by Kevin McCarthy - April 30, 2010
I want to quip you along the way, to see ways to looks at how your job search aligns, and how these things integrate and work together. So if you can get insights
along that direction, perhaps it can propel you in a powerful way, so that you're really able to live "on purpose".
What should a job feel like?
- Purposeful
- Challenging
- Rewarding
- Making a Difference
Focus on Plan B
Plan A is, get a job. Plan B, is the ideal job. Part of what I want to help you do, if I can, is to really focus in on just the Plan B part. Because, I think what happens when you do the Plan A part, the Plan B part is not well identified. Then, any old thing that comes along, that may fit Plan A, is going to do that.
The reason I say I want to help you with the Plan B part, is… Life is precious. So why waste it in a job where it's just not leading you into maybe where you'd like to head? So even the interim plan is a financial stop gap for awhile. Since you can't discover something in that job. It doesn't open up another opportunity for you, so I don't want to dismiss that aspect of Plan A.
But I do need to keep that Plan B well in mind. You're actually more inclined to end up in a better Plan A, or Plan A may convert into Plan B, now that you know what you're looking for.
Question Mark, Period or Explanation Point?
Is there a question mark over your life, a period, or an explanation point? When I asked at the beginning, what do you want work to feel like? And you said fun or comfortable, and purposeful, challenging, and joyful and rewarding. That was really trying to get you to try and identify it. What does this look like for you?
What I've learned is, that if you've got a question mark over your life, you may actually be in a position like this. You may not be able to recognize this being a question mark. Or, if you've got a question mark on your life, and you've got a question mark over your work, you're in a bad place, aren't you?
And so, the really neat issue, is how you get to this and that. You're sort of living boldly. Is there en explanation on your life, instead of living as a question mark?
The question behind all this, is this ultimate question of who am I? Who am I? And when you're able to articulate the answer to this "Who am I?" question, there's a period at the end of your name. You know, it says, "I'm Bruce." Boom. There it is.
And what I want to show you is, is a sort of transformational process. I honestly don't think you can avoid. You can short circuit it. You can try to do some stuff. I call it The On Purpose Process. And, in the On Purpose Process is really a matter of going from a question mark to a period. Going from a question of "Who am I?" to a statement of "Who I am", and living boldly, as to who you are.
The Question Mark
If you can get the question mark off of your life, the question of "Who am I?", "What's important to me?". When you can get to that place, the fears, the anxiety, are rapidly diminished, so that even if you are in a Plan A environment, you're not freaking out like I have to have this job. You're not saying the subtle, scary messages, which would scare somebody off from hiring you. Because people feel it. You know when somebody's pressing you too hard.
I kind of want you to go back. Maybe some of you are still single, or when you were single, many years ago. I've been married now for 26 years this month, April. I think back sometimes, when I would date a gal, and I just was madly in love with her, or something like that. And it wasn't coming back, the love. And it's kind of like, "Don't you understand what a good guy I am, and how I would be wonderful for you?" and all those sort of things. But it just wasn't coming back.
And that sense, where the woman then basically is sort of backing off and going "Whoa. Hold on there." It sort of scares them off. It's that same way in the job environment, where you can have that same effect on folks.
$100K in your Pocket
I can remember a client of mine, that was a guy who had manufactured this PVC pipe furniture, and all this stuff. And he and his wife drove red Ferraris. His and her license plates on the front. The Tom Selleck's type of Ferrari. Remember that? Magnum PI was it, I think?
And this guy got a 40,000 square foot facility and said he wanted to double the facility. I'd been in the real-estate business, and was thinking, here's my opportunity. If I could find the guy the land, I could make a brokerage commission. If I could build him the building, help him develop it, I could make some serious money on that. I could position myself really well.
I was frankly at the point where I was dead broke. I mean really dead broke.
Interestingly, I had been working on a piece of property with a client out of Pittsburgh that was looking to do an industrial park. I had worked with these people and they had talked about this piece of property. You know, they were really hot, and they wanted to buy 70 some acres of undeveloped land at the time. The deal was moving along, and then it just died. Just dead in the water.
And so I was continuing to work with this guy who was with the pipe manufacturing thing, but I was desperately out of money.
One day he calls me and says, "Hey Kevin, could you come over and see me?"
