passion and vision, she has continued improving and making big waves even after her equally-talented peers have sunk out of sight. It’s a lesson I take to heart as I examine my own purpose. I ask myself how I can sharpen my focus and improve my game and urge you to use this time when the world’s eyes are on our finest athletes to consider doing the same.

Feel free to leave a comment below on the experiences and inspiration that have moved you to sharpen your own focus.

Bon voyage!

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?

Those connections take on vital importance when we begin to explore the implications of seeking and living our purpose. Every time one of us decides to discover and live according to our highest purpose, we experience a subtle, global healing (or put another way, a subtle, global-making whole). That’s because when we live according to purpose, we live happier, more fulfilled and more successful lives. And the more people who live this way, the more this spreads joy, happiness and abundance throughout the world.

During this Olympic season, pay special attention to the coverage that brings the people of China to our newspapers, radios and living rooms. Treasure it for what it is – a gift to learn about Chinese cuisine and the subtleties of an ancient, vital culture. And above all, we see the love, connection and peace that sustains all of us the world over, regardless of nationality. Pay attention, too, to the transformation that China is experiencing as a result of stepping onto the world stage. By accepting the charge of the Olympics, China has also accepted the floodlight of inquiry. Are the people happy? What’s the carbon footprint? How are they handling technology? It’s like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. A China observed is a China transformed.

How are you doing with your own personal transformation? Your transformation to a person who lives on purpose.  What parts of your own life have you begun to shed light upon? Do you like what you’ve found? Do you appreciate the importance of your meaning and purpose?

As I’ve said before, YOU are an integral part of creating a better, gentler world. Join me in my Movement to help bring a million people worldwide to a greater understanding of their life’s purpose. The effect, like a rock in a pond, ripples out to every shore regardless of the language and philosophy it finds there.

Bon voyage!
Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com

Spirit and determination are required to change things around in your life. Perhaps it requires that you develop attitude about the challenges facing you for change. Change isn’t easy; growth is always hard, but passing up your opportunities to make the changes you need to make and experience the growth that is waiting for you will eventually kill your spirit. You don’t have to look far to see bitter old people who look back over their lives and see that it was all for nothing. They never found the path to joy, fulfillment, and genuine productivity.

Now in the twilight of their lives they look forward with dread towards the grave knowing that their lives amounted to nothing important. They leave nothing behind. Their pathway never took them through the sense of joy and fulfillment that would have been theirs if they had found their dreams. On the other hand, we all know elderly people who approach the end of their lives with perfect peacefulness that comes from knowing that they had found their purpose and lived it with passion. Leonardo da Vinci pointed out a profound truth, “As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.”
Learn to make decisions based upon this higher view of your life. Avoid taking actions and making decisions on the basis of any feelings of guilt, inadequacy, or unhappiness laid on us by other people. Perhaps your decisions will displease some people, but don’t let their disapproval drive you away from doing what you know will be right for you. Stop worrying about what the world thinks of you and of the decisions you make.

The fact is that the world is less interested in what you do than you imagine it is.
The destination is not the ultimate aim. The joy comes from the journey. Purpose is bound up in the process.

Bon voyage!

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com

 
The creative person is constantly seeking to discover him/herself, to remodel his/her own identity, and to find meaning in the universe through what he creates… His most significant moments are those in which he attains some new insights, or makes some new discovery; and these moments are chiefly, if not invariably those in which he is alone.

In order to engage in this creative process of finding your purpose, you may need to take charge of your schedule. Learn to turn off the television set. Read the newspaper standing up. You can probably find a lot of extra hours in your day. Take some time every day for calm reflection. Walking is a great way to center your mind and think creative thoughts, so make it a habit to walk half an hour each day. While you are walking, focus your attention on the present moment. Take slow, deep breaths. Notice the trees and flowers. Feel the wind on your skin. Use each of your senses to help you stay in the present.

Journal writing is another way of getting in touch with yourself and your desires. Each day record how you feel and what you are thinking about. Talk about the day’s events and about your reactions to them.
A third way is to spend some time every day in meditation. Give yourself 20 minutes every day to sit quietly, allowing your mind to grow still. Allow your thoughts to gradually drop away. Quiet time is a variation of the meditation theme. Seek times when you can be by yourself and free from outside distractions. Turn off the TV and even music. Get alone with yourself and do some activity that satisfies you — sewing, perhaps, exercising, taking a bath, shooting baskets, watching the sunset, tending the garden, fishing in some quiet place, or working on a hobby. A personal retreat becomes an extended quiet time. Retreats are usually most effective when you go alone. If you go with another or others, structure your schedule to permit some periods when you can be by yourself.

