Leadership in intrinsically bound to purpose. The best leaders know their own purpose, and they lead others with purpose. How can leaders learn to be more purposeful? Ryan Sanders approaches this issue from both a theoretical and an applied perspective. As a business school instructor, he knows the research literature on leadership. As an executive coach, he has plenty of hands-on experience helping leaders. From this background, Ryan shares a wealth of ideas about finding and using purpose as a...
Oct 06, 2021•50 min
In life, we go through different seasons. What about purpose? How does it reflect these changing seasons of our life? Jonathon Tucker played competitive soccer, started up a soccer coaching business, and became a teacher. In all of these, he had to work out what purpose meant in that stage of life. Each stage taught him something new about purpose. From his experience, he's developed a model of how purpose unfolds and what we can do to have more of it--at any time of our life. In this episode, y...
Sep 29, 2021•38 min
Purpose is usually talked about as a destination. "What is the purpose of my life?" But, is it something that can be experienced every day? What does purpose mean as a day-to-day experience? Zach Mercurio spent two years studying how janitors found purpose and meaning in their work. Even though they were doing menial work, some of them found greater purpose in what they did. This research gave him deep insight into the lived experience of purpose. It involves less of what we actually do and more...
Sep 22, 2021•53 min
What do you do when you hit absolute rock bottom in your life--when you've lost all that matters in your past and in your future? You start living out any purpose that you can find. Shay Walters is a wife, mother, and a nine-time convicted felon. She delved into the abyss of drug addiction. Having lost custody of her son and facing a possible two-decade prison sentence, she changed her life around completely. She gave up her previous impulsive ways of living only for momentary pleasure. She comm...
Sep 15, 2021•47 min
Awareness is an often overlooked aspect of experiencing purpose. This raises the question of how awareness increases purpose, and, conversely, how purpose increases awareness. It also ties purpose into mindfulness and other contemplative practices. Cortland Dahl works in the intersection of science and the spirit. In science, he is a research scientist working at the prestigious University of Wisconsin Center for Health Minds. He's spent his career studying contemplative practices--even going on...
Sep 08, 2021•52 min
When people find purpose, it often involves an inner compunction. Something inside of us "knows" that we should do something. This can be called inner wisdom. The question becomes how do we find this inner wisdom? Audrey Seymour started out as a software engineer with a background in mathematics. About 20 years ago, she changed to life coaching with an emphasis on helping people find purpose. She brings a deep and thoughtful approach to her work. She shares her insights on best practices for fin...
Sep 02, 2021•57 min
What would you do if knew that you had a terminal illness and would die soon--would it change what mattered to you? Change what you did? William McNeely knows the answer to this question. In his early 50s, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and terminal disease. For three years, his medical chart was marked EOL for end of life. Yet, William had a long-term vision for making a difference in his hometown of Charlotte. When he was within a week or two of dying, he received a dou...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 1 min
How is purpose linked to the most painful moments of our lives? Ferose VR was living his dream life--a successful career, marriage, and a child on his way. Then his child was born with autism. Ferose was in anguish. Then he spoke to a mentor about it. Instead of grieving, she congratulated him. She told him that now he knew his purpose in life. Beautiful things have resulted, including Ferose's starting a movement to integrate people with autism into the workplace. These experiences, combined wi...
Aug 19, 2021•59 min
We often think of living a life of purpose as being extreme--quitting your job and taking up something brand new. This happens sometimes. But, how can purpose be meaningfully integrated into our existing lives? Attorney and self-discovery guide Lauren Krasnodembski sheds light on how to live purposefully in your current life. She's a successful privacy attorney and is raising a family. She also has found a way to help others find their way. She guides them in her writing, speaking, and coaching ...
Aug 11, 2021•48 min
Mindfulness and purpose are two common themes in research on how to live a good life. How do they interlink? Does one lead to the other? Jon Macaskill turned to meditation out of need. He had experienced severe trauma in the battlefield. It lead him to find another side of himself such that when he retired from the Navy, he turned full time to helping others find mindfulness for themselves as well. Mindfulness, in turn, sets the stage for purpose. As both a mindfulness practitioner and a retired...
