Success on Purpose

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(2) Publisher’s Notes. Success On Purpose is published by ThinkTQ, Inc. under license from the authors. All Rights Reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright law, and except for brief reviews, no portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the express written permission of ThinkTQ, Incorporated.. Permission is granted to forward this PDF edition of Success On Purpose to others—in whole— not in part. You may also freely distribute the links: ThinkTQ.com/Purpose, ThinkTQ.com/Start, ThinkTQ.com/Success and ThinkTQ.com/Seminars. The Time Prism,™ Nine to Five ScreenGEMS,™ TQ,™ Engage The Time Prism,™ TQ SMART,™ Think Full Spectrum™ and Intelligent ScreenSaver Training System™ are Trademarks of ThinkTQ, Inc. These Trademarks are used subject to license agreements between ThinkTQ, Inc. and the authors. All other Trademarks by their respective owners. Other books, quotations and publications referenced, and the authors mentioned, are used for illustrative purposes only and do not represent an endorsement, implied or otherwise, by these authors, their estates or publishers. Thumbnail book covers are used with permission from Amazon.com. By clicking on the cover, you will be taken to the respective publication at Amazon. Cover design, graphics and layout by Spark Studios, Boulder, Colorado. Special thanks to Maria Tesoro Design and Editing Services, Boulder, Colorado.. Library of Congress Catalog Card Information is on file with the publisher. For more information, please eMail: [email protected] ThinkTQ, Inc. Post Office Box 18899 Boulder, Colorado 80308 © Copyright 2006 by Eric R. Haas and Kent C. Madson All Rights Reserved.. I.

(3) Author Notes: About our motivational style.. Success On Purpose and the fully-integrated exercises have been written by an entire team of people working on various aspects of Project Time Prism and Project TQ over the past 10 years. This book is just one element in a complete system designed to help people work smarter, compete smarter and live the life they love. We have helped tens of thousands of ministers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, business people, coaches, executives, entrepreneurs... people just like you. If you have purchased the Full Power of TQ System, Thank You! If not, there is a coupon in the back that will save you $50 off the purchase price!. Principal writing and storytelling has been penned by me, Eric R. Haas, with the able assistance of my business partner, Kent C. Madson. So, when you see the word “I,”please read it in my voice. When you see the word “WE,” it means Kent, I, and the collective of a hundred different people that was required to bring you the wisdom found within these pages. Because I am a very positive and enthusiastic person, you will find what most editors consider an excessive use of exclamation points—and long dashes to emphasize a point! This is intentional. My job is to educate you... to motivate you... to challenge you... to prompt you to change both your point of view—and your viewpoint. Kent and I want you to break out of your “business as usual” thinking, and take positive steps to become a powerful “New You!” If we sound a bit too “rah-rah,” please forgive us. We are passionate about this discipline. We want to help you, and know we can. If we seem a little too pushy, please remember—THAT’S OUR JOB! We also realize that you are looking for specific answers to some rather complex issues. In clear, and unambiguous language, we will answer two of your biggest questions: 1. What EXACTLY is my PURPOSE? 2. What SPECIFICALLY must I do to LIVE it? When you put this book down, you will have your answers. We promise. In the interest of simplicity, we have also tried to eliminate the massive details that weigh down more “professorial” books, and get straight to the point. You will not find endless references, examples and outside expert opinions to slow you down. If you want to know more about many of the concepts I am writing about, simply do a Google search and follow those links to your heart’s content. Success On Purpose is designed to not only make you THINK, but to DO. We have included direct links to a substantial number of resources that are available to you at THINKTQ.COM. Enjoy!. II.

(4) Dedication: To EVERYONE looking for DIRECTION.. Success On Purpose is dedicated to helping you quickly identify your mission in life and transform that mission into a lifetime of success—personally and professionally. In the next 45 minutes, you will understand exactly how your Natural Mission forms... and find Inherent Direction for your life. Our objective is to help you live up to your full potential... to consistently live your best life ever. Our challenge is to help you understand how your values, vision, and roles combine in your life... giving you natural direction and purpose for every choice you make and every action you take. Taking actions consistent with your purpose is not only powerful, but empowering... permitting you to create the life you were intended to live. The question is HOW? How do I discover MY unique Purpose... and how do I live it? We will not tackle the theological basis of life and purpose. We will not give you an endless series of compelling stories, allegories, anecdotes and yarns. We love interesting stories just as much as the next person, but figure you’ve already heard most of them before! Instead, we will get straight to the heart of the matter—giving you a repeatable process to help you discover your “Natural Mission”—a process that will point you in the right direction for living a life of passion and purpose. You will see that…. Clarity of VALUES leads to clarity of VISION... Which leads to clarity of ROLES... Which leads to Authentic DIRECTION... Which leads to achieving your Natural Mission. Which leads to purpose-driven SUCCESS. Which is the point of living.. III.

(5) Our Purpose In Writing Success On Purpose: To immediately improve your life by giving you explicit direction.. Everybody wants to have their best year ever... to live their best life now. The question becomes, “How?” The answer is simple: Live your purpose, passion and mission. When you live what you value most—and you do it each day you are alive—you will, in fact, be living your best life at every point in time. Again, the question becomes, “How?” How do you actually LIVE your purpose? How do you transform your life’s purpose into an unstoppable mission... and ultimately achieve the success you desire, personally and professionally? Perform on Purpose.. The key to living your best life—at every point in your life—is exceptional on-purpose performance. To achieve your mission in life, you must set crystal-clear expectations for yourself... and you must then execute so that you meet or exceed them. Consistently exceed expectations, and you will succeed—brilliantly. Don’t, and you won’t. So, the final question becomes, “How can we help you perform on purpose... indeed, perform beyond expectations?” We have made this remarkably easy. Find out what’s holding you back and eliminate it.. The key to achieving “Purpose-Driven Success” is to become “Successful On Purpose”... to consistently perform beyond expectations. Once you know your purpose—once you truly understand your over-arching mission in life—your performance is everything. Again, it is so obvious, but extraordinarily important that you make this connection:. To achieve your purpose, you must perform on purpose. At THINKTQ.COM we have the tools and technology to measure—and improve—how “smart” you produce results... how smart you are working at any point in time. We call this measurement TQ. Your TQ (Time Quotient) measures your practical working intelligence... the actions you take to produce the results you get. TQ reflects how smart you ACT... not how smart you ARE. By breaking your performance down into 10 color-coded categories, then further breaking these categories down into 10 specific actions, we can measure your TQ with absolute precision. We do this so you can actually SEE where your performance is strong and vibrant and where it is weak and faded. To test your TQ, go to THINKTQ.COM/ACTUAL. It takes about 20 minutes, is fun, and will be one of the most eye-opening experiences of your life. I mention this because, with tens of millions of data points, we see significant areas of untapped potential with virtually every person we test. The sad results are, 99.75% of people we test score less than 3 points out of 10 when responding to the questions regarding purpose, passion and mission. (The good news is, after going through the TQ PROGRAM, these people now score a perfect 10!). IV.

