The Cause of the Kennedy's

I enjoyed a terrific four day getaway with my wife Tricia this past weekend. We had never been to Boston and decided on the last day to head off to the JFK Presidential Museum.  I would highly encourage a visit.  I found the visit very inspirational.  I was surprised because I would not say I am particularly intereseted in politics. 

We happened upon a documentary of Bobby Kennedy.  I found him to be a man of great cause.  He shared "You get one round at this life and you may as well find a cause you can contribute to wholeheartedly." Bobby found his place as Attorney General on his brother's cabinet during the Cuban Missle Crisis.  JFK later discussed how important Bobby was during this process. To each meeting Bobby brought something of value to the table.  JFK trusted his brother implicitly and they had a bond.  Bobby was the right hand man during this crucial period.  His cause was to support JFK and he had many others.

A story of cause from antiquity

I have been reading the book Flow which has been a fantastic read.  There is a story of Democritus a deep thinker sitting around the stone bath deep in thought. This guy actually sat around thinking for days at a time.  They even brought in the famous Hippocrates, the doctor to see if he was psycho or sick.  He was neither.

Our friend Democritus found great pleasure in meditating on the deeper realities of life and created his own reality of cause.  I greatly appreciated his quote regarding cause and happiness.  "Happiness does not reside in strength or money; it lies in rightness and many sidedness"; "I would rather discover one true cause than gain the kingdom of Persia."  (Page 127 Flow)

Case Studies Of Your Life

I was with an IT/Accountant/Financial Analyst yesterday and he used the phrase: "Case studies of your life."  I loved the use of those words.  We all have some very natural case studies in our lives to reflect back on.  The school age years, the junior high days (Yikes!), the high school years, the college years, the single days, the married without kids days, the married with kids days, the empty nest phase, the retirement years and the golden years.  

In reality, these 4 - 15 year segments contain important chapters in our lives.  We can look at each chapter and glean powerful insights and connections about our existence.  We may have regret or feelings of inspiration.  No doubt you can find some themes in the midst of each case study and no doubt use the past to inform your future.  

In your search for a sense of cause and purpose, I would suggest a review of your life's case studies and reflect on your moments flow, energy and purpose.  Let those inform you of your future.  As you are doing this, might I suggest you enlist some friends at each phase and ask them to tell you what they saw in your life.  See if it matches up!

Reformat your life, routines and computer...

Even as a Mac user, every two years I wipe my hard drive and start over.  Ah yes, a fresh clean hard drive, which yields the wonderful experience of having faster load times and quicker start times.  It feels great to have your desktop salvaged. Certainly, the greatest challenge is putting all your important data back onto the new hard drive.  Apple has a great program called Time Machine to help with that.

Sometimes it is helpful to reformat some of the routines of your life to build refreshment into the soul and out into the world.  I plan to reformat my Saturdays.  I wake up with a huge sense of urgency to get everything done.  It is like I want the house picked up, the dishes done, reading to be completed and kids rooms scrubbed before 10:00 a.m.  This is not working and not surprisingly so.  It is really a bit insane.

I need a bit of cause to my Saturday.  My intention will be to wake up eat breakfast collaborate with my wife on a checklist and walk through the day with some clarity.  I will choose to filter the undone things with a new filter.  The filter of enjoying the process, confidence and relationship.

I look forward to sharing with you more about my Saturday next Sunday.

Creating your opportunity

I had lunch with an informal mentor yesterday who shared his personal success story.  It was inspiring. This gentleman was transferred here from Detroit and eventually his role was removed.  He was apartment shopping and realized that many of the local apartments were poorly managed.  He felt that he could be of help to the property owners who were in need of someone to oversee the property managers.

He went on to tell me that he wrote a letter to one the property owners indicating that he had the skill set and desire to help clean up the properties and would like the chance to interview for a position.  Little did he realize that his future boss had a meeting earlier that week stating that they had a huge need for this type of position.

The rest is history.  30+ years later this gentlemen completed a very successful career.  He learned about philanthropy, customer service and community involvement.  He shared that he was given the opportunity. I think in many ways he created his own.

Not Making Mistakes Is Not The Goal...

The outcome of pursuing the goal of not making mistakes can lead to great unhappiness and a lack of purpose. If you seek the safety of doing the easy you may experience the following:

* A lack of joy in the adventure of trying something new
* A potential missed opportunity of trying something new and it turning into gold
* Overanalyzing each decision, which leads to indecisiveness
* Fun
* Attachment to certain outcomes that you cannot control
* The opportunity for greater impact in those around you

Perhaps the goal could be to take more risks and watch the results unfold.

5 Ways To Find Your Cause

It is not easy to track down your cause.  I thought it time to share a few ideas that helped me gain some clarity.

1) List out the moments in your life where you felt like you were in the zone.  The moments where you were engaged, enthused and most importantly brought about positive results.  This will help you identify the places where you have been and what you might need to explore.

2) Talk to those who you consider people of cause. It is inspiring.  Ask them "Why they get up in the morning?"

3) Read everything you possible can by the people who write good stuff and by people you see who have cause.

4) Have you ever done a "Waving the Magic Wand Exercise?" Simply put, find a quiet place, focus  your energy and write down everything you want out of your personal life and your work life.  Pick the top three and create a plan to obtain.  For example: You wanna go to Europe?  Price it out. Cut out pictures and visualize yourself in Europe.  Even better set a date and a budget so you can go!

5) Look in your current environment for ways to contribute in areas of interest.

Good luck!