The M.A.P. Maker

Passion Catalyst lesson #3 - Meaning is a powerful motivator

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

During the financial meltdown of 2008, I went through several months when my business disappeared. I was literally self-unemployed. Not only did I have no revenue coming in, the horizon looked devoid of income as well. 

The stress built and built as I continued to bang my head against the wall, trying to make something happen. 

BANG! 

nothing

BANG! BANG! BANG!

more nothing

Finally, one morning in December I threw up my hands and said, "I give up! I can't do this. I can't make this happen. I don't have what it takes."

That lasted till mid-afternoon. 

Despite my best intentions, I just couldn't bring myself to quit. What I felt (and feel) called to do and the difference I felt called to make was just too powerful. It was like the universe came along, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, picked me up and said, "Sorry pal. You don't get to quit." And so I didn't. 

I would love to be able to say that the story has one of those magical endings where as soon as I decided not to quit everything aligned in my favor and the floodgates of prosperity opened. In reality I struggled for several more months. But despite the lack of a Hollywood ending, the important thing was that I opted to stick with it. 

In retrospect, that experience felt like a watershed for me. I can guarantee you that, if it had only been a case of, "I want to do this work because it's so much fun," there's no way I would have stuck it out. No way in hell. But because I felt such a powerful call to the difference I have the potential to make with this work, I almost felt like I had no choice but to figure out a way to stay with it. 

I'm not suggesting that everyone will go through the kind of challenging time I did, or even that they need to be as obstinate as I was in refusing to yield to the smackdown I was getting (in fact, I really wouldn't recommend it). But at some point, you're going to hit bumps and you're going to get bruises. And if you are working towards something that really matters to you, it will be infinitely easier to maintain your momentum in the face of those challenges.

Meaning is a powerful motivator.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Are you contributing joy to the world?

Four years ago, film critic Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw to cancer, and with it his ability to speak and eat. While his TV career is over, he is still a prolific writer, and living his life to the fullest. 

Yesterday, Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf posted a link to an article about Ebert in Esquire, including what I think is the most valuable gem, buried on the last page of the article. The article quotes Ebert describing his philosophy of life:

I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

It's easy to read that, nod your head in agreement, and let it drop into the vague memory banks of something you once read. But I encourage you to stop right now and give yourself five minutes to really consider what that means. 

What would your life look like if this were the central organizing principle of everything you do? To bring joy and to experience joy. Would you be making the same decisions you're making right now? Would you be focusing on the same things as you're focusing on?

Try this: For the next week, do a joy experiment. Every day, ask yourself, "How can I contribute joy to the world?" Look for ways to help people. Look for opportunities to make people smile, or feel special, or loved. Complement that by asking a second question, "How can I experience more joy?" 

Ask those two questions every day when you wake up. Put them on a card in your wallet. Put a recurring time in your calendar to pause and ponder them. The more you ask yourself those two questions, the more opportunity you will see to answer them.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Change your world: Join the Listen & Learn Revolution

Want a deceptively simple, yet powerful way to change your world? Join the Listen & Learn Revolution. When you do, you'll be taking your own personal step towards dissolving a culture of divisiveness and conflict.

The Listen & Learn Revolution is about jettisoning the need to be right when you encounter someone whose opinion or point of view differs from yours. Instead of clubbing them over the head with your opinion, take some time to engage them with a sense of curiosity. Explore why they believe what they do, not from a, "How the hell can you think that??" perspective, but from a desire to genuinely understand.

How can something so simple change the world? Because it's a step away from the toxic effect of our cultural addiction to divisiveness and conflict and toward unity, compassion, and understanding.

Here are some general principles underlying the Listen & Learn Revolution:

You won't change anyone's mind with a club

It might feel good to let that righteous indignation fly and try to prove just how stupid and wrong-headed their opinion is, but you'll rarely win any converts to your opinion that way. To the contrary, you're likely to cause them to dig their heels in even more. You're just building walls between you.

Instead of looking at every opinion that differs from yours as the starting point for an argument to prove you're right, try looking at it as a starting point for exploration. Accept the fact that you're unlikely to change their mind in a heated debate.

Differing opinions are not a threat

Too often we seem to see a differing opinion as a direct threat to our own beliefs. We succumb to a "best defense is a good offense" mentality and start to attack those differing beliefs.

Here's the reality. Someone else's beliefs have nothing to do with the validity, rightness, or justness of your beliefs. Zero. Zip. Nada. Not a damn thing. So there's nothing to defend against. There's no need to put up a wall or go on the attack. And that leaves you open to simply explore.

You don't have to agree to understand

So often people are reluctant to open themselves to understanding another point of view because they mistake understanding for agreement. But the two are really apples and oranges. You can understand someone's perspective even while vehemently disagreeing.