(6) Why is this a serious issue?. Without a strong sense of purpose and direction, people... • Feel like they are merely running in place... • Have low expectations for the future... • Have low self-esteem and self-confidence issues... • Have no clear and tangible Goals, thus live a life of regrets, not results... • Have no way to focus their performance on what matters most to them.. This is a Life and Death Issue.. Understanding the CAUSE of this is important because the vast majority of people we test admit to having little or no direction in their lives... no strong sense of purpose... no strong sense of mission... no real passion for which they are trading the ONLY life they have to live.. Not only are these people NOT living their best life now—they are dying inside each day... committing slow-motion suicide. This is a tragedy, since it is so easily corrected. Thus, we wrote Success On Purpose to help people INSTANTLY improve their sense of purpose, passion and mission. Now—not 20 years down the line. The Starting Point for True and Lasting Success.. This book is not theoretical, philosophical or poetic. It is a practical, methodical and systematic approach to help you immediately increase your TQ by 20 points... giving you the ability to: • ENERGIZE your performance—giving you the strength to power through life’s obstacles. • Truly live your passion, purpose and MISSION every day of your life. • Set crystal-clear GOALS for what you want to see happen 1, 5, 10, 15 years into the future. • Create rock-solid PLANS to support your greatest goals and aspirations. • Remain focused on top PRIORITIES each day—rather than be consumed by urgencies. • Generate strong interpersonal leverage and team-building SYNERGY. • Maintain a positive, optimistic ATTITUDE, even in the face of tremendous adversity. • Take bold ACTION to live a life of results... not regrets.. V.

(7) Specific Instructions for those Who Have Already Taken the TQ Test.. When people take their TQ Test for the first time, they always want to know where to START the process of reinvention... where to find the information they need to move from where they are now... to where they want to go. If you have already read The Power of TQ—received your Personal Performance Chart—and have been instructed to improve your Mission Color first, this is precisely where we want you to start. Simply read this book, complete all the exercises, and you will not only be a 10 on Mission, but will also be correctly positioned to move up to a 10 on your Set Goals Color as well. You see, it is simply impossible to set goals that are directly aligned with your mission—UNTIL you know exactly what your mission is. While intuitively obvious, this is the reality most people find themselves in. A Vital Observation.. When we were doing the research for what became the Mission Color within the 10 Colors of the Time Prism, we found thousands of pages on the importance of mission and purpose to your life. Over the years, Kent and I have probably read, extracted, condensed and distilled at least 10,000 pages on the subject—all written about the need for, and the importance to your life of a clear and understandable mission statement to guide you through the inevitable ups and downs of daily living. No question, there is a tremendous amount of information on the subject out there. You’ve probably read many of the same books we have, and over time, have come to the same conclusion we did: Great ideas are hard to implement without the systems and procedures in place to make them work. Thus, these ideas remain nothing more than good ideas—up on the shelf, out of sight, out of mind!. What makes this book different, and inherently powerful, is that we have provided you with the specific step-by-step procedures, all organized in the proper sequence, to help you instantly integrate these great ideas into YOUR life. Now, there’s no excuse to wait one minute longer.. Some people spend their entire lives “getting ready to get ready”, awaiting further instructions for moving their life onto the active playing field. They spend the only life they have to live waiting for clear, unambiguous directions for what to do—burning up precious time and valuable resources. Read this book, do the work, and you will have a strong sense of purpose and mission— and the basis for long-term success and happiness. This we unconditionally guarantee.. E. R. Haas – Chairman, ThinkTQ, Inc.. Kent C. Madson – Vice Chairman, ThinkTQ, Inc.. VI.

(8) How To Use This Powerful Interactive eBook: Step-By-Step Procedures Getting maximum value from Success On Pupose.. Success On Purpose is part of the Power of TQ System, and is the starting point for people who need to quickly improve their sense of purpose and Mission. If you have already tested your TQ and have been instructed to first improve your Mission Color, this is exactly where we want you to start. If you have not yet taken your TQ Test, you may do so at any time at THINKTQ.COM/ACTUAL. To get the most out of your copy of Success On Purpose, please follow these steps: • Print this entire PDF, hole punch it, and put it into a 3-ring binder. • Read from beginning to end without completing the personal exercises. • Download and print the VISION-VALUES-ROLES.PDF in the System Resources at THINKTQ.COM/DOWNLOADS. (You will need System-level access.) • Open this PDF and, where indicated, do all the exercises and listen to the Mission CD. If you do not have this CD, you may order it free of charge. See coupon in the back of this book. (S&H will apply.) • Follow the links and complete your personal lessson plans. • Complete this simple process and you will have exactly what you are seeking: DIRECTION. Throughout Success On Purpose you will see several internal links taking you to various pages at ThinkTQ.com. Simply click on the blue embedded links to go to those references instantly. You will be asked to sign in to access these materials. Many are free entry points, while others require system-level access. To gain system-level access, you may order the complete POWER OF TQ SYSTEM at any time. If you are reading this book for the first time and have little understanding of TQ, a great place to start is: THINKTQ.COM/START. There, you will get an overview of the complete TQ process. If you want to bench mark your performance prior to doing the Vision, Values, Roles and Mission exercises, please see our free online tests: To take your Mission TQ Test: THINKTQ.COM/MISSION To take your Set Goals TQ Test: THINKTQ.COM/GOALS To take the complete TQ Test: THINKTQ.COM/ACTUAL If you would like a comprehensive evaluation of your success potential, order The Power of TQ and 10 Choices of Intentional Excellence. This is a 172-page, custom-published, made-to-order book all about you... only you... and the forces holding you back from achieving the success you desire. Reading this book may well be the most eye-opening experience of your life. If you own the complete TQ System, you may download all the exercises and support materials in one file called Vision-Values-Roles.PDF. Success On Purpose has the power to change your life. In a way, this is the book you have been waiting for your whole life. VII.

(9) Purpose-Driven Success. Becoming Successful on Purpose.. A. t ThinkTQ, Inc., we spend a great deal of time thinking about highly complex issues with the hopes of making them simple to understand—and more importantly—to actually DO. Being a software publisher, it’s what software publishers do. It’s our purpose for existing! Towards this end, we see a crying need to help people understand one of the fuzziest, most misunderstood—yet critically important areas in life: A person’s true PURPOSE. Thus, we have created a “generalized” approach that is easily understood and gives you immediate DIRECTION... which, from our point of view... is the entire point of knowing your purpose. This is the starting point for not only improving your TQ by 20 points, but also for immediately improving your life. The fact is, understanding your purpose in life is not just a good idea. It is everything. Why? Because your purpose is what establishes your direction in life.. “The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder—waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.” — Thomas Carlyle Without a clear sense of “Who Am I, and Why Am I Here,” there is no need to improve your performance. You don’t know where you are going, so there is no real need to help you get there any faster! However, once you truly understand your unique purpose, your performance is everything. Why? Because you want to actually LIVE your purpose—rather than just passively watch your life go by. In a sense, your purpose is your life. Understand the WHY of your existence, then living your purpose becomes much easier—and far more rewarding. Yes, knowing your purpose is critical because it is the starting point for your life’s mission. Moving in the Right Direction.... Direction is a big problem for most of us. While we may never fully understand the WHY of our life, we do want to keep it moving in a forward direction—specifically—in the direction of our dreams, desires and vision. Without a doubt, tremendous issues are raised with the single question, “What is my purpose in life?” Issues like why am I here... and what am I supposed to do with the ONLY life I have to live? Actually, the discussion of PURPOSE becomes clear once you SIMPLIFY the words down to their true meaning, and use that definition as a starting point for personal performance. Which is precisely what we are going to do over the next 50 pages!. Page 1.

