Tuesday, 18. March 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
There are at least five key benefits of clarifying, and then living out one’s Purpose - or Calling in life:
1) Discovering your purpose gives deeper meaning to life. We were all created to live out a unique and meaningful purpose – and knowing that purpose will enable/empower you to bear with almost anything life throws your way. Hellen Keller wrote, “Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
2) A well-defined purpose simplifies life. A well-defined purpose becomes the standard to evaluate which activities are essential and which are not - by asking, “Will this activity help fulfill my purposes in life?” A worthy purpose simplifies.
Without a clear purpose, you have no foundation on which to base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources. Instead, you will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and/or your mood at that moment.
3) A meaningful purpose provides focus. It is human nature to get distracted by trivial issues. If you want your life to have impact, focus it on your unique Calling – and never confuse mere “activity” with productivity. You can be very busy, yet still aimlessly wonder through your day, week, and life. A clear purpose will concentrate your effort and energy on that which is most important.
In addition, without a defined purpose, you will be temped to keep changing direction/jobs/relationships/churches, or other circumstances – hoping the next change will help find the meaning your life seems to lack.
4) Knowing your purpose motivates. Purpose produces passion, for nothing energizes an individual like a clear purpose. On the other hand, passion will dissipate when one is uncertain… It is usually meaningless work - not overwork - that wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy. George Bernard Shaw wrote, “This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.”
5) Your purpose will help define your lasting legacy. Many people spend their lives trying to create a lasting legacy. Living out your God given purpose will greatly shape what your lasting legacy will be. Choose your legacy by living out your unique Calling.
** So how can does one define their Calling/Purpose in life?
For at start, take a couple of hours and go off to some beach, park, or quiet corner restaurant booth and dig deep into your heart and write down your thoughts to the following questions:
• When am I most naturally myself? What people, places, and activities allow me to feel most fully myself?
• What is my greatest talent? What have I always been good at doing?
• What do I love to do? How can I get paid for doing what I love to do?
• Who are my most inspiring role models? Why is this so?
• How do I enjoy being of service to others?
• What is my heart’s deepest desire?
• What needs do I care about the most?
• What makes me feel most fulfilled?
• What have I felt called to do?
• What legacy would I like to leave?
** Some thoughts above borrowed from “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren.
Wednesday, 02. January 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
“This is the true joy – the being used for a purpose recognize as a mighty one”
- George Bernard Shaw
In my work with various leaders, I have found that one of the most powerful prohibitors of a person reaching their full potential as a leader (and person) is fear.
During World War II (1944), thousands of American paratroopers jumped into Normandy to stop the advance of Hitler’s army. Military records show there were four soldiers who refused to jump that day. As I ponder those four men, I can not help but image the rest of their lives. I can only imagine what kind of excuses, rationales, or repressions they must have had to employ during the rest of their lives to explain why they refused to jump with their comrades that day. I believe (in some ways) the lives of those four men ended that night over Normandy when they gave into their fear.
We all die in the end, but there is no reason to die in the middle of our lives. When a leader refuses the opportunity to grow, or to take a courageous risk, they are forced to perform ever greater acts of repression to explain to themselves, and others, why they have chosen not to embrace all the mysteries and adventures our calling as a leader has to offer.
Fear is the most paralyzing of all human emotions. Fear stops us from trying, daring, and succeeding – therefore our fears must be courageously confronted so we never find ourselves saying, “I wish I had. I should have. or, Why didn’t I?” As radio and TV personality Bob Proctor wrote, “We come this way but once. We can either tip-toe through life, and hope that we get to death without being too badly bruised - or we can live a full, complete life where work to achie our goals and realize our wildest dreams.”
The courageous life does not tip-toe into the future. It accepts the invigorating challenge of seeing one’s Purpose in life realized. It understands that on the journey toward the summit of our dreams, fears and obstacles will need to be confronted and overcome along the way. The path will not always be smooth, and the climb will not always be easy, but if we in fact step through our fears, and conquer the obstacles, we will join an elite club of those who, throughout history, have successfully embraced their heroic calling. Individuals who clarified what they wanted their life to be about, chose to believe in both who they are and where they were going, and then tenaciously stepped out in a new direction… in the direction which led them toward their dreams.
In this new year, my challenge for you is to do the same.
As the Lord commanded Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified of them…” (Joshua 1:9)
Friday, 28. December 2007 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
In this video clip Napoleon Hill talks about his meeting with Andrew Carnegie where Carnegie shared what he believed is the key to success (however you would define “success” for yourself.)
Andrew Carnegie (person in the picture) is known for having built one of the most powerful and influential corporations in United States history, and, later in his life, giving away most of his riches to fund the establishment of many libraries, schools, and universities in America, Scotland and other countries throughout the world. Carnegie, a poor boy with fierce ambition, a pleasant personality, and a devotion to both hard work and self-improvement, started as a telegrapher. By the 1860s, he had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, as well as bridges and oil derricks, and he built wealth as a bond salesman raising money in Europe for American enterprise.
