Your Life on Purpose

Your Life on Purpose

By Mark W. Guay -- Entreprenuer, Educator, WriterBusinessEducationCareers
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Your Life on Purpose episodes

  • 14: Focus
    Before even getting into today’s episode, I’d like to celebrate that so far we’ve had a total of 15,000 listeners tune in to Your Life on Purpose. 
     
    That’s amazing! 
     
    I also wanted to let everyone know that I am creating a habit-hacking course that helps you live your life on purpose, do what you love, and make a difference. 
     
    I’m still talking with designers and such, so it’s in real beta form, but I invite you all to sign up for my weekly newsletter where I’ll keep you in the loop on when it goes live.
     
    Sign up at thetravelingcup.com.
     
    On today’s episode, I’d like to sit still and focus on focus.
     
    Because here’s something I think you can relate to.
     
    I want to do so much in my life. No, really, it’s like I have a thousand lives in me that I feel I need to live.
     
    I want to do so much, yet if I don’t focus on one thing I’ll never get anything done. Seriously. 
     
    We live in the most distracted time of our history. It’s a beautiful time to be alive and I really feel like we’re living in a new renaissance, but phew…this connected age has me distracted all the time.
     
    I get messages from all over the place and it’s not like I can just ignore them. I mean, seriously, once my mother learned how to send a text message, forget it — my world of staying focused is over.
     
    Because if your mother sends you a message you can’t ignore it, right? 
     
    If I do, I’ll get five more messages by the next morning of her worrying whether or not I’m still alive. 
     
    Text messages, tweets, Facebook, Instagram — and now, wait…Periscope? 
     
    It’s never ending. And I don’t want to be unplugged because as much as being plugged in to the connected world makes it difficult to focus, it also allows for truly amazing connections to happen.
     
    I get to talk to you, for instance — right here on Your Life on Purpose. 
     
    I can speak with my mother who lives far away. I can literally tweet an Italian grandmother if I want a truly authentic Italian recipe. That’s amazing.
     
    So, when it comes to focus and staying on your own path, here’s a few thoughts:
     
    1. Tune into the breath
     
    Whether it is yoga or meditation, have some sort of daily practice that helps you tune into your breath and declutter the mind. 
     
    In meditation, there’s a popular analogy that the mind is like a highway filled with cars flying by at Lamborghini-like speeds. Tuning in to the breath helps one become an observer and stand on the side of the highway and observe the thoughts as they whiz by instead of running into oncoming traffic.
     
    As more thoughts whiz by, you just look at them, acknowledge them and say, “no, thank you.” And let that thought go on its way down the highway. 
     
    I suggest checking out Headspace. It’s a pretty great app to keep consistent with a mediation practice. 
     
    Side note: whenever I feel myself getting stressed about wanting to do too much, I practice my handstands. I go up to wall and float into handstand.
     
    Seriously, just the other day I was feeling stressed out at a doctor’s appointment for my wife’s lyme disease and when the doctor came into the room, there I was handstanding against the wall. I don’t suggest you ever do that, but go ahead if you want. 
     
    2. Spirit Write
     
    I’ll probably do a whole other episode on this, but in short spirit writing is very fast writing that doesn’t allow your left-brain to take over your thought process. 
     
    Here’s what you do: literally plop down in front of a blank screen (perhaps turn your computer on do not disturb) or a blank sheet of paper and start writing. A good starter prompt would be something like “I feel….”. Do not worry about grammar, separate all thoughts by a dash and don’t worry about jumping around. Be poetic if you want. The only rule is to continue writing. You have to force yourself to write. 
     
    Sometimes you’ll write a beautiful piece of poetic prose and other times it might be mental throw up, but spirit writing can be extremely cathartic and help unblock the frenetic energy that causes you to be unfocused. Set a timer and stop after it goes off. Then get back to your day.
     
    3. Talk to your Mentors and Accountability Partners 
     
    This is one of the main reasons I included setting up accountability partners and mentors in the life plan template that’s included with this podcast. The reason being is that these people will hold you to your word and help hash out your direction. When you complete the life plan template, you should come out with the confidence that you’re on the right path. Your mentors and accountability partners will help you stay on that path. 
     