(10) • Success On Purpose. What does Purpose-Driven Success mean?. Before we go any further, let’s take a moment to get on the same page—to review how my trusty American Heritage dictionary defines both purpose and success. If we are to fully embrace the idea of “purpose-driven success,” it’s always a good idea to start at the beginning. PURPOSE: (Noun) The proper activity of a person or thing; Job, function, role. What one intends to do or achieve; Point, end, plan, view, meaning, design, goal, objective, target, intention, aim, intent. DRIVEN: (Verb) Motivated by or having a compulsive quality or need: a driven person. To move or advance against strong resistance. To compel or force to work, often excessively. Piled up or carried along by a current: driven snow. To exert one’s mental or physical powers, usually under difficulty and to the point of exhaustion. (See: WORK) SUCCESS: (Noun) The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted; Attainment of the results expected; Accomplishment, successfulness. Look at these definitions carefully. Understand the meaning of the words and our discussion about purpose and success can be greatly simplified. Success, from a performance perspective, is remarkably specific. You either achieve the results you expect, or you don’t. String together a successive series of positive results over time, and you are successful. Why? Because you consistently achieved what you set out to accomplish! You GOT the results you expected. You expected to graduate from college... and 4 years later... you show up at commencement in a cap and gown. You attained the results expected. You succeeded. By definition then, you are a success.. However, string together a series of negative results, half-results, attempts with limited or no real success and, over time, you are seen as a failure. Simply put, you didn’t produce the results you expected... or the results that were expected of you. In “TQ Speak,” we go a little beyond the results-based definition and add a “qualitative,” personal dimension to the word Success: Achieving the results expected, while living what you value most each and every day. If you actually live your values... actually live what you believe to be MOST IMPORTANT to you... you are not only getting the results you want and expect—but results that are truly important to you. What would you call someone who worked hard at living what they valued most in life? Driven? Sure. How would you describe someone who “exerted one’s mental or physical powers, usually under difficulty,” to achieve the valuable and desired results expected of them? Truly successful, no doubt. Now, look at the definition of the word Purpose. “Proper Activity. What one intends to do or achieve.” Do you see the similarities? If you INTEND to live what you value most each day... and actually DO it... you are, by both definitions, successful—on purpose. Your intentions became real by engaging in the “Proper Activity,” such activity being living your personal values each day.. Page 2.

(11) • Success On Purpose. Simple but profound, isn’t it? Purpose-Driven Success is being successful on purpose!. With the basic word constructs out of the way, the issue then becomes a great deal more complex. Just HOW do I achieve purpose-driven success? What must I DO so that I take the right actions consistent with my purpose in life, to actually achieve the success I desire at home and at work? Personally and professionally. With my family and my relationships.. “A man/woman should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to selfcontrol and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.” — James Allen How to live a life of passion and purpose.... Again, as with all things TQ, there is a stunningly simple answer... an answer that, if you are already involved with the TQ process, you have come to know and respect... if not downright love:. Success is LIVING what’s MOST important. Daily. When you do this, you will, by definition, be living what you VALUE most in life. You will be living your VALUES in each and every role you take on. You will create passionate VISIONS that contain all of your core personal values. You will have passion and purpose in every ROLE you play, because everything you do contains what you value most in life. Because your visions contain your most cherished values, you are INTERNALLY motivated to do the best you can each day. There is no need for EXTERNAL motivation, because your inner-drive is always in overdrive. You know your values and you live your values. Daily. Thus, becoming a purpose-driven success means incorporating your values into each of your roles and visions, and taking action to make those visions real. When you make your most passionate visions real, you are successful… On purpose. Page 3.

(12) • Success On Purpose. Old and Successful vs. Old and Cynical.... You set out to live your top 10 personal values. You do it each and every day. Intention becomes reality. You become old and successful. However, fail to live what’s important to you and, over time, you become old and cynical. This, of course, is where it all starts to get a little fuzzy. “I understand exactly what you are saying, but isn’t this a bit recursive?” you might be thinking to yourself. What we told you to do is absolutely correct, isn’t it? Live your values on purpose, and each day you will be successful because you will have achieved what you set out to do. No question this is all true. But a few really big questions are now “shrouding” the simplicity. For example: 1. How do I find my true PURPOSE? 2. How do I KNOW what’s most important to me? 3. How do I actually LIVE my values? What does this mean? 4. How do I arrive at my list of VALUES? 5. How do I actually express my values in my VISION? 6. How do I establish the right ROLES to realize my visions in life? These are life’s compelling questions. These are the big questions for which we need concrete answers if we are to achieve purpose-driven success.. “The secret to success is constancy of purpose.” — Benjamin Disraeli The good news is that we will supply you with the answers to all of these questions. Indeed, we will make it easy for you to not only understand the answers, but quickly put yourself on the fast track to purpose-driven success... in every area of your life. Your Best Life Now.... Our purpose in writing this book is to help you immediately achieve better results in every area of your life—to help you achieve your best year ever... to have the best day of your life... a great deal more frequently... maybe even every day of your life. Our desire is to help you truly LIVE your life to the fullest... to take full advantage of your God-given talents... to live up to your full potential. Daily. The good news is that we have the tools and technology to assist you in this process. There is little philosophy built into ThinkTQ.com. There are, however, several high-level processes that you will quickly learn, remember and master. When you do, you will be able to achieve your best life now— on demand. Which, from our way of thinking, is a great improvement on other books that just give you interesting stories and then leaving you to figure out how to make it happen on your own.. Page 4.

(13) • Success On Purpose. Inspiring stories are great. They are, well, inspiring! But we want to move you from thought to action—fast. Our mandate is to incite you to action... so you can start living your best life... right now!. You may have read Oprah Winfrey’s Live Your Best Life, or Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now. Each has a great deal in common with the other. Both are engaging and thought provoking. (Click cover to order from Amazon.) Oprah’s advice stems from 100 interviews, stories, and entertaining articles from her magazine and is positioned as “A Treasury of Wisdom, Wit, Advice, Interviews, and Inspiration from O, The Oprah Magazine.” This book is a quick read and lives up to its cover promise—delivering empowering, energizing, and entertaining articles from the magazine’s last two years.. “The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.” — Feodor Dostoyevsky A Wonderful 7 Step Program.... Joel Osteen, the hugely popular minister from the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, also offers an excellent place to start your journey towards your best life now. His book of the same title, is a much more philosophical/theological undertaking. It promises to help you “experience the full potential that God intended you to have.” (Click cover to order from Amazon.) His approach is coherent and impactful. The stories inspiring. Joel’s book is a short seven chapters that lead to the “Seven steps to living at your full potential”: 1. Enlarge your vision, 2. Develop a healthy self-image, 3. Discover the power of your thoughts and words, 4. Let go of the past, 5. Find strength through adversity, 6. Live to give, and 7. Choose to be happy. Joel’s advice is solid, Christian-based good old-fashioned religion. Believe, and with God’s help, all things are possible. If you are a “believer,” you will find strength through adversity... and grow even stronger. Regardless of your religious convictions, this book will give you a lot to think about. What’s Missing?. Page 5.