These activities will help you to get in touch with your actual feelings and passions. Expect the time to uncover the actual desires of your heart. What would you really like to do with your life? What are your dreams? Shake yourself free from the expectations of other people. If you cannot be right for yourself, you cannot be right for anyone. If you aren’t fulfilling your passions by the course of your life, you aren’t serving the larger purpose of your life that you should be serving or making the positive impact upon society that you should be making. Get over the trap of doing what you “should” be doing, as the “should” is defined by the expectations of your family or friends. These “shoulds” create artificial boundaries around the person that you could become, the work that you could be accomplishing, the peace of mind you could be having, or the joy you should be experiencing.

Shoulds might have to do with possessions — pushing you into the kind of home you should live in or the car you should drive. Or they might have to do with your behavior. People’s expectations about your conduct may provide barriers to your dream, for example, of being a singer or writing a novel. Despite the psychological barriers that these “shoulds” throw up in moving towards your purpose, they are extremely difficult to let go of because you have bought into them. They become part of your self-definition.

The destination is not the ultimate aim. The joy comes from the journey. Purpose is bound up in the process.

Bon voyage!

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

Many people cannot identify five talents. Perhaps this is the first time you have taken the time to think about your talents. Perhaps you minimize or ignore them because they come easily to you. This is a way you diminish yourself and mask your passion. But when something comes easily to you, this is a clue that it is one of your talents. Armed with this basic self-awareness, you can make an impact in the world.
Another way to get a handle on your abilities is to pick out five people who know you very well and ask them these questions:

• What do you think makes me special?
• Do you think there is anything about me that is unique?
• What are my talents?

Write down the answers they give you and compare these to your own list. Think about your skills, which are competencies that come from training, experience, or education. Take an inventory of the skills you know you have. Write them down on a sheet of paper.

Identify confluences between your skills and talents as a method of uncovering a potential purpose. If you have a skill as a writer and a talent for communication, for example, perhaps your purpose in life will be as a journalist. Or perhaps you will create a world-changing blog. Try to develop skills in areas where you have talents and let your purpose emerge. Your unique blend of talents and skills will provide a clue to your passions.

The destination is not the ultimate aim. The joy comes from the journey. Purpose is bound up in the process.
Bon voyage!

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com

* They love what they are doing.
* Work and leisure time sometimes seem the same.
* When they feel frustrated or irritated with a particular aspect of their job, they maintain a  deep feeling that what they are doing is still “right.”
* They often feel that there is nothing else they would rather be doing.
* They usually feel at peace.
* They trust that things will work out for them.
* They usually maintain a positive attitude.
* Their work energizes them.

People who lack a sense of purpose are usually busy, often with full to overflowing schedules, but there is a hole in the middle. The center that should be occupied by their passion is empty. Joy and happiness can be found only when you learn to fill the center with activities that are given meaning and form by an understanding of who you are and why you have been put on this world.
      

They try to fill the hole with work, things, or money. But all their “stuff” gives them no real satisfaction; they hate their work and feel suffocated by the demands of family and friends. They have failed to follow their passion. They let themselves be talked into a job they had no real desire to do because it paid well, was close to home, or had good hours. 

Unlike the expectations of early generations, today’s employees expect a job to be rewarding in ways other than merely financial. The authors of Take this Job and Love it wrote:
The challenge to find meaning in what you do is at the core of the new work ethic. Employees want more than just a paycheck from their work. They want to feel connected to their organization’s mission and vision. They look toward the organization as a place where they can grow and accomplish their own personal vision as well as the organization’s larger purpose.

Note that your particular job may not be the essence of your purpose. For example, your passion might be in raising your children, and you need employment to support them financially. In this situation you might simply choose a job because it is close to home and pays well. In that case, even though it is not your passion, you will do your job cheerfully and with dedication because your work is fueled by the energy that you derive from serving your family, which is the purpose around which the rest of your life revolves. In other words, your work supports your passion, which should serve to make the work meaningful and bring joy and contentment to your life.

The destination is not the ultimate aim. The joy comes from the journey. Purpose is bound up in the process.

Bon voyage! 
       
Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com

Think back on the events that shaped your life and recall your most meaningful experiences. What happened? What made each of those events seem important to you? What impact did that particular experience have on your life? 

