This reminds me of something my grandmother told me about 10 years before she passed, something that has really stuck with me.
She’d been very active, in every sense of the word, for most of her life. Involved parent and grandparent, frequent traveler, volunteer, Sunday School teacher, and much more. Once she hit her 80s, she didn’t feel up to being that person anymore. She was slowing down, my grandfather was gone, grandchildren basically all grown. I think she felt like she should be doing more for others, the way she always had. (Not in a martyr way, just in a spirit of real service and generosity having always been part of her life.)
In the midst of this, she was reading her Bible and encountered the phrase, “Jesus went about doing good,” and she thought, hey, I can do that.
As my capacity to “do” has become limited by my physical health in the last few years, I find myself thinking about this a lot. I’m still working on a new framework for thinking about deeper meaning and using my gifts. But I hope I can at least “go about doing good,” and find some peace in that.
Love this. I try to do something to make the world a better place when I go to bed than it was when I got up. I try to call people by their name (and I'm really not very good remembering names - name tags are my friend!). I complement the person in the grocery store on their excellent bagging skills or their lovely earrings. I hold doors, I pick up things people drop, I say please and thank you, and I smile. I'm not curing diseases, but we have far more "average" minutes in the world than we have critical diseases - I'm good taking care of the day-to-day.
Chris, you are on fire. I'm loving your posts. Thank you! This post has the exact energy that drew me to your summits and all your work. It is clear, focused, wide open leadership. I loved you sharing your purpose too, because it really illustrated this concept further as I could totally see it shining through. I so resonate with there is another way as well and you made that concrete for me years ago by living it to give it. I'll never forget when summit goers were invested in financially by you taking a leap of faith that our contributions could have significant impact on the world and were worthy enough you would put money behind it. It was visceral and sacred moment for me where I saw money and leadership in a whole different way. Thank you for your voice. I'm looking forward to further refining my purpose. It is something like I remind who we are.
Thanks for this one, Chris! I appreciate the "don't overthink it, you can change it" part, as I struggle to pinpoint my purposes! And I say purposes, because I can never choose one! The two examples that resonate with me are "Learn something new every day" and "Be the person I needed as a child". Both come from very different parts of my life, and I'm multi-passionate, so I will choose to pick more than one. :-)
I really appreciate this post, Chris — and your perspective helped me not to overthink it. The first that came to mind was: “To help all better understand ourselves, and others.”
This one came into my mind and I think it's the result of becoming passionate about projects and many times becoming "stopped," by health issues and having to change course. It's disappointing, but doable with the right attitude. So I think mine will be "having done all, allow yourself to pivot."
This reminds me of something my grandmother told me about 10 years before she passed, something that has really stuck with me.
She’d been very active, in every sense of the word, for most of her life. Involved parent and grandparent, frequent traveler, volunteer, Sunday School teacher, and much more. Once she hit her 80s, she didn’t feel up to being that person anymore. She was slowing down, my grandfather was gone, grandchildren basically all grown. I think she felt like she should be doing more for others, the way she always had. (Not in a martyr way, just in a spirit of real service and generosity having always been part of her life.)
In the midst of this, she was reading her Bible and encountered the phrase, “Jesus went about doing good,” and she thought, hey, I can do that.
As my capacity to “do” has become limited by my physical health in the last few years, I find myself thinking about this a lot. I’m still working on a new framework for thinking about deeper meaning and using my gifts. But I hope I can at least “go about doing good,” and find some peace in that.
Love this. I try to do something to make the world a better place when I go to bed than it was when I got up. I try to call people by their name (and I'm really not very good remembering names - name tags are my friend!). I complement the person in the grocery store on their excellent bagging skills or their lovely earrings. I hold doors, I pick up things people drop, I say please and thank you, and I smile. I'm not curing diseases, but we have far more "average" minutes in the world than we have critical diseases - I'm good taking care of the day-to-day.
"Supporting Good People doing Great things."
Chris, you are on fire. I'm loving your posts. Thank you! This post has the exact energy that drew me to your summits and all your work. It is clear, focused, wide open leadership. I loved you sharing your purpose too, because it really illustrated this concept further as I could totally see it shining through. I so resonate with there is another way as well and you made that concrete for me years ago by living it to give it. I'll never forget when summit goers were invested in financially by you taking a leap of faith that our contributions could have significant impact on the world and were worthy enough you would put money behind it. It was visceral and sacred moment for me where I saw money and leadership in a whole different way. Thank you for your voice. I'm looking forward to further refining my purpose. It is something like I remind who we are.
“Enjoy every sandwich,” stopped me in my tracks when I saw it on the wall of a car garage. Warren Zevon? Miles Davis?
Lol, love that!
"To create things that make people happy."
Thanks for this one, Chris! I appreciate the "don't overthink it, you can change it" part, as I struggle to pinpoint my purposes! And I say purposes, because I can never choose one! The two examples that resonate with me are "Learn something new every day" and "Be the person I needed as a child". Both come from very different parts of my life, and I'm multi-passionate, so I will choose to pick more than one. :-)
thank you so much for latest article. I foind it personally inspiring and useful
I really appreciate this post, Chris — and your perspective helped me not to overthink it. The first that came to mind was: “To help all better understand ourselves, and others.”
Be a positive influence on everyone I meet!
Allow your self to pivot :)
Brings to mind;
There are opportunities in pivoting (obstacles are opportunities is a mantra I believe in that serves me well :)
Making everything better for everyone sounds like a great purpose. I try to always be kind to everyone I come across, even if it's sometimes hard. 😁
“LIVE TO LEARN AND LEARN TO LIVE” has been my guiding principle!
"To contribute to make the world a more harmonious place."
This one came into my mind and I think it's the result of becoming passionate about projects and many times becoming "stopped," by health issues and having to change course. It's disappointing, but doable with the right attitude. So I think mine will be "having done all, allow yourself to pivot."
Never stop growing. And Do What Matters. - The second is my business partner's but I love it.