(14) • Success On Purpose. Personally, I loved them both. When it comes to dreaming about your best life, both of these books can be a wonderful place to start. They are filled with engrossing IDEAS. But, unfortunately, both lack the systematic PROCESSES necessary for you to move from thought and inspiration to specific action. Neither has the library of resources necessary for you to actually take the information and put it into practice in a repeatable, systematic way. I mention these two books because of their universal appeal. Everybody wants to live their best life now. The big question is, how? How do I get started? How do I keep moving in the direction of my dreams? How do I—without attempting to emulate Oprah’s or Joel’s incredible successes—put MY LIFE on the fast track to the success I deserve? You can read the stories. You can do what they suggest. Both books offer tremendous HOPE. But in the end, neither offers a repeatable methodology for you to grab onto and directly incorporate into your life. After all, it is impossible to DO a philosophy. For you to LIVE your purpose... to LIVE what you value most... you need an explicit, step-by-step set of instructions that embraces the idea of “causality”— a scientific methodology that leads to a specific, cause-and-effect relationship. The Purpose Driven Life.. I would like to add one more best-selling author to this discussion on purpose and refer you to Rick Warren’s fabulously successful book, The Purpose Driven Life. Like Joel Osteen, Rick Warren is a pastor—the founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California—one of America’s largest churches. His wisdom is derived from the teachings of Christ. Told through a scriptural lens, The Purpose Driven Life will, in a 40-day spiritual journey, answer the question, “What on Earth Am I Here For?” (Click cover to order from Amazon.) This well-researched and well-written book leads you to discovering your Five Purposes in life: PURPOSE #1: You were planned for God’s pleasure PURPOSE #2; You were formed for God’s family PURPOSE #3: You were created to become like Christ PURPOSE #4: You were shaped for serving God PURPOSE #5: You were made for a Mission. “The people of hope are those who believe that God created them for a purpose and that He will provide for their needs as they seek to fulfill His purpose in their lives.” — Pope John Paul II. Page 6.

(15) • Success On Purpose. “Why On Earth Am I Here?”. Rick asked and answered the question, “Why on Earth am I here?” from a Christian, theocentric point of view. Thus, he arrived at five specific purposes… all designed to help you live in God’s grace.. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” — Westminster Confession of Faith This is a Great Philosophy and a Great Start!. Now, whether or not you agree with the Biblical research done by Rick Warren, and you accept his enumeration of your Five Purposes, you still need to determine the specific actions you are going to take and the most desirable outcome for your time and effort here on earth. In other words, it is still up to you to define—in real world examples—exactly what you mean when you say that you want to live a purpose-driven life. My personal belief?. If you believe like I do in the first five books of the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, you believe in the power of the LAW (The Torah). Here, you are told precisely what NOT to do (the “Thou Shalt Nots”). Live the Ten Commandments, and you are living the LAW. So there is no question, this is what God commands you to DO—specifically. (It’s why their called the Ten Commandments... not good ideas.) If you also believe in the New Testament, you believe in the power of LOVE. Again, this is not just a “great idea”, but a directive from Christ’s own lips in John 15:17, “These things I COMMAND you, that ye love one another.” This is not a suggestion. This is what God commands you to DO. Personally, I have always tried to live BOTH the Law and Love. This, for all intents and purposes, is precisely what God expects me to do. Put simply, we are here to serve one another. To serve God by serving the least among us. To love one another. To not only make a difference while we are here on Earth… but to make the world a much different place for each of us. A better place for you, me, and all our extended families. This, i believe, is why we are here: To Live the Law... and do it with Love.. As with most things either political or religious, your belief in what is being said is tremendously biased by your current beliefs. If you believe, then you are a believer. If you don’t believe, than all the arguments in the world, pro and con, won’t help you arrive at a conclusion. As Dr. Ray Barker, my old professor in college used to say, if you lay all the economists in the world end-to-end, you still won’t arrive at a conclusion! So it is with personal beliefs, and especially true when it comes to religious convictions. While we will not go any deeper into the theological, spiritual, or poetic aspects of purpose, the remainder of this book will help you define your own purpose and give you the process for creating your own unique personal mission in life. We will also put your purpose in context with your performance—so you can actually live it. After all, what good is KNOWING your purpose if you don’t LIVE it? Some, including us, would call it a waste of a perfectly good life!. Page 7.

(16) • Success On Purpose. What does Purpose mean to you?. Clearly we have raised some interesting points here, haven’t we? What DOES living your “best” life mean, and HOW can you do it? What DOES living a purpose-driven life mean… Where do you look for answers… and HOW can you live it once you discover it? The good news is that our approach to first defining your purpose—and then living it—is 100% consistent with the central points in Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life… and proceduralizes the advice found in Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now—all so that your life can become one of the shining examples to be found in Oprah’s next compilation of inspirational stories! I know I have greatly simplified the entire theological discussion of purpose, but that is what I need to do to have you zoom out to the big picture, then zoom back in to the detail level. This is critically important because in order to fully understand how to become successful on purpose, you need to realize that there are really two questions being asked here, not just one. From our point of view, once you have the answer to the “WHY on Earth Am I Here?” question, you instantly create an even BIGGER question:. “How in the world am I going to make this happen?!” No question, knowing your purpose—whatever that means to you personally—comes first. But, once you KNOW, you have to DO your purpose... 24x7x365. This, of course, is the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk. Intellectually understanding something is not the point of life. Living it is. Which, of course, is where one of our other books, The Power of TQ and the 10 Choices of Intentional Excellence, comes in. As you know, it takes tremendous POWER to achieve your dreams and aspirations. So, once you know your PURPOSE, you still have to generate the POWER to live it. Yes, you can live your best life now... the life God intended for you... or the life you want to create for yourself. In a way, you are living BOTH—pre-determination and free will—at every point in time. Think of life as a game of cards. The cards you are dealt are pre-determined. You have no choice. How you play each hand is free will. Free will takes skill. It takes power. It takes playing the hand you are dealt, and playing it to the best of your ability.. “Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.” — Theodore Roosevelt. Page 8.