    4. Stick to Creating One Thing at a Time
     
    Instead of studying more, doing more research, stick to creating something, but do one thing at a time.
     
    This one is really hard for me, but I’ve learned that doing two or three things at once takes you 2-3 times as long to get anything completed. 
     
    The quality of your work will most likely suffer and it will also take you longer to find out if you failed. 
     
    If you are going to fail at something, do it as quick as possible. Go big, focus hard, and if you fail, you can move onto the next thing.
     
    There’s nothing worse than working your butt off on something and have it fail after years of hard work. That’s actually why many college students who can’t find a job after they get their degree grow depressed. They spent years and a lot of tuition dollars to work their dream job and to not get it can be crushing. 
     
    5. Complete a life plan
     
    I really don’t like the term life plan because the term has been tainted somewhat over the years, but it works. The thing is that so many people are just observers of their life. Completing a life plan helps you become an active participant. You can’t really plan out everything because life isn’t like that. We are all part of something that is far greater than ourselves. What a life plan does, however, is it allows us to be confident on the path we are in.
     
    It helps us tune in to our purpose, ears wide open, feet moving confidently in a direction. 
     
    In the yoga Sutras, Patanjali says it well: 

     

    When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.
    Patañjali 
     
    After you complete a life plan, it helps you focus on your path, so when it comes down to choosing what to work on and where to put your focus, if the current focus relates to your life plan and deeper purpose, then onward you go. 
     
    So, what about you? What are you focusing on?
     
    Thanks so much for tuning in to your life on purpose. You, my friends, have a beautiful day.  
    12 min
  • 13: Overcoming Resistance
    I’m super excited to be back here today and if you’re new to the podcast, make sure you check out the first couple episodes so that you see where I’m coming from. Each episode builds on the other. 
     
    Also, make sure to download the life plan and subscribe to my newsletter by heading over to thetravelingcup.com/yourlifeonpurposeguide 
     
    Okay, so, on the last episode, I talked about being real and vulnerable and owning your story.
     
    That my friends can be easier said than done. Enter the resistance.
     
    Oh resistance, that scoundrel of a plague that stops creators from creating, stops writers from writing, stops changemakers from changing, and stops entrepreneurs from launching.

    Have you ever come up with an idea and felt such an incredible rush of adrenaline that you needed to grab the dinner napkin and nearest pen so you can scribble down the thought in your head?

    My guess is that you’ve probably experienced something like that because I know I certainly have.

    I love thinking big and coming up with ideas and, let me be clear, coming up with ideas is a good thing. In fact, many of the people I’ve interviewed have mentioned that people need to flex this idea muscle more often.
     
    What happens so often though is that we come up with these ideas and then as they rise in a mist of furry, they just as soon fizzle as the resistance settles in.
     
    What is resistance?
     
    - Self doubt
    - overthinking
    - not knowing where to start
    - questioning your purpose
    - fear
    - feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities 
    - time 
     
    Here’s today’s message in a nutshell: learn to recognize the resistance and politely say no thank you.

    The resistance is the voice inside that says, “Well, that will never work” or “That’s just stupid,” or it’s the friend who literally says that to you.

    Resistance is the fear of failure, of falling on your face, of being told no, of feeling stupid.

    When I was at Stanford’s design school where I learned the design thinking method, they had us jump on a little trampoline when we were thinking of ideas. This helped us think more like a little kid and shut the resistance down because heck, when you’re jumping on a trampoline, you look ridiculous already so why not spout out any ideas that come to your head.

    But we don’t always have a trampoline to jump on, so here are a few ways to overcome the resistance and create meaningful work in your life and stay true to your purpose.

    1. Who is in your cocoon? Your cocoon is the inner circle so-to-speak of your connections. These are the people who you’ve opened your heart to. Family, friends, lovers tend to be in people’s cocoon. Make sure that the people in your cocoon empower you to be the person you want to be in your life. They don’t have to agree with you, but they should make you feel supported and loved.

    Seth Godin told me that it’s also really important to have MBA-types of people in your cocoon. These are the type of people who will empower you and support you, but will also play out what may work and what may not work. Or what will have more meaning.
     