Steel was where he found his fortune. In the 1870s, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company. By the 1890s, the company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. He sold it to J.P. Morgan’s US Steel in 1901 and devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, and scientific research.
Press Here to see video clip
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich, is one of the best-selling books of all time. In America, Hill stated in his writings, people are free to believe what they want to believe, and this is what sets the United States apart from all other countries in the world. Hill’s works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve” is one of Hill’s hallmark expressions.
As part of his research, Hill interviewed many of the most famous people of the time, including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Eastman, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, John D. Rockefeller, Charles M. Schwab, F.W. Woolworth, William Wrigley Jr., John Wanamaker, William Jennings Bryan, Joseph Stalin, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Charles Allen Ward and Jennings Randolph. The project lasted over twenty years, during which Hill became an advisor to Carnegie. As a result of these studies, the Philosophy of Achievement was offered as a formula for rags-to-riches success by Hill and Carnegie, published initially in 1928 as a study course called, The Law of Success.
Wednesday, 31. October 2007 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
“Still trembling, Ordinary picked up his suitcase, turned his back on Familiar, and walked to the sign. And even though his fear kept growing, he shut his eyes and took a big step forward – right through the invisible Wall of Fear.
And there he made a surprising discovery.
On the other side of that single step – the exact one Ordinary didn’t think he could take – he found that he had broken through his Comfort Zone.”
(From the book “The Dream Giver” – Bruce Wilkinson)
John Ortberg writes, “My story, like every human story, is, at least in part, the struggle between faith and fear.” Robert Kiyosaki states, “We all have tremendous potential and gifts. Yet, the one thing that holds all of us back in some degree is self-doubt… It is excessive fear and self-doubt that are the greatest detractors of personal genius.” Our fears can make cowards of us all. Fears conquered make heroes of us all!
“Everything we want is on the other side of fear.”
Many of the most enriching experiences in life will follow a time when we choose to walk through a specific fear, yet some people will do almost anything to avoid their fears. But all successful people have been willing to take a chance. They are willing to take a step of faith, trust their intuition and simply “go for it” in life.
In his book “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat” John Ortberg asks, “What do you guess is the most common command found in the Bible?” Surprisingly, it is not to be more loving, nor to be more giving, to avoid pride, or to serve others. The most common command found in Scripture is to “Fear Not.” Don’t be afraid. Instead, God instructs us to be “strong and courageous.”
Fear is the primary reason why many individuals do not reach their potential, or live out their dreams. Fear prevents one person from the commitment of marriage. For another, the fear of financial failure prevents them from starting a business. And yet another person may never make a career change because they fear leaving the security of their current position. Fears paralyze our potential!
Pursuing our dreams & potential will always demand we step through our fears. Our dreams will require us to take steps that lead us outside of our comfort zone and into the unknown. Like when a person chooses to skydive for the first time, we must be ready to courageously step through our fears so we can experience the exhilaration of falling through the sky all by our self – riding on the winds of your dream.
Challenge: What specific fear is preventing you from growing today?
Wednesday, 08. August 2007 by Bruce Brown
Ron Brown, author of The Courageous Life, is an Organizational Effectiveness Consultant and Executive Coach, serving corporations and leaders in both for-profit and non-profit originations.
Ron specializes in helping clients implement creative solutions for a variety organizational development needs, including: Strategic Planning; Organizational Development; Curriculum Development and Facilitation, Executive/Leadership Development and Accountability; Project Management; Sales Coaching and Team Building; Organizational Realignments; and Six Sigma/Lean Improvement Processes.
In addition, Ron serves as “Director of Programs & Staff” in YFC - and is an adjunct professor of Leadership Studies at Greenville College, located in Central Illinois.
Major Clients Include
* Waste Management
* Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
* Ramon James
* Microsoft Corporation
* Becton Dickinson and Company
* Youth for Christ
* Business Owners
Ron has his Ph.D. in “Organizational Leadership” from Regent University, VA; a Bachelors and Masters Degree in “Electrical Engineering” from the University of Illinois; and a “Masters of Religion” from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.
Contact information
Ron Brown, PhD
703 E. Orchard Drive
Mahomet, IL 61853
(217) 778-3055 (cell)
rmact@juno.com
Friday, 23. March 2007 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
I have recently been pondering the concept of faith.
For the past few months, I have kept a list in my journal of various truths I am learning regarding the rewards and difficulties of living a life of faith. (Below is a partial list. These are in no order, but listed as I happened to write them down…)
- Faith is a choice. A daily choice. A moment by moment choice.
- Faith embraces and then obeys promptings.
- Faith necessitates that we first make a choice to believe.
- Faith is often times very hard work. It is not natural. Does not come naturally.
- A life of faith can be scary and fears will need to be stepped through.
- Faith takes time to listen for God and then listen to God. It also chooses to believe what God has told you – and that God has told you.
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