(17) • Success On Purpose. It takes performing up to your purpose to live your best life now.. To live your purpose—to live your best life now—requires a performance-driven definition of purpose... a universal definition that fits every person, company or organization. Thus, “success on purpose” is the objective for all of us... becoming the success we desire... fulfilling our purpose in life—on purpose. With this said, let’s clarify this concept even further. Let’s start by going from the simple to the complex. From there, we can create a “working” definition of Purpose, one that will naturally lead you to not only understanding your purpose—but also give you the process to live it. Everything has a Natural Purpose.... To a large extent, the natural purpose of almost everything is highly visible in form and function. It is easy to see the form and function of an inanimate object. It gets a little harder for complex beings. The purpose of a knife: To cut. The purpose of a phone: To communicate. The purpose of a stove: To cook. The purpose of a heart: To pump. The purpose of a bee: To pollinate. The purpose of a squirrel: To ??? The purpose of mankind: To create and serve.. “Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.” — Washington Irving I do not know what the purpose of a squirrel is. After some thought, it appears to be comic relief for me... and an aggravation for the birds around our feeder! Which leads me to an important point. The natural purpose of something becomes less and less obvious the higher up the complexity ladder we go. We can observe form and function... but find it hard to impose a defined purpose on a class. For example, what is the purpose of a Porpoise?! Human beings are highly complex individuals. While it may seem hard, it is necessary to ascribe a purpose to each one, according to one’s own unique abilities, capacities and talents. After all, purpose is the genesis of performance!. If we can see what a person does, it becomes clear what his or her purpose is... from the point of view of the observer. It may not be all that clear to the individual who hasn’t sat down and pondered his or her purpose, and so, consequently, cannot even begin to define it. This, essentially, is the problem we have to solve. To achieve your purpose, you must know your purpose. Without knowing your purpose, performing on purpose is simply not possible.. Page 9.

(18) • Success On Purpose. You need to KNOW your purpose BEFORE your performance matters!. No question, to perform on purpose, you must first discover your purpose—then pursue it with passion and dedication. So, how can we help you discover your purpose? Let’s take the next step in this discussion by looking at something that is every bit as complex as a human being, and think about its true purpose. Doing this will help us lock down a working definition of purpose... a definition that we can then use as the basis of purpose-driven success. What is the purpose of a business?. This is a simple, yet profound question. The answer is not immediately obvious. Way back in 1970, Theodore Levitt, the most influential marketing mind on the planet (publisher of The Harvard Business Review), asked this very question. Most people would immediately respond, “It’s obvious. The purpose of business is to make money.” Actually, that is NOT the purpose of business any more than the purpose of life is to breathe. Clearly, a business has to be profitable to survive. It has to achieve a return on investment (ROI) or it won’t stay in business. It has to return a profit to shareholders or it can’t attract capital. But that’s not WHY a business exists. While profitability is the life-blood of a business, it is NOT the primary reason it exists. Think about this for a moment. You have to breathe to remain alive. Obvious, right? But the purpose of your life is not just to breathe... not just to breathe in, then breathe out... and call it a day. Yes, you have to breathe to remain alive. But that’s NOT your main purpose in life, is it? So, what is the purpose of every business on the planet? Simply this:. To Get and Keep Customers. Again, there are many different kinds of businesses, all with a common purpose: To serve others... to find and then keep customers coming back... for whatever it is that they make or sell. Businesses are like people—highly unique—and highly complex creatures. Each is measured by their differences, both in the people they serve as well as how they make money. To help a business prosper—to achieve its mission—requires that each business understand its overarching purpose and quickly get down to the nitty-gritty of GETTING customers... and finding novel ways of KEEPING them in a tremendously competitive environment. Some businesses find it easy to get a customer. However, in a hotly competitive global economy, most find it difficult to keep them coming back. Other businesses find it difficult to get a customer in the first place. Some, then, find it easy to keep them.. Page 10.

(19) • Success On Purpose. It’s all in WHAT they DO... and HOW they DO it.. Make no mistake. Successful businesses KNOW that their ONLY reason for being is to get and keep customers. Think about it. Just how successful would McDonalds be if it spent $2 Billion a year on advertising... got the entire population of America to come in and satisfy their Mac Attacks... but the customers never come back?! Or what would happen to Starbucks if people got their cup of Joe ONCE and decided that a “Tall” isn’t worth the effort of returning? (Out of business—faster than you can say Mocha Grande!) Without exception, the purpose of business is to get and keep a customer. Why else would it exist?. “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. Irrigators guide water; arrow-makers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; wise people shape themselves.” — Buddha It doesn’t matter if the business is General Motors selling cars... or a church in Boulder trying to fill pews. It applies to Wal-Mart as well as Target. Home Depot and Lowes. Hilton vs. Best Western. It applies to every ski resort in the country... every boat and tackle shop... every airline... indeed, every business in the world. To be successful, a business MUST get customers... and they MUST keep their customers coming back. Otherwise they go bankrupt. No customers. No business.. Proof? Look at the mega-failures of the last few years: Excite, MCI, Adelphia, K-Mart, United, Enron, Polaroid, Montgomery Ward and all the small businesses right in your home town that came and went. Why did these businesses fail? They went broke because they failed to achieve their purpose. These businesses failed to get and keep customers on a profitable basis. They failed because the competition ate their lunch... providing a better customer experience... and doing it at a profit. Thus, their competition GOT and KEPT their customers. Sure, there are extenuating circumstances: Poor locations, high costs, wrong product selection, indifferent customer service, bad management, lack of vision... the list is endless. But in the end, what sucks the life out of a business is its failure to get and keep customers. Look at the flip side of this discussion—companies that are wildly successful: Google, Apple, Starbucks, MicroSoft, Wal-Mart, Target, Coke, Cingular, Comcast and Yahoo. They are successful because they are achieving their prime purpose: Getting and keeping customers. If you want to better understand this reasoning, get Theodore Levitt’s book, The Marketing Imagination. In my opinion, it is one of the best books on business that has ever been written. Levitt is the master of making complex issues easy to grasp. Following this line of thought, Levitt reduced the inherent complexity of business down to a simple observation that people can act on. Regardless of the nature of the business, it is imperative that they find new customers... and employ creative ways to keep them coming back. If they do this well, they will succeed. If they don’t, they won’t. They will achieve their purpose—their prime reason for existing—or they won’t.. Page 11.

(20) • Success On Purpose. Now, why do WE as people exist? What’s OUR Prime Purpose?. Let’s take this line of reasoning one step further and apply it to people in general and, ultimately, YOU specifically. Like a business, to prosper, you must know YOUR over-arching purpose and get down to the business of achieving it. Over the last few pages we have moved from the general to the specific... from the desire to live your best life now... to living a purpose-driven life... to becoming a purpose-driven success... to the need to perform on purpose. But to successfully perform on purpose, you must first know your purpose. Which brings us back again to the need to answer this all consuming, all encompassing question. What is my purpose? In writing The Power of TQ, it became obvious to me that we needed to take a fresh new approach to the whole notion of mission and purpose. After all, how can we answer the question in a way that not only defines what your purpose is, but most importantly, gives you the guidance needed to live it? To help you perform on purpose, we needed to create a “performance-driven” definition of purpose —one that would permit you to easily plug in your personal variables—exactly where you are now— complete with your existing beliefs, desires and most sacred values. We needed a definition of purpose that would allow you to immediately get to work achieving those things that you believe to be most important to you. Because it is impossible to solve a problem without first defining it, and exploring all the variables, let’s again review the dictionary definition of purpose: PURPOSE: (Noun) The proper activity of a person or thing; Job, function, role. What one intends to do or achieve; As a starting point for answering the biggest question in your life, this definition leaves a lot to be desired, doesn’t it? But let’s take from it what we can and build from there. Your purpose is all about what you intend to do or achieve. When you’re asking the question, “What is my purpose?”, you are really asking what am I supposed to be doing while I’m here on Earth? What is my job for being here? What is my function in the big scheme of things? What is my role in all of this? What? What? What? Unfortunately, my trusty dictionary, as useful a tool that it is, cannot divine this larger question for us other than to tell you that your purpose is to go out, get a job and do something! But what? The theological answer to this question attempts to define what the one role is for which you have been put here on earth, as determined by God himself. The debate between fate and free will tries to answer this by determining if we are pre-ordained to perform in a certain way or not, and if our direction should come from the power of the stars or the power within ourselves. The inspirational and motivational speakers of our time tell you that your purpose is to make your life the best you know how. The humanists believe that your life is your creation and you are welcome to do with it as you please. Kent’s and my role in all of this is not to arbitrate this highly-complex, highly-controversial subject, but to simplify it in a way that will give you immediate direction. Our role as performance experts is to give you something to DO and to show you how to do it in a way that guarantees your success! Where do we suggest you look to get the answer to this “what should I do” question? The only place you can start. Where you are—right now. Page 12.