    2. Culturally Relativity -- Anthropologists have a term called cultural relativity. It basically means that what makes sense to one culture may not make sense to another. That’s why when you travel to a completely different culture, you get culture shock. I know when I joined TOMS on a shoe giving trip in the Dominican Republic, I experienced a beautiful culture shock and it got me to think different.

    Here’s an experiment. Walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk the next time you walk somewhere. If you’re in the United States, that would be the left side because everyone walks on the right and drives on the right. You may get people bumping into you and it will probably be difficult to walk. That’s because you are going against the culturally defined normal. Experience the feeling here and notice how hard it is to go against the resistance. After you stop walking, imagine that you are transported to one of the many countries who walk on the opposite side of the street. There you’d be normal.

    Keep this in mind whenever someone bashes your ideas or values. Just focus on being you.
     
    3. Learn to say no -- I suck at saying no because I’m a people pleaser at heart. Thing is, when I do that it’s easier to ignore my own desires and values. Sometimes, you have to say no to others to focus and follow your own path.
     
    4.  Get out of your own way -- I am definitely not a perfectionist. Thankfully, I’m married to one. I am a will-get-it-done kind of guy and like the Facebook company’s motto: Done is better than perfect. If I keep stalling on something, I’ll never take action. It’s so easy to be buried in our own internal dialogue and never taken action. Sometimes, we just need to get out of our own heads.

    Consider what Hamlet once said, “Conscience makes cowards of us all.” Conscience, Hamlet argues, prevents action and I’d have to agree with him on that.
     
    5.. Consider prototypeing to take action--  Think of it as a rough draft, a warm up, or dipping your toes in the water. In design thinking, prototyping is where you build something real quick to test your design.  In films, they have a b-roll where they show a film to a select audience before making final edits. In product and software design, there’s usually a beta feature where a select audience tests the waters before the team makes final edits. Use the concept of prototyping to take action whenever you feel resistance, especially if you’re a perfectionist. Create something real quick, give it out to a controlled select group, and then learn from feedback to make your design better. By the way, I am terrible at prototyping and have learned the hard way that prototyping is so, oh so, needed to create something of high quality.

    Former monk and now entrepreneur Colin Pal flipped my thinking upside down when I asked him how he overcomes resistance. Here’s what he had to say,
     
    Enter Colin Pal
     
    Okay -- there are way more tips I can share for overcoming resistance because well, I feel it every day. That’s why I have a sign above my bed that says “Something amazing will happen today.” It replaced my old sign that said “Get your butt up and to the gym” because I usually don’t have resistance when working out. In fact, I’m the opposite. Working out (running, biking, swimming, whatever) can sometimes be a distractor for me or a stalling technique.
     
    So, how do you deal with resistance? After you completed the life plan and feel confident that you are on the right path, how do you overcome resistance to stay true to yourself?
     
    Have you identified where the resistance is coming from? Have you learned to reject resistance, like Colin suggests, and focus on creating?
     

     

    Like always, If you’d like to hear more, shoot me an email at [email protected] and tell me your story.
    11 min
  • 12: Own Your Story: Be Real and Vulnerable
    We just passed 12 and a half thousand downloads. 
     
    And this blows my mind because for about 4 weeks, there were no new episodes. I originally created the first 10 episodes to go with the life plan template I wrote which you can still download at the link for this podcast or at thetravelingcup.com/yourlifeonpurposeguide. 
     
    As I continue to go Your Life on Purpose here, I’m going to focus chunks of episodes by a certain theme. I think of it as seasons, like a tv show has seasons. And the theme this season right now is mindset. But, honestly, for those who know me well, I’m not really good at focusing. I love living organically and going with the flow. Structure is needed to get meaningful work done, but I’ve been held back by structure before, so I hope you allow me to meander when it seems necessary. 
     
    Let’s continue the theme of mindset for a while here. I have five episodes I’d like to create on mindset, but honestly, that could all change as I hear more and more from all of you who are listening and sharing your stories. 
     
    The different themes for each “seasons” reflect what you need in your life right now. So, reach out to and ask a question. I’d love to hear from you. 
     
     
    To continue on from last episodes focus on The Yet Mindset, I’d like to spend a bit of time talking about being real and vulnerable.
     
    As I continue to interview more change makers and prod into their stories of achieving greatness, I’m seeing one commonality. The happiest people tend to be the most real and vulnerable.