So I go over. All I can say is that he had this really stupid reason for seeing me. He could have easily just handled this over the phone.
He says to me, "Hey, while you're here, would you mind taking Sheri? Her Ferrari needs some help. And I was wondering if you wouldn't mind following her to the Ferrari dealer? Follow her and bring her back here."
I said, "Sure, not a problem." Customer service, right? Take care of your customer.
As I was driving, following this red Ferrari, I'm thinking to myself, what am I doing? I mean, this guy has got two red Ferrari's. He could hire a taxicab. But he called me up for basically a beat up excuse, because he thought, I could get it done for free. And Kevin will do whatever it takes.
So, I followed her to the dealership, and pick her up. I drive her back home and don't say anything. I'm not ugly about it, or anything, but I'm thinking, this is a lesson for me, about not being a doormat, even though I'm desperate.
Well, you know what's fascinating? I continue to work with that guy, but lo and behold, my guy out of Pittsburgh called up one day and said, "Believe it or not, the bank has approved it and we're ready to close, and we will close in 30 days."
They close on the deal and I get a commission of around $120K.
The next day, after the closing, I get a call from this guy with the pipe thing. And he's been jerking me around, back and forth, "I'm going to go forward. I'm not going to go forward."
I walk in to his office and hear, "I want you to meet my new Business Manager, Rocky." Rocky was this guy from New Jersey. He had his shirt open, the gold chain, the hairy chest. And I think to myself, this guy looks like the Mafia!
Just the day before I had put $100K in my pocket. So I said, as I sat there and listened to this, "You work with Rocky. I'm done with you." I was gracious about it, and I was kind about it, but I walked out.
And the lesson that I learned that day was: Always do business as though you've got a $100K in your pocket. You gotta always feel like you got a $100K in your pocket, and that you're not going to panic.
Because, otherwise I found out that I'm very apt to compromise about who I was, my values, what I was about, and I wouldn't get to the place where I have an opportunity like this. I would just get occupied with this stuff.
Using Plan B to Reach Plan A
Has anybody here heard of the Greenbay Cafe? The young man that owns that is named Chad. He is a 28 year-old guy. He and his family have made some pretty good money, and they were kind of bored. But they always had this sort of interest in health and nutrition, and this sort of thing. And Chad thought, I think I would like to open up a restaurant one day.
So Chad goes to Taco Bell, and signs up to make tacos. And he learns how to make tacos. And they thought, this guy is pretty sharp. Pretty soon he becomes the Unit Manager. So he got running a Taco Bell. Later he becomes the District Manager, running three restaurants. In nine months, he rises through the ranks, and becomes the youngest ever, Vice President of whatever it is he was doing. And he said, "I've learned enough at this point. And I'm ready to start my own business." So he had a Plan A. I know what his thinking was. "Do I want to find out if I even like the restaurant business. Do I really want to spend my days in here? Do I like retail? Do I like what this is about? What can I learn along the way and what could I gleen out of that?"
He took a Plan B, used a Plan A and built it in the process. So it's really about being very strategic. About Plan B, making that into the pillar into Plan A. So it's this sort of integration that you're looking at.
Your Purpose
Each and every one of you has a purpose in life. Make no mistake about it. There's a reason why you're here on this planet. You're life matters. There's meaning to it. If you have any doubt about that, get over it.
You got a meaningful life. Now the question is, how much are you living into the meaning of that life? Naturally, it is a challenge. And the more I can help you articulate that purpose, then the purpose is not what you do, it's who you are. The I am.
Most of us will articulate it as the title of the job, or "I'm a teacher", or "I'm a this", and those are the roles. If you think about the roles as almost as an actor. An actor has a role that they play. It's kind of like acting. What is your motivation? In many ways, purpose is like what is your motivation? What is that sort of God inspired aspect of who we are, that has been breathed into you? So you're trying to get to that essence of who you are.
My purpose statement is "Being on Purpose". I live to serve by being, that's being present, being in the moment. I tend to be very future oriented. I forget the past very easily. I want to "be" with you.
And then purpose. Purpose is such a meaningful word, because it is your reason for being. It's your identity. I am true to my identity, true to my reason for being. Then in turn, I also want to help others do that. That's sort of the way I live it out.
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