I want to introduce you to a few very cool people. They are Kyle Hartman, Carl Jefferson and Nicki Pombier Berger.
These awesome folks applied and were selected to make up the first Motivate cohort. For 8 intense weeks, together they will be on a real adventure, having committed large parts of their lives to first learning more about themselves, discovering more about their purpose, and then finding a way to live it.
These awesome folks applied and were selected to make up the first Motivate cohort. For 8 intense weeks, together they will be on a real adventure, having committed large parts of their lives to first learning more about themselves, discovering more about their purpose, and then finding a way to live it.
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You will learn more about these 3 fine individuals in a moment. But first, I really need to talk to you about death.
Let's Talk About Death
Back when I launched Mighty Purpose I asked this community to share their feedback on a small number of concepts. The most warmly received of those concepts became the beta of Motivate.
The most interesting piece of feedback was how many of you hated a concept I called "You Should Be Afraid to Die". It was like you all were saying to me "don't talk about death". That's like double daring me to do something a little dangerous and whole lot of fun.
So, I'm going to talk about death. Specifically, you and I will explore what will happen after you die.
It seems to me that we only have 4 end of life options. Before I get into those, I have a fun fact for you. The first time I shared a version of this list was during a group job interview (I was doing the interviewing). It really elevated the conversation from being just about a job to being about how that job may or may not help the candidates live well. So let's use it to elevate our conversation here as well.
Here a menu of post-death alternatives:
1. You die. And then, if you are cool, you get to go to a happy place like Heaven, a pure land, or the Elysian Fields. Or, if you aren't so cool you get to go to a place like Hell, Nakara, or Hades.
2. You die. And then, if you are cool, you get reincarnated as someone even cooler (I propose Kyle, Carl and Nicki would be ideal people to be reincarnated as). Or, if you aren't cool, then you get reincarnated as a dung beetle.
3. You die. And then you live the life that just ended all over again. Every experience, every pain and every joy. Everything.
4. You die. And then that's it. You're done. There's nothing.
When I look a this list, my personal conclusion is that the decisions I make about how I will live make a real difference. Those choices matter, even if options 3 or 4 end up winning the day. You only have this life.
I was reminded of this when I read the short column Work and Life Don't Balance by EMyth's CEO Jonathan Raymond. If you are looking for something else quick and worthwhile to read today, then I suggest you check out this nice piece.
Mr. Raymond's point is that it doesn't make any sense to try to find work/life balance. The two are not equal. Your life is (or at least should be) much bigger than your work.
I would like to add to Mr. Raymond's excellent observation. As I pointed out in 4 Things You Need for the Good Life, your work can be a source of sustenance, success, sacrifice or strength. But work is just one role, just one source. Put work into the context of your life's other roles.
Yes it's a good thing to find the right balance between life-rolese lke work and family, or work and your expression faith. The relationship between different life-roles will rightly be different for everyone.
But its a bad thing when you make the mistake of letting your employment, or any other life-role, hold your whole life hostage. Don't do that. After all, you only get this life before your next stop, your next incarnation, your next replay, or "visit" with eternal oblivion.
If all this seems obvious to you, then that's excellent. I do suggest that, before you pat yourself on the back, you should examine how you actually live your life. If a single role in your life seems to take precedence over your entire life, then you have one thing you need to figure out: in what ways are preventing yourself from putting your different life roles into the right context?
I promise to share more about this idea later.
Meet the First Motivate Cohort
Who are the excellent individuals that stepped up, survived my screening process and ended up members of the first Motivate cohort? Let's find out.
You will be able to follow, support and participate in Kyle's, Carl's, Nicki's journies during the weeks to come. Their odyssey begins in early January.
Back when I launched Mighty Purpose I asked this community to share their feedback on a small number of concepts. The most warmly received of those concepts became the beta of Motivate.
The most interesting piece of feedback was how many of you hated a concept I called "You Should Be Afraid to Die". It was like you all were saying to me "don't talk about death". That's like double daring me to do something a little dangerous and whole lot of fun.
So, I'm going to talk about death. Specifically, you and I will explore what will happen after you die.
It seems to me that we only have 4 end of life options. Before I get into those, I have a fun fact for you. The first time I shared a version of this list was during a group job interview (I was doing the interviewing). It really elevated the conversation from being just about a job to being about how that job may or may not help the candidates live well. So let's use it to elevate our conversation here as well.
Here a menu of post-death alternatives:
1. You die. And then, if you are cool, you get to go to a happy place like Heaven, a pure land, or the Elysian Fields. Or, if you aren't so cool you get to go to a place like Hell, Nakara, or Hades.
2. You die. And then, if you are cool, you get reincarnated as someone even cooler (I propose Kyle, Carl and Nicki would be ideal people to be reincarnated as). Or, if you aren't cool, then you get reincarnated as a dung beetle.
3. You die. And then you live the life that just ended all over again. Every experience, every pain and every joy. Everything.
4. You die. And then that's it. You're done. There's nothing.
When I look a this list, my personal conclusion is that the decisions I make about how I will live make a real difference. Those choices matter, even if options 3 or 4 end up winning the day. You only have this life.
I was reminded of this when I read the short column Work and Life Don't Balance by EMyth's CEO Jonathan Raymond. If you are looking for something else quick and worthwhile to read today, then I suggest you check out this nice piece.
Mr. Raymond's point is that it doesn't make any sense to try to find work/life balance. The two are not equal. Your life is (or at least should be) much bigger than your work.
I would like to add to Mr. Raymond's excellent observation. As I pointed out in 4 Things You Need for the Good Life, your work can be a source of sustenance, success, sacrifice or strength. But work is just one role, just one source. Put work into the context of your life's other roles.
Yes it's a good thing to find the right balance between life-rolese lke work and family, or work and your expression faith. The relationship between different life-roles will rightly be different for everyone.
But its a bad thing when you make the mistake of letting your employment, or any other life-role, hold your whole life hostage. Don't do that. After all, you only get this life before your next stop, your next incarnation, your next replay, or "visit" with eternal oblivion.
If all this seems obvious to you, then that's excellent. I do suggest that, before you pat yourself on the back, you should examine how you actually live your life. If a single role in your life seems to take precedence over your entire life, then you have one thing you need to figure out: in what ways are preventing yourself from putting your different life roles into the right context?
I promise to share more about this idea later.
Meet the First Motivate Cohort
Who are the excellent individuals that stepped up, survived my screening process and ended up members of the first Motivate cohort? Let's find out.
You will be able to follow, support and participate in Kyle's, Carl's, Nicki's journies during the weeks to come. Their odyssey begins in early January.
Kyle Hartman is a person who works to find deeper purpose in almost everything he's involved in, while having fun and being focused on the people around him. He builds relationships with those around him so that he can grow and then share that growth. You can find Kyle on LinkedIn.
Carl Jefferson is a career coaching specialist and a community leader. He is at his best when able to use his depth of creativity to design new and original systems that express perspectives to problems that suffer from the same-old-same-old dogmatic solutions. You can find Carl on Facebook.
Nicki Pombier Berger is a writer and oral historian. Storytelling runs through her life, from her work at StoryCorp, through graduate studies at Columbia University, to her service with 3Generations. Her most project involves conducting oral history interviews with self-advocates who have Down syndrome, collaborating with them in telling their stories in new and authentic ways. Nicki is the Founding Editor of Underwater New York, a digital journal of stories, art and music inspired by objects found in the waterways around New York City. Check out some of her writing on Underwater New York here.
Be well,
Sterling Lynk
Sterling Lynk