    Why? Because they have nothing to hide and they are owning their story.

    Yesterday, Tim McDonald and I met up for coffee and sat by his pool for a chat. We talked about a lot, then centered a bit on what it means to be real and vulnerable.
     
    When he was the Director of Community for the HuffPost, Tim was real and vulnerable. Well, actually he was real and vulnerable before that gig and that’s probably why Arianna Huffington ended up asking him to join their leadership team. He was open when he struggled and used his story to help create an effective discussion for others.
     
    That’s how he creates such meaningful communities in his work. He’s human and doesn’t shy away from being human even when at work. 
     
    Tim argues (and I’d agree with him) that in the future of work, there will be a very blurry line between work and life balance. 
     
    There will be very little punching in and punching out. Very few professions and very few businesses will survive if they don’t become more human-centered.
     
    This is especially poignant for freelancers and entrepreneurs because these people are working from their passion.
     
    And, since you’re listening to this podcast, chances are your work is your passion too. Right?
     
    What do I mean about being real and vulnerable? Well, that’s for you to decide and it depends on your personal brand. But, I just think of it as being open with my struggle and being open with how I am working to get better.
     
    For instance, at the beginning of my weekly newsletter, I often say, “Pull up a chair. Thanks for joining me.” I say that because I can learn just as much from you as you can for me. The image of pulling up a chair as if we are sitting at a table puts us on the same level. The same plane. 
     
    We’re all geniuses if you just work hard to find your genius. 
     
    Like Einstein said, “If you ask a fish to climb a tree, he’ll spend his whole life believing he’s an idiot.”
     
    What are some other examples of being real and vulnerable in business sense?
     
    Chris Brogan says that businesses need to be more human. Mark Babbit, the author of A World Gone Social, would agree. That’s why so many businesses are on social media now because customers just love it when an actual human responds to a tweet or a message. 
     
    People want interaction. Humans want real human businesses, both as a customer and as an employee. That’s why employee perks like the ones at Google are all over the start-up scene. 
     
    Literally, just as I sitting down to write down my notes for this podcast episode, two good friends of mine Chris Spurvey and Mario Armstrong, jumped on Periscope for a few minutes as to chat with people before they started their work day. 
     
    Chris is a major sales executive and entrepreneur in Canada and Mario is the tech guy you see on The Today Show every week. On Periscope, Chris talked about sales then meandered into talking about his physical fitness goals and how he often times struggles to lose weight. Mario talked about his recent traveling and then what new tech gadgets he’s crushing on. 
     
    Chris and Mario are being real and vulnerable here and perhaps this is one real reason they are super successful. 
     
    They don’t appear to be better than anyone else, even though their resumes are both extremely impressive. They come across as normal — just like you and me. Because they are.
     
    I had an incredible conversation with social visionary Jeffrey Slayter on The Traveling Cup about being real and vulnerable.  Here’s a bit of what Jeffrey Slayter had to say about doing what you love and how our culture influences our identity. 
     
    Enter Jeffrey Slayter
     
    One of my fears with my entrepreneurial journey is to come across as being too life-coachy. Like “look all that I am able to do and you should follow me” kind of life-coachy.
     
    Sure, there are many lessons I can share and you can learn from. But, the truth is, I can learn just as much from you.
     
    From time to time, I do share my personal life probably more than other entrepreneurs you may subscribe to and that’s an essential part to my personal brand. And perhaps that’s why you are here. Because something about my story helps you relate to me. I love that.

    I’ve had a lot of people, for instance, share their story of struggling through a chronic illness because I often share the journey my wife and I are on to empower her recovery with Lyme Disease. That’s great -- I’m happy to share my story of personal struggle with others if it helps empower others too.
     
    “By being real and vulnerable, you can own your story and begin your unique legacy instead of shying from it.”
     
    We are all on a particular journey for a reason. It’s not coincidence. So, empower yourself by owning your story.
     
    “Dig deep. Be real. That is who you are and your unique gift to give to the world.” 
     
    What about you? As you are building your legacy, how are you being real and vulnerable? Or, if you see it another way, I’d always love to hear that too.
     

