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Success Story with Scott D. Clary
Lessons - Finding Your True Purpose | Ken Coleman - Career Expert & Bestselling Author
00:13:14
In this "Lessons" episode, Ken Coleman, career expert, and bestselling author, shares his insights on finding your true purpose by shifting the focus from conventional greatness to the unique blend of talent, passion, and mission that defines real success. He explains that aligning what you do best with what you love not only transforms your work and life but also offers a practical roadmap for overcoming the overwhelming pressure of traditional metrics, ultimately leading to lasting fulfillment in a challenging and ever-evolving career landscape.
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- [00:00]
A
In this Lessons episode, discover why shifting focus from conventional greatness to unique talents unlocks true purpose. Learn how aligning what you do best with what you love produces meaningful results. And understand how redefining success on your own terms transforms both your work and life. You know, there's. You mentioned something because even when you went on this journey and you found all these different components of what you wanted to include in your. In your. In your vocation, in your job, in your life, there's still so many outlets for that. I mean, like, broadcast is like 70% aligned, and then there's all. And then maybe a fun podcast could be 80% aligned, and then maybe live coaching is like 90 to 95% aligned. But even doing the work, like the fact that you were able to get to the point where you could look at this plethora of different careers and then start to see where you wanted to fit, that's already more work than most people do in their entire life. And you probably see this all the time. And I'm very curious in this post, Covid Gig Economy, people were laid off in masses. People are comparing themselves to individuals on social media. I would assume that a lot of the people that you deal with are just tired, stressed, depressed, confused. What is the climate like right now for. For the majority of professionals and people that are just trying to figure out their life, does it seem like this. Am I correct in assuming that it's much worse than it was five years ago? Like you, you're front line. So I'm just, I'm trying to understand where people are at in 2024.
- [01:52]
B
Yeah, well, simple answer is the data is showing us that the world of work is getting worse. And just this is Gallup. I mean, Gallup is the gold standard. I read everything Gallup puts out. Every year. They put out a state of the America workplace. And I read through it like it's the Bible, because it's the Bible as it relates to what America workers are saying. So there's no question that the environment of work. That's what I mean when I say world of work, it's gotten worse. There are a variety of reasons for that, and I could go down any tributary you want. But to answer your question very specifically, yeah, it's worse. And so what people want is autonomy. Now, autonomy, fancy word, just means freedom. And you know, Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He stole the idea of the pursuit of happiness. That was not. That was not his wording. He got that from John Locke Great British Enlightenment thinker Locke got it from Socrates and Plato and all of the Stoics. I mean, so this idea of the pursuit of happiness tied to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, it's a. It's all one phrase. So he says life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Liberty is very much tied to pursuit of happiness. And what he was saying comes from, again, all these great Enlightenment thinkers. And I've read all this stuff, so I don't want to nerd out too much on this, but that's where we see and understand autonomy. I want to live my life. One of the top five regrets of the dying as. As written in a runaway bestseller by an Australian hospice nurse was, I didn't live the life that was really true to what I wanted to live. So when I say autonomy, I want to back. I've given you context, and let's get back right into that. Okay? We want to feel as though our day at work, that we are doing something that we are good at, we are doing something we enjoy, and we are producing a result that matters. This is what we want, and we want to be recognized for it. So to the extent that that's not a present opportunity for workers, that's why we see the data year after year after year from Gallup. It says 68 of the American workforce is not engaged. It doesn't mean they hate their job. They're just not engaged. That's why Quiet quitting took off that term because people just went, you just described in one sentence how I feel I'm going to do an adequate job so I don't get fired, but I'm not coming in fired up, ready to go. Like you'd see a professional football player, professional athlete that's coming in at 5am to hit the gym, studying film all day long. Why does it, why does an NFL player do that? They love the game. They love the game. They want to be good at the game. They want to stay at the top. All right, There are American workers that are like that, but the majority are not. 68% says that the majority are just kind of making it through. The reason behind that is, is the. Is the context that I just gave you a couple of minutes ago. Inherently, we desire to make a mark, and we want to be recognized for that mark, and we want to care about that mark. And. And so it's gotten worse. It's gotten worse and worse and worse because we have a leadership crisis in the American workforce. Because the, the mo in American work is you do a good job and you keep doing a good job. At some point I got to promote you. And after about two or three promotions, I put you in a leadership position that you might not want, you might not be wired to do it, and we're not even going to train you how to do it. And so this keeps perpetuating itself, but we wonder why people don't want to go into work. So I gave you a lot there, but I'm trying to answer that as holistic.
