The idea of living on purpose is a not a new one. I think it is human to raise one’s head and wonder if there is a purpose in life. I have often pondered this question. Sometimes I have an answer, but most times I do not.
Am I living a purposeful life? I certainly thought so.
Until I started listening to an audiobook by Grant Cardone, the man who wrote The 10X Mentor.
Who is Grant Cardone?
He is a renowned financial and business coach who created the “10x Success” program.
He is not interested in your background. Or the reason why you are unsuccessful in any area of your life. He does not care about your past trauma. He has his own story of drama and trauma and because of that he is unwilling to indulge anyone else in their victim story.
His mentoring is based on the idea that most people do not think big enough to make the best of their lives. He says most people subscribe to pervasive money myths that keep them on a treadmill for most of their lives, never really flourishing in life or enjoying a permanent sense of security with money. To him, making money Is not enough. He wants to leave a legacy – preferably one where people remember him for the people he helped, not the yachts and watches he owned. Cardone says the starting place for living your biggest life is to commit to the life you want.
This last part sounds easy, right?
Some of us find it easy to make and keep commitments. I find making and keeping commitments to other people effortless. But making them and keeping them with me is still like driving with “L” plates on. Probably because I am so unsure of what I want. His rhetoric made me wonder if I have lost the ability to dream or reach for my dreams. After all, why aim for better when what I have is enough?
Or is it?
I know I am afraid to fail or to succeed. If I do not try, I neither fail nor succeed. I have lost nothing by not trying.
Not according to Cardone. He sees that as a pointless life. This gave me pause for thought. perhaps he is right.
Living on Purpose: a meaningful life
Since first hearing his audiobook introduction, I have been thinking about whether I am truly living on purpose. Other than trusting my gut while wandering and writing at will, purpose does not stand out as a central focus.
Listening to Cardone highlighted how I am afraid to dream big so I confine my life to the four walls of certainty that I can control: where I sleep, what I eat, how I spend my time, and with whom I engage in conversation.
What he says about money makes sense. Some time ago I wanted to teach a course on how to create a prosperous life. In my own head, I named this workshop, “Be Your Own Bank”. The irony is not lost on me that I have yet to become my own bank before I can teach others how to do that.
It is not my purpose, but I have wondered if I am creating another story for my future audience: living out of my car while putting a business online. Maybe I can inspire others to take action. Perhaps expand their prosperity and create a life that aligns with their focus or purpose if they know what it is. At the core of my workshop, like Cardone, is the belief that one must commit to success before achieving it.
Have I lost the will to try?
Reflecting on Cardone’s principles and my struggles with commitment, it seems appropriate to ask myself if I have lost the will to try? Can Cardone’s teachings rekindle my spirit and drive me towards a more purposeful life?
Perhaps I am not part of Cardone’s intended audience as I do not have the drive or the commitment to success that he says is required. Is there something wrong with my internal wiring? Not really. Have I given up on life? On Success? Perhaps. In my earlier years, I wanted success as an author, as an international workshop facilitator, to be recognised as an authority on something.
Cardone believes every person was born to achieve. That is a new concept for me. He says a lot of people are spectators, not players, that his program is not for spectators. Hmm, that is a very direct statement. When I look back on my life, I think I have been a spectator for much of it. Yet, when I see myself through the eyes of friends and family, I have been ambitious, I have been “out there’ in terms of writing and self-publishing, and facilitating courses. Yet, when it comes to achieving the success I once thought I could achieve, I am nowhere near that.
He says he is on a mission to 10X my life. He asks if am ready for the toughest mentoring I ever had? My internal voice shrugs and replies in a non-committal voice … maybe. Now that I am free to carve out the life I thought I wanted, I seem unable to access the steely determination that once drove my dreams of making it big in the writing world. Once I discovered the biggest part of success is marketing – of myself, of my books, etc, my determination evaporated. The introvert I am abhors marketing. But after listening to Cardone I became acutely aware that marketing really does need to become eighty percent of how I spend my time if I want to succeed at my writing goals.
Cardone completes the book’s introduction by stating this is going to be tough. Does that give me pause for thought? Only a little. Right or wrong, I believe that nothing happens without a reason, and it might just be that my intentions to become an international bestselling writer and a worldwide empowerment facilitator have led me to this book and this journey.
Ultimately, Cardone’s philosophy has nudged my life back on course, acting as a tugboat with his notions of committing to more and striving for more. I am not sure if I will completely embrace his rigorous strategies for success, but I think I am ready to dust off some of my old dreams and revisit them through the lens of his principles. Perhaps adapting them in my new-found drive towards success will result in a life of purpose.
Only time will tell.
Until then, I am living between fear of success and a life without purpose.
Christine Writer 