When you have completed the list, write down what you believe your purpose to be. Don’t try to be grandiose or too specific. Your purpose will probably be vague, but it will become clearer as you work through this process. 

As you refine your sense of purpose, you will begin an inevitable process of developing or refining your sense of being involved in something larger than yourself — a transcendent quality that will shape your sense of who you are and what you are doing in the world. 

Carl Jung said, “Among all my patients in the second half of life, that is to say over thirty-five, there has not been one whose problem, in the last resort, was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.” Jung’s comment, of course, had nothing to do with a particular creed or membership of a church. By “a religious outlook on life” Jung referred to the person’s understanding of how he/she fit into the larger picture of the world. The largest segment of our population today is composed of the “over thirty-five” baby boomers. They now are questioning their significance: Who am I? What do I want to be when I grow up? Why am I here? Some of them are beginning to get desperate with such questions as, “If I’m so successful, why aren’t I happy?” 

These uncomfortable questions move us toward self-actualization. We should completely embrace the discomfort and work our way through to meaningful answers. Too many people have an affair or buy a sports car in order to distract themselves from these questions. A midlife crisis is a genuine event. If people reach forty years of age without having a clear picture of the reason they were put on earth, they should have a crisis. They should be uncomfortable. The discomfort simply means that they are still alive. Perhaps they are more alive than at any point in their lives because they finally realize the gaping hole that is in the center of their souls.

The destination is not the ultimate aim. The joy comes from the journey. Purpose is bound up in the process. 

Bon voyage! 

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.WhatsMyPurpose.com
      

Just imagine: An ‘on purpose’ world where people are too occupied living according to their true purpose to bother waging wars, stealing from one another, or committing countless other abuses. It IS possible to make a better world. And YOU are part of that.

It’s my firm and passionate belief that if 1 million people get serious about seeking and living their life’s purpose, it will produce a ripple effect on this planet the likes of which we have never seen. It could even play a huge part in ending poverty, war and hunger.

Living Purpose is about Joy

This isn’t just about making a better world, either, because living ‘on purpose’ puts you squarely into that state of ease known as flow, freeing up your life’s energy to allow for greater prosperity, success and fulfillment.

It’s the fuel that gets the world’s most successful people out of bed each morning – people like Richard Branson and Oprah Winfrey. They live according to a purpose outside themselves that drives them to offer the best of their talent and passion in order to serve. And their approach to life consistently brings them wealth, fulfillment and happiness.

Because here’s the thing. Sacrificing your happiness, success or fulfillment to make the world better doesn’t work. On the contrary, you have to serve through your passion and talents or suffer bitterness and burnout (not to mention probably struggling financially as well) – things that are not life-enhancing for you or the people around you.

Living Purpose is about Intention

Living ‘on purpose’ doesn’t happen on accident. There are some people who can live their life’s purpose without actively seeking it, but they are few and far between. The rest of us have to set a strong intention to find and live our purpose. It’s a process that requires you to look deep within yourself. The answers are there, like treasures buried in your backyard waiting for you to discover them.

When you make that discovery, your life changes. And the world changes, because any person with a fully realized purpose cannot help but become a change-agent. The more intimately connected you are to your purpose, to doing exactly what it is that your passions and talents have suited you to in the service of others, the better off the world will be.

Living Purpose is about Global and Personal Transformation

The recent popularity of Oprah’s recent 10-part web series with A New Earth author Eckhart Tolle underscores the transformation that’s taking place across this country and planet. Oprah herself started as a daytime talk show host in the typical mold and evolved over the years as her purpose became clearer. More and more, she’s urging her millions of viewers to also seek and find their purpose. In fact, an entire segment of her recent web series with Eckhart focused exclusively on purpose.

Living Purpose is about Continued Growth

Purpose isn’t a static thing. Oprah’s sense of purpose has grown clearer over time, as has my own. Purpose grows and expands as you grow as a person. Hence, when you commit to finding and living your purpose, you’re committing to a worthy, lifelong process filled with growth and joy.

Are you committed to finding and living your purpose? Share that commitment in the space below and add your weight to a growing movement. By affirming that you’re ready to find and live your true life’s purpose, you send a signal to the universe of your willingness to take your success, happiness and prosperity forward. And so, a word of warning! By making this commitment to yourself and to the world, you may find shifts taking place in your life that bring you closer to your life’s purpose.

Bon voyage!

Jim White, PhD
Author & Creator of What’s My Purpose?
www.whatsmypurpose.com