- [06:05]
A
No, no, I appreciate it. I'm just taking it all in and I'm just thinking about different ways take this. And I wanna, I really wanna take it in the way that will hopefully help the most people possible that are listening to this and, and say, like putting their hand up and saying, yes, that's me. What, what, like what do I do? But you speak a lot about finding purpose. So again, as, as a broadcaster and radio and podcaster yourself, you know that two pronged questions are definitely not supposed to be a thing. But I do have a two pronged question because I, I think it's important to give some context. So first thought is you speak a lot about finding purpose. Do you think that, and this is just more me being curious than anything, do you think that the issue with people or not being able to find purpose is that they are fed the lie of I have to achieve greatness and not uniqueness? That's the first part to the question. And then maybe is there a solution to that? But that's a much broader thought. And then the second part to that question is, okay, how does somebody tactically start to find purpose? Which is probably what you deal with every single day.
- [07:08]
B
Yeah. All right, so first part, there's no question that when all we're thinking about is greatness in the terms of how culture gives it to us. And a quick review is that's power, prestige, or how many people know my name, how many followers likes I get? And then wealth, way more money than everybody else. That becomes a very intimidating mountain to climb. So if all you're ever focused on is I gotta be great, I gotta achieve great in the, in the lens of these three categories, that can be overwhelming. It's like trying to climb Mount Everest with no equipment and no training. It's impossible. So yes to your first question. The improper focus on greatness as defined by those three adjectives or those categories, it's mind numbingly intimidating for so many people. They just go, I can't do it. Look around me, I can't be powerful, I can't be rich, you know, But.
- [08:05]
A
I also don't like my current situation. And that's.
- [08:08]
B
So now despair, right? I can't. I can't get a million followers on YouTube. So despair sets in. So now I have to accept average or below average. Man, that's debilitating stuff. That is a huge problem now. So the answer. So, so if I begin to focus on uniqueness, and I go, I came into this world hardwired with talents and things that I do well, and if I get some more education and some more experience, I can turn that talent into a sharpened skill. So hand saw to power saw. All right? And. And if I discover how to use that talent or skill in a way that I enjoy showing up, if I'm creative and I've got great creative, and I learn how to be a creative and critical thinker, and I go, what are all the ways I can use that? And I go, okay, I could do this. Now that doesn't interest me. Oh, I can do design. Oh, my gosh. So I love doing this type of thing with this talent. And then we go, what, what, what do I want to create with that combination of talent and passion? And that's that missional result. I find myself being on mission. I want to create websites for products that I believe. Great. What products do you believe in? I'm really into health and fitness. Great. Well, now all of a sudden, I take that talent and. And I. And I do something I enjoy, which is the graphic design. But I'm doing graphic design that promotes a product or service that I have a connection to. I am on purpose. I have no problem getting out of bed on Monday morning because I'm using what I do best to do something I enjoy, to produce a result I care about. Let me say that again. That's purpose. Using what I do best to do something I enjoy, to produce a result I care deeply about. That's it. That's the sound you'll hear. I mean. I mean, I'm just telling you it's as simple as it gets. And that's my methodology. Talent plus passion plus mission equals purpose. So to get to the second part of your question, hit me with that one more time because I want to make sure I heard it, but I want to make sure I get the minutiae of that.
- [10:19]
A
Well, no, you actually, you really did answer the first. Yeah, you went into it. It was really just. What is the first step that somebody can take towards figuring out what their purpose is once they understand that their purpose doesn't have to be what society shoves down their throat. Okay.
- [10:35]
B
Your focus is not greatness. It's uniqueness. And, and, and when I focus on uniqueness, and I gave you that, this is how we figure it out. So that what I'm good at, talent, what I enjoy doing, passion and results. I care deeply about mission. When I understand that. And we have a great assessment called the get clear assessment that comes with the book line. To work you're wired to do. And I believe in the wiring. Those are the three wires. When I find that out, Scott, then I can look out into the workplace and I can look at multiple job descriptions in multiple industries and go, does that path allow me to use what I do best to do what I enjoy to produce results that I care about? And then all of a sudden, remember I talked earlier about that bridge between where we are and where we want to be? Well, it relates to finding purpose and work so that I can get great fulfillment and also make a good chunk of money. My, my max, whatever my max is, is going to be built on using what you do best to do what you love to produce results you care about. That's where you're going to get your greatest performance, greatest engagement. So that's the simple plan. And it's doable because it's actually understandable. My, my. If I, if I could snap my fingers, I would put that curriculum in every school in America. What I just explained, because I believe in five minutes I've explained what is one of the most complex questions in the world to answer in such a simple way. Why am I here? What should I do in my life? Use what you do best to do something you enjoy to produce results you care about. So here's what's going to happen. Great proficiency, tremendous passion, meaning, and money, babe.
- [12:14]
A
I also think that it's very important to highlight that you didn't just say, go start a business. It does this thing.
- [12:20]
B
Nothing to do with that at all. Might be your gig, but it might not be. Yeah, because guess what? Let's. Let's take that out. I've done segments on my show where I'll talk about if you struggle with this, this and this, don't ever start a business. In other words, entrepreneurs are wired differently. Entrepreneurs are wired with a specific set of talents. Art skills and soft skills. Heavy on the soft skill. They're just wired differently. And if you're not wired that way, you shouldn't try to be an entrepreneur.
- [12:52]
A
Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.