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 decades prior. He's now a celebrated rehabilitation aide who powerfully helps patients in a rehabilitation hospital. He's so full of purpose that it doesn't even feel like he's doing work. 
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How we can us our careers to complete unfinished business from our youth
• What it feels like being in an organization that doesn't have a compelling mission
• How empathy brings us closer to our purpose
• How friends and family can actually keep us from exploring our purpose as they encourage us to be risk averse
• How a single conversation can change our whole lives

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Find more at our Instagram page. 
Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 like to not be doing what's purposeful to you
• Creating time to do what is purposeful
• How past conditioning can take us away from our purpose
• Three things that everyone should do for more purpose
• The distinction between hard work and inspired work

Links to Joey's work:
Book
Website
Promotional
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Find more at our Instagram page. 
Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 yourself "who am I supposed to be?"
• Sharing our purpose with others in the context of a relationship
• How God uses pain and love to align us with our purpose
• Purpose can be found in all areas of our lives

Dustan's book: Obedience vs. Sacrifice
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Find more at our Instagram page. 
Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 a meaningful life.
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The value of sharing our life experiences with others
• Using a vision board to plot our purpose
• How to think of your life in terms of the stories that you create
• The need to surrender completely to what life asks of us
• Supporting others into the life that they want to live

Robert's website (check out the view from his balcony!)
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Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 "Boys with a Purpose." They started off simply: teaching the boys how to dress well and observe basic etiquette. From there, they developed training for academic success as well as a wide range of life skills. Boys with a Purpose now partners with Boeing, the Charlotte Hornets, and other sponsors to make a profound difference in these boys' lives. At the heart of what Kenneth is doing is the question of what are the preconditions for finding purpose in life?  
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How pain points us to our purpose
• The power of new experiences for showing us what is possible
• The power of thinking differently to act differently
• How to mentor others in finding their purpose
• The difference between passion and purpose

Boys with a Purpose FB Page
Kenneth's book: Without a Father
***
Find more at our Instagram page. 
Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 powerful role dumb luck plays in finding purpose
• Learning by making mistakes
• The value of throwing ourselves into our incompetency
• Why purpose carries with it the idea of struggle

Biography of Steven
***
Find more at our Instagram page. 
Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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
• Definitions of meaning and purpose
• Logotherapy as developed by Viktor Frankl
• Why leadership is always spiritual
• Why awareness is the entry point into meaning

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Find more at our Instagram page. 
Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 abilities can show us our purpose
• When it's time to leave a job that doesn't feel purposeful
• How starting a hobby can lead to purpose
• How purpose can organically grow with what we're doing

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Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 lives.
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• why purpose might be more important in old age than at any other time of life
• living without purpose is heartbreaking
• why each of us have a unique way of living purposefully
• how purpose changes our perceptions of the world
• how we can make assisted living homes meccas of wisdom

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Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]

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 experience, he has plenty of wisdom to share about finding purpose.
In this episode, you'll learn about:

• Becoming a dream enactor
• Not being able to see the end from the beginning
• The importance of having partners who believe in you
• How action opens up possibilities
• That gifts determine destiny

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Want to connect? Have a question? Just want to say "hi"? Send me an email at [email protected]. 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. Contact him at   [email protected]