     

    Just send me an email at [email protected]. 
    11 min
  • 11: The Yet Mindset
    Thanks so much for tuning in to Your Life on Purpose. I’m your host, Mark Guay and I’m super excited to be back back here with you.
     
    If you’re new to this podcast, make sure to download the free life plan I wrote called Your Life on Purpose which has 10 simple steps to live a life with impact. These steps were pulled from my over 100 interviews with the greatest change makers and leaders of our time. The first 10 episodes of this podcast are the audio component to the life plan template. 
     
    All right — so something interesting happened over the past two weeks.
     
    I got a bunch of messages from people asking me when there would be more episodes of Your Life on Purpose. And it felt terrible telling them that this podcast was only meant to be the audio component of the life plan I wrote called Your Life on Purpose.
     
    So, I’m going to experiment here for a bit and create more tips to help empower you and develop a limitless mindset. 
     
    How long will this last? 
     
    I’m not sure. But my greatest goal in life is to have as much positive impact as I can, so if you’re getting value from this podcast, then I’m honored to continue it. 
     
    Thanks for you joining me. 
     
    Most of the tips I share on this show are the tips I pull from the long-form interviews I hold on The Traveling Cup podcast, just in case that you want longer episodes and listen to my interviews with the change makers and great leaders of our time.
     
    On this episode, I’d like to talk about developing the yet mindset. It’s a growth strategy that helps people think and grow limitless. 
     
    But first, let’s go rock climbing.
     
    My fingers were clenched and full of chalk. My right knee was turning black and blue. "I can't climb it," I said, barely audible, unaware that people were even listening.

    "Yet," said the little boy to my right. I looked over at him, wondering how long he's been standing there. He continued, "Whenever you feel like you can't do something, just add the word 'yet' to the sentence."

    And so I did what probably made me look like a madman. I laughed. Then I told him he was right.
     
    You see, I'm constantly amazed at the wisdom children can possess. Here I am, a 30-year old man whose entire life's work has been in motivating people, and I'm schooled by a teenager whose simple Dalai lama-esque wisdom helped me realize my own limited thinking.

    So, I'm sharing this wisdom with you. Whenever you whisper the words "I can't" to yourself, just add in the word "yet".

    Because here's the thing. We only have so much time here on this earth, and it's up to us on how we want to use that time.

    If you're like me, you want to laugh as much as possible, help as many people as you can, and suck out all the marrow of life, as Thoreau put it.

    I want to have real meaningful impact. And perhaps you do too. But working to make an impact on the world means constantly pushing yourself to do things that challenge you, some of which may drive you to say, "I can't."

    To do that, I need to develop and maintain a limitless mindset. So, I'm adding the word "yet" to my daily lexicon -- right up there with "please" and "thank you."

    It's going on my screensaver, on little Post-it notes I'll paste in the refrigerator, and I'm even thinking of creating a coffee cup with the word "Yet" on it so every time I take a sip, I'll be reminded of this boy's wisdom.

    Wisdom I need to remember because this summer I'm challenging myself more than I ever have as an entrepreneur.

    And the truth is, I'm scared.

    I've lost a lot in my life over the last few years, as my wife and I battle her Lyme Disease, and the constant failure for her to regain health has seeped into other facets of our lives. Every time I start something new, something I hope will make an impact, I'm terrified of failure.

    Which brought me to rock climbing.

     
    With this new chapter in my life, I've decided to challenge one of my greatest fears: the fear of heights. I'm learning how to rock climb. My hands are hurting. My feet are blistered. But I'm still climbing and growing stronger and look forward to the challenges ahead.
     
    On an interview with social-purpose visionary, Tyler Bel helped remind me of the power of limitless thinking. 
     
    Here’s what she had to share:
     
    Enter Tyler Bel

    I'm not the entrepreneur I want to be, yet. And I'm not the rock climber I want to be, yet.

    My wife still struggles with Lyme Disease and she's not fully recovered, yet.

    There's a whole lot that I haven't done, yet.

    Yet, yet, yet.

    That's a three-letter word that I'm going to be using a lot in the future, and perhaps you will too.

    Just remember that it wasn't me who said it. We have a starry-eyed young rock climber to thank for the reminder.