(21) • Success On Purpose. Start with what you love.. If you have a firm belief as to what your purpose in life is, then we can help you achieve it. If you are not entirely sure what the “proper activity” is that you should be doing, start with what you love and value the most right now. Go in that direction. Focus on what you, personally, value most, right here, right now. Your inner guide will let you know, over time, if it is right for you or not. If it is, you will want to do a lot more of it. If you find that what you think you value does not bring you satisfaction, success and happiness, then that is a big clue that you are going in the wrong direction. Stop and observe if the direction you are heading is bringing you love and joy. If not, adjust and correct your bearings, setting your new sights on those things that mean even more to you and that will bring you a greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. If you continue this process, you will ultimately find your way to that job, function or role in life that just may turn out to be your main purpose for being here. Don’t Wait. Take Action Now!. But the key to purpose, performance and success is to start moving in the right direction, right here and right now. If you wait to start living your best life ever until the absolute right answer comes, you may spend your whole life waiting for the call and never here it ring! You need to make that call by focusing your life on those things you believe are most important to you right now. Ask yourself what you value and go produce that. Give it everything you’ve got, devote 100% of your skills, talent, time, energy and more. Regardless the size of your dreams or the scale of your current visions—even if you judge them to be tiny in comparison to other people’s—choose the ones that mean the most to you at this point in your life and make them your mission. Go make them real! Over time, you will discover that there are life-changing activities within those dreams, or you will have the chance to go after new ones. The key is to take action now and start moving. The answer will not be found in waiting. You will find your answer by moving forward on your life’s journey. As advice goes, this is sound, but tremendously vague, isn’t it? Which is precisely the problem we need to solve! Pointing you in the right direction.. Knowing that our purpose for writing this book is not to give you the final answer for your life, but rather to create a systematic procedure for discovering and living your purpose, I knew that we had to come up with a new definition, a new answer to this all-important question about purpose. Again, if we are to give you specific direction—a formula that you can consistently work for finding meaning and success in your life—we must move from a broad discussion (such as doing more of what you love) to one that is specific to you, one that contains the inherent personal variables that will permit you to solve for your life’s direction. This new performance-based definition of purpose must be universal, provide immediate clarity, and work under all circumstances. Like the simplicity found within Levitt’s observation, “The purpose of business is to get and keep a customer,” the TQ definition must get condensed down to something that is short, specific and yet all-encompassing. More importantly, it must be actionable.. Page 13.

(22) • Success On Purpose. The TQ Definition of Purpose.. In the shortest number of words possible, here is the TQ performance-driven definition of purpose:. Your purpose is to create and nurture empowering ROLES to achieve your VISIONS and live your VALUES . Why is this the performance-driven definition of purpose? Because you can’t perform without being in a Role. Before you take ANY action, you must be in the Right Role, at the Right Time, for the Right Reasons. (If you are not in the Right Role, how effective will you be at taking action? If you are in a Role for the Wrong Reason, how much passion will be contained in your actions?) Your Roles are All-Important.. If you have a Vision, you have to create and empower a Role to see the Vision realized. If you are already in a Role, it is incumbent upon you to immediately create a Vision for the Role. Otherwise, you are simply taking up SPACE and burning up TIME and ENERGY. You will forever be locked in a powerless Role until you establish a clear Vision for that Role. Thus, creating and nurturing empowering roles is your “primary purpose” in life from a performance perspective. Your most basic purpose (function) is to create a ROLE for yourself... from which you can then achieve your VISION and live your VALUES. For absolute clarity, let’s review the words that make up our definition of purpose. CREATE:. (Verb) To bring into existence formally. Start, establish, organize, constitute, set up, originate, institute. To cause to come into existence. Make, produce, generate, originate, engender, hatch, father, sire, parent, procreate, spawn.. NURTURE:. (Verb) To promote and sustain the development of. Nurse, cultivate, foster, nourish, enable.. EMPOWER:. (Verb) To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority. See Synonyms for AUTHORIZE. To give authority to. Entitling, enabling, authorizing, qualifying, licensing, accrediting, commissioning. To give the means, ability, or opportunity to do. Permitting, enabling, authorizing.. AUTHORIZE: (Verb) To grant authority or POWER to. To give permission for; sanction: the city agency that authorizes construction projects. Synonyms: Authorize, accredit, commission, empower, license. The central meaning shared by these verbs is “TO GIVE SOMEONE (YOU) THE AUTHORITY TO ACT.” Authorized her partner to negotiate on her behalf; empowered to make decisions during the president’s absence. ROLE:. (Noun) A character or part played by a performer. The characteristic and expected social behavior of an individual. A function or position. Page 14.

(23) • Success On Purpose. VALUES: (Noun) A measure of those qualities that determine merit, desirability, usefulness, or importance; accounts, worths, valuations. A principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable. A level of superiority that is usually high; qualities, virtues, merits, worths, statures, calibers. (Verb) To recognize the worth, quality, importance of, enjoys, appreciates, cherishes, respects, savors, relishes, esteems, prizes, treasures. VISION:. (Noun) Unusual competence in discernment or perception; intelligent foresight: a leader of vision. The manner in which one sees or conceives of something. A mental image produced by the imagination. The mystical experience of seeing as if with the eyes a supernatural being. Where does this all get us?. Actually, we have just created a definition of purpose that contains ALL the variables you need to find mission and direction in your life. It’s a simple formula:. PURPOSE = ROLES + VISION + VALUES Of course, we will be explaining this formula in great detail over the next thirty pages. But the truth is, you now have the formula you need to achieve purpose-driven success. All you have to do is plug in your own variables, and you will have exactly what we promised: Natural Mission and Inherent Direction. This, we will shortly prove! The value that Kent and I bring to the discussion of purpose is not in the creation of any new element or variables. Indeed, the concept of roles, visions and values is a well covered subject by hundreds of authors before us. However, our insight is unique in our observation that it takes all three of these core variables to arrive at your primary purpose in life... and that you will never achieve your purpose if any one of these three variables are missing. Thus, to solve for your purpose and to create a Natural Mission in life, you must solve for all three variables. Only when all three are present, and in proper proportion to one another, will you have a mission you can actually achieve. It’s like the engine in your car. You take your car to the shop because it doesn’t start. How does your mechanic solve the problem? What does he use as guidance to get your car up and running again? He knows that for your car to run, your internal combustion engine must have three things: gas, air and spark. Only when all three are combined in the same space and time will an explosion occur, and power be produced. So he simply finds which one of the three is missing, and fixes the problem. The same is true for people. You will never achieve your purpose until you solve for all three of your “internal combustion” ingredients: values, vision and roles. If you are ever failing, dissatisfied, burned out, lack a sense of direction or have lost your reason for living, it is because you are missing one or more of these three vital ingredients. To help anyone get back on the road of life, all you need to do is help them find out which of these three are missing. Then you can help them put their life back into high gear by helping them correctly combine their values, visions and roles... yielding unstoppable purpose. Once they are rolling in the right direction, you can then coach them how to become even more successful by increasing speed and power.. Page 15.