Aug 04, 2021•53 min
How does purpose intrude into our everyday life? Even in middle age, can we turn our careers into something profoundly purposeful? Burton Fleischner has a successful career as the manager of a large retail bookstore. But, it didn't engage him at a deep level. Then, one day, a customer asked him a question that caused him to reevaluate everything. Not long after that, he left the safe, known world of retail and moved into medical care. He was inspired by a tragedy that his family had experienced ...
Jul 28, 2021•38 min
Why aren't more people able to find their purpose? What is it about our past that makes it difficult to do so? This week's guest explores this topic with his work. Joey Drolshagen helps people overcome their blocks to living fully and purposefully. He has developed a system that enables people to overcome their unhelpful conditioning and move more fully into the life they are meant to live. Removing these barriers can make all the difference. In this episode, you'll learn about: What it feels li...
Jul 21, 2021•50 min
If you're a person of faith, how do you connect what you're doing in life with what God wants for you? This is a big, meaty question that this week's guest, Dustan Christensen, unpacks for us. He identifies several steps that we can take to align our actions with God's will. He anchors this discussion the in the distinction between sacrifice and obedience, and he prescribes the right ordering of them. In this book, you'll learn about How writing a book enables you to leave a legacy Asking yourse...
Jul 14, 2021•41 min
What is the story of your life? Are you willing to give yourself over to it fully? Robert Pardi lives a beautiful, meaningful life. He got there through living out stories. His wife died at a tragically young age, and Robert was her caregiver for 11 years. He transitioned from Wall Street to being a life coach. He stumbled upon a small town in central Italy where his family emigrated from and he made it his home. He shares the wealth of knowledge that he's gained through all of this about living...
Jul 07, 2021•51 min
What does a young person need to find purpose in their lives? What are the skills, abilities, and experiences that will push them into a life that matters? As a fifth grade teacher, Kenneth Joyner saw a problem. Some of the boys in his school were lost. They didn't have father figures in their lives. They didn't apply themselves in school. They didn't know how to present themselves to others. They were acting out. In response, Kenneth and another teacher started an afterschool program called "Bo...
Jun 30, 2021•46 min
Do you need to be qualified to do what you find most purposeful? Probably not. Steven Lavine was the president of the California Institute of the Arts for 29 years. He had a very successful tenure, despite not being an artist. He got the job through "dumb luck," and he constantly had to face what he didn't feel qualified to do. His story is that of following your passion regardless of perceived ability to do it. In this episode, you'll learn about: Surrounding yourself with people of purpose The...
Jun 23, 2021•53 min
What, exactly, is meaning? How can we continually find it in our physical and spiritual world? Alex Pattakos is one of the world's leading experts in the study of meaning. He founded the Global Meaning Institute and is a scientist and philosopher. Guess who encouraged him to write a book about meaning? Viktor Frankl himself! Alex has thought deeply and lived fully when it comes to meaning. He shares his insights with us. In this episode, you'll learn about Finding meaning in every moment Definit...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr 6 min
What is it like to being willing to go wherever your sense of purpose takes you? Steve Sorensen has been wine grower, film maker, executive, and, now, a highly successful mandolin maker. He's been willing to go wherever his interests take them, and he's created a rich, purposeful life in which each stage prepares him for the next. This week he tells us his story. In this episode, you'll learn about: The twists and turns in life that happen when we pursue purpose How our natural skills and abilit...
Jun 09, 2021•51 min
When we talk about finding purpose, our minds often go to young people who are just starting out or maybe people in the middle of life who want to make a course correction. Anna Hall makes a compelling case this week that we're overlooking a group that may need purpose more than others--senior citizens. Anna is the founder of The Purpose Equation. She brings years of research into the topic of purpose, and she uses her expertise to help people--not just seniors--to find more purpose in their liv...