     
    What about you? What have you been struggling with too? What's your "yet"?
    10 min
  • 10: Habit Hacking and Your Morning Ritual
     
    If the first thing you do in the morning helps you grow as a person, then you’ll make better more focused decisions throughout the day.
     
    I suggest at least 30 minutes for your morning ritual, but many go with an hour. Why? Because an hour is a sizable enough chunk where dedicated practice could lead to tremendously awesome results. Heck — I’ve even seen Ironman triathletes train on 60 minutes a day during the week and then put in longer runs and bike rides over the week. 
     
    When I first started building a morning ritual, I would spend the first hour of the day cycling indoors while listening to podcasts. Now that I don’t race triathlon here’s what I usually do:
     
    Rise at 5am
    glass of water with apple cider vinegar (to alkalize the body)
    Aeropressed coffee 
    20-minute meditation
    30-45 minute yoga session

     

    then it’s often a 5-minute journal session then work. 
    13 min
  • 09: The Bucket List Redefined
    Set a timer for 30 minutes and create a list of 25 things (or more :) you want to do in your life. Step outside the definition of work and things you want to do solely in your career. You are not creating a resume here. You’re building an epic eulogy. These should feed your mind, soul, and body.
     
    It’s that simple. 
     
    Here’s how I like to redefine the bucket list though. It’s not just a list for you to live your amazing life, but rather it’s an agent to bond and strengthen your connection to love ones.
     

     

    Share the document with a loved one. For instance, I share my document with my wife. It helps for accountability, but more importantly, it strengthens a bond and grows a relationship stronger. Whenever my wife wants to do something special for me, she can look at my list and surprise me with checking off something on the list. And I can do the same for her with her own list.
    8 min
  • 08: Building an Epic Eulogy
    In this envisioning technique, I ask you to write down how you want to be remembered. Doing this helps you be clear in your direction along with building an epic eulogy. 
     
    This is meant to be written in a free-writing style similar to what Jack Kerouac and The Beats used to do. Meaning, instead of worrying about if you’re saying the right word or have proper spelling, just write quickly and separate your thoughts by just a dash. This allows your heart to bypass your brain and flow through your fingers when you type or write. 10 minutes is often enough for each section. 
     
    These are the sections I ask you to write about. In other words, answer this question.
     
    How do you want to be remembered by...
     
    • Your wife/husband/partner
    • Your Parents
    • God (or gods depending on your religious belief)
    • Children
    • Friends
    • Colleagues 
      • 10 min
    • 07: Purpose Over Profit
       
      Three Questions to Ask to Find Purpose

      To help aim the ladder in the right direction, there are three questions to ask oneself:
       
      1. What are your passions?
      2. What pays well?
      3. What are you really talented at? a.k.a. What’s your unique genius?
        4.  
        (Me — I’m a connector, motivator, optimistic big idea people person. I also know what I’m not good at: analyzing data, following authority)
         
        Most entrepreneurs know very clearly what they are good and not good at. They delegate the task that they are not good at to those who can do a stellar job. I’ve done this as well with my work. For instance, I’m terrible at audio editing and graphic design. So, I knew I had to hire a great audio editor and a graphic designer to design my logo and websites. 

         

        After taking a look at all three answers, you should get several different ladders to choose from. Then, ask a fourth question to choose the best ladder.

         

        What does the world need most?
        12 min
      4. 06: Visualization to Manifest Your Goals (The Visual Launchpad)
        Okay, I’m about to get a little more Sunday-morning infomercial here for a second.
         
        And at first, I was pretty skeptical of this myself. But, after doing it, I’m now a believer in the power of visualization. 
         
        I’m not really sure what to call this I’m going to talk to you about creating. Some call it a Photo-Board, others have called it a dream board, a manifestation visualization, and a slideshow of your life. 
         
        I’m going to call it — Your Visual Launch Pad. 
         
        So, today, I want to talk to you about building your Launchpad. It’s the visuals that embody the goals you have in your life.
         
        But, first, a story...
         
        Before every major race when I use to coach, I would have my athletes write out what their race is going to look like. What would they wear, eat. What would they smell, see, feel, think? I wanted them to experience the race before actually stepping on the start line.
         
        Now, I didn’t make this up. It was taught to me by the USA Triathlon guys who taught me how to coach, but as soon as I first did it, it stuck. Because it works.
         