Part of understanding comes from discovering why they think what they think. You and I (and anyone else) likely have different lenses through which we see the world. Those lenses have been created by our experiences, the beliefs and values we have been taught, etc.

When you have a picture of what someone else's lens looks like, their opinions start to make more sense in that context. You may still not agree with them, but it becomes easier to see how they can view the world that way.

Listening breeds listening

If you ever want to guarantee that someone won't listen to your point of view, attack theirs. Nothing will put up the walls to communication faster. On the other hand, if you start asking questions - curious ones, not judgmental - often the conversation starts to come around to your point of view.

I recently had coffee with someone I went to high school with in Montana that I hadn't seen in years. He is avidly pro-gun, and I am most decidedly not. When he first mentioned something about it, I asked him more about it. We talked about his perspective on the gun issue for several minutes until he stopped and asked what I thought.

The gun question can be one of those terminally divisive issues, and we definitely came down on squarely opposite sides of it. But because we both approached it with curiosity about the other's perspective, we ended up having a really interesting, enjoyable conversation.

When you won't listen, you limit yourself

It's easy to get trapped in an ideological ghetto, surrounded by people who ditto your every thought and opinion. But just like in nature, a thriving mind ecology needs diversity. Opening yourself up to listening and understanding gives your mind more to work with. It gives you a fuller picture. It makes your valid opinions and beliefs stronger and weeds out the ones that aren't actually that solid.

They just might have a point

This one is related to limiting yourself by not listening. The fact is, people you don't agree with just might have a point. That point might be the entirety of their opinion, or it might be a point of view springing from a piece of information you didn't have. Listening and learning opens the door to strengthening the breadth and depth of your knowledge.

Questions spotlight unsupported opinions

Let's face it, not everybody with a strong opinion actually has a good supporting argument to back it up. Sometimes a strong opinion is little more than a hollow echo of a soundbite they heard somewhere else. Asking interested, curious questions about why they think what they think will

The world isn't black and white

This point isn't always comfortable, but it's usually true. There are countless gradations of color between black and white. When you listen and learn, you open yourself to a subtlety of understanding that is impossible when clinging to a rigid black and white view.

Take the Listen & Learn Revolution challenge: Find someone you don't agree with on some topic. It might be a family member, or a friend, or an acquaintance. Engage them in a conversation about the disputed topic and challenge yourself to simply listen and learn. Resist the urge to set them straight. Resist the inclination to counter their reasoning. Just ask questions and absorb it.

If you want to take it a step further, set a goal to have at least one listen & learn conversation every week with someone you don't agree with. The more you do it, the more naturally it starts to come. And the more naturally it starts to come, the more you naturally do it.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Social entrepreneurship: Video inspiration from Skoll Foundation

One of the things that I'm over-the-moon inspired about is the cumulative potential for positive change that comes as more of us start asking the question, "What kind of difference do I feel called to make?" and incorporating the resulting insights into our career choices. (See What is meaning? for more on how I see that playing out)

From a making-a-difference perspective, it has been uber-exciting to watch the social entrepreneurship movement that has been building over the last few years. Here is a good short video (9 minutes) from Skoll Foundation that takes a look at the social entrepreneurship trend and its potential to make the world a better place.

If that sparks your interest, spend some time watching the other videos that Skoll Foundation offers. They're short and compelling. You might even want to make a habit of watching one first thing in the morning to set the right tone for your day.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

How to energize your work by making a difference

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I see making a positive impact with your work not just as a do-gooder thing, but as a potential source of energy in your career (and if you are new to the blog, here's a nutshell description of what I'm talking about).

In my most recent post on the US News & World Report blog, I take a look at ways to build on that idea in a post titled How to Energize Your Work by Making a Difference. Zip on over and check it out. I would love to hear your thoughts.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Create your legacy one ripple at a time

100 years from now, will it matter that you were here? If your definition of "mattering" is that you set things in motion that people still attach your name to (think Susan B. Anthony, the Wright brothers, Einstein), then no, it probably won't.

But if you get beyond that ego-driven idea and focus on whether or not your presence here matters, people's memory of you is irrelevant. The reality is that the legacy we leave is has nothing to do with whether or not people know about us.

Your ripples are your legacy

Every day, for better or worse, you are creating your legacy. That legacy is the cumulative result of the ripples that spread out from your choices, decisions, and actions - big and small.

And while some of those ripples die out or get lost in choppy seas, others will keep creating more ripples. Take Bill Strickland's story, for example. Growing up in a rough neighborhood with bleak economic prospects, Strickland's life was turned around by a high school art teacher who said, in essence, "Hold on, you don't have to let your situation define your future. You have potential."