Jun 04, 2021•52 min
It's easy to think that we need to find our purpose before we act on it. But, maybe it's the other way around. We act on what we think is purposeful--however little we understand it--and we then get clarity about our purpose as well as the resources to enact it. In short, take action first, find purpose second. Wayne Gill is someone who takes action. He started a very successful law firm. He has overseen a highly impactful non-profit organization. He's an accomplished speaker. From his experienc...
May 26, 2021•1 hr
Purpose is usually thought about in individual terms-"What is the purpose of my life?" But, organizations can have a sense of purpose as well. It's their mission. Having a sense of mission benefits organizations in many ways. Jeff Ikler and Kirsten Richert study organizational mission, especially in schools. They have written a book together and host their own podcast on the topic They bring unique insights into what it takes for organizations to develop a sense of mission as well as the problem...
May 19, 2021•54 min
What prevents us from finding purpose? Knowing this guides us in arranging our lives so that we are able to find purpose. A major barrier to purpose is being overly busy. Busyness diminishes our capacity to find purpose in multiple ways, as explored in this week's mini-lesson.
May 17, 2021•4 min
Have you seen that Venn diagram about purpose that's popular online these days? It has four circles, and in the middle is the word ikigai. We're told this is a Japanese word for purpose. Well, it turns out that this Venn diagram, as with much of what we see online, is not accurate. Ikigai is a Japanese word, and it does relate to purpose, but it has a much richer meaning than being the overlap of four circles. In fact, the Venn diagram was created by someone who actually didn't really know what ...
May 12, 2021•47 min
A commonly expressed reservation about discovering purpose is that it's limited to the well-to-do. This mini-lesson explores how purpose is relevant to the poor and how poverty affects the attainment of purpose. *** Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at bradleywrightphd@gmail.com. Would enjoy hearing from you. Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. He does a great job and is a joy to work with. C...
May 10, 2021•5 min
How do you find purpose amid great power and privilege? By using it to help others. Berta Aldrich entered the corporate world with a good heart and more than a little naïveté. She thought people would act ethically and focus on doing great things together. While she was able to climb the latter to the top, she encountered people trying to sabotage her career-both because she was a high performer and because she's a woman. Now, Berta is dedicated to helping other people who are entering business,...
May 05, 2021•52 min
Knowing what purpose is, and how to define it, makes it easier to discover it. This mini-lesson identifies the five characteristics of purpose found in most definitions of it. It also contrasts purpose versus the larger concept of meaning. *** Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at bradleywrightphd@gmail.com. Would enjoy hearing from you. Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. He does a great job ...
May 03, 2021•5 min
Can we find purpose in terrible situations that we can't change? If so, how? Have you ever been sentenced to life in prison for murder? Me neither. But Quan Huynh was at age 23. In prison, he only wanted to establish a reputation as dangerous and to be feared. Then, in his eleventh year, something happened. Several circumstances prompted him to reevaluate his reason for being. He committed himself to living as purposely even single day, even if his legacy never left the prison yard. Eventually, ...
Apr 28, 2021•38 min
Adolescence is a time of exploring the options that life gives us. This mini-lesson reviews research on how high-purpose adolescents found their way into deeply meaningful activities. It identifies three basic pathways by which this happens. *** Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at bradleywrightphd@gmail.com. Would enjoy hearing from you. Want to start your own podcast? This podcast is edited and produced (and music too) by Josh Gilbert. He does a great jo...
Apr 26, 2021•3 min
Would you like to have more clarity about your purpose in life? Would you like to better understand the process of finding purpose? Gabrielle Bosche is an expert on purpose. She has studied it. She has lived it. She helps others to find it. Along with her husband, Brian, she wrote the bestselling book The Purpose Factor. She has a wealth of knowledge that she shares about finding purpose. She brings a clarity of thought to what is often a murky subject. Her principles for finding purpose are bot...
Apr 21, 2021•50 min
How do we prepare children for a lifetime of purposeful living? Before adolescence, they are too young to think deeply about and plan their purpose in life. However, we can encourage them to find activities that they find enjoyable, interesting, and meaningful. Once they find these activities, we can encourage them to pursue them further. Researchers have termed these "purpose sparks." *** Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at bradleywrightphd@gmail.com. Wo...
Apr 19, 2021•3 min