        There’s actually a lot of research behind how this intense level of visualization activates the brain.
         
        Olympians and other elite-level athletes often do this during their training too (many times before going to bed) — not just during their races. Because the research suggests that the brain creates synapses that tune into the muscular skeletal system just through the simple act of visualizing. 
         
        So, a runner, for instance, could hypothetically lay in bed and think about the movement of running: level pelvis, chest tilted upwards, raising of the knew, forefoot strike. And do this while laying in bed and actually get better at running. It’s a training hack the best in the world take advantage of. 
         
        NFL football players do this all the time too.
         
        So, when it comes to planning out your life, your career, or a shift you want, visualizing your goals helps to concretize them.
         
        This helps for a number of reasons.
         
        1. It defines the finish lines….
         
        Many people complain about being unhappy, but fail to celebrate when accomplishing a goal (even the small wins). By visualizing what the finish line of a goal looks like or what you want in your life, it lets the mind know when a finish line has been reached. So, if the ocean and the beach are part of your launchpad, then when your toes crunch in the sand, you’ll know you can check something off your list.
         
        So, if in college you had an intense love for open-mic nights at the local coffee shop and don’t have that any longer in your life, put up a picture of a microphone. 
         
        If donning the white coat of a doctor is what you’re going to school for, then put that up.
         
        If you dream of running a non-profit that helps those in need, put the word 501 (c)3 up.
         
        And if making a lot of money so you can do greater good in the world is what you crave, then put a wad of cash up there. 
         
        2. It creates a language to share
         
        A launchpad helps create a language for you to express what you want in life, along with giving someone else the opportunity to help.
         
        In fact, Natalie Sisson and I spoke about this for a while. She said that it’s important to not just create a private photo-board, but to rather create a slideshow to share with the others. In fact, Natalie shares her slideshow of what she wants in her life with the entire world. 
         
        That, Natalie argues, is how the law of attraction works. 
         
        3. It helps with decision-making
         
        This one is simple. If a major move or change  in your life is being offered to you and it’s not a heck yes in the gut, then if it’s not on your life plan you can easily brush it off and move on.
         
        So, now it’s time for you to sit down and create your visual launch pad. I created a collage of pictures and words to define what mean the most to me and then put them on my closet, along with taking a picture of them to share with the world.
         
        I will be taking Natalie’s advice as well and creating a slideshow to share with the world.
         
        On my wall, you’ll see the ocean, palm trees, elements of different cultural architecture to signify my love for travel and the many human cultures, a waggy-tailed dog, footsteps in the sand, me speaking in front of a large audience, and other things like two hands holding each other. That last one came true in 2011 when I married my wife Kaitlyn. 
         
        Of course, it’s nearly impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but it’s very possible to visualize the things you want to feel, see, and experience in this life. How you get there will most definitely be a journey quote unexpected.
         

         

        Share your wall with me at [email protected] and say hi on Twitter @markwguay.
        9 min
      5. 05: Building Your Mastermind Group

        On this episode, I talk about standing out and building your mastermind group. 

        The Goal? Create a mastermind group of 3-5 people.

        First, in the e-guide "Your Life on Purpose," I ask you to write out who is in your mastermind. 

        So, here’s a quick refresher. You need to have a mastermind because these are going to be the people that work as your sounding board, your therapist, along with exponentially growing your exposure by utilizing each other’s network and community of fans. 

        These people should be as focused and determined as you are. They should be on the same level of you or a bit higher up. Of course, if you find a group of A-players (people that are leaders in your industry) and they want to have you in their mastermind, that’d be great. 

        Most people, like myself when starting out, have a few people in the group that are on the same level and then have an A-player who acts more like a coach and joins in. 

        A few ground rules:

        Meet at least every other week if not 1x/week for one hour. Meet on Skype or in a coffee shop if everyone is local. Have an agenda and a facilitator for the group to keep everyone focused and have everyone sign a confidentiality agreement (not so much because you can’t trust them, but more so to add validity and ethos to the group’s purpose).

        11 min

      About Your Life on Purpose

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      The podcast that helps you feel less like a cog in a machine by connecting the dots between school, your passion, and what the world needs -- all in under ten minutes.