(24) • Success On Purpose. Purpose = Roles + Vision + Values. Before moving on, let’s overlay our definition of purpose with the dictionary definition of the words we chose. Perhaps this will aid in understanding our conversation:. Your over-arching PURPOSE is to “bring into existence” the ROLE you will “authorize” to cultivate, promote and sustain the development of your greatest VISIONS... so you can achieve what’s most important to you... indeed, live what you VALUE most... each day of your life. The Connection between Purpose and Performance.... Your prime purpose is to “create and nourish empowering roles.” Once you realize that this is your “generalized” purpose in life, everything becomes clear. If you have a Vision, you must create an empowering Role. Otherwise, how do you intend making the vision real? If you are in a Role, you must quickly create a Vision. How? By first looking to your Values... then attaching those Values to a Role... then creating a clear Vision for that Role. When you do, you will have exactly what you are looking for: DIRECTION.. How do you get Direction from your Values, Roles and Vision? It is the intersection of these three “lifelines” that gives rise to your Natural Mission—which automatically sets your inherent direction. Once you can SEE the Values within your Vision, the Mission is clear: DO what it takes to make the Vision real—sooner, rather than later, because TIME is of the essence. Your MISSION is to be the best at that Role as possible.. Once direction is set... once you know what the Mission is... you now need to DO it... you now need to PERFORM. It’s like Hollywood. You are given the Role... all you need to do is perform it.. “There is no road to success but through a clear strong purpose. Nothing can take its place. A purpose underlies character, culture, position, attainment of every part.” — Thornton T. Munger. Page 16.

(25) • Success On Purpose. Think about it. If you are not in a Role, how can you Perform?. You can’t. Without a role, there is NO performance. There is no way to perform until you know what role you will play... what “character you will authorize” to pursue the vision. Before we move on with the actual process of creating empowering roles, let’s cover this base completely.. “Multitudes of people, drifting aimlessly to and fro without a set purpose, deny themselves such fulfillment of their capacities, and the satisfying happiness which attends it. They are not wicked, they are only shallow. They are not mean or vicious; they simply are empty -- shake them and they would rattle like gourds. They lack range, depth, and conviction. Without purpose, their lives ultimately wander into the morass of dissatisfaction. As we harness our abilities to a steady purpose and undertake the long pull toward its accomplishment, rich compensations reward us. A sense of purpose simplifies life and therefore concentrates our abilities; and concentration adds power.” — Kenneth Hildebrand The big idea contained in the TQ definition of purpose is to CREATE and NURTURE EMPOWERING ROLES for each of your most important VISIONS... where your most important visions, by definition, contain what's most important to you... your VALUES. Thus, your PURPOSE in life is to make your VISION for each ROLE real by living your most important VALUES. This is extraordinarily important.. True and lasting success emanates from being in a ROLE that enables you to achieve your VISION and live your VALUES. So, if you asked me what you need to actually DO to live your best life now... to live your PURPOSE in life... to BECOME a purpose-driven success... I would tell you to do this:. “Create and nurture empowering roles—ROLES that will enable you to live your core personal VALUES—while pursuing world-changing VISIONS for that role.” For example, let’s say you are plodding along with no real progress being made toward achieving ANY of your most cherished goals. In fact, you really don’t have GOALS because you are floundering around looking for DIRECTION. (At TQ we call this “Getting ready to get ready!”). Page 17.

(26) • Success On Purpose. Further, let’s say you are constantly burned out, stressed out and running on empty. Your attitude stinks and you have a hard time focusing on the important—because you are being buffeted around, moving from one emergency to another. Clearly, you are NOT living your best life. You are stuck inside a slow-moving nightmare. Each day, we get emails and calls from people like this... people who painfully explain how bad things are. Why they are victims. When we ask how they scored on their TQ Test, they all have low scores and usually offer that the reason their lives are dying on the vine is that they stopped believing in the future... stopped setting goals for themselves... because none of them ever came true anyway. This is a symptom of a deeper issue: A lack of purpose-driven performance.. The problem is clear. The reason people do not have crystal-clear goals and rock-solid plans is NOT because they don’t know how to set goals and make plans—it is because they lack clarity of VISION and have gotten themselves into fuzzy, less-than-empowering ROLES. We know this for an absolute FACT, based on some 25 million unique, statistical points of reference at THINKTQ.COM. It is impossible to set goals that are in direct alignment with your purpose and mission, when you do not know what your purpose is and have a weak sense of mission. Without wanting to offend anyone, just how can you claim to “know” what you want in life—and still have a weak sense of mission and purpose? This is a non sequitur. And more importantly, it is impossible to develop a strong sense of purpose and mission without an absolute, unconditional commitment to a given Role. After all, if you have no idea WHO you are, it makes little difference WHAT you do or HOW you do it.. The unvarnished truth is, that until you know WHO you are... what you will be responsible for, the results you, yourself, will be accountable for... it is simply not possible to effectively power up your performance. You can want success. You can pray for success. You can hope for the best life ever. But until you take the first step—to create an empowering Role for yourself, one that will make you responsible for achieving that dream, goal or purpose—you will remain on the outside looking in. You will be passively sitting on the sidelines, complaining about not getting anywhere in your life. You will have no real direction, because you have not “triangulated” your Roles, Values and Vision. Here’s a real-world example. We have a project that we have been talking about for a year or more. It will save people’s lives. The vision for this project is not only enormous, but world-changing. It contains eight of my top ten personal values, and seven of Kent’s. It will take a tremendous development effort over a three-year period. It will take millions of dollars. Big Vision. Lots of what we Value is contained in the Vision. Page 18.