The seed of hope and belief in himself that the teacher planted ultimately grew into Manchester Bidwell Corpation, an organization whose ripples have affected the lives of hundreds of inner city youth and adults, opening the door to the same sense of potential that he experienced. (Listen to my podcast with Bill Strickland.)

Long after you are gone and forgotten, the echo of the ripples you create will still be heard.

Ripples are unpredictable

Don't get caught up in the ego-notion that the ripples you create have to be grand and splashy. It's fun when they are, but in truth we are often not even aware which of our actions create the biggest ripples.

I've been reading a book by Caroline Myss, Invisible Acts of Power. In the book, she draws from 1200 stories people had sent her about either how people had made a difference in their lives or opportunities that they had had to make a difference in someone else's.

One of the things Myss discovered was that the impact on the recipient was often out of proportion to the perceived "size" of the effort. People who reached out to help in a way that seemed simple and easy found that it was just the right thing at just the right time. Perhaps it rekindled someone's hope just when it was going out, or inspired them to take a self-empowering step that would help them get unstuck and start to fly.

I'm willing to bet that you have no idea of the size of the legacy you have already created. I'm also willing to bet that you underestimate the potential you have for making a long-lasting positive impact without ever making it into the history books.

Try this: Starting today, ask yourself, "What ripples am I creating?" Sit down and make a list of ways that you have been the source of positive ripples in your life. Keep adding to it over time as instances occur to you.

Then ask yourself, "What ripples do I want to create?" Keep your eyes open for ways to start those ripples, large or small. Weave ripple-generation into the fabric of how you approach your daily life.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

New Podcast: Tim Sanders - Author of Saving the World at Work & Love is the Killer App

When I talk about meaning in this blog, it is largely in the context of making a difference. So I was thrilled to have an opportunity to interview Tim Sanders about his new book, Saving the World at Work.

In the book, Sanders, author of the best-selling Love is the Killer App and former Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo!, talks about a paradigm shift that is underway. At the heart of that paradigm is an increasing awareness of interdependence and a growing desire of people - customer and employee alike - to make a difference in the world.

That change is opening the door for companies to do well by doing good, and for employees to contribute to the bottom line by making the world a better place.

Zip on over to the new podcast to hear what Sanders has to say.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Will you affirm the Charter for Compassion?

A while ago I posted about the upcoming Charter for Compassion. As I write this, 17, 710 people have affirmed it. Will you?

Watch this video and visit the Charter for Compassion site. Clicking on "affirm" is easy. The challenge - and the potential goldmine - is incorporating the ideas more deeply into your life and spreading the ideas to others. If you want to make a difference with the way you show up in the world, this is a great place to start.

Is your purpose greater than your challenges?

Even in the best of times, life can be bumpy. Challenges are a part of life, and the better equipped you are to overcome them, the greater your potential.

One factor that adds rocket fuel to your ability to blast past problems is to really want to reach what's on the other side of them. When you care more about what you are trying to do than you do about the unpleasantness that the challenge brings up, you're motivated to find a way past it.

In a recent blog post, Jon Gorden puts it this way. “Your purpose must be greater than your challenges.”

I love that way of thinking about it. When you have a compelling purpose to what you do, it pulls you forward past the challenge. That doesn't mean that the challenge won't be difficult, or painful, but when you put it on the scale and weigh it against that purpose, plowing forward is a no-brainer.

The M in M.A.P. Maker stands for meaning. In the sense I talk about it here, meaning comes from working towards making an impact on something beyond yourself that has a significant positive charge for you. It comes from working towards making the kind of difference that inspires you.

One of benefits of having that sense of meaning in the picture is exactly what Jon describes. It becomes greater than your challenges. When you're working towards an outcome that inspires you, it's easier to resist identifying with the challenge, and you put your energy more naturally into moving past it.

Plus, it's a lot easier to experience the bumps and bruises in pursuit of something you really care about than in pursuit of something you don't.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Charter for Compassion

One of the things that lights me up about my work is the cumulative potential for positive change that comes when people start asking, "What difference do I want to make in my career? What kind of positive impact energizes me?" (See my quick take on pursuing meaning in your career.)

I love it because it comes from a decision that almost all of us have to make: "What do I do to make a living?"

That cumulative potential doesn't just exist in the work world though. There's even more positive potential in how we choose to show up in the world - the choices we make, the actions we take, and the way we interact with others. It's mind boggling when you think about how it could all add up.

So when I ran across this trailer for Charter for Compassion, I said, "Yes!"

Please take 2 1/2 minutes to watch the video, and help spread the word.

[Hat tip to David Zinger for calling attention to it]

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst