Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever said or thought any of the following:

o Could I get that coffee straight into my vein, please?

o I need to lose five pounds by this weekend.

o Call me back right away!

o That hostess thinks I’m gonna wait 20 minutes for a table, are you kidding?

o If you are going to drive the speed limit then get in the right lane!

Today it seems that we not only want instant results, but we often feel it is our right to expect and receive things immediately. We always have what we think are good reasons to justify this need for immediacy. Some of those reasons appear in the rationalization Small Business Owners use to explain why they haphazardly market their business and why they do little, if any, Marketing Planning and Research.

Have you ever used any of the following justifications?

o Why make a Marketing Plan, the marketplace drives my Customers.

o I’m too busy servicing my Customers to market my business.

o I don’t have time to do research.

o I’d like to get some government business, but I don’t know how (or it’s too complicated).

o I have a Marketing Plan – call on 30 people every week.

In your hands you now have a “workshop in a book” that provides you 101 Actions that yield immediate results and collectively produce a marketing action plan.

When I was in telecommunications marketing/sales we Account Managers were required to develop and use Marketing Action Plans – MAPs. In developing these MAPs (plans) we listed Actions, established time frames for them and identified roles and responsibilities for carrying out the Actions. Some of the marketing research was done for us because we had assigned geographic territories and customer types such as: Professional Services, Medical, Government, Manufacturing, etc. When I first worked in telecommunications we operated as a utility so we were to market/sell to everyone in our assigned area and business type. However, after we really had competition, management realized we needed to operate more like a business than a utility and Account Managers were instructed to incorporate qualification of prospects into our MAPs (plans).     Most businesses, whether large or small, that are successful have some type of Marketing Plan that includes activities with time-frames. So if you are operating without a Marketing Plan or have one but it needs updating or is not helping, you can increase your success by following the Actions in this book.

The book provides 101 Marketing Actions that, when used, provide you understanding, activities, templates, methods and challenges. These Actions will simplify your marketing and sales efforts and make them more efficient and productive. If you use the Actions and set time-frames for them you will have a Marketing Action Plan – MAP. Many of the Actions utilize forms and examples to help you understand and get started. There are even some Actions that give you immediate payback.

All the Actions may not apply to your business or they may not be feasible now. In the last Chapter of the book (Chapter 9) is a list of all the Actions with a place for you to make notes or set dates for future use or consideration.

Some concepts that you will see throughout the Actions are:

o Subcontracting – an approach that increases your opportunities by allowing you to participate in the big projects.

o Outsourcing – being the recipient of outsourced projects, processes and functions

o Partnering – another method for increasing your opportunities.

o Focused – meaning alert, targeted and homed-in; all things that will make your Marketing Actions simpler and more productive.

o Doing – the book uses Actions instead of Tips because Actions will move you forward and get results for your business.

Some of the Actions are dependent on or intertwined with others, but most of them do not have to be done in a specific order. The Actions are divided into 8 sections to help you choose the ones that apply to your specific situation at a specific time. A chapter is devoted to each section:

* Chapter 1 – BEGINNING

* Chapter 2 – PHILOSOPHY

* Chapter 3 – PREPARATION

* Chapter 4 – PROSPECTING

* Chapter 5 – GETTING THE WORD OUT / GETTING NOTICED

* Chapter 6 – TRADE FAIRS & NETWORKING

* Chapter 7 – FOLLOW UP / FOLLOW THROUGH

* Chapter 8 – SCHEDULE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janet W. Christy has spent the majority of her professional career in marketing, sales and public relations positions.

In 2003 Janet formed Leverage & Development, LLC, a consulting firm focused on helping Small, Disadvantaged and Woman/Minority Owned businesses and the agencies and organizations that work with them.

Janet currently works with businesses to develop plans that will help them maximize their Small, Disadvantaged or Ownership status. She prepares a customized manual for her clients that includes: Market Assessment, Key Prospects, Prospecting Strategy, and a Step-by-Step Marketing Plan.

Janet also conducts seminars on marketing and certification for Small, Disadvantaged and Woman/Minority Owned Businesses. She conducts the seminars for Chamber of Commerce memberships, private businesses, education institutions and municipal/county governments. These workshops provide attendees with practical instruction, resources and experience-based advice.

In 2006 Janet’s fist book Capitalizing On Being Woman Owned was released. This book is still available through bookstores and online booksellers such as Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. Janet has also written articles for several magazines and blogs including “Home Business Magazine.” She has made more than 30 radio appearances to discuss the advantages and opportunities for Small Businesses. Janet was selected as part of the “Brain Trust” for the Small Business Advocate (www.smallbusinessadvocate.com). She was named as “Communicator of the Year” by the Greenville SC Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. She continues to speak and conduct workshops related to Small, Women and Minority Owned Businesses.

Janet has worked on both sides of the procurement process. Her experience includes both preparing RFPs (Request for Proposal) and RFIs (Request for Information) and responding to them. She currently works as a consultant for Small and Woman/Minority Owned Businesses to aid them in marketing to government and education entities. She also assists government and education entities in the development of RFPs and the evaluation of responses. Janet’s firm, Leverage & Development, LLC offers a workshop to help businesses understand the culture behind government purchasing.

Because of Janet’s experience and unique grass roots research methods she is often called on by both businesses, government entities and non-profit organizations to conduct feasibility, needs assessments and other complex studies. Reports from Leverage & Development, LLC provide detailed information and practical applications that are easily adapted for business plans, operational guidelines, and grant applications.

Before becoming a Consultant and Author, Janet spent more than 25 years in the telecommunications industry. In late 1999, Janet, along with several partners, formulated, raised angel and bank financing, and implemented the business plan for a telecommunications company specializing in back-office and consulting services for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Virtual ISPs and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs). The group launched the telecommunications company and within less than a year sold the ISP portion to a publicly traded company. Janet served as Executive Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Customer Service.

At the website of her firm Leverage & Development, LLC www.leverageanddevelopment.com, you can find more information about Janet along with helpful articles and guides she has written. She can be contacted at janet@leverageanddevelopment.com. Janet is also the host of two other websites www.janetchristy.com and www.businesshospitalforwomen.com.

Read more about 101 Winning Marketing Actions for Small Businesses and Janet Christy HERE.

Copyright 2010 Janet Christy. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt

Since January 20th of 1981, the regulatory environment in every sector of the American federal government (from consumer and environmental protection to every aspect of our financial institutions like banking, insurance and Wall Street investment and trading regulations) has been systematically weakened, all in the interest of strengthening and consolidating corporate power over the everyday lives of Americans, and to test neo-conservative economic theories of letting the “free market” solve all of American society’s problems. As we’ve seen one wave of financial shock after another blow through the American economy since then, and specifically witnessed each shock affect the financial markets with increasing volatility and culminating in 2007-2010 as the worst recession since the Great Depression, examination of the underlying causes has made it clear that nearly thirty years of deregulation of the financial industry was a huge mistake. During the latter part of the same period, mostly in the first decade of the 21st century, Wall Street and the financial brokerage industry have succeeded in tapping an enormous financial resource to exploit for additional profit. That resource is us. With the advent of electronic trading and widespread availability of the internet, they began offering and heavily marketing to average citizens systems enabling them to venture into trading and investing arenas that were formerly the exclusive domain of the very wealthy. User-friendly online trading platforms for personal computers sporting real time data and charting, provided free to customers compliments of online brokerage firms, carried the lure and promise of making money from the comfort of one’s own home trading stocks and their derivatives opposite the Wall Street “big boys”.

What they didn’t tell us was, the abysmal odds of success of the average citizen day or swing trading the financial markets would be a consistent and lucrative profit center for those big boys, and a cause of financial pain and in many cases devastation for the vast majority of aspiring day and swing traders. Many estimate the odds of a small participant making and keeping profit trading to be less than 15%, and many more cite statistics showing those odds to be as low as 1%. Which begs the question: why would a rational person not only venture into this work knowing she has an 85-99% chance of ultimately failing at it, but stick with that brutal work for years before reaching the point of capitulation and quitting – finally acknowledging to herself that which she had suspected all along – the markets are heavily skewed in favor of the well-capitalized insiders? Within the pages of this book I will provide answers to this question, hopefully doing so in a manner that will overcome the myriad of books, online brokers, internet-based trading-assist services and scammers that promote trading and steer you decisively away from the strong temptation to answer the siren call of trading the financial markets, and therefore protect your cash and preserve your mental, psychological, emotional and consequently even your physical health and well-being.

Trading stocks and their derivatives like options and futures is extremely dangerous, plain and simple. Only the well-capitalized insider traders residing at the stocks, derivatives and commodities exchanges and large brokerage firms consistently profit from that work. And as we’ve repeatedly seen in the years since the dot.com-precipitated crash of 2000, even long term investing in the financial markets can be perilous and detrimental to the longer term financial security of the average “outsider retail” investor. It is a myth that long term investing in the stock market is the best route to financial security and independence in your retirement years, a myth that is continuously propagated by the financial planning and brokerage industries. The crashes of 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2008-2009 that caused devastating portfolio value setbacks for the average investor provide ample proof of this.

Casino Wall Street recounts my experience of trading the markets for seven years, and of losing a small fortune in the process before finally giving up. Aside from the dismal odds of success for the average “outsider” trader/investor, all that I discovered about Wall Street should convince the reader that the financial markets in general, and Wall Street in particular, are nothing more than giant slot machines, and like any casino they are the very worst places in which to trust your money. In fact, you’ll learn that the word “trust” has no meaning and doesn’t exist in the vocabulary within the Wall Street culture and it’s practices. This book ends with a discussion of alternative investments that are very profitable and far better and safer than anything you could hope for struggling to extract and keep profit from the Wall Street insiders.

In Chapter One I provide an overview of what the financial markets are, how they work, and it covers some important reasons why it is so difficult to extract net profit when actively trading them. Chapter Two discusses the enticement, and the dangers of trading the so-called “derivatives” – options and futures contracts. After my first year of trading realizing a modest profit, it was these much easier to trade but treacherous leveraged trading instruments that portended the “beginning of the end” of my ability to profit in the financial markets for the remainder of my ill-fated trading career. Hence the title of Chapter Three, where I digress and for that and the next three chapters discuss in detail the many reasons why it is practically impossible for well over 90% of aspiring traders to succeed in this brutal business. In Chapter Six I return to my own experience to illustrate and drive home the toxic psychology and mental torment that is routinely evoked by the exercise in futility that is trading.

In Chapter Seven I discuss those alternatives to the financial markets that are consistently moderately to very profitable and light years safer. Finally, this book concludes with an epilogue that acknowledges the worst kind of loss that is a consequence of feeding the Wall Street monster (it is not financial), and ends with a plan for an American future without Wall Street that all of us can and should carry out to successfully rid ourselves of the monster.

Read more about Casino Wall Street: A Trader’s Seven-Year Education in Delusion and Deception and Mario Cohen HERE.

Copyright 2010 Mario Cohen. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt

Direction, organization and structure are important aspects of a well-functioning business. Many business owners run their businesses without control, without systems and without the tools needed to maintain control of the operations of their companies. Running their businesses seems to them like a constant struggle to put out fires and deal with emergencies.

Running a company doesn’t have to be chaotic. Yes, there are always emergencies and unforeseen events. However, the majority of all tasks and processes can be systemized and structured. If you ever run into a business owner that is not stressed out about the operations of his or her company, chances are he or she has the necessary structures and processes in place that help the business run without chaos and frantic emergencies.

A structured and systemized business offers many advantages to a business owner and the entire team in the company. They include:

- Structure: A well-structured business provides a better foundation for success.

- Stability: Systems and processes make sure the business will remain on course even if the unexpected happens.

- Control: The tools in this book provide you with the control you need to make good business decisions based on a solid foundation.

- Sanity: Once systems and processes are in place, your workload and stress will decrease because your employees are empowered through structure and direction.

- Efficiency: If you don’t need to re-invent the wheel every time you deal with an issue, the business will run better and more efficiently than ever before.

- Effectiveness: With clear systems directions in place, everyone in your business will work more effectively with better, more predictable results.

- Motivation: Clear goals and direction will improve the morale for everyone in the business. People know why they are working in your business and what they are working towards.

- Business Value: Systems and processes significantly increase the value of any business because it can more easily be transferred to a new owner or duplicated.

This book focuses on some of the most basic and effective operational and planning tools any business should implement. It provides valuable tips and steps on the implementation process of each tool. May this book help many business owners get out of the rat race of running a chaotic business and back into control.

Read more about Mastering Business Operations and Joerg Sieber HERE.

Copyright 2008 Joerg Sieber. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”   ~George Bernard Shaw

A Note from the Author

First, I want to thank you for your interest in learning more about living on purpose through the pages of this book excerpt, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life.  It’s been my great pleasure to write this book and to endeavor to “practice what I preach” over the past decade-plus, although I do hope I don’t come across too “preachy” in the book or in my life.

I believe that there are no accidents in the Universe, including that you and I have been connected in this way.  I imagine for most people who have downloaded this excerpt, they have done so because they are longing for a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in their life. I honestly believe that the Life On Purpose Process that is outlined in depth in the complete book is an invaluable roadmap to such a life.  I can say that with utter honesty because I’ve witnessed its positive impact not only in my life over the past decade-plus but in many other people’s lives as well.

It’s my hope and intention that this “sample” of the book that outlines the Life On Purpose Process will be of value to you as well as helping you to determine if the whole meal – the whole Process – is something that will serve you along your own path to a life on purpose.    Here is an overview of what’s included in this excerpt:

A Life On Purpose in a World On Purpose: This first portion is intended to give you a sense of what’s possible, and to begin to answer the question: “Why bother taking the time and energy to clarify my life purpose?”

Table of Contents of the Full Book:  Just to give you an idea of what’s included in the full book and so you’ll know where the parts that make up this excerpt fit in.

My Personal Journey Along the Purposeful Path – I’ve included part of my story in this excerpt so you and I can become better acquainted and so you will understand why I feel so passionate about people clarifying their life purpose.  Of course, you may elect to skip this section and go straight to the heart of the Life On Purpose Process, and then come back to this section later.  That heart is Passage #2, which is included in this excerpt.

Meet the Boomers:  The Boomers are fictional family – a composite of many of the clients I’ve worked with.  In Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, we follow them along as they travel the six passages that make up the Life On Purpose Process so I thought you’d want to go ahead and meet them.

Passage #2 — Starting on the Purposeful Path: Albert Einstein once said: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” In this free excerpt you will learn about the life on purpose perspective — a shift in consciousness that is at the heart of the Life On Purpose Process thousands have used to bring clarity of purpose to their lives.

The shift in consciousness and thinking that’s outlined in depth in Passage #2 is such a foundational part of the Life On Purpose Process I felt in would be the best way for you to gain value from this excerpt while at the same time getting a tasty sample of the overall process so you could decide whether to enjoy the full meal.

From Sample to Full Meal: This section provides you with a good overview of the entire Life On Purpose Process so you’ll know what’s available if you decide to begin your journey along the Purposeful Path using this process as your roadmap.

Reviews & Endorsements of Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life: I thought you might be interested to hear what others are saying about this life enhancing process and book.

Life On Purpose: More than a Process – a Way to Enhance Your Life: By the time you reach this section, you will have experienced a tasty sample of the Life On Purpose Process, and some of you will be hungry for the whole meal.  I’d be remiss to keep you salivating without letting you know where to go for satisfy that hunger.

So, let’s get started.

Table of Contents of the Full Book

Introduction: A Life On Purpose in a World On Purpose
My Personal Journey along the Purposeful Path
Why Begin the Journey?
The Six Passages of the Purposeful Path
Passage #1: Preparing for the Journey
Determining Your Starting Point
Exercise: Living on Purpose Self-Test
Determining Your Destination
The Tremendous Life-Shaping Power of Vision
A Word About the Value of Personal Coaching
Passage #2: Starting on the Purposeful Path
The Three Basic Components of Life
The Basic Elements of an Empowering and Enduring Life Purpose
Exercise: Wheel of Life
Passage #3: Uncovering What Has Been Shaping Your Life
What Shapes Your Life Before You Know Your True Purpose?
Pulling the Curtain on the Wizard of Your Past
Pulling the Curtain on the Wizard Who’s Been Shaping Your Life
Deepening Your Awareness of Your Inherited Purpose
Obstacles and Roadblocks to Clarifying Your Life Purpose
Passage #4: Clarifying and Polishing Your True, Divinely Inspired Purpose
The Bridge to the Land of Purposeful Paradox
Exercise: Priming Your Passion
Polishing Your Life Purpose
Passage #5: Learning the tools for Living on Purpose
Living True to Your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose
Where Does a Life Purpose Live?
Opening the Purposeful Toolbox
Universal Laws of Attraction and Purposeful Creating
Purposeful Practices, Ponderings, and Prayers
The Purposeful Pivot
Purpose Principles
Purpose Projects, Purposeful Play, Patience, and Persistence
Life Purpose Project Page
Purposeful Play
Purposeful Patience and Persistence: The Unstoppable Tool
A Potpourri of Additional Power Tools
Replacing Off-Purpose Patterns with On-Purpose Patterns
Passage #6: Mastering the Tools for Living On Purpose
Three Dimensions of Living On Purpose: The Spiral of Fulfillment

A Life On Purpose in a World On Purpose

What would it be like to understand your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose with crystal clarity? Right in this moment, you can begin to experience your life on purpose. Imagine that you know and are deeply in touch with your vision for what’s possible, like when you were a child just starting out on this bold adventure called life. Imagine also that you know and are deeply in touch with your core values-those intangibles that mean the most to you. And that you know and are deeply in touch with the essence of who you are. Finally, imagine that all of this is bound together and connected by the attractive power of Universal Love, your relationship with God or a higher power, and by your spiritual nature.
Through this book, it is my interest and intention to create a powerful and purposeful coaching relationship with you, one that is perhaps best summed up by these words from the Life On Purpose Coaches Creed:

Imagine a relationship in which the total focus is on you, on your Life Purpose, and on living true to it …
Imagine someone listening not only to your words, but also to the soul behind them as it expresses its truest desires …
Imagine someone who will be your partner as you hold yourself accountable for living true to your Life Purpose …
Imagine that this person is curious about your dreams and aspirations, your vision for the world, and what you are most passionate about in your life. -This is a person who will help you clarify projects that are consistent with your vision, your values, and who you are, and will help you develop the means to fulfill them …
Imagine a relationship with a person who may, at times, appear even more committed to what you want in your life than you are …
Imagine that in this relationship you can count on this person to absolutely tell you the truth with ruthless compassion-about the many gifts and talents that perhaps you’ve taken for granted, as well as where you might be selling out on who you really are …
Imagine a relationship that supports you in breaking free from the self-limiting constraints of your past, in which the voice now exposing your limitations is recognized for what it is-a voice from the past. Imagine that your true spirit is nurtured to shape and form your life, moment by moment, day by day.

Imagine every aspect of your life being shaped by your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose. Your actions are shaped by your Life Purpose; your thoughts, decisions, choices … all shaped by your Life Purpose, which comes from the blending of your vision, your values, and the essence of your being together with Universal Love and your spiritual nature.
What would such a life be like? Imagine it right now, for just a moment or two. What would you experience, living such a life? What would it feel like to know your Life Purpose so clearly that it would have the power to shape each moment and all that you do?
What would your life look like? What are some of the things you’d be doing as true expressions of your vision, your values, and the essence of your soul? What would you no longer do because it would be inconsistent with your Life Purpose? Imagine the magical nature of such a life.
What would be different about your life? And what would likely be the same? What would you have in your life, and what would you no longer have-simply because it is inconsistent with your Life Purpose?
Now, let’s stretch our imagination just a bit more. Imagine that you’re living in a world where everyone knows his or her Life Purpose, and is living true to it. In other words, you’re living on purpose in a world on purpose. Can you imagine such a life? What would that be like?
This book outlines the Life On Purpose Process-a proven, systematic, spiritually based, and practical approach that has already assisted thousands of people to clarify their Divinely Inspired Life Purpose and to begin to live a life beyond what they could have initially imagined. Are you ready to begin your journey along the Purposeful Path to such a life? If so, here’s your first coaching assignment:
After pondering about the questions above, write down your thoughts to each one, and share this with someone whom you care deeply about. Explore this world on purpose with him or her.

My Personal Journey Along the Purposeful Path

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of 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 than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” – Patanjali, Indian philosopher

As part of my early morning spiritual practices, I often trudge up the footpaths that wind around Glassy Mountain behind Carl Sandburg’s home, a few blocks from my home in Flat Rock, North Carolina. On this morning, as I stop to catch my breath, my mind flashes to an ugly, yet necessary, time in the early eighties. I’m on the bathroom floor in my apartment in Greensboro, , during another time of contemplation. Sobbing, and in a fetal position, I can’t remember how I ended up here or how long I’ve been this way. I know only that I’m in great emotional pain and will do anything to make it stop. I imagine what I might do if I had a gun. Would I have the nerve to use it? If I did, would I screw it up like I’d screwed up the rest of my life? The more I think about it, the more real the gun becomes, until finally I realize it’s not my imagination but a real gun- which I hold in my hand.
I feel the smooth wooden handle in my palm and the cold metal circle of the snub nose pressed against my temple. My finger begins to tighten on the trigger. Just a little more pressure, a quick flash of pain, and the deeper pain will finally be over. Funny, I think as I lay there, how many people will be surprised to learn of my suicide. To outward appearances, I’ve got it made: my own veterinary practice, investments in real estate, a fancy car, a wallet full of credit cards-all the trimmings of a supposedly successful life. But beneath the well-crafted exterior is a hollow core of emptiness and suffering. My life feels worthless, without any real meaning. All the adornments of my Good Life don’t add up to true happiness or fulfillment. The truth is, I feel alone in the world, with no one who truly cares about me or understands what I’m going through.
Suddenly, someone has invaded my privacy. “Go away,” I think as loudly as I can, then realize I’m also shouting it. “Go away! Leave me alone!”
But whoever it is doesn’t leave. A moment later I smell the pleasant fragrance of a woman’s perfume, then hear the voice of an angel. “It’s okay, Brad. We’re going to get you some help. It’s okay.” I recognize the voice of my friend Rebecca.
Now, as I sit watching the exquisite sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains, that day in Greensboro seems to be from a different person’s life-and in many ways it is. I am no longer that confused, scared, lonely young man. I no longer practice veterinary medicine; instead, I’m the founder of the spiritually based Life On Purpose Institute. And today I can truthfully say my life is filled with purpose and meaning.
The journey of the last two decades has been a wild roller coaster ride, filled with slow upward climbs and exciting, sometimes scary descents. It is what I affectionately term my Purposeful Path. Before my near-suicide, I traveled the path mostly asleep, unaware that I was even on a journey. Then came ten years of awakening, with a few long naps mixed in. And for the last decade, as I’ve continued my awakening process, I’ve done my best to assist others along their own Purposeful Path. What follows are some of the key stops along the way.

Chasing the Red Queen
I’d like to say that after my near-suicide my life was suddenly and miraculously transformed…but my mother told me to never lie. The truth is that my transformation was slow and arduous-a journey of many trials and errors, with a number of side trips and more than a few dead ends.
My next significant moment of awakening came a few years later, during my second marriage. At that time, I was still caught up in the great American Dream of acquiring as many expensive toys as possible and had a lovely companion who was just as good at the acquisition game. We lived in a plush neighborhood, on an acre of land, in a beautiful home complete with a rear deck overlooking a babbling brook.
Unfortunately, I was working too much to enjoy any of it. I felt like Alice in Wonderland. In Lewis Carroll’s childhood classic Through the Looking-Glass, one of Alice’s misadventures in Wonderland is with the Red Queen, who takes her on a wild run through the countryside. But no matter how fast Alice runs she can’t seem to get anywhere. Finally, breathless from her efforts, Alice is allowed to rest long enough to comment, “Everything is just as it was!” The Queen replies, “Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
I knew just how Alice must have felt. I was physically exhausted and emotionally out of breath, running as fast as I could to keep up with an out-of-control lifestyle of my own making. As I gazed across the wooded lot and listened to the bubbling of the water across the rocks, I realized that much of my reason for purchasing the home had been that very scene. At the time I had imagined spending countless hours out on the deck, basking in the sun, watching the seasons roll by-but the seasons had rolled by without me. I’d not so much as stepped foot on the deck in all that time. I’d been too busy working fifty to sixty hours a week at my veterinary practice so that I could pay the mortgage on the house and keep two car payments up and three credit cards paid down. Like Alice, I realized something was wrong with this picture. I was running as fast as I could just to keep up.
While I still hadn’t suffered quite enough to make any radical changes, a seed of “divine discontent” had been planted.

But Enough About Me (for now…there’s more in the book)
I love to share the story of my journey along the Purposeful Path, but this book is really intended as a personal guidebook to assist you.
First, you’ll uncover what’s been standing in your way and move it aside, opening yourself to do the inner work of clarifying your true, Divinely Inspired Life Purpose. At that point, the real fun and adventure begins as you step onto the lifelong path of living true to the life purpose that has revealed itself.

Meet the Boomers

Meet Bob and Barbara Boomer. Bob is closing in on sixty, while Barbara is in her middle fifties. They’ve been married, more or less happily, for over twenty-five years. They have three children: Becky, twenty-four, who recently graduated from college and is searching for the career that will make her happy; Brent, twenty-two, who is in his junior year of college; and Brandon, seventeen, who will be graduating from high school this year and will likely go on to college-although he hasn’t a clue which one or what he wants to major in.
The Boomers are a typical family, and being American, their lives have been shaped by the pursuit of the Great American Dream. Until recently, neither Bob nor Barbara have given much thought to the idea of. If you were to corner them into talking about it, though, their views would be consistent with the common cultural perspective that a Life Purpose is what one is to do while alive on Earth. But recently, one of Barbara’s friends gave her a book that started her thinking more about her purpose in life, and which then led to her sharing her thoughts with another good friend-her husband, Bob.
Because he thought of Life Purpose as “what I’m here to do,” when Bob went to find purpose and meaning for his own life, he went the route of work. On the strong advisement of his parents, he became a dentist like his dad. He graduated from dental school with honors and worked for five years as an associate before opening his own practice, in which he’s been for over twenty years. While he won’t admit it to anyone but Barbara, he’s pretty burned out from having looked into thousands of mouths for over two decades, and the sense of purpose in his work has dried up. Still, since he has college tuitions to cover, a hefty mortgage on this 2,500-sqare-foot home, and monthly bills to pay, “off to work I go” has become Bob’s theme song.
The upside of Bob’s focusing so heavily on work is that he has become a very successful dentist and a prominent member of his community. The downside is that, in the process, the rest of his life has been thrown out of balance in the following ways:

* He’s alienated from his wife and children
* He has no real time for friends, only professional colleagues
* He doesn’t really have any hobbies or interests outside work
* Spiritual life … What’s that? He hasn’t gone to church since his wedding to Barbara and while he does believe in God, he’s not bothered to be in touch since he was a child. Late at night, however, when he can’t sleep which is often, he wonders if there isn’t more to life than he’s experiencing. He suspects the answer if a resounding Yes.
* His health is poor by most people’s standards though fairly typical for those in his profession. He’s about 20 pounds overweight, has high blood pressure, insomnia and is addicted to watching late night TV as a way to de-stress from his work.
Barbara, on the other hand, considers it her purpose in life to be a good mother and a supportive wife to Bob. One of her greatest worries is what she’ll do with herself once Brandon leaves home-which is due to happen in less than a year. It was because of this that her friend recommended Traveling the Purposeful Path. She also finds herself awake at night asking herself such questions as “Who am I? Am I really just Dr. Bob Boomer’s “Better Half”? What is the rest of my life for?”
Neither of the Boomers can really see themselves in a shuffleboard-and-golf style retirement, though Barb is tired to the point of exhaustion from the last two decades of trying to keep up with her adrenalin-addicted husband while also raising her three children, more or less single-handedly.
The Boomers are a fictional-real family, a composite of many different people I’ve worked with in the past, and their plight is typical of many people who have mistakenly identified their Life Purpose to only be about what they do to get by. We’ll be following the Boomers as they travel along the Purposeful Path.

Passage #2: Starting on the Purposeful Path

As you begin your journey along the Purposeful Path it makes sense to choose the one that will get you where you want to go most expediently. To do this we’ll start by exploring this basic question: What is a life purpose?
I’m not asking what your personal purpose is, not yet. In fact, I’d like for us to look beyond your own limited, personal view to see if we can identify a more common, general definition of a life purpose. What would you say the Cultural Perspective is?
One way to think of this would be to imagine that you’ve decided to conduct a survey by going out on a street corner where you live and asking a few hundred people what a life purpose is. What do you feel the most common answer would be? What would be the central theme of the responses you receive?
The most common response may be similar to your personal response, or it may be different. What we’re really trying to get at with this survey is not just what people say a life purpose is, but how they relate to the concept. In other words, look not only at what people say, but also at what their collective actions say. This is important because we often talk about something conceptually, but it may not be reflected in the actions we take or the way we live our lives.
Write down one or more responses that you think people would give if their responses accurately described and reflected how they lived their life. For the moment, disregard those that wouldn’t have an answer or wouldn’t know what you meant by the question.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Since founding Life on Purpose Institute in 1996, I’ve had the opportunity to ask this question of not just a couple hundred people, but thousands. Here is the central theme that runs throughout the vast majority of those responses:
“A life purpose is what I’m meant to do while I’m here on earth.”

The key here word is “do.” Most of us believe that our life purpose is all about what we’re here to do. We may say this in various ways-it’s what we’re here to accomplish, it’s something that only we’re able to do, it’s something we’re to do that gives us joy, and so on.

Since we’re talking about people’s perception of something, of course, this perception is as valid as any other. And as with any perception, it results in a certain way we live our life. What I’m going to suggest next may stretch you a bit, so be ready to simply try this idea on and let’s explore it together.
I’m suggesting that when we think of a life purpose as something we do, it heads us in a particular direction right out of the starting gate. It’s as if we jump into life and see a sign that says, “This way to your life purpose,” and the sign points in the direction of “doing.” So when we get to the next question, “What is my life purpose?” we’re already heading down the path that’s all about doing.
As a result, most of us live a life filled with a lot of doing-and for many of us, a lot of having, which is a natural byproduct of all the doing. But we may be missing something, like the true sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that we really want. It’s as if we’ve taken a detour without realizing it. We wonder how we ended up where we are…but it was that road sign pointing to “doing,” way back at the very start.
I have found that when people work from this Cultural Perspective, they often look to two areas of life for purpose and meaning. For many, they look for purpose in their work-their job, career, or profession. For others, they may look in some primary role in life, like being a good parent or spouse, or a “dutiful” son or daughter.
Unfortunately, operating from this perspective has some limitations and pitfalls. For example, what happens if you misidentify your life purpose as your job, career, or profession, and then, for whatever reason, you’re not able to continue your work? Some time ago, when I first paid a visit to my local dentist, this struck home in a very powerful way.
As my dentist looked over my record, he noticed that I’d stated my profession as a Life on Purpose Coach. Most people have one of two responses when they learn of my profession. They are either confused by it but too embarrassed to ask, so they say nothing at all, or, as in the case of my dentist, they become curious and ask what it means.
After describing the type of work I do, my dentist replied, “Boy, my dad could sure use you right now.” He then went on to tell me that his dad had been a prominent physician in this part of the country for close to forty years, but that recently, due to his health, he could no longer practice medicine. “He feels like he has no purpose or meaning to his life,” my dentist went on to say. And that accurately describes what often happens when people misidentify their work as their life purpose.
The same is true for people who think that one of their primary roles is their life purpose. For example, what happens when someone thinks that being a good parent to their children is their life purpose, and then they wake up one day to find that their children have grown up and left home? We even have a name for such a condition: it’s called the empty nest syndrome.
Looking from this perspective has another pitfall in that we often misidentify some part of our life as our life purpose. But doesn’t it make sense that our life purpose should be able to include all of our life-not just our work, not just some significant role, but all of our life and all that we do in our life?
If we’re interested in clarifying our true purpose so that we can have a life that is fulfilling and satisfying, we need to operate from a new perspective of what a life purpose is. This way, when we head out into life, we’ll be able to travel down a different path-a Purposeful Path that leads to a life of joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment.
Here’s a different perspective I’d like for you to try on-the Life on Purpose Perspective. Consider that:

A life purpose is the context, vessel, or container into which you pour your life.

Sit with that for a moment before reading on, and then we’ll look at this perspective more deeply…
Let’s use a visual aid to examine this perspective in more depth. Imagine you have your favorite coffee mug in front of you-or better yet, stop reading for a moment, go get it, and fill it with water. Now, consider that the mug and water visually represent the Life on Purpose Perspective. In other words, the mug represents one part and the water represents the other.

Write down the part of the statement represented by the mug:

And now write down the part of the statement that the water represents:
________________________________________________________________

Now check your answers:
The mug represents the context, vessel or container (i.e. the life purpose).
The water represents your life.

Now, let’s focus on just the mug and water for a moment. You may find it helpful to actually have a mug filled with water in front of you. If you look at the mug and the water, you can notice that there is a relationship that exists between them. What can you observe about this relationship? If you’re not sure where we’re going with this, think of it this way: What happened to the water when you first poured it into the cup? Before reading on, see if you can come up with your own answer.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The water took on the form of the inside of the mug, or said a different way, the mug gave shape and form to the water.

Quick Review
In our comparison, what does the cup represent and what does the liquid represent? Choose A, B, or C below.

A. The cup represents how far you can travel, and the water represents the direction.
B. The cup represents one’s life purpose, and the liquid represents one’s life.
C. The cup represents a vessel, and the liquid represents what’s inside it.

The cup represents one’s life purpose and the water represents one’s life, so B is correct. In this example, the cup is the context that shapes one’s life: the life purpose. The water is what is being shaped by the life purpose: your life.
In case you feel like you’re about to have a brain strain, pause for a moment. Take a deep breath and let it out. Now, we’re going to look a little closer at the notion of a life purpose being the context for one’s life. Remember that part of the reason we’re looking at this perspective in such depth is because we have an old Cultural Perspective to transcend.
Here are the next questions to consider:
When we talk about our life being shaped by our life purpose, what do we really mean? What makes up a person’s life?
To get to the answer, let’s go back to our comparison of the mug and the water. We said that the water represents our life. Think back to your ninth grade science class. The simplest unit of water that retains the property of water is a molecule.
If you went any smaller, you’d have atoms-two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen-but those individual atoms by themselves don’t have the properties of water. It takes a molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom to give us the properties of water. But what does this have to do with a life purpose? Well, here’s the really big question, which will bring us back to what a life purpose is:
What’s the simplest unit of a person’s life?
What we’re looking for is the simplest or most basic unit of a person’s life that will retain the properties of the life. When we know this, we’ll know what’s truly being shaped by our life purpose. When we multiply this molecule enough times, we will have a person’s full life.

Hint. Just like a molecule of water has three components, the simplest unit of a person’s life has three components as well. Take a stab at it now: What are the three simplest components that make up a person’s life?

1. _____________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________

The Three Basic Components of Life

As we continue this exploration, we’ll next identify each of the three basic components that make up a “molecule of life.”

What do you think are the 3 basic components of a “molecule of life?”

For the purpose of this discussion, “life” refers specifically to the period of time that begins at the moment of conception (or birth, whichever you prefer) and ends at the moment of death.

Conception/Birth <============Life===========> Death

Imagine that someone decides to make a movie of your entire life, starting with your birth or conception and ending with your death, after which point the credits start rolling. As you know, a movie is made up of a whole bunch of individual frames. You can think of each individual frame as one of the basic components of the molecule of life. But what exactly does one frame of your movie represent? If you break it down into single “frames,” isn’t your life a composition of moments in time? You live first this moment, then the next, and the next, and the next… So, one of the basic components of a molecule of life is “moments in time.” Write that in one of the circles below.

In keeping with the movie analogy, let’s look at any frame of your movie. In fact, let’s look at each and every frame of the movie of your life-what’s the one thing that you consistently see in each frame?
Hint. This one is similar to the question, “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Be careful not to make it more difficult than it is.

Doesn’t it make sense that the one thing you’d see in each and every frame of the movie of your life would be you? The second basic component of a molecule of a person’s life is the person-a living, conscious human being. So, write “Self” in one of the other circles.
We now have two of the three basic components. Let’s go back to the movie one last time and look at a strip of the film from any part of the movie. We could take a strip from the first day you were born, or the first time you went to grade school, or from any part of the movie of your life. If we run it through the movie projector and shine it on a movie screen, what would we see?
Take a moment to ponder this before moving on. Give it your best shot.

Hint. If you suddenly flipped the switch on the movie projector to fast forward, you’d be able to observe what we’re talking about more easily.

Think about it for a moment. Aren’t we always doing something? Even when we’re sitting around “doing nothing,” we’re doing something-we’re sitting around doing nothing. So, the last basic component of a molecule of life is “Action.” Write that in the last circle.

Now, let’s review what we’ve come up with and see what this all has to do with living on purpose. First, we’ve identified that the basic molecule of life is a living, conscious person, doing something in a moment in time. This is what is being shaped by the person’s life purpose.
You may still wonder, “What does all this have to do with my life purpose?”
Well, you may not have noticed it but we’ve just made a very important distinction-one that many people fail to make. And in failing to make it, those people are left stuck trying to figure out their life purpose.
Let’s go back for a moment and look at both Life on Purpose Perspectives-the Cultural Perspective and the Life on Purpose Perspective. Remember, we said the common theme of the Cultural Perspective is that a life purpose is what we’re meant to do while on earth. The Life on Purpose Perspective, however, says something very different. I’m suggesting to you that a life purpose isn’t what we do, but what shapes what we do.
You see, most people are asking themselves the wrong question when it comes to their life purpose. They’re asking, “What is it I’m supposed to do with my life?”
But the doing itself isn’t the life purpose. The life purpose is that which shapes and gives context to the doing!
Said another way, your life purpose is the context or overarching meaning you ascribe to life that then shapes the doingness of your life. The things we do in life are expressions of our life purpose. They aren’t the life purpose itself. The important distinction we’ve made is:
Life purpose = The context of your life that shapes what you do
Doing, actions, projects, goals = The ways in which you express your life purpose
We’ve all heard the old joke of the man who lost his keys in the dark alley but chose to look for them under the street lamp because the lighting was better. There is a lesson here that can be applied to the way in which many of us go about clarifying our life purpose: Many people are like the man who’s trying to take the easy approach even though, in this particular case, the easy approach won’t work. They’ve spent most of their life looking under the street lamp of “doing,” trying to find something that’s not there. They really need to be looking somewhere else. But where?
Let’s go back to the mug and water analogy. The question we really need to ask is what the mug is made of. In other words, what are the key ingredients of a life purpose?
We’ll start with the mug. It can be made of glass, ceramic, porcelain, steel, wood, Styrofoam, cardboard, and many other materials. And just like a mug can be composed of many different materials, so can a life purpose. As the Life on Purpose Process came to me from my inner guidance and source of creativity, however, I realized that there were certain qualities that any life purpose should have. A life purpose needs to be:

* A powerful shaping force in our lives. It should be powerful enough to shape us as we go through the many moments of our lives, doing whatever we do.
* Long lasting and enduring. Wouldn’t you want a life purpose that could last a lifetime or beyond? I sure do.
* Flexible. It should give us plenty of room to play and to express ourselves fully.
With these three qualities of a life purpose in mind, I asked my inner guidance: “What basic elements will consistently result in a life purpose with these essential qualities-every time and for everyone?” And that’s what we’ll explore in the next section.

The Basic Elements of an Empowering and Enduring Life Purpose

Many elements could contribute to the creation of a powerful, long lasting, and flexible life purpose. In my work with hundreds of individuals and thousands of people in groups, I have found the following three elements to be most effective:
* Vision: What is the vision or possibility you see for the world?
* Values: What are the core values you stand for and are willing to give your life for?
* Being: Who are you? What can people count on from you? Life purpose is more about who you are than what you do. Remember, we’re called human beings, not human doings. Many of us have forgotten that.
Let’s look at each one of these elements in more depth.

Vision-What’s Possible
If you spend much time around young, fully expressed children, you’ll notice how they live in possibility. They invent games on the spot and then aren’t afraid to change the rules whenever they realize there’s a new way to play that will be even more fun.
Children are filled with the spirit of what’s possible. Unfortunately, far too many of us have had that spirit stifled by well-meaning people, challenging circumstances, and our own reactions to and interpretations of them.
However, no matter what has happened to us in the past, it is possible for all of us to return to that childlike innocence. Not only is it possible, it’s necessary if we want to clarify our true purpose in life.
Each of us has a unique sense of what’s possible in our own lives-with our families, in our community, in the world. Getting in touch with this vision of what’s possible is one of the basic necessities for clarifying your life purpose.

Values-What Matters Most
Clarifying our core values is a refinement process, not all that different from peeling away the layers of an onion.
We often start with a long list of things we’ve been taught we should value. In fact, I call this first layer the should values.
But it’s important to peel through this layer until we get to those values we really choose to live in our life. The second layer of the onion is our chosen values.
The really important layer is even further within. I’m talking about those select values, usually not more than three to six intangibles, that we’d be willing to give our lives for. These are our core values.
Just like we all have a unique vision of what’s possible, we also have a unique set of core values that are an integral part of our life purpose.

Being-The Essence of Who We Are
One of the most important questions that can shape anyone’s life is, “Who am I?” When we can distinguish who we are and the way or ways of being that are at our core, then we have another important basic element for our life purpose.
We all have unique ways of being that we’ve come to count on and that we know others can count on as well. Distinguishing these gives us yet one more important piece of the puzzle of what our purpose in life is.

The Glue That Holds it All Together
There is actually a fourth component life purpose that is so critical to the formation of a powerful, enduring, and flexible life purpose that you can think of it as the foundation upon which the life purpose stands and the glue that holds it all together.
There are various ways to refer to this last ingredient. One way is to call it love-the universal attractive force of unconditional love that binds us all together and connects us powerfully to the rest of the cosmos. Another way to describe it is your relationship with God, a higher power, or your spirituality.
When we combine this glue with your unique vision of what’s possible in the world, your unique set of core values, and your unique qualities of being, we end up with a powerful, empowering, and enduring life purpose that still has ample room for us to play and express ourselves. This life purpose becomes the context that shapes and forms us as we go about doing all the things that make up our life.

From Concept to Reality: An Example
Okay, now let’s look at an example that will move us from concept to real life. The example I know the best is my own life. I’ve enjoyed coaching people for close to two decades, and for the past decade I’ve also run my own spiritually based enterprise, Life on Purpose Institute. While both of these are important to me, I’m also clear that they are not my life purpose.
I’ve also been happily married to my wife, Ann, for over fifteen years and I’m the proud father of my daughter, Amber. Both of these roles are very satisfying and fulfilling; yet, they are not my life purpose. My life purpose is to live an inspired and inspiring life of purposeful, passionate, and playful service; a life of mindful abundance balanced with simplicity; and a life of spiritual serenity. Or to give you the shorthand version, my life on purpose is a life of service, simplicity, and spiritual serenity.
This, then, becomes the context, vessel, or container into which I pour my life. It shapes who I am and what I do as a coach, writer, speaker, and founder of Life on Purpose Institute. It also shapes my personal life as a husband, father, and member of my community. In fact, it can shape all of my life, each and every moment of it. Said another way, some of the ways I choose to express my life purpose are as a coach, writer, speaker, founder, husband, and father.
Once you are crystal clear about your true life purpose, it has the power and the possibility to shape all of your life-your thoughts and feelings, your decisions and choices, your speaking and actions, and ultimately your results in life. There is tremendous power when all of these factors come together in a congruent way, when your thoughts, feelings, decisions, choices, speaking, and actions are all congruent and in integrity with each other. This is what makes living on purpose both possible and so exhilarating.

Call to Action Assignments
In the game of golf there is a flag at each hole. What’s the purpose of the flag? It lets the players know where they want the ball to go. This first assignment will give you a sense of the direction in which we’re headed along the Purposeful Path. Remember, you don’t have to come up with the definitive answer-simply ponder it for a few days.

Flag Assignment
Here are a few questions to ponder as part of your assignment:
* Viewing your life purpose from the Life on Purpose Perspective, what is the vision you hold for our world?
* What are the core values that you’d give your life to uphold?
* Who are you and what can we count on from you?
Now, blend all of that with the universal attractive force of unconditional love or your relationship with God, a higher power, or your spirituality. Then consider:
* What context or vessel could shape the rest of your life and all that you do?
Remember, just ponder it and see what you discover.

In Passage #3 we’ll begin to carve away whatever’s between you and determining your life purpose. We’ll begin with this basic premise: your life is always being shaped by something. There is never a time when it is not being shaped and molded. However, since most people aren’t clear what their life purpose is, it’s unlikely that your life purpose is what is shaping your life. With that in mind, take some time to work on this next assignment.

This is the next question we’ll explore:

If your life is always being shaped by something, what shapes your life when you aren’t clear what your life purpose is?
Hint. Look back to your early childhood, the “formative years,” to begin to find the answer.

Second Hint. There are many factors that shape a life. We’re looking for as many different things as you can come up with.
The Boomers at Passage #2
Here are a few of the comments that Barbara wrote in her journal regarding her insights from the Life on Purpose Perspective:

Wow, that’s all I can say-Wow! Bob and I continued the life purpose work and today we learned a new way of viewing what a life purpose is. My head and heart are still spinning. I realized today that I’ve been thinking for decades that my only purpose in life was to be a good wife to Bob and a good mother to my kids. No wonder I’ve felt in a state of panic these last several months, as my third child rapidly approaches the age when he’ll be leaving home and Bob and I appear to grow further apart.
While I still don’t know what the “context” of my life is, I feel a sense of hope and excitement at the prospect of discovering it, though also a bit of fear about the whole idea. After all, once I know my life purpose, I won’t have any excuse for not living true to it.

Here are some of the thoughts that Bob shared with Barbara after completing Passage #2:

I’m still processing the idea that a person’s life purpose isn’t all about doing. I’ve been a great “doer” all my life, since starting my first job when I was fifteen-and in the process I’ve become a good provider for you and the kids. Now I’m asked to consider that neither my professional career as a dentist nor being a good provider is my life purpose. That’s a tough one, I must admit. Still, I don’t think it will serve me to be a “full cup” on this one. Besides, as I consider that my life purpose could be the “context, vessel or container into which I pour my life,” and that context could then have the power to shape all of my life, I feel a sense of excitement and adventure, and that feels good.

From Sample to Full Meal

I trust you found this “sample excerpt” of Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life both interesting and thought evoking.  Of course, we’ve only touched upon less than 10% of what’s in the Life On Purpose Process.
The Life On Purpose Process is a proven, systematic, spiritually based and practical process that has already assisted thousands to clarify their life purpose. It will give you the tools to design your life to be a true and authentic reflection of that purpose.

Proven – Since its conception in the early 90’s, thousands of people have used the Life On Purpose to bring clarity of purpose to their life so we know it works and works well,

Systematic – The 6 Passages that make up the Process will guide you step by step – truly a road map to your life on purpose

Spiritually Based – The Life On Purpose Process works with and is consistent with universal spiritual principles that are found in all authentic spiritual paths, like the Law of Attraction, the Attractive Force of Universal Love, etc. People of many different religions and denominations have experienced the process and received immense value including those whose definition of spiritual didn’t include a belief in a Higher Power necessarily. In the Life On Purpose Process spiritual is defined as a connection to a deeply held set of values and to a purpose beyond one’s self-interest.

Practical – Not just theory or esoteric principles, but ideas, distinctions, and tools that you can apply immediately to your daily life.
So, let’s take a look at the six passages that make up the Process:
1. Preparing for the Journey Along the Purposeful Path
As with any challenging journey, it’s best to thoroughly prepare yourself for your travels along the Purposeful Path. This includes accurately determining where you are starting from and where you intend to end up, as well as knowing some of the obstacles that could possibly get in the way of completing the journey. Purposeful Preparation is important to a successful journey. The title of David Campbell’s book sums it up well: If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll Probably End up Somewhere Else. Some of the exercises included in this important first passage include:
The fun and engaging Life On Purpose Self Test, the Life On Purpose Scale, the Wheel of Life Exercise, and a very powerful process for creating a “Visionary Reality” of your Life On Purpose, along with the mental roadblocks that can slow your progress along the Purposeful Path.

2. Starting on the Purposeful Path with the Life On Purpose Perspective
As you can tell from this excerpt we delve deeply into this foundational mental shift that has served as a door into a new world of purpose and possibility for many people.

3. Uncovering What Has Been Shaping Your Life-Your Inherited Purpose
Have you ever tried to look at the back of your head without the assistance of a mirror?  Gently try it right now.  You know you have a back of your head, and it seems like if you could just turn your head fast enough, you’d at least be able to catch a glimpse of it, right?  Well, that’s what feels like for many people when it comes to uncovering what has been shaping their life.  That’s where the “Pulling the Curtain on the Wizard of Your Past” exercise comes in.  Remember in the Wizard of Oz how the Wizard ran Dorothy and her friends all over Oz looking for the witch’s broomstick?  But there was a moment when the Wizard lost his power over them, when Toto, the dog, pulled the curtain, revealing him to not be a mighty, powerful wizard, but simply a little old man with a bunch of smoke and mirror.  That’s what you’ll be able to do in this Passage #3.

4. Clarifying and Polishing Your True, Divinely Inspired Purpose
After “cleaning the slate” by identifying and beginning to be responsible for your Inherited Purpose, the real fun begins as you go through a process called Priming Your Passion to clarify your true, Divinely Inspired Life Purpose. The process can be not only life affirming, but also life transforming. In this Passage you will also discover the Land of Purposeful Paradox, the birthplace of your true life purpose and where it’s found on the Map of the Kosmos. This completes Stage One, or the clarifying your Life Purpose stage.

5. Learning the Tools for Living On Purpose
This is the start of Stage Two  of the process, in which you begin to live true to your Life Purpose. This is where the rubber meets the road, and where some of the biggest transformations take place as you’re introduced to Sixteen Power Tools for Living On Purpose. You will use these tools to begin to build your Life On Purpose.

6. Mastering the Tools for Living On Purpose
Of course, being introduced to a set of tools is just the beginning, especially if you’re interested in building a masterpiece of a Life On Purpose. In this next part you will learn how to master the art and science of creating a life that is shaped by your true, Divinely Inspired Life Purpose.

What Others are Saying About
Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life

You can read Life on Purpose superficially, and learn quite a bit about purposeful living.  That’s what I intended to do; learn about the whys and wherefores of finding my life purpose.  Instead, I found myself engaging with the material, thinking about the questions and doing the assignments.  And becoming clear about my own life purpose and how to live it out.  The book is engaging enough to pull you into the process.

Dr. Swift draws you into a relationship with him and the book.  His language is intimate and encouraging; you feel like he’s there with you, coaching and helping you as surely as if he were speaking with you in person.  He manages to translate the coaching relationship into written form, making it accessible for anyone who reads his book.

Life on Purpose is a practical, friendly, hands-on book for anybody who wants to live a more meaningful life.   – Penny Watkins for Bookpleasures.com

People successfully using the six passages have stated that the result was like the alignment of the universe for their own nurturance and reward. As they began fulfilling their individual purposes, good things began to happen for themselves and for others that they met and served.

Along with Howard Gardner’s works on multiple intelligences theory since 1983, and the many books and other tools available to use in examining one’s vocational calling and skills, Dr. Swift’s book, “Life on Purpose,” should become part of any vocational or spiritual library.  — Reviewed by Patty Inglish for Reader Views (5/07).
I feel Life On Purpose stands out from many of the other self- help books. I think the reader will find that it has more depth than some writings, which only advise the readers to think positively and visualize success. Dr. Swift’s book stresses the idea that our desires and motives need to have spiritual roots. He encourages us to realize that our life purpose can still benefit us without being at the expense of others. Love and our connections to each other are key ingredients to a truly successful and joy filled life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt that it’s motives were sincere and the contents very helpful. Brad Swift has obviously found how to best express his Life Purpose. Review by: Marjorie Tietjen.
“Brad has created a simple and easy way to become crystal clear about your reason for being on this planet.  Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life is your road atlas to live a more purposeful, passionate and playful life.” -Mark Victor Hansen Co-creator, #1 New York Times best-selling series Chicken Soup for the Soul(r) Co-author, The One Minute Millionaire

“Brad Swift brings us a new vision of power, passion, and purpose.  His clarity shows us how to see with new eyes, hear from within, and act from a tender and gentle integrity. With freshness and honesty, Swift opens the way for our transformation and generates in us a new excitement about our lives and our infinite possibilities.”  Edwene Gaines, author of The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance (Rodale)

Enlightened Millionaires know that they have a purpose for being on planet Earth.  This clarity of purpose is an integral ingredient of being both enlightened and an Enlightened Millionaire.  The book you hold in your hand outlines a proven, systematic, spiritually based approach that will assist you in clarifying your life purpose with crystal clarity.  Whether you choose to become an Enlightened Millionaire or not, you will find the Life On Purpose Process of invaluable benefit that will enhance your life and those around you.  – From Robert G. Allen, Co-author, The One Minute Millionaire

” Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life is a gentle and heartfelt guide to the fundamentals of living a life rich in joy and contribution. Brad’s style is accessible and user-friendly, and his book a compendium of thought-provoking questions and deep convictions.”  Gregg Levoy, Author, Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life

“In a world desperately in need of hope and healing, Brad Swift’s Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life serves as an excellent tool and resource for creating a life that is personally meaningful and outwardly contributive. Swift’s methods are simple yet powerful, straightforward and profound–and whether you are new to this exploration or have traveled a ‘purposeful path’ for a while, you will find insights and exercises of great value within these pages.”– Maggie Oman Shannon, author of The Way We Pray and One God, Shared Hope: Twenty Threads Shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Life On Purpose: More than a Process – a Way to Enhance Your Life

It’s been well over a decade since the Life On Purpose Process came “through” me as a result of asking of my Divine Inner Guidance two questions.  You see, at the point I finally had some “clarity of purpose” for my own life at around 40-years of age, I looked around and realized that there were many others in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and older who seemed to be pretty clueless about their life purpose.
So, I asked “Does it really need to take us human beings 40, 50 or more years to become clear about our purpose?  Isn’t there some way to shorten that learning curve just a bit?”
And the answers that poured forth became the foundational elements that have grown today to be known as the Life On Purpose Process.

Copyright 2008 W. Bradford Swift. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt

From Chapter 2: The Hidden Truth: It’s All Gambling

Why do you gamble?
- You like predicting the unpredictable.
- You like to make a lot of money with a little money
with no effort.
- You like to win.
- You think it’s your only hope to ever accumulate
financial security.
- It proves to others that you are willing to take a risk.
- It proves you are right, know what you are talking
about, and are willing to put something of value at risk to prove it.
- You like to beat the odds.
- You like bragging rights, superiority,self-esteem.
- You gamble to lose to increase the euphoria of winning.
- You, unfortunately, need to feed an addiction.
- The psychology makes it harder to walk away.

Here’s the thing: Casinos are promoted as pure entertainment, with no reason to promote themselves as something other than what they are. The markets, however, are promoted as performing an important business function with a vital economic value. In a casino, you are playing games marketed as a fun activity. No value attaches to the games themselves. You know that you are gambling, and the name of the game is insignificant. A poker game is a poker game. Roulette, craps, blackjack . . . they’re just games. They have no vital economic importance to society.

Las Vegas never denies that the casinos are primarily gambling facilities. Even with the best restaurants, star-studded shows, and luxurious amenities, you know upfront these are available to enhance the gambling environment to bring your money into the specific casino. You may enjoy these activities, but try as you might, you can’t hide the fact that you are at a casino to gamble.

To camouflage the market’s reality (that it’s a huge gambling casino) Wall Street managers needed to convince the public that people were actually investing to enhance their savings and promote the economy of the United States. This is a formidable task. Wall Street had to circumvent all of the entertainment and amenities that casinos offer and change your mindset to get you to believe that the stock market and commodity markets are a business function vital to everyone’s well being. You trust that you’re investing because you’ve been convinced the games are actually a legitimate financial venture.

To get you to believe you’re investing, the exchanges had to attach something of value to the names of the games. They took symbols that we believed were vital to our economy and used them as titles on their games (stock names, commodities,etc.). This allowed them to seduce the public into thinking they were investing in something of substance. In reality, they’d merely changed the title of the games, but it’s still the same gambling games that you find in Las Vegas. Either way, the key thing to remember is that the main element of all the games is that players or investors are trying to predict an unpredictable. And the odds are stacked in favor of the house.

A major difference between gambling at a casino and gambling in the markets is that the markets present advantagesto an elite few that the average investor doesn’t have.

In a casino, you may be treated as a high roller, with VIP treatment and access to parts of the casino that average people will never see. But at the end of the day, the games you choose to play for a high buy-in are the same games average people are playing on the main floor. On Wall Street, an elite few have access to inside information, a seat on the exchange, the ability to act on information instantly as opposed to when it hits the public, and access to information that the public doesn’t receive. Some of this is legal, some not. All of these advantages result in an increase in the odds in favor of a select few, to the detriment of average investors.

There is a strong natural tendency for you as an investor to ignore your losses and focus on your winnings. Casinos encourage this tendency by making sure that every quarter won in a slot machine causes lights to flash and makes its own little jingle in the metal tray. Seeing all the lights and hearing all the clinking, it’s not hard to get the impression that everyone’s winning. If you watch the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, with all of the yelling and running around and the flashing lights and the stock ticker, one cannot help but be caught up in the excitement thinking that fortunes are being made on the floor.

But losses are mostly silent.

Copyright 2008 T.E. Scott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Introduction
In 2008, the first of the 76 million people born in the baby boom generation will turn 62 and be eligible to collect Social Security. If you’re a member of this generation, you know that retirement is something that you fully expect to do. The problem is, you haven’t done a lot of planning for your retirement. Well, it’s time to start.
Like most in the baby boom generation, you’re probably not broke, but you’re not some dot.com billionaire either. Most likely you don’t know what real retirement in America looks like. Or what it will take for you to retire. How much are you really going to need? Millions? What do you know about investing? How are you going to develop your plan? What happens if something goes wrong?
Don’t have the answers to these questions? Well, this book can help!
To retire, you’ll need a personal financial plan for your future. If you’re lucky, this future could last for 40 years or more. Developing a plan sounds complicated, but it’s not as difficult as you might think. Retirement is about more than saving as much money as you can. It’s about using the resources that you have wisely. Retirement is also not a one-size-fits-all proposition. There are as many retirement lifestyles as there are retirees.
Within the pages of this book, you’ll find what you need to get you started on your road to a successful retirement. We’ll start the journey by looking at what retirement is and whether it’s really for you. The reality of retirement may be different than you imagined. Then we’ll consider some financial topics like achieving financial independence, basic investing, living on less, and determining how much you might need. But don’t worry. These topics aren’t as daunting as they might sound.
Next, we’ll look at the resources you can tap for your retirement like Social Security, pensions, home equity, and savings plans like 401(k) and 403(b) plans and IRAs. After that, we’ll examine some topics that you’ll need to know about when you’re actually living in retirement, such as getting health care insurance, minimizing taxes, and disaster recovery options in the event your retirement plan doesn’t go as intended.
Finally, we’ll walk you through an exercise in developing a personal plan. At the end of the book there’s a bibliography of resources you can turn to for more information. Additional resources to help you find directions on your road to retirement are available at http://www.whosaidyouneedmillions.com/.
There’s no time to waste. Let’s get started.

Chapter 1
What Is Retirement Worth to You?
Many people tell me they started thinking seriously about retirement or the possibility of working less when they were in their forties. They didn’t discuss it at the corporate water cooler as they did sports scores or last night’s prime-time TV episode. Usually, they talked about it away from work, in quiet whispers among close friends. Many expressed the hope of retiring before age 55, since early retirement has now become part of the American dream, like owning a McMansion and driving a fancy car.
In the last few decades the entire concept of retirement has changed a bit. No longer are retirees always imagined as people late in life enjoying a glass of cold lemonade in a rocking chair or reading a good book in bed while soaking their false teeth in a glass on the nightstand. Today, people believe they’ll be younger and more active when they retire and that their retirement will last longer than it did for past generations.
The media and organizations in the “retirement business”—mutual funds, insurance companies, real estate developers, and the like—have picked up on this change and are trying to sell their products with packaged images of this new concept of retirement. These marketing efforts tap into a true need. Many people think they’re in a rat race, and they want to get out of it. They’re looking to retirement as a means of restarting their lives or shifting in an entirely new direction, away from work that has become drudgery. They want the freedom to do what they want, go where and when they want, and not be a slave to someone else’s agenda. Some people dream of a retirement in which they work at something more meaningful, perhaps in a different role or for not as much money. Others want to volunteer. Still others want to travel or just do nothing. The common thread is that they want to dictate the terms of their life, not have those terms dictated to them and they want to do it sooner than their parents did.
Yet the marketers of retirement products have instilled in consumers the idea that retirement is going to cost a bundle. That prospect has led some people to give up on it altogether believing that they can’t afford it in addition to the myriad of other things they think they must have, like a big house, a luxury car, and expensive vacations. “Retire? Ha! I’m just going to have to work forever,” I hear people say when they realize that, unlike a big house, the luxury car, etc., retirement can’t be bought on credit.
Is it true that baby boomers may not be able to retire? No. The fact is that everyone will have to retire someday. For most people it will be physically impossible to work until they drop dead. So, the question really should be: What will retirement for baby boomers look like? Will they be eating caviar or cat food? The answer is that they’ll probably find themselves somewhere in between those two extremes, but few have a clear idea of where they’ll end up on the spectrum.
It’s surprising that, despite the quantity of information available about retirement planning, most people are still ignorant about what real retirement looks like. As a result, those people who have planned and are saving for retirement may actually be saving too much or postponing retirement until they won’t be able to enjoy it. Those people who have given up on retirement altogether may not realize that, with a few lifestyle changes, they could put themselves on the right path.
One of the biggest misconceptions about retirement is that people assume they’ll be much wealthier than they are now. Somehow people get the notion that in order to retire they must wait for the day until they have millions of dollars and no money worries. But, where do they get this idea? Who said you need millions? Financial planners, mutual fund companies, stock brokerage firms, real estate developers, and their enablers in the media, who are in the business of selling a dream retirement few will actually achieve, are mostly to blame. You see this dream retirement in slick TV and magazine ads: slightly graying but still attractive couples, the men wearing freshly pressed khaki pants, golf shirts, and no shoes; the women well-coiffed and dressed in cotton sundresses that scream leisure; the wind blowing lightly in their hair; their smiles wide and confident, as if they have a secret. These people could be you, the announcer says, if only you invest one or two million dollars at such-and-such mutual fund company or buy a million-dollar condo at Sunset Acres.
But, wait a minute. Why are we buying into this baloney? At about $39,000 per year, the average wage in America, it would take you almost 26 years just to earn a million dollars. That doesn’t take into consideration eating, clothing, and housing yourself and maybe a family during those 26 years. The dream retirement that you have been conditioned by advertising to expect is just that—a dream—especially if you want to retire early. The ultra-high standards of living that people achieve today using credit cards and other types of credit are based on the assumption that they have an unlimited future during which they’ll tighten their belts and pay all the borrowed money back. If you live that way (and almost everyone in the U.S. has at one time or another), you have to realize you can’t continue to do so in retirement unless you become rich, and that’s unlikely.
That doesn’t mean you can’t have a comfortable retirement. It just means your retirement probably won’t look like the ones you see in TV and magazine ads.
How Much Are Today’s Retirees Living On?
What does a real retirement look like? Retirement age in the U.S. has been consistently decreasing over the years, while the average lifespan has been increasing. For example, in 1950, the median retirement age was about 67 years. This means that, in 1950, age 67 was the midpoint: half of retirees were older than age 67, and half were younger than age 67. By the 21st century, the median age of retirees was about age 62. Go back in time, and you’ll see that the trend toward earlier retirement is more pronounced. For example, in 1850, 76.6 percent of men over age 65 were still in the labor force (data for working women weren’t kept in the 19th century). By 2000, the proportion was down to 17.5 percent. In 2006, the breakdown of retirement ages of men and women was as appears in Table 1-A.

Table 1-A.
Percentage of Retirees at Various Ages, 2006

Age
Percentage
Under 55
13
55–59
16
60–61
11
62–64
23
65
14
66 or older
10
Never worked/worked sporadically

7
Don’t know/refused to answer

4

Note. From How Many Retire Earlier Than Planned? Why? by Employee Benefit Research Institute, April 18, 2006, Washington, D.C.: Author. Retrieved November 2, 2007 from  http://www.ebri.org/pdf/publications/facts/fastfacts/fastfact21RetireAge18Apr06.pdf
As far as money is concerned, most retirees in America don’t have a million dollars in the bank either. Social Security is currently the major source of income for almost two-thirds of America’s retirees. For one-third of retirees, it is in effect the only source of income. At the time of this writing (July 2007), the average Social Security retirement benefit was about $1,000 per month. So, one-third of retirees are living on about $12,000 per year. For retired couples, the amount is a little less than twice as much.
A retired couple who can’t yet collect Social Security, but have a savings account earning a modest five percent interest, will need about $480,000 to generate $24,000 per year, without reducing their principal. This amount doesn’t take into account the effects of inflation. To generate future income with the same purchasing power as $24,000 today, the couple’s bank account will need to be a bit larger. How much larger depends on the future rate of inflation.
On the other hand, the $480,000 doesn’t take into consideration the Social Security benefits that the couple may be receiving sometime in the future. For that reason, depending on the couple’s age, earnings on their account, and the rate of inflation, the couple’s bank account may not need to be as large if they intend to use both principal and income from the account to generate the income to sustain them until they’re eligible for Social Security benefits.
Those happy retirees we see on TV and in magazines, dressed in freshly pressed khakis and cotton sundresses, aren’t living on $24,000 per year. They’re what most people would consider rich. But as of April 2006, more than 33 million people in the U.S. were retired, and most weren’t rich. So there must be a way to retire without being rich. How can you do it?
What is the Secret to a Successful Retirement?
Success in retirement is all about attitude, so consider changing the way you think about retirement.
First, reject the idea that money alone is the key to a successful retirement. Since you can’t retire on credit, for most retirees, especially early retirees, the secret to a successful retirement isn’t huge personal savings, but a less expensive, simpler lifestyle. Americans are a clever and resourceful people, and many have put these traits to good use in developing exciting low-cost retirement lifestyles. The key is to figure out a way to make your retirement lifestyle fit your income. Perhaps you’ll work part-time, downsize, or join the voluntary-simplicity movement. Maybe you’ll live full-time in an RV or shed most of your worldly possessions and spend your days traveling the world without a home base. The bottom line is that you’ll have to design a lifestyle that you find interesting and that’s within your means. You’ll probably worry about money from time to time, but not as much as you might think. The adage that money doesn’t buy happiness is often true.
Second, reject the dream retirement that the retirement business is trying to sell. Most people can’t afford these high-priced fantasies anyway, so don’t let the hype make you feel like a loser if your retirement doesn’t look like the one’s advertised on television. You’ll feel a lot better.
Third, accept that you’ll probably have to take the plunge before resolving every possible contingency. Most people struggle with money for their entire working life but believe that they can’t possibly retire until they’re sure they’ll be free from financial worries. Many retirees have told me that if you postpone retirement until you think you’ve amassed enough money to cover every possible problem that your vivid imagination can conceive (most of which will probably never happen), your retirement date may never come. The problem is that once you’ve reached a savings goal—whether it’s $300,000, $1 million, or $3 zillion—you’ll find that it’s never enough. Although few retirees think they have enough money before they retire, many people actually report having more money than they need after retirement.
How Badly Do You Want It?
So the question for those planning to retire isn’t: How much is enough? But rather: How badly do you want to retire? People have to make their decisions on the basis of their comfort zones. Some might place such a high value on freedom that they’d rather retire earlier with less money than wait. Those people, who include my wife and me, have to find creative ways to meet their needs, among them, finding ways to spend less without feeling deprived.
For example, in retirement you can do many things for yourself that you once paid others to do, like mow the lawn or repair your car or home. You’ll have more free time in retirement than you had when you were working and you can use it to get more for your money. You’ll be amazed at how much you can save on the things you need. As another adage puts it, time is money.
Still, some people will want to maintain a more expensive lifestyle in retirement. For them, retirement will be more difficult, unless they’re rich.
For example, if you think you’ll need $100,000 in income per year then you might need two million dollars in the bank, conservatively invested, yielding five percent per year. (For this example I haven’t considered the effect of inflation or Social Security benefits.) With that kind of money, you could buy a new car every few years and most of the other expensive consumer items you probably want. The only downside is that you’d have to save two million dollars. Achieving your goal will probably mean working longer, saving a lot more money, perhaps turning a hobby into a part-time job (which, I hear, can sometimes ruin a good hobby in a hurry), and cutting your retirement years short.
On the other hand, you might want to consider a different kind of retirement. In the 1980s, early-retirement pioneer Paul Terhorst and his wife, Vicki, retired at age 35. Mr. Terhorst wrote a book about his experience entitled Cashing In on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35, published by Bantam Books in 1988 (but now out of print). On their website the Terhorsts report that they’re still traveling the world, maintaining a home base in Argentina, and living on an average of $2,000 per month. That’s only $24,000 per year!
Another couple, Billy and Akaisha Kaderli, retired at age 39 and recently wrote The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement, published on CD in July 2005. They report living a rich life traveling the world on very little money. Other people I know live comfortably in Mexico with limited incomes, some using only the income from modest savings or their Social Security checks to pay the bills.
Only you can decide which retirement is right for you. There are no right or wrong answers. The sole question is: How badly do you want to retire? Retirement, especially at a younger age, may mean sacrificing something. But for that sacrifice, you’ll get much more in return, namely freedom.
You’ll have to determine your comfort level. No one can tell you what your retirement nest egg amount should be. But before you determine how much you think you’ll need, review Chapter 6, which discusses what retirees actually spend in retirement, on average. You’ll be surprised how low the average is.
Speaking of comfort, you also need to realize that no matter how well you plan or how much you save, things may not turn out as you expected.
What Is Your Tolerance for Uncertainty?
People planning to retire, especially younger people, need to determine how comfortable they are with uncertainty because, as the saying goes, “Sh#t happens.” Illness, stock market corrections, inflation, war, pestilence, and other catastrophes might throw a monkey wrench into your best-laid retirement plans. So you’ll need to understand your threshold for uncertainty and decide how much cushion you’ll need. For example, is a guaranteed steady income most important to you, or can you live with income fluctuations? Can you live with the possibility that expenditures for an illness or a disability might one day severely cramp your lifestyle?
One couple I know who retired early own a house in a desirable California neighborhood with a high current market value. They could sell the house, move to another part of the country, and have lots of money left over, but they’ve chosen not to. Instead, to retire early, they’ve moved into a small guesthouse on their property and rented the main house. The rent is their primary source of retirement income. It fluctuates because of many factors, like maintenance costs, vacancies, and deadbeat tenants who move out in the middle of the night or miss a rent payment. The couple have decided to live with this uncertainty and have factored the fluctuating income into their retirement plan by staying flexible, adjusting their expenditures as their income changes, and dipping into their savings or taking an occasional job to make up the shortfall.
Another friend, whose mother had Alzheimer’s disease, is so concerned she’ll get it that she won’t consider retiring without having enough to pay for long-term care. The amount this friend will need is anyone’s guess. She could buy insurance, but the average cost of a long-term-care insurance policy can cost $2,000 or more annually (for healthy people), and such insurance won’t cover all her potential nursing home costs.
On the other hand, my friend may never get Alzheimer’s disease. All her worry may be for naught. Unfortunately, she isn’t comfortable with uncertainty, so she’s decided to work until age 65 or longer.
Of course, uncertainty can work both ways. Good sh#t can happen too. Your investments may do exceptionally well, making money less of an issue for you. You may find a vocation in retirement that you truly love and go back to work. You might even win the lottery (but don’t count on it).
Given that the future is difficult to predict, to retire, especially at a younger age, you should at least be mildly comfortable with uncertainty. You shouldn’t count on serendipity to save you. If you plan to retire early with perhaps a little less than you think you might need, you should understand that if something bad happened, you might have to go back to work. You must at least consider and appreciate negative possibilities, but you shouldn’t let fear rule your life. The best way to approach the unknowns in retirement is to consider the worst possibilities, hope for the best, and plan for somewhere in the middle.
Luckily, as a person who is contemplating retirement, you have a choice. You have the luxury of comparing the relative value of your freedom against the costs and the uncertainties of retirement. If you don’t like what you see, you can work longer and retire later (if you’re in good health). Or you can consider another option.
Why Not Test-Drive Retirement?
Before plunging into retirement for good, you might test-drive it. Try it for six months or a year, and if it’s not to your liking, go back to work.
Plenty of people test-drive retirement. Some companies offer “development leave” or a sabbatical, allowing the employees to return to work afterward. Others will consider letting employees go temporarily, without pay, when business has slowed down. In this case, of course, there may be no job to return to.
You may be surprised at how receptive your employer’s human resources department will be to the idea of your taking extended time off. Many employers are learning that such breaks actually boost an employee’s productivity when and if the employee returns to work.
If you can’t get any support from your employer, consider time off anyway. The downside is that you’ll have to beat the pavement for another job when your time off is over.
How About a Real-Life Example?
My wife and I took a retirement test-drive in 2001. Like most of the other people we’ve met who have done so, we didn’t regret it. It changed our lives. Beware: It may change your life too.
Our test-drive occurred when my employer was being taken over by a larger concern. The company gave me a modest separation package that included a little money and almost free health insurance for 18 months. So we decided to take a one-year sabbatical. After many years of work, we figured that we deserved time away from the corporate world, during which we hoped to reenergize (and perhaps test) our commitment to our chosen careers.
We did a lot of soul-searching in coming to our decision. Before the takeover was finalized, many of my workmates had already lined up new jobs. They planned to pocket the corporate-package money and move on to the next job without breaking their stride. Most of them thought we were crazy to drop out for a year and squander our windfall. But some supported us wholeheartedly. Many of those who supported our decision said, “I’d love to do the same, if only I didn’t have [fill in the blank: a mortgage/kids/bills/etc.].” We had our own list of if-only’s, but we threw caution to the wind.
We closed up our house and rented an apartment in a small town in the central highlands of Mexico. We spent sun-drenched days and cool nights doing some of the things that we had always dreamed of doing when we were toiling at our all-consuming, high-stress jobs: reading, writing, studying Spanish, thinking, and just lying around. Soon we realized we had little need for many of the consumer items that once seemed so critical to our lives. As the weeks and months went on, our minds began to clear. The clutter and the anxieties of working life disappeared, and we discovered that life could be fun almost all the time.
Three months later we left the Mexican town, did some traveling in Central America, rented another place on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and stayed for three months, then did some more traveling in Europe before returning home. We were gone for a little more than a year.
Along the way we sent e-mails to friends and relatives telling of our adventures. Most envied us, as we secretly hoped they would, although some continued to wonder why we would risk damaging our careers. No one, however, warned us that we’d never be the same.
After our year, we returned to reality and started to look for work. Interestingly, the topic of discussion at most of my job interviews was what I did during the year off, not what my professional qualifications and experience were. In the eyes of prospective employers, taking a year off gave me an aura of competence and confidence that I hadn’t anticipated.
Within no time my wife and I landed new jobs doing basically what we had done before our year off. We had convinced ourselves that returning to work in the same fields, at basically the same levels, was the right thing to do. After all, there were still plenty of new challenges out there to tackle.
After a few weeks on the job, it was clear that we hadn’t missed a beat and that we’d be able to continue our careers essentially where we’d left off. We quickly got back into the swing of things, answering e-mails, participating in telephone conferences, and attending seemingly endless meetings. Our year off had apparently not done any professional harm at all, contrary to the predictions of some of our friends. It was as if we’d spent the year in some fourth dimension while the real world was placed on pause. Although we’d discovered the possibility of life without work, or at least without work in the traditional sense—that is, a super-serious job in which there’s no time or tolerance for leisure or naps at two in the afternoon—the corporate world hadn’t changed at all. It was the same old grind. We’d lived for a year without being slavish to the clock or weighted by the yoke of work, but work was still, . . . work.
Instead of being refreshed and renewed, though, I found traditional work to be even more odious than it had been before. Soon I began to question seriously why I thought work was so important. Why was I working so hard? What was the purpose? What was my goal? Had I simply bought into America’s national obsession, the endless pursuit of money? Or was something else driving me?
Clearly, ego had a role: Being competent at work earned me the respect of co-workers, and being respected was a good feeling. But why was their respect so important? Could I get it some other way?
The need to earn money was obviously another motivation. But I questioned whether the money was worth the stress and the long hours that seemed to be so physically and mentally unhealthy.
The year off made me recognize how unnatural it is to work in an environment that‘s devoid of fun. It wasn’t that I didn’t want or like to work. It was that my particular job seemed so staid, dry, and boring that it deprived me of oxygen, sapped my strength, and turned me into a person I didn’t want to be.
I wondered how I’d gotten to that point and why I hadn’t noticed what was happening. Then I remembered an experiment in which one frog was placed in a pot of boiling water and another frog was put in a pot of cold water that was then brought to a boil. The first frog jumped out of the boiling water immediately. The second frog just sat in the pot, as the water got hotter and hotter, until it died. I’d been in danger of being like the second frog, and it took a year off in a completely different environment for me to realize that.
I recall my own mental process as I reached the conclusion that life had to change. It could almost be called an epiphany, although the term may be too metaphysical or New Age to apply to something as mundane as work. But I remember the exact moment it happened. I was in a corporate leadership-training session, one of those time wasters sold by high-paid consultants to distract corporate management from the fact that the business isn’t making money. The entire company was being retrained to get in touch with their “inner leaders,” to shift their “thought flows,” and other such nonsense.
At the end of the two-day off-site session, I was asked to stand up in front of my peers and declare my heartfelt commitment to the “new” company. I could have just mimicked the platitudes being spewed by my co-workers. But I balked. I wasn’t going to lie to them or myself. I tried to come up with something honest and politically palatable, but I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to commit myself to, except getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
It was liberating and somewhat embarrassing at the same time. Those who know me would say that I’m infrequently at a loss for words, but there I was, standing in front of a group of people, almost speechless. At that moment I realized I couldn’t go on living a lie.
A few days later my wife and I had a chance to discuss what had happened, and we discovered that we’d both, independently, been feeling the same way. It was clear to us that our year off had radically changed us—for the better, I think. Although we didn’t quit our jobs until a few months later, we began our early retirement that day.
Conclusion
Like many people these days, you may be wondering whether you should continue working. Deciding to retire isn’t easy. It may take some time before you finally come to the conclusion that retirement, temporary or permanent, is right for you. As part of the thinking process, you need to ask yourself several questions.
First, is the retirement you’re contemplating realistic? Perhaps you’ve unknowingly bought into a dream retirement, which will be available only to wealthy people. Are your assumptions about retirement keeping you from retiring sooner?
Questioning your assumptions should bring you to the second question: To retire earlier than you may have anticipated, can you adjust your idea of what retirement is (perhaps drastically) so that your retirement goals conform to your current finances? As noted earlier, according to data I gathered about people who are already retired, many retirees live happily on relatively little money. Perhaps you can too.
This leads to the third question: How badly do you want to retire? Think about the intangible benefits of retirement. Remember that most people retire successfully with enough money to finance much more than a shoestring retirement but much less than the so-called dream retirement.
Fourth, ask yourself what your true threshold is for uncertainty. Are you the super-cautious type who needs to plan for every contingency, or can you deal with a certain amount of haziness concerning the future? If you’re the super-cautious type, what makes you so? Can you change?
Finally, ask yourself: What is the cost of continuing in the life you currently have? Are you doing the things you really want to be doing? Does your life have meaning for you, or are you just going through the motions because that’s what you think is expected of you? Is what you’re doing now sapping your energy to the point that, when you finally do retire, you might have nothing left? On the other hand, as Chapter 2 explores, is retirement really the answer?
This is a lot to think about, and the answers aren’t always quick and easy to come by. Perhaps you’re not sure how you feel about some of these issues. Perhaps you think you have answers to all these questions but wonder if you’re wrong. If so, you may be a candidate for a test-drive retirement. After six months or a year in temporary retirement, you may not be as irrevocably changed as my wife and I were, but if you go back to work, you’ll have a clearer picture of what you’re working toward. Whatever the result, you won’t regret it.

Read more about Who Said You Need Millions? Retirement Strategies for the Rest of Us and Jonathan D. Edelfelt HERE.

Copyright 2008 Jonathan D. Edelfelt All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt

Hassles, Harleys and Happiness
“How to Make Tuesday Seem Like a Friday Night”

A few weeks back, as I showed up at the Kansas City airport to board my 12:10 flight to Boston to speak the next day, I was informed that I was “flightless.” The “Midwest Airlines confirmed” text that appeared in my PDA assured me that I was flying to Boston just as the Skycap fella assured me I was NOT. After recklessly undressing my rolling briefcase desperately in search of a confirmation number, I came up empty and soon realized that I blew it. Perhaps I didn’t press the “PAY FOR THE STINKING FLIGHT BY CLICKING HERE” Button on my favorite travel website. Either way, I had no reservation and was told that every flight from KC to Boston was booked for the day. After sprinting frantically from airline counter to airline counter, I was able to scoop up the last seat on a plane to Boston. Unfortunately, what was to be a three and a half hour journey would now become a ten hour marathon. “What a way to spend a Friday morning, afternoon and evening!” I thought.

Needless to say, I was grumpy, sweaty, and angry at my lack of flight preparation. After sitting in the KC airport for several hours, I eventually boarded my plane, smiled at nobody and did the “feel sorry for me” death march to my middle seat in the last row of fifth class. After squeezing by Shrek who was sitting in the aisle seat, I stuffed my bag under the seat and stared straight ahead in silence with squinty eyes and lips tightened as if I were trying to prevent my 20-month old daughter from trying to stick her finger in my mouth. “Well, at least I don’t have a long layover in Atlanta,” I thought.

Wrong! After arriving in Atlanta I was told that my flight was delayed for three more hours, and that it would not arrive in Boston until 12:30 am. Reassume pouting position, Sullivan! As I sat in a grey pleather chair gazing at airport CNN, I noticed that other people, delayed just like me, were smiling, laughing, and joking. How dare them! Didn’t they know what was happening to them? Were they living in the Matrix…for crying out loud? Unable to stand the positive energy, I marched to an airport restaurant to grab a bite and was aghast to find that the misguided happiness was present there also. I mean…utter strangers were shaking hands, having fun and buying each other drinks. “This is madness!” I thought. I turned to a wild man in full-blown Harley Davidson garb and asked, “What’s up with the party in here?” He said, “It’s Friday, regardless of where you are.”

Then it hit me. I felt like the Grinch who had just found the meaning of Christmas. Only my “Cindy Loo Who” had a ponytail, beard and a leather vest. After being “learned” the difference between a Road King Classic and a Fat Boy, my new friend looked down at his watch, laughed and then sprinted away from me as if he had just discovered he was having a drink with Senator Craig. But then three minutes later he came sprinting back laughing while he said, “Oh well, I just missed my flight. It left 20 minutes ago. I guess I was having too much fun. No big deal…now, where were we? Name’s Big John, by the way. Oh yea, my Fat Boy has chrome disc cast aluminum wheels with…” I stopped him and said, “Wait, aren’t you mad for missing your flight?” He said, “Nah, I told you, it’s Friday. But for me, everyday is Friday. There is something about people’s moods on Fridays. Look around; if this was Tuesday, people would be different. If everybody acted on Tuesday
like they did on Friday, we would all be a hell of a lot less ticked off all the time.”

For the next few hours, I received about four more lessons on life and each one of them felt “dead on.” And each was a reminder that being grumpy, frustrated, mad, jealous, negative and impatient was nothing more than, as Big John says, “A freakin’ waste of time.” He was beginning to sound a lot like Dale Carnegie who once said:

“Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have. –Dale Carnegie

Big John eventually caught his flight, and I made that flight to Boston. But this time, as I sandwiched my stubby Irish body into the middle seat on the back row, I felt a whole lot less “sorry for myself.” And by doing so, I was able to meet two new people, who just might end up becoming two new clients. Isn’t it funny how just a change in attitude can often create a change in income opportunities!

So this week, let’s make a deal. If we find ourselves sliding into the Monday morning blues and it’s Wednesday at 2:00, let’s press fast-forward on our attitude buttons and get our minds to Friday at 5:00. Because by living life a little more like Big John, we may find a lot more “freakin” happiness Monday through Thursday.

Copyright 2008 Brian Sullivan. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt

Introduction

According to estimates, there are over 108 million web sites online, and billions of web pages. Unfortunately, most of them will never amount to much. My goal is to help you beat the odds. After you have read my book, you will know more about building a successful online business “online business” than most people do. My purpose is to provide you with simple explanations for some complex topics. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be an expert “expert” to build a successful online business, but you have to have the right tools “tools” . This book is one of them.

Triumph On The Web will guide you through the seemingly daunting task of building an online business “online business” . Even if you have an existing brick-and-mortar business, expanding your business to the web will bring about unexpected challenges. My purpose is to help you succeed. Experience gained from a successful offline “offline” business is great, but it is not enough to help you succeed online.

In the mid-nineties, some business experts predicted that e-commerce “e-commerce” “e-commerce” would replace commerce altogether. Of course, they were wrong. Instead of replacing it, e-commerce has revitalized commerce. Today there is no distinction between e-commerce and commerce; they are one forever. A business cannot expect to dominate its industry without a successful web presence “web presence” . If you think that this is only true of fortune 500 companies, you are wrong.

Even a neighborhood dry cleaner can become more competitive “competitive” , more profitable, and less vulnerable with a great web presence “web presence” . Sooner, rather than later, you cannot expect to dominate your own neighborhood without maximizing your online presence. This is true for taking advantage of the opportunities web presence provides.

Don’t confuse having a web site with having a web presence “web presence” . A web site is not enough to succeed. Let’s face it—many businesses have web sites, but most of them have no idea what it really does for them. While the term “web site” has become part of our business vocabulary, web sites themselves have remained outside of our business consciousness. A web site is not something to have; it is something to be. If it doesn’t become an ingrained part of your business, you are wasting your time and your money. This book will help you plan, build, and live a winning web presence.

Despite incredible opportunities, many businesses resist having a web presence “web presence” . Business owners and managers are still thinking in first generation Internet “Internet” terms when a web site was the thing to have. This second generation of the Web requires much more. It demands a web presence.

Unfortunately, some businesses never even made it to the first generation and expect to succeed without a web site. When put on the spot, business owners and managers list pathetic excuses such as, “Our customers don’t use the Internet “Internet” ,” or that “We don’t have a budget “budget” for that.” The truth is that they are afraid, because the Web requires a different way of thinking. What made sense offline “offline” might not make sense online and vice versa.

As I introduce you to key concepts throughout the book, I ask you to keep an open mind. Don’t dismiss ideas because you have believed them to be different or nonexistent in your offline “offline” world.

By the time you have finished the book, you should be able to

Plan your web presence “web presence” strategy “strategy”
Choose the most appropriate domain name
Consider important legal matters
Find the right hosting “hosting” solution
Hire a suitable web design “design” firm
Expand your brick-and-mortar business to the web
Determine if a blog is the right tool for you
Recognize the importance of affiliates
Market “Market” your web presence “web presence”
Optimize your web site for optimal search engine rankings “rankings”
Identify niche markets
Source products
Secure your website
Monitor your web presence “web presence” performance “performance”
Build credibility
Advertise with Pay-Per-Click
Build you customer/client list
Build a profitable customer list

Books, articles, and business gurus have been telling us since the mid-nineties how the Internet “Internet” is the fast track to big money. Their formula for success declared that all you need to do is to add .com after your business name and laugh all the way to the bank. The hype was overwhelming, and many had to learn the hard way that it takes real skills to succeed online.

Succeeding online is not as easy as many have thought. There have been some unbelievable success stories such as Amazon, Google “Google” , eBay “eBay” “eBay” , YouTube, and many more. Unfortunately, there have been many more failures than successes. The Internet “Internet” has changed a great deal about society and the way we do business, but it has not been able to change most business fundamentals.

Many now failed dot com companies have ignored the fundamentals required building a successful online business “online business” .

Even an online business “online business” must have:

Customers,
A profitable product or service,
A winning marketing strategy “strategy” ,
Measurable goals,
Credibility, and more.

Read this book and learn what it takes to build an online empire.

This book is

Your guide to winning strategies to start or improve your online business “online business” ,

Going to help you build a successful business from the start,

Applicable to any type of business, regardless of size,

NOT a get-rich-quick scheme,

NOT an introduction to the web,

NOT so highly technical that only a computer whiz can comprehend it,

NOT an introduction to the Internet “Internet” ; there are more than enough books about that topic already.

I have spared you from having to read fifty pages of fluff about the history of the Internet “Internet” . Neither have I tried to bore you with the basics of the history of the Internet. There have been more than enough books written about such topics. Every chapter in this book has real value. You will not find any unnecessary filler content in this book.

Expect to learn the techniques that separate the winners from the losers. Building an online business “online business” requires real skills. A web site your hobbyist nephew has built you might have been cute in 1995, but you’ll need to do much better to succeed today. Just like you wouldn’t want to operate on someone after watching a surgery on TV, you can’t expect to succeed online without real skills. The Internet “Internet” has become incredibly competitive “competitive” . Building, marketing, and promoting your web site requires real commitment. This book is going to help identify your market, source your products, and communicate with your customers.

You don’t need 100 million dollars in venture capital or the backing of fortune 500 companies, but you do need dedication. Well-funded online business “online business” ventures fail every day of the week. You can succeed with a low-budget “budget” web site, but you can’t succeed without a complete commitment to market your needs. Don’t waste your time creating a product nobody wants or developing a service nobody needs. Instead, develop a product or service, or solve a problem. Create something that will benefit enough people to support a market.

Don’t try to beat eBay “eBay” at developing a better online market place, or Amazon.com at selling more books, or YouTube at showing more video clips; instead, try to be the next business that solves a problem that needs to be solved. Dedicate all of your energy to finding solutions to problems you face. Improve someone’s life with your service. Enrich someone’s day with your product.

Only when you have determined that there is a market for your product should you start your business. An idea in itself is insufficient to succeed, and a great product doesn’t guarantee success either. Every day, companies fail in spite of having great products and excellent service because the people in charge can’t sell, promote “promote” , market, and plan properly. The techniques you learn in this book prepare you to succeed.

If you think there is no more room for newcomers in the online sphere, you are wrong. Despite all the successful online businesses mushrooming up from nowhere, there are more opportunities today than there were ten years ago. The ride since the early days of e-commerce “e-commerce” has been exhilarating. Who would have thought that student projects, hobbyists, and garage entrepreneurs “entrepreneurs” would build billion dollar empires? They succeeded because they have solved problems better, faster, and more efficiently than any other business in the market.

You too can become the next overnight success story of the online business “online business” world. You have made the right first step when you have purchased this book. Now it is your time to Triumph On The Web.

Read more about Triumph On The Web and George Meszaros HERE.

Copyright 2008 George Meszaros. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt
Chapter 1 – Creating a Strategy

Social innovators need to take a strategic approach to innovation. Likewise, it can help to have a strategy for weaving new brainstorming and problem-solving methods into your work. Some questions need to be answered at the outset. Do you plan to work alone or involve other people? Which people should you “recruit”? What are your broad objectives – to sell an idea, to raise money, create an innovative public education campaign? Are you primarily concerned with problem solving, with getting new ideas, or with adopting existing ideas?
Another question to consider: How big do you need your problem solving efforts to be? How many people need to be involved? How many people do you intend to serve, educate, or influence? What is the geographic scope of your efforts? Are you starting a Web site, working with a community group, working in a nonprofit with national programs? How much money do you have?
The size of your organization will influence what you can accomplish in a given amount of time. The scale of the problem you want to address will also influence what you can expect to accomplish in a given amount of time. The scale of the problem may also influence your need for new ideas versus adaptation of original ideas. The complexity of a problem, and most social problems are complex, will influence your decision to focus on problem solving versus creative thinking about the problem. If you are starting a nonprofit, or want to start one, you may need both to analyze the issue that interests you and engage in some formal brainstorming to determine the best approach for your organization.
Advocacy efforts require creativity in crafting a message and reaching the appropriate people. Activists need to devise new demonstrations. Die-ins, people lying around pretending to be dead, used to be new and interesting. Maybe die-ins need to be replaced by something new, something that will better communicate the desired message to the desired audience. New strategies for effecting a certain change may be helpful, depending on the organization’s resources and the results that the existing strategy is getting.
Conventional fundraising methods are fine, in the sense that they usually work reasonably well. What if you just want a new idea, one that might give better results for less effort? Maybe a nonprofit needs to find a good fundraising strategy that will work without access to a grant writer or a big mailing list of potential donors.
Education at all levels needs creativity in marketing schools or classes and in other areas. Software can help people design exercises for students, teaching materials for new subjects, innovative school policies, and after school programs. Adult education programs, whether run by nonprofits or universities, need to be advertised successfully.
Policies for nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and schools need work sometimes. Even if the policies don’t need work they could probably be improved. Policies sometimes need to be “sold” to others who must vote on a policy or decide whether the policy will be implemented in an organization. Novel but practical policy designs might be valuable. Creative ways of selling the audience may also be needed. For businesses, an activist group may want to create a new policy that will achieve the activist group’s goal while protecting the interests of management.
Programs for arts and culture nonprofits and for activist groups need to be designed or redesigned. The programs or the ways of marketing them can be improved in some way, perhaps. Brainstorming software can help people find ways to improve programs. Maybe the United States needs an alternative to the traditional financial management classes that are sometimes advertised to low-income people.
Social services organizations need to develop programs, administer programs, and improve programs. Maybe efficiency needs to be increased. Maybe the outcomes of a program, as measured by results, need to be improved. A high ratio of overhead to program costs, spending more than 25% of the organization’s funds on overhead, for example, can look bad. The country’s largest fundraising campaign, the Combined Federal Campaign, will reject an organization with operating costs are too high
Schools aren’t very different from nonprofits when it comes to creating a strategy for integrating formal creativity methods and formal problem solving. You may want to use collaboration software if you work in a big school system, like the University of California. A school district may also need collaboration software. Brainstorming and problem solving meetings might be feasible. Schools and nonprofits also have budgets that probably won’t support a large and expensive training effort. You may not be in a position to an expensive procurement effort started.
How many people do you want to be involved in this effort? You should probably start small. Try to recruit one or two people to study and practice brainstorming techniques, to use one example. Maybe you can start a bigger group. Maybe you can convince the big shots in your organization to invest in training or in enterprise software. Starting small is probably a better idea.
Determining the best starting place for your individual or group efforts is not too difficult. You only need to consider whether to go it alone or to involve other people. If you are striking out on your own then you have several options. You could begin rather simply, by reading a book on creativity or on problem solving. You could download trial brainstorming software and give it a try. The more ambitious sorts could start off by attending a class on lateral thinking, for example. Some training organizations do host classes that are open to the general public. More likely though, you would have to participate in company–sponsored training. The classes can be hard to find and can be rather expensive, over $1500.
The next steps are easy enough: buy more software, recruit someone to work with you, get someone to come to your organization and teach a class. The Resources section of this chapter lists places you can go for more information on trainers and software.
But do you really need to form a group or can you work alone? If you are responsible for bringing ideas to the group or solving a problem then the answer is simple: take the initiative to learn something and use it. Most of us actually work with others on solving problems, implementing new ideas, or starting an organization. If that describes your situation, you could still stick with doing things on your own. Or you could recruit someone else to work with you. Ask someone to read the same book you read and discuss how to apply the techniques. Encourage a computer-loving partner to try the brainstorming software you’ve been experimenting with.
If you are willing and able to start a group the first question to ask is whether you can meet physically or if virtual meetings make better sense. Most of the time you will be working with a local group or an organization that has one location and relatively few locations. Given that the world is becoming more connected and activists can collaborate with people across the globe, there are times when some form of “virtual brainstorming” makes the most sense.

Challenge Finding

The world is full of both problems to solve and opportunities to exploit. The near future is full of potential problems and potential opportunities. Entrepreneurs, managers, and executives are keenly aware of those facts. Likewise, many people in the social sector are familiar with the practice of looking for problems and opportunities real or potentially real. That’s not the issue here. Making it a habit to systematically explore the social environment for current opportunities and for potential future opportunities is important. Being aware of real or potential problems is also important. Sure, problems usually become apparent at some point because they are problems. The symptoms present themselves and we decide to take action. Maybe our response is good enough to solve the problem and maybe not. It would almost always be more effective to see the problem coming and take steps to prevent it or to develop a coping strategy. Can we prevent global climate change or merely adapt to the effects?
Some problems really can’t be solved, at least by you or by your organization. A workaround of some sort needs to be devised. A nonprofit that uses a raffle as its principle fundraising tool may find that raffles are going to be illegal soon. The organization can’t expect to stop that legislation; the only solution is to find a new source of revenue. Substance abuse can’t be stopped, but we can come up with better ways to discourage substance abuse or to mitigate the impacts on peoples’ lives. Maybe there are some unrealized opportunities in mitigating the impacts of substance abuse on your community?
Some opportunities are obvious and important. Opportunities that aren’t so obvious may be quite valuable anyway. Finding opportunities to raise more money, serve more people, get better results, or gain media attention for issues are always welcome. Some opportunities or potential future opportunities are going to come to our attention in the normal course of our work. Others will only appear if we can spare a little time each week to look for them. Ditto for potential future problems.

Strategic Thinking

Any strategy has to have a focus. What do you want to achieve? How, in general, do you want to achieve that goal? What process will you use? What interim objectives do you want/need to reach? Does your objective relate to changing behaviors, educating people, recruiting volunteers, or changing something specific in the law? Answering such questions should be the beginning of any strategic approach to innovation in the social sector. Of course those are only a few of the possibilities. You need to decide if your real aim is public education, a specific social change (such as outlawing abortion), raising more money, getting more people to enroll in a government-sponsored program, or something else entirely. Once you’ve got that answer it will be easier to know whether you should focus on learning creative thinking techniques or problem analysis or decision analysis, or design thinking. In any case, you’ll benefit greatly if you can learn and use one new technique in each of those areas. Several possible processes could be helpful. There are general techniques of brainstorming, systematic idea generation (logical forms of brainstorming), problem analysis, and decision analysis. There are also comprehensive approaches to innovation. Engineers have TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving). Social innovators have lateral thinking ®, design thinking, Einstein thinking, and other comprehensive procedures for getting workable new ideas.
Your strategic goal could be to educate the public so that some critical mass of people recognizes X as a problem. People will start to demand that corporate executives or government officials do something about X. Maybe there is a political gap to be filled. We need a law or regulation or policy. You can’t track current events for more than a few days before you encounter some person or group who wants a particular law, policy, or regulation.
You may want to start building a strategy by scanning the environment. All groups and formal organizations operate in a social environment consisting of people, laws, regulations, economic conditions, technologies, cultural values, and natural resources to name a few elements of the social environment. You may want to institute a formal scanning process to check out the social environment. Systematically assessing the strengths of your organization, its weaknesses, threats from the social environment, and opportunities in the social environment constitutes the dominant process of scanning the environment. This SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, as it is called in strategic planning literature, is standard practice and can be learned without too much difficulty. Many organizations rely on facilitated strategic planning workshops because this ensures that professionals are leading the analysis. Those workshops aren’t cheap. Small community groups and nonprofit organizations who want to do any environmental scanning or strategic planning will need to substitute time for money. Check the end of this chapter for resources on strategic planning and environmental scanning.
Studying the social environment needs to be a regular activity and not something that happens when you decide to update your strategic plan. The best method for content analysis is to read things, lots of things. Read to find information on politics, economic trends, and popular culture. Real and proposed legislation of certain types may also be relevant. New social science research, particularly in various branches of psychology can also be valuable. Your primary sources should be scholarly journals, specialized Web sites, and specialty magazines. Anything published in a newsmagazine or book is probably old news to experts. Popular magazines that touch on subjects like sociology, psychology, and environmental issues may be more timely in the news they report.
Where do you steal ideas from anyway? Well, content analysis may help. You will see a program or policy or education strategy that’s working in a different context. Maybe the education idea was created for high school students. Is there anything to stop you from stealing the idea and using it to educate adults in the community? Nope. Ideas can’t be patented or copyrighted. Books and magazines from outside your area of work and outside your personal sphere of interests may also be useful. Maybe you can get a good idea from a magazine on World War II history or a book on goal setting.
Do you need a new idea and not just one that’s already been used elsewhere? Content analysis can show you a new idea that you can use. The idea still needs to be adapted to your particular circumstances. This process may be relatively straightforward. Or, you may need to create a slightly different “design” for your borrowed idea. And completely different ideas can also be useful if you apply some imagination. Asking outrageous questions can help. How can a vending machine get inner city poor people more interested in their health? You’ll learn a method for answering that question in Chapter 2.

Idea Stealing, Again

Consider design thinking. As Edward De Bono points out the cause of a problem can be something that cannot be remedied or removed, at least by any imaginable human effort. If “human nature” is at the root of the problem, or seems to be a major contributor then you have to create a new way to move forward. You leave human nature alone and find a way to work around it.
Wide-ranging reading interests form the foundation for good idea stealing. How else will you find something to steal? Well, wide-ranging Web surfing and conversation work too. In fact, all three approaches should be part of an effort to find ideas that can be copied, adapted, or combined in some way. Reading about a variety of subjects will naturally expose you to new concepts and innovations that might be helpful in some way. Conversations will people working in different fields or in the same field can lead to new ideas and insights.
In case you need some ideas for new things to read, this list offers some suggestions by subject area:

Advocacy – psychology of persuasion and influence, social marketing, literature on the selling and diffusion of ideas, sustainable development, copywriting
Education – social marketing, sustainable development
Fundraising – business literature on sales marketing, and branding; psychology of persuasion and influence, copywriting
Policy and Program – sustainable development, policy analysis, social forecasting
Social Innovation – sustainable development, social marketing, creativity, marketing (especially branding, copywriting, and psychology of persuasion)

Design Thinking

Our culture, including values, norms, beliefs, and technology, may be missing something that’s relevant to solving a problem or exploiting an opportunity. Problem analysis is likely to be needed here, so you can identify what needs to be created, changed or improved. Creative thinking may be required to create a workable social innovation or sociotechnical system (a combination of people and technology designed to achieve a specific goal) that can support culture change. Modern factory production is a sociotechnical system composed of factory workers, robots, pneumatic tools, and the actual assembly line. A system of Web sites, collaboration software, and local activist groups would be a sociotechnical system created to promote a certain worldview or policy or social change.
Specific processes and concepts that support design thinking can be learned and used by anyone. Design of social innovations is not some esoteric craft that only the university educated can master. Considering the fit between your idea and the community or organization that’s supposed to use the idea is not difficult to do. The point is to consider the value, fit and other elements in a systematic fashion.
And what about the “gaps” in society between how things do work and could work? Those gaps are places where new ideas need to be created and sold. Maybe there are problems that have gone unsolved because no solution that will sell has yet been put forth. Maybe the problem has not, as yet, been recognized as a problem. Maybe you can see an opportunity to improve society in some way. There is no real problem, broadly defined, just a way to do more of something or to do something better. You can probably think of something about society that is not an actual problem but could be made better. Go ahead and think of something, then start reading again.

Creative Thinking

New ideas, variations on existing ideas, and novel combinations of ideas might be needed. Any sort of social betterment effort is likely to need new ideas from time-to-time. New ideas can mean better fundraising results, more people changing a certain behavior, or an idea that becomes a ballot initiative. There are books, card decks (yes, card decks), classes, and software available.
Starting off with one or two simple techniques applied with the help of a pen and a piece of paper might just do the trick. If not, there are sophisticated techniques that may give better results. Some creative-thinking techniques are intuitive – they are probably the sorts of tools you would think of when you think of brainstorming – but logical techniques also exist.
Creativity can be a solitary effort, but probably shouldn’t be! Involve other people to generate ideas, evaluate ideas, or to refine your thinking about what counts as a good idea. Collaboration doesn’t even require being in the same area as the other people. The Internet makes it easy to work together on brainstorming, evaluating ideas, improving ideas, and implementing ideas.
Software can help whether you go it alone or work with a group to generate and refine ideas. There is specialized software to facilitate solo brainstorming, group brainstorming, and major efforts to innovate. Creative-thinking software costs anywhere from $0 to thousands. Some of the software is quite simple to use, like a text-editing program, while other titles are more like professional desktop publishing packages.
Knowledge gaps can be a problem when we need to vote on a ballot initiative, on a politician, or make a significant purchase decision. Do people know what social scientists consider the main contributors to crime, or overuse of credit? If not, maybe their votes or their political activism will not give desirable results. Creative thinking can help us find ways of closing that knowledge gap through innovative advertising efforts. Maybe creating lessons for colleges or secondary schools would work. Information gathering can tell us where the knowledge gap exists and how big it is and even what some of the consequences are.
Decision analysis can help us to choose a good way of addressing the knowledge gap. We can see the likely consequences of a certain decision’s implementation. We can also systematically and with reduced bias see the pros and cons of a course of action. We can make better-informed decisions by leaning to prioritize ideas according to an explicit set of criteria.

Scientific Thinking

The desire to make things happen and feel like we are doing something important really shouldn’t get in the way of facts, logic, and theory. Facts are obviously important to understanding an issue. But they also help us determine if our program or project is really working and how well. Focusing on the facts keeps us grounded in reality. How many well-intentioned efforts have fallen short because the relevant facts got ignored? How much money and effort were wasted?
Logic forces us to make arguments that hold together when we examine the premises and assumptions behind our ideas. We can also apply some logic to other peoples’ ideas. For activists, this is a good tactic to use in fighting someone else’s opposing idea. Logic can lead to insights that change peoples’ perceptions of an issue, policy, program, attitude, or behavior.
Theories are not guesses. Theories are descriptions of the ways in which groups of phenomena are related. The theory of evolution is a set of propositions that explain many changes in living things over billions of years. A theory of deviance can help us identify ways of combating juvenile delinquency. Selling an idea based on science rather than an ideologically based opinion about what ought to be done is a separate issue. Good luck!
Social science research can help us understand an issue and can lend credibility to our cause. Of course, that credibility only goes so far, since ideology and emotion tend to trump facts. The research also helps us understand the mechanisms that lead to social conditions that we want to change.
Science is based on facts, logic, and descriptions of relationships between phenomena that can be observed. What does this mean for your innovation or social change efforts? How do scientific thinking, creative problem solving, problem analysis, decision analysis, idea evaluation, and the selling of an idea fit together? Facts are “selling points” for an idea. Statistics, both good and bad, may support your idea and its value. Has substance abuse among teens been on the rise in your community? Don’t just tell us that it is so. Give us some numbers and the credible source they came from. Use facts to help you understand the source of a problem. Again, statistics that relate to the scale or nature of a problem can be helpful.
Developing and testing hypotheses about a problem can be even more helpful. Hypothesis testing sounds like an esoteric intellectual exercise, but it can actually be quite simple. You’ll learn more about forming hypotheses, testing them, and using the results in Chapter 4.
Logic can help you make a case for something. This much is obvious. But you also need to use logic on your own plans and ideas. You need to think objectively about your cause; objectivity is another trait associated with scientists. Scientists have opinions and beliefs but those things are usually suppressed in favor of a value-neutral examination of the subject under study. Activists may object to objectivity. We know domestic violence is a big problem. We know domestic violence has to be stopped. How can anyone approach the fight against domestic violence in a coldly rational way, like a machine?
Pure rationality is not the point, and can’t be achieved anyway. The point is to try and divorce thinking about what ought to be done, which is rightly the domain of human values, with how things ought to be done, which should be largely objective. Of course values still have a role to play in guiding our selection of strategies and tactics.
Logic can spare us from pursuing silly ideas that we can’t sell to anyone and that may not do any good even if they are implemented. Consider the errors in logic listed in this list:

Ambiguous terms
Unidentified information sources
Invalid generalizations
Reliance on analogies
Selected, supportive information
Appeals to authority
Red herrings(unrelated issues, tangents)
Mudslinging (attacking the other side)
Emotionally loaded terms, arguments
Slippery slope arguments

Could you get yourself or other people in trouble if your thinking is tainted by one of those logical fallacies? Probably. Your credibility with a skeptical and potentially hostile public or government is on the line. You wouldn’t support a plan that rests mainly on the idea that Congress is full of pinhead conservatives would you? Would you? You can’t expect the conservative or moderate public to take seriously such weak thinking. It will seem obvious that we are being manipulated. Appeals to emotion – “The terrorists could nuke your city one day!” – are obvious ploys that only work if we already agree with the point you want to make. One likes to think so anyway.
Aside from the strength or weakness of our own logic, knowing the rules can help us fight the other side(s) in a debate. Are they saying a proposal will start an inevitable slide into barbarism? Did they accuse someone on your side of being a crazy communist? Use those two sins against clear thought to show us why we can’t trust the other guy. Start keeping a written record of logical fallacies that are being arrayed against your cause.
Numbers are important to any effort at changing society or improving peoples’ lives. The right data will tell you where you are, whether things are getting better or worse and whether your efforts are paying off or not. Finding and understanding statistical data is not hard, really. Using the data to help you understand or publicize the issue in question is also not that hard. True, social scientists do use sophisticated techniques to model behavior and describe relationships between social phenomena. You don’t need to know much, if anything, about those methods. Some information on those advanced statistical topics can be found in the Recommended Reading section at the end of this chapter.
Many books and Web sites combine to offer a flood of statistics that might help you. It can be a bit like opening your over-full closet and having things spill out closet all over the floor. You can manage this problem by starting with a few tried and true sources. The United States Census Bureau conducts several surveys, including the famous decennial census. Those surveys are an incredibly rich source of economic and demographic data offered at varying levels of geographic detail. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also publishes extensive data on business and employment. The Environmental Protection agency may have useful statistics on environmental quality. The Department of Justice may be able to furnish statistics on criminal behavior. State governments will generally the same sorts of data available at the state level. Some city governments will also have statistics available.
As you consider what data you need and how you will use it, there are a couple of often-violated rules you should keep in mind. Rates and percentages are typically more important than raw numbers. Trends are also more important than raw numbers in many cases. What percent of teenagers in your city were arrested between 2000 to 2006? Is the percentage increasing or decreasing? An organization that wants to fight juvenile delinquency by giving teenagers positive things to work for could benefit from asking questions about the rates of different behaviors. That information can help them decide how to focus their energies.
Statistics have at least four general uses. The right data can help people decide how to focus their resources. Statistics can be good public education tools. Numbers are a convenient way to show the scale of the problem or a trend, positive or negative. Statistics could also help an organization raise money through grants or fundraising letters or appeals on Web sites. Finally, statistics can help in attempts to change behavior. A university could fight binge drinking on campus by reporting data on what percentage of students say they never have more than five drinks when they drink.
Analytical Thinking

Study the parts of a challenge and see how they relate to one another. Look for influences from the political environment, the natural environment, technology, demographics, or the local economy. No problem or opportunity exists in a vacuum, as you well know. The point is to take that common sense idea and apply it as needed.
Instead of asserting that the root of the problem is X or Y, state a specific hypothesis about the problem. Identify evidence that would show whether the hypothesis is true or false. Then, analyze the evidence and act on the results. That process is similar to, but less rigorous than, the standard scientific process.
Ask questions about your challenge. Explore the likely root of the problem, the contributing factors that can make things worse (or better!), and the criteria that a solution has to meet. Ask questions about the characteristics of a good solution to a challenge.
Analytical thinking will not replace emotion or ideology. That would be unrealistic and undesirable, at least in the case of replacing emotion with cold calculation. Analytical thinking is more relevant to the arguable useful task of forming a buffer between our emotions and biases and the decision to engage in a particular action.

Market Thinking

Activists, fundraisers, and anyone with an education message or program to promote are participating in a marketplace. The programs, policies, behavior changes and such need to be sold. “Why should I donate to your cause instead of another, or instead of keeping the money for myself?” Social changers have to compete for attention and money with other causes, peoples’ hobbies, and (of course) commercial products and services. It can’t hurt to consider the audience for your message or idea:

Who is the audience?
How can you reach them?
What do they want? What do they care about? How do they think about the world?
What benefits can you offer your audience?
What evidence can you present to show that your audience will get the benefits?
What exactly do you want your audience to do?
All nine elements of the rational activism “plan” work for any sort of social betterment effort. Social activism obviously calls for some strategic thinking and applied imagination. Education, whether through schools or public education campaigns, calls for scientific thinking and a willingness to steal ideas. Fundraising efforts often need a little creativity and a strategic focus. Program and policy development calls for analytical thinking, scientific thinking, and creativity. Activism, program design, policy development, and public education often call for some good marketing.

Social Change and Innovation Strategy

Changing something in the structure of society – including the relationships between different groups of people – may be your strategic focus. You’ll need some tools for determining which structural gap your group should focus on. Then you’ll need to create or adapt ideas. You may need to do some problem analysis first. What is the cause of this problem in the structure of society? How do we act to improve things? Creative thinking can help you identify options. Having specific rules for judging ideas will help you pick a good idea. Creative thinking can help you sell your idea to citizens, corporate executives, or politicians.
Of course you have to implement a strategy for it to do any good. You need to have tactics that you can use, and then you have to use those tactics. How do you develop tactics that will support your strategy? We come back to the issue of creativity. You may have standard tactics you can use in, for example, demonstrations against something. You may find tactics from other fields that would work. Brainstorming using one or more formal techniques may produce workable new tactics.
How do you implement a strategy? In part, this question was answered earlier in the chapter. You have to decide whether to buy a book, take a class, download free software, or talk to coworkers about what to do. Try to learn the software or techniques you read about in a book by working on a real challenge. Why wait to start attacking a problem or trying to exploit an opportunity. OK, so identifying the cause(s) of a problem may be the right first step. The right first step may also be to look at approaches to an opportunity that you’ve discovered. How can you best proceed and take advantage of the opportunity? What is your first move? What is your second move?
Where will you implement your strategic approach? If you head a nonprofit, then the answer is obvious. Or maybe the answer isn’t so obvious. Maybe management staff only needs to be involved. Maybe some program staff and volunteers need to be involved. What will you do first? Telling everyone to read a particular book is a good start. You could get some used copies online for a reasonable amount of money. I’ve seen used creative-thinking books for under $5 on Amazon.com
Do you need to get professional help? What sort of help do you need? There are three possibilities to consider. You could hire a consultant to walk your group through a problem-solving exercise or a strategic planning session. This is certainly a reasonable approach. The second option you have is to call in a trainer to teach lateral thinking, problem analysis, or other tools and techniques. You may need an outside consultant to install and configure software. Some collaborative software is quite complex. The third option involves consultants but may not be so obvious: hire a consultant to help you reproduce a program/service/solution that’s being used somewhere else. You could figure out to copy almost anything on your own. Hiring an expert will save time and money and probably considerable frustration.

Chapter 2 – Innovation Tools & Tactics

Everyone knows about brainstorming. Most of us have done some informal brainstorming. Maybe the results were useful and maybe not. Some people have learned formal techniques for generating new ideas. This chapter describes some of those techniques and the two options for using the techniques: pen-and-paper, or computer software. Individual and group techniques exist. You should know something about each sort of brainstorming. After all, most of us work with other people sometimes. Software can only be described in a general way since products and manufacturers come and go. I will mention some titles that have been around for a few years and seem to come from stable companies.
Problem solving in general is another process we are all familiar with. Just as there are formal techniques for brainstorming, there are many formal techniques for problem solving.

Solving the Right Problem

Much of what goes before can also apply to problem-solving methods. Your informal analysis of a problem may be adequate, or not. Often social problems and problems in organization’s have multiple causes. By definition, the cause of a problem is not known. A problem is any deviation from the desired performance, where the cause of the deviation is unknown as defined in The New Rational Manager. A formal approach offers more structure. Relevant facts, relationships, and hypotheses are more likely to get attention. Our own biases and perceptions will tend to color an informal analysis of the problem. This coloring effect is likely to be especially acute in advocacy or social activism. We have decided that we know what to do. We need to ban this or regulate that, or stop people from doing something. When we have “discovered” the source of the problem we tend to go right to a specific solution, specific strategies, and specific tactics. This is not a bad thing really. We depend on being able to find standardized or routine responses to the problems we encounter. Edward De Bono made that point in New Thinking for the New Millennium.
In creating new social institutions, programs, policies, and education initiatives we have the additional problem of emotions and ideological biases. We see the solution in our own emotional reactions, reaching for one certain solution that occurs to us. Or, we find a solution in a certain ideological perspective. The radical leftist finds a leftist solution and starts to work. Sometimes people do good things when they go on emotional and/or ideological crusades. One woman got dozens of nations to stop using land mines. Adam Walsh, whose son was kidnapped and beheaded in the 1980s, founded the highly successful Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Still, the general point about structuring your analysis of an issue stands. The techniques you will learn about in Chapter 4 will help structure the problem solving process. Use the techniques and you will be able to make better decisions about how to proceed. Studying the factors contributing to a social or environmental problem can only improve your solution. At the very least, you will have a better chance of selling one of your ideas if you can present supporting facts.

Knowing What to Do

These thoughts about creativity and problem analysis are all interesting, but we already know what needs to be done. You may have had that thought while reading. Maybe even before you opened the covers of this book. You would naturally know what to do after being involved in an issue or cause for some time. But do you know the best, practical thing you can do to change peoples’ minds, design a better policy, or create a better social program? What if someone challenged you to come up with a way to do more with your budget or create better results for clients with no more money or staff? Do you know how to analyze an idea for weaknesses? Is there some opportunity that you have overlooked?
Taking a formal approach to creativity and a structured approach to problem solving is the way to cope with those kinds of questions. When you know a reliable way to generate ideas, evaluate them, and strengthen them you will never go for long without a workable new idea. A shortage of money or staff becomes both a creative challenge and a way to sell your bold new idea: “I have this idea for streamlining our work so we can handle 30 extra cases without another staff person.” A structured problem solving approach may lead to different conclusions about a problem. Is your novel approach to teen drug abuse really addressing the source of the problem?
Many political proposals address nothing in particular. They are created so government officials can say they are doing something about an issue that citizens are complaining about. Companies are not much better in this regard. They pretend to be “green” or “socially responsible” and create advertising campaigns to tell us they care. Governments create ideologically driven policies and programs that are sometimes created without any reference to facts or analysis. The way to deal with crime is to build more jails and hire more cops. The reasoning here is probably that people choose to become criminals and so we need to deter people from being bad or lock them up. “Scared straight” programs in schools appeal to conservatives despite any evidence that they do work or could work. Most people don’t carefully consider the consequences of criminal behavior until the act has been committed.
Pen-and-aper work perfectly well so why bother with software. Some of it costs serious money and might be hard to use. Why pay for software? What sort of software should you use? Well, if you are interested solely in brainstorming new ideas, there is reasonably cheap mind mapping software. Mind mapping is a brainstorming technique that you’ll learn more about in Chapter 8. Using software that works in a variety of situations and helps you evaluate your ideas is also a good idea. You can get this type of comprehensive software for under $200 a copy. Software that allows people to collaborate online, and that is made just for generating ideas, would cost more. A geographically dispersed organization may want to make the investment anyway.
Why pay for mindmapping software in particular? Can’t people just draw their maps? If you are the only one who needs to see or use the mindmap then using pen and paper is no problem. However, software can produce neat and attractive mind maps that are easily exported to presentation software or word processing software. Complex diagrams are almost impossible to create with presentation software or word processing software. Diagramming software like Microsoft Visual Studio is a little too complicated and expensive for simple mind mapping. Some mind mapping software can cost over $200 but some versions are considerable less than $100. FreeMind is a free, open-source tool for mindmapping.

Systematic Creativity

The first question that crosses many peoples’ minds is this: Why do we need to use a formal technique or techniques to brainstorm new ideas? Some people will wonder how much creativity is really called for if plenty of ideas already exist. The truth is that hoping for the right idea to present itself is not a good strategy. Hope is not a strategy, as the title of one popular business book advised us. The quality and quantity of ideas that come from informal brainstorming may not be good. You may not have carefully defined what counts as a good idea. That too is part of formal brainstorming. You should spell out the characteristics that a good idea must possess.

Training and Consulting

Innovation and problem solving can both be quite complex. The more factors to consider the harder it can be to do the right thing. The higher the stakes in a given situation, the more important it is to proceed carefully. While most techniques you might need are amenable to self-directed learning, formal training may be in order. Many people, perhaps most people, aren’t much good at self-teaching unless they happen to be fascinated by a subject. So, taking classes in Lateral Thinking® or Internet research may make sense. Read on and you’ll see the value of Internet research.
Consultants are already experts at dealing with certain sorts of issues or in applying certain methodologies. Assuming a consultant’s fees fit the budget, it might make sense to get some professional help. A consultant could expertly run a group brainstorming session, or help you develop a new strategy. The Resources section at the end of this chapter lists places to find consultants.

Good Ideas

Good ideas have several characteristics in common. Like good goals, good ideas need to be realistic. A good idea needs to be logically linked to the desired result. Science and logic will help determine whether an idea really fits the goal. Good ideas are realistic given the time and other resources that are available.
The relationship between the mechanism that contributes to a problem and your idea needs to be supported by evidence. Why will banning handgun ownership in the United States reduce murder rates? This question might seem easy to answer, but don’t be so quick about saying so. Reading scholarly research on the effects of gun control might not turn up a clear connection between murder rates and handgun ownership rates. Assuming there is a connection between handgun ownership and murder rates our campaign against handgun ownership makes some sense. Other factors might actually have a bigger impact on murder rates than access to handguns, so we can only say that the idea of banning handguns makes some sense. Other approaches may be more effective and/or efficient ways of reducing the murder rate.

Software

Software will take an hour to a few dozen hours depending on the software. Some brainstorming software is easy to use; any computer literate person can learn to use it in an hour or so. Comprehensive tools like ThoughtOffice® and MindSightss ® are going to take much longer to master. Some vendors offer software for managing organization-wide problem solving and brainstorming efforts. That enterprise software is going to take still longer to master. So, when thinking about software a potential buyer needs to consider cost, learning curve, and complexity. Will your staff be able to easily master the software considering the likelihood that there is no formal training available?
Software costs can vary from almost nothing to tens of thousands of dollars. What you pay naturally depends somewhat on the software’s capabilities. The more different things it can do the more it will cost. Software that’s designed to be installed on servers and run throughout a medium-to-large organization could run in the tens of thousands of dollars. Fortunately, there is some free or dirt-cheap software that can adequately manage the sort of “enterprise innovation” efforts that a large nonprofit or an activist network would attempt.

Deciding Where to Start

So, cost should not be a huge barrier to using innovation tools in your group or organization. Software is usually not too expensive. Getting a book of two from the library is free. Or, you can get just the titles you want from a large online bookstore and spend less than $10 a copy. Training and consulting are much more expensive, of course. Idea management software – you use it for managing idea generation over an Intranet or the Web – is expensive. What you pay for is obviously going to depend on a your interest level in innovation, your resources, and your tolerance for risk. Rolling out a big idea management system will be expensive in money and staff time and could be a flop. Or, it could be a huge success. Buying books for yourself and your staff, with the intent of applying the methods described, would be much cheaper. Your chances of at least a modest success are also quite high.
Should you do things yourself or get professional help? Well, you have to know yourself and your staff and coworkers. If everyone in the group is a self-directed learner, then reading a book or two is a good starting point. Buying software and figuring it out is also a viable option. Just keep in mind that no training of any sort is available for most creativity software. On the other hand, most of the software is relatively easy to use.
Learning complicated brainstorming techniques or solving a difficult problem may be something you are confident of handling on your own. Or, you may decide to hire someone. Some training classes are open to the public and not just put on for specific clients. Assuming you can afford the fee, the classes are a good option. Most people learn better in a structured environment. The classes also tend to come with travel and lodging costs since you aren’t likely to find one that’s being held nearby at a convenient time.
Using all of these tools and learning to use them is also a significant investment of time. So, as with cost, you need to weigh how much you need to accomplish against the significant time investment. You can start off cheaply, and you can start off with a low investment of time and energy. Get involved in things that are more time consuming as your schedule allows or as your innovation needs demand more powerful and complex tools. Learning the techniques described in The Creative Activism Guide should only take a few hours of reading and practicing.

Results

What can you really expect to get out of using the brainstorming, problem analysis, and decision making tools? That’s a fair question, so here are some examples:

A fundraising campaign could raise significantly more money.
A government employment agency could place more people in jobs in less time.
A public education effort intended to keep middle-school students from smoking could get more kids to abstain.
A school could cut the number of fights (fistfights and shouting matches) by 90%, or more. Edward De Bono reports that fights in a South African mine were cut by 98% after miners learned some “thinking tools” developed by De Bono.
An activist group could get more minutes, or column inches of press coverage, which translates to more attention to the group’s idea.

Online Innovation Resources

Yes, the World Wide Web is an indispensable resource for activists and others who want to create and sell new ideas. Many Web sites offer tips or instructions covering all phases of brainstorming and problem solving. Mindtools.com offers free information on brainstorming tools and decision-making techniques. Of course, online bookstores offer access to more creativity, innovation, decision making, and problem solving books than you could ever hope to find at a library or a brick-and-mortar bookstore.
Web sites also offer ideas you can use, at least for inspiration. The best of these sites is undoubtedly the Global Idea Bank, where you can find thousands of social innovations described in varying levels of detail. The site also offers books of social innovations. You can even submit your own ideas and possibly win the site’s annual ₤1,000 prize for the year’s best social innovation. You may also want to check on the Half Bakery at halfbakery.com or Premises, Premise at premises.com. If one of those sites happens to be gone, try a Google search for “social innovations.”
Web sites can also teach you some psychological and sociological concepts, tricks, or tips that can help you get good ideas and sell them. Stealing ideas and working with concepts are two important elements of creativity. You may as well look for ideas to steal at one of those innovation sites. And you can look for concepts to use on sites devoted to sociology and psychology, maybe. (A “concept” is a general way of doing something. Drawing attention to the source of a problem is a concept one could use to get people to change their behavior. Another concept may be to give an example of what to do.) More likely is to find tips on designing successful innovations and selling your ideas to others. You may also discover social scientific research that helps you understand why people and organizations work. If you understand your audience and their social environment you have a much better idea of successfully implementing a new idea.

Business Ideas

One of the key components of creative problem solving is the ability to find and adapt ideas that are being used successfully in other areas. The business world offers a great source of ideas for nonprofits, governments, schools, and social entrepreneurs. Businesses have products and services to sell. Businesses try to position themselves in customers’ minds as the best solution for some problem that consumers have. Businesses obviously engage in marketing efforts of all sorts. Businesses are always looking for new products, services, products, and marketing tricks. Would-be social changers could learn a few tricks from the business world. The trick is to know how to find ideas and how to adapt them to the social sector.
Consider some common marketing tricks that businesses use. Maybe those methods will spark ideas. Maybe something from the list that follows will spark an idea you can use. Of course you’ll start out by defining a problem or opportunity that you’d like to tackle.

Coupons
Midnight madness sales
Clearance sales
Special events, like fashion shows and celebrity autograph sessions
Sponsorships, especially of sports teams

Figure out what counts as a good idea for your particular circumstances, and then think about a business practice to borrow. Defining a focus for your efforts, evaluating the possibilities and deciding what to do are all necessary steps in a serious innovation effort. Chapters 3, 8, and 11 offer more guidance on doing those things.

The Marketing Mindset

You will probably not be able to accomplish much on your own. Changing society, improving the community, and starting a new project in an organization all take some degree of salesmanship. Nowhere is this truer than in social marketing: getting people to change their own behavior for their own benefit (as opposed to promoting behavior change to sell more stuff) self-help books). Thinking like a marketer means keeping a couple of things in mind.
The most important element of thinking like a marketer is to remember that you are selling something. You are selling the idea that people need to vote a certain way, adopt a certain behavior, think a certain way, or stop a behavior. It can only help your case if you can appeal to peoples’ interests. You could tap into one of the things that motivate people. Psychologists identify and classify desires in different ways, including the motivators in this list:

Acceptance
Acknolwedgement
Contribution
Consistency
Family
Novelty
Physical Security
Power

How could you use one or more of those motivators in an advertisement, editorial, letter to the editor, essay, Web page or speech? You could even try tapping into one or two motivators with a sign or banner or small newspaper ad.
Appeal to peoples’ interests/needs/wants. People are always reading an advertising message and wondering what’s in it for them. What’s the benefit for me if I swear off meat? What do I get out of going to all of the trouble to find locally grown organic produce? If you don’t know, then you don’t have a viable social marketing effort.
In Jump Start Your Business Brain, Doug Hall presents two more ideas that could be transferred to the world of social change. What is the real reason to believe that if I do what you want I will get the benefits you claim? Marketers also use a unique selling proposition (USP), a benefit that consumers can only get from that product or service. What benefit can your program, service, or idea give people that they can’t get, at least in equal measure anywhere else?

Read more about The Creative Activism Guide and Chester Davis HERE.

Copyright 2008 Chester Davis. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Excerpt:  

Chapter 5

Where Are The Lines?

“Honest communication is the key to creating a healthy boundary.” – Mark Sichel and Alicia L. Cervini

Successful Couplepreneurs set boundaries.

What are boundaries anyway?

Boundaries, in this context, are not about time and place, but rather what behaviors are acceptable to you and your partner. Personal issues will, inevitably, cross over, into your business; and business issues will creep into your home.  How these issues are handled by you and your partner is what’s important.  Emotions should not be allowed to negatively affect either your business or personal relationship.

When a couple is together both at home and in business, they can become confused about the roles they should play in each of these worlds.  First, you must acknowledge that these two worlds are very different. The world of work is where we kick into high gear and drive ourselves to succeed.  The world of home is where we seek comfort, love and safety – where we kick back.  Granted, there are similarities between these two worlds: both require attention to details, teamwork and problem solving.  The essential difference though, is that work is the world of competition, and home is the world of nurturing.  Consistently respecting boundaries is critical to maintain a harmonious relationship with your partner in both worlds.

Why set boundaries?

One of the biggest pitfalls of being Couplepreneurs is that you may not be able to tell the difference between your bedroom and the boardroom.  And I’m only half kidding.  Work conflicts can spill over into your personal relationship, and personal conflicts can enter into the business relationship, and can be just as difficult to contain as an oil spill.

Successful Couplepreneurs establish firm rules regarding where and when talking about business is off-limits. This is vitally important in maintaining the “couple” relationship – as well as maintaining their sanity. However, insisting that all personal and business issues be kept separate is simply not realistic.  To maintain healthy relationships in both realms, you must set boundaries that support each other, your relationship, and your business.

Setting boundaries

Without limits regarding bringing business conflicts into your personal relationship, your business can become toxic to your home life. Allowing personal issues to infect the business creates tension and undermines effectiveness. Boundaries can focus on the physical space – i.e. work disagreements are only handled in the office (even if it is a home office); personal issues, in the living space.

Paul and Layne Cutright, best-selling authors of You’re Never Upset for the Reason You Think and co-owners of Enlightened Partners, Scottsdale, AZ have established a strict physical boundary to separate their home-based business life from their personal life. One of their rules is that the bedroom is off limits for any business discussion.  Paul states, “The bedroom is reserved for peace, rest, and romance.”

Also, rules about time need to be established to accommodate each partner’s “prime times” – i.e. if your partner is a morning person, 11:00 p.m. may not be the best time to discuss anything, let alone a business conflict.
It is very important to establish specific business hours and, when they are over, business is not to be discussed. This is difficult to do, but is well worth the effort. Confine business discussions to business hours or, if you must, set aside time to discuss business before or after hours.  For example, take the last half hour of the day, and discuss the business day: bring up suggestions, talk about what was accomplished, go over what needs to be done tomorrow, etc.  If you need to extend the business day to do this, then do so.
Jean: In the beginning, this was a big problem for Tom and me.  I am a morning person and require eight hours of sleep to function well.  Tom only requires four hours of sleep.  We were working long hours and not getting home until after nine some nights.  Then Tom would want to discuss business until the wee hours.  My brain turns to mush at ten.  I just couldn’t concentrate and would resort to the “whatever” attitude.  He would then accuse me of not caring about the business.  (In his opinion, one of the worst sins in the world is not caring).  I would defend myself.  We would argue.  We wouldn’t solve any business issues, and then, on top of it, we’d have some personal issues to resolve, too. We realized something had to change, so we set up a weekly meeting time, during business hours. Of course, issues inevitably arose that couldn’t wait that long, so we ultimately set up ‘business discussions only up until dinnertime” rule, which seemed to work.

What other Successful Couplepreneurs have done:

Pat and Rich Hartwell of The Hartwell Group in Doylestown, PA have handled the boundary issue by having a weekly meeting at five a.m. in their home.  This is before the rest of the family arises, and thus, there are no distractions.  They discuss only business issues, and they have an agreed-upon hand signal that either one can use to indicate they have had enough discussion.

Sherry and Austin are husband/wife accounting partners. Sherri says, “Austin liked to talk about work at home and I wanted to turn it off.”  They now head for a local diner each morning, after dropping off their children at school. “We may talk about work, we may talk about kids, but we talk. For 30 minutes every day, we sit across from each other and have a civil, relaxing conversation,” she says.

What you can do:

You two need to decide together what behaviors are and are not acceptable and then hold your partner and yourself to these limits. It is both your responsibility to take care of your personal relationship and your business and to protect them when necessary.  You need to show respect for your partner, your relationship and your business by behaving appropriately in each different situation. Setting boundaries saves you time and energy and eliminates conflict. Having well-defined boundaries gives you both more freedom and helps you relate to each other in business and at home.

Jean: I always felt Tom shared too much about our personal life with people at work. Not real secrets, but social plans, things I had said to him, family events, etc.  I am a much more private person than he is.  I didn’t like it when people would later repeat the information back to me. I would get embarrassed, insulted, and angry that he shared “our stuff”.  I would complain to him.  He didn’t get it.  We argued.  When I learned about requesting, instead of complaining, I firmly requested that he stop. And he did: He stopped sharing so much personal stuff.  Instead, he started telling lame jokes. I don’t know which was worse.

One way to clearly separate your home life from the business is to acknowledge that at the end of a stressful workday you may need time to yourselves to decompress before interacting with each other again.  If at all possible, you should build time after work to unwind (even if you work from home).  Once you both feel relatively composed you can re-connect and enjoy each other’s company.

When boundaries are crossed

The success of both your business and your personal relationship are jeopardized when boundaries are crossed. When this occurs, immediate damage control is required. For example, if you have a problem with the way your partner is handling a business task discuss it as soon as possible. Do not wait. Do not let your frustration or displeasure grow into anger that is then transferred to your personal relationship.

Also, if you have a problem in your personal lives, don’t let it affect how you work together in the business. Focus on the business task at hand and not the personal issue. If the problem is interfering with business, resolve it as soon as possible. Don’t let resentment undermine your working effectiveness.

There is specific language you can use immediately when someone’s behavior crosses the line.  You must address the infraction immediately, saying, “Do you realize that you just (name the behavior)?  When anyone does this to me, I feel (name your feeling).  I request that you stop.  Will you do that?”  If this does not work and they continue the behavior say, “I insist that you stop.”  If that does not work, say, “I am leaving now” and remove yourself from the situation.

For example: “Do you realize that you just yelled at me?  When anyone yells as me I get really angry.  I request that you stop.”

This language may sound awkward to you initially, but it works.  Often, just putting a name to the offender’s behavior makes them stop short. Also, most people are not used to receiving direct requests. The question about complying with the request is powerful because it almost demands a “yes” answer.  Try this boundary protecting technique.  Its effectiveness will surprise you.

Couplepreneur Coaching

Questions to answer in your Couplepreneur Journal:

1.    Do business setbacks negatively affect your personal relationship?
2.    Do you allow personal arguments to affect business operations?
3.    Can you delay settling a personal argument with your partner until after business hours?
4.    Do you show respect for your partner in business meetings, even if a personal conflict is unresolved?
5.    Do you handle conflicts with your partner immediately or let them fester?
6.    Do you know how your partner likes to be treated in business?
7.    Do you know how your partner likes to be treated at home?
8.    Do you ever complain about or embarrass your partner in business situations?

What do your answers reveal about the boundaries you have between your personal and business relationships?
+ Share your insights with your partner.
+ State the boundaries for both your personal and work relationships.
+ Create ground rules.
+ Decide how each of you wants the relationship to work in both situations.
+ Post the ground rules where each of you can see them regularly.

Keep business issues where they belong with the following suggestions:

+ Designate places in your home, like your bedroom, where business conversation is banned.
+ Identify where business discussion is most appropriate.
+ Do not continue business arguments over dinner.
+ Regularly schedule business meetings regularly to resolve business issues.
+ If an issue is not resolved in one session, plan another session rather than continuing discussion throughout the evening.
+ Don’t take unfair advantage of your partner’s vulnerabilities by using secret emotional weapons.
+ Treat your partner as you would any other business partner.
+ Take time away from the business – create a “no-business” date with your partner.

Setting boundaries is a way of protecting your integrity, as well as the integrity of your partner and family.  In the next chapter you will learn the vital importance of agreeing on the impact your business is allowed to have on your family.

Copyright © 2008 Jean Charles. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.