(27) • Success On Purpose. But.... We have yet to create and empower a Role that we believe will give us purpose-driven success. Thus no action. No movement. Why? Why would we permit a huge opportunity to just sit? Because we take our Roles very seriously. The simple truth of the matter is that we do not currently have the POWER to take on any Role connected with this exciting new project. If we did, the project would most likely fail, because we failed to actually empower the Role. Taking on a Role without sufficient POWER to achieve the vision is a lesson in futility. Because there is no Mission to pursue. Yet.. It could be argued that we are smart to not “bite off more than we can chew.” It could also be postulated that the reason we will take action only when we have the power, is that we are smart enough to recognize that a “Natural Mission” has not yet formed for this project. With no Natural Mission, there is no reason to perform... no reason to set goals... or make plans... or prioritize our actions... or organize and optimize our time. There is no reason to enthusiastically and energetically pursue the Mission. Because a Mission has not yet formed. There is no clear direction because we have not actually created a Mission to passionately pursue. Why? Because as of yet, we have not created a specific Role for ourselves for this Vision.. “Many people flounder about in life because they do not have a purpose, an objective toward which to work.” — George Halas As you will soon see, it is the triangulation/intersection of your Values, Roles and Vision that automatically produces your “Natural Mission” in life. Once you have all three, aligned in proper proportions, you will automatically have the “Inherent Direction” you need to proceed. Therefore, from a performance perspective, creating empowering roles is your primary purpose in life.. I know that I have simplified this entire line of reasoning. That was my intent. You may not yet agree with me that your primary purpose in life is to create empowering roles. Sounds too simple, right? I understand! But permit me to continue this train of thought. You might have a grand VISION—perhaps even put there specifically by God Himself—but until you create a ROLE that is big enough for you to pursue the vision, nothing will happen. Why? Because you are not in a role with enough power to make things happen.. You have not empowered a role for yourself with sufficient authority to start moving in the direction of the vision. Without a role, there is NO performance. It is that simple. However, create a ROLE that contains your core personal VALUES, and your VISION can now be realized in the “real” world. You can now start performing in that role. You can now start taking action. You can now start moving in the direction of your dreams. For that specific vision... for that specific role. You are internally motivated because the vision contains your most important values.. Page 19.

(28) • Success On Purpose. You have a high probability of success, simply because your vision, values and roles are in congruence. When you empower a role that contains your deepest values, you are moving towards a life filled with what’s MOST important to you. You live your best life now, because you are in a role that expresses your most heart-felt values. You are passionately pursuing your Mission because it has set you on a journey to achieve your most important visions. Let’s say one of your greatest visions is to help cure cancer. Right down to your very fabric of being, this vision contains everything you value most in life. You have a vision aligned with your values. Now all that needs to be determined is what ROLE you will play in making the vision real. You can take on the role of supporter and simply write a nice check to the American Cancer Society. You can become the local face for The Race for the Cure. You can become the Regional Coordinator for Experimental Medicine at Eli Lilly. Or, if your gifts and talents are up to the task, you could become the chief research doctor of our time—the Jonas Salk of cancer. Yes, there are many roles available to you. To be successful in the role, to help cure cancer, you have many different options. The key is to decide the right option for you... the role that will permit you to live your values and achieve your vision. And, as soon as you combine your values and vision with a specific role—a part you will play in the achievement of this vision—then you will have automatically defined your mission—as it relates to curing cancer. So, from a TQ perspective, what exactly are Values, Visions and Roles?. Rather than continue to talk in abstracts and generalities, we are now going to get extraordinarily specific. This conversation is too important to leave anything to chance... so let’s start discussing YOUR values, YOUR visions and YOUR roles. As you go through each of the exercises in the remainder of this book, we will not only continue to clarify each of the three variables of Purpose—Values, Vision and Roles—but we will also show you how to combine them to help you produce your own personal Purpose and Mission for your life.. Page 20.

(29) • Success On Purpose. Getting to YOUR Purpose.. Over the next few pages, we will be making reference to various elements within the TQ System, especially the Mission Color and 10 TQ Factors that comprise it. Your Values, Visions and Roles are the defining elements of our Mission Color. If you are not familiar with our terminology, here’s a quick “primer.” Your overall success is determined by 10 key elements that drive the intensity of your performance. When we created the TQ System, we color-coded several thousand ideas for personal improvement (over 4,400 to be exact) to 10 specific areas of your performance: Your physical and mental ENERGY level... your sense of purpose and MISSION... your ATTITUDE... your ability to SET GOALS, MAKE PLANS and PRIORITIZE your activities... your ability to create interpersonal SYNERGY... ORGANIZE and OPTIMIZE your time... and your propensity to take ACTION. To make it easy to SEE how well you are performing, we created the Time Prism.. the blur of your performance— Separated into the 10 Colors of Personal Power. Energy Mission Attitude Set Goals Make Plans Prioritize Synergize Organize Optimize Act Now. Results Time. The Time Prism Reflects Your Full Performance Potential.. For each Color there are 10 unique Factor Actions that control the Color’s intensity. Think of these Factors as On/Off switches that, when you switch the designated Factor action On, the Color grows brighter. Fail to take the Factor action, and the Color grows weaker. The objective, of course, is to keep all your Colors burning brightly, by consistently switching more of your Factors On. When you do, you have more POWER. With greater power, you can achieve your PURPOSE. Thus, you will become successful on purpose by performing up to your purpose! About Your Mission Color.... The exercises on the next 20 pages make reference to materials that come from the Mission Color of the Time Prism—specifically, the TQ Mission Personal Workshop and System-Level Resources found within THINKTQ.COM. These exercises have been created to make you a “10” on defining your mission and to give you an “instant” 10 point—or more—boost in your TQ.. “Do these exercises and you will no longer have a weak sense of Mission, Purpose and Direction. You will know exactly what you want, for each area of your life, and understand what you must DO to put it in your life.” — Kent Madson, Co-Founder, ThinkTQ, Inc.. Page 21.

(30) • Success On Purpose. For readers who have not yet completed the online exercises, we have included some brief Factor commentaries along with each major element: Values, Roles, Vision and Mission. For those of you who have completed this important work, think of this as a brief “refresher.” From The TQ Mission Workshop.... MISSION is the second color in the Time Prism Performance Spectrum, because until you know what’s most important, you are spending the only life you have on things that simply don’t matter. Lacking direction and purpose, you are powerless to make a real difference in your life. However, all self-imposed limitations are removed when your HEART and MIND are focused on the same thing. Your MISSION, integrated with your vision and your values, dictates what’s most important in your life. You are naturally the most productive when you tap into the infinite power generated by working from your heart— investing the only life you have in what you care about the most. Is your Mission Color causing you problems? You can tell when... • You know you could accomplish great things, if you only knew what they were. • You’re not sure why you’re even in the different roles in your life. • Nothing seems to matter, and you wonder why nothing ever comes your way. • Big decisions are always difficult because you’ve never determined what’s more important than something else. • You believe life has little inherent meaning and even less purpose. However, when your Mission Color is strong and vibrant... • You’re focused on specific lifetime visions, and each day brings new opportunities to make your dreams come true. • You can articulate exactly what you want from—and what you expect to give to—each role in your life. • You find ways to make a difference with your time and your life in a pursuit higher than your own personal interests. • Decisions are easy, because your mission always clarifies what’s most important. • You believe life is full of meaning and purpose, meant to be lived to its fullest. Here’s the Bottom Line... Awareness of living what’s most important is critical to getting the results you want—and living a life of purpose and passion. If you’ve never decided what’s MOST important, you’re endlessly chasing after things that SIMPLY DON’T MATTER.. Permit your Mission Color to hold you back, and you will struggle with the heartbreak of failed expectations for the rest of your life. Improve it, and you will succeed brilliantly. Page 22.

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