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'Purposeful Change': The Way Forward

Written by: Les Brown

Article Overview: Change happens all around us, but we're not 'victims' of change. We have a critical part to play in seeing that change moves us in a positive direction. That's what 'purposeful change' is all about: getting involved as an architect of the future.

'Purposeful Change': The Way Forward

A colleague of mine from Omaha, wrote me asking what I meant by "purposeful" change. I created a working definition of purposeful change at that says, "Purposeful change is systemic change that is controlled, evolutionary, and enduring." Yet, I wonder if I can come up with any better definition of purposeful change than: "doing it on purpose" (whatever "it" may be). That means that I must deliberately choose. I have a purpose, and goals. And, more than that, the goals that I choose must have genuine value. It's not just any random goal — I choose to keep myself, as they say, "on purpose".

In a classical SWOT analysis, the third element is "opportunities". So, for the moment, lets focus on opportunities. We really don't have to worry about the "T" in SWOT (that is, "threats") because opportunity and threat are two sides of the same coin. Wherever there's an opportunity there's a threat; wherever there's a threat, there's an opportunity. Since I have a choice, I'll choose to focus on the opportunity. I've already seen enough of what happens when I focus on the threat!

Staying "on purpose" means that I choose to accept those opportunities that pull me (and my community) forward. All my strengths and all my relationships and all my self-knowledge and powerful choices only work for me when I am able to see the way that leads forward. The whole universe is all about change. It's not standing still. It's becoming more diverse, more organized and more conscious. When I stop creating distractions for myself and pay attention, I feel it. I know when I'm aligned with that power, and I know what to do when I'm not.

Whether or not we like to think about it, we have a spiritual self. It is that part of us that’s in touch with the creative power in the universe and intuitively knows its destiny. Our destiny participates in a small way in the destiny of the entire universe. When we pay close enough attention to it, we realize (we recall) that we are not being pushed along by fate, we are being drawn into the future by destiny. This is no small force. It’s our collective destiny, our collective purpose, that inspires the universe to evolve.

I imagine myself riding this creative force of destiny. It's not like riding on a moving walkway at an airport, where, if I just stand still, I'll eventually arrive where I want to go. It's much more like surfing a giant wave. That's how I picture it for myself. I need constantly to exert pressure to control my forward motion but, most critically, I have to be constantly alert, intensely aware of every nuance of movement so that I can shift my balance in anticipation of what's coming next. I can’t afford to lose track of my course or lose sight of my ideals for even a second. These ideals are derived from my appreciation of the universe: in its diversity, organization, complexity, and awareness.

This isn't about mere survival; it's not just about ‘change or be changed.’ It's about life's greatest adventure, which is nothing less than making a difference. It's having a say in the future. The dinosaurs had no choice. As conscious beings, we do have a choice. Constantly striving to create purposeful change is our destiny.

In future articles, I'll present seven life strategies that work together to create purposeful change anywhere: in our personal lives, our families, our businesses, our communities, our nation, or our world. The principles are all the same. All we need is the awareness. The opportunities are always there.

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Article Tags: choices, colleague, creative power, destiny, distractions, element, genuine value, purposeful change, relationships, self knowledge, spiritual self, swot analysis, systemic change, universe



Related Forum Posts
Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Re: Improving Cash Flow - Hi Robert, My advice is to cut unnecessary expenses and save as much as possible. Examine your costs on a month-to-month basis and figure out ways you can save, whether it's buying less at the grocery store, using less electricity, etc. Any little bit will help. The money saved over time will amount to quite a bit. Regarding increasing cash flow through online marketing, this is possible and something I'm working on. At this time last year, I was bringing in only around $50 per month. Forward to today, and I'm bringing in anywhere from $400 to $700 per month. A lot of time and effort has been spent getting to that point and increasing my income over time, but the result is more than worth it. I try to constantly improve what I'm doing and branch out into new avenues to create even more income streams. It is possible to do, but it will take time and work on your part before you start to see the kind of extra cash that you want.
Re: What If Steve Jobs Hadn't Returned To Apple In 1997? - Thanks for sharing with us Yinko. Steve Jobs is definitely a visionary. Not only his products are innovative in a technological sense, but he's managed to turn a tech-company's products into a lifestyle.... a lifestyle!! [quote:zfqoq43n]Fast Forward to today. Apple has the sexiest products in the business: iMacs, Macbooks, iPhones, iPods and more.[/quote:zfqoq43n] I think not only tech would be different (music players and phones), but ways we can think of marketing and branding. What Steve Jobs did was of course no easy task for the smaller businesses, but he did start somewhere. What I did not know was that Apple is worth about as much as Google. How do you think Apple accomplish what they did? In terms of strategy wise? If you could advice Steve on one thing, what would it be?
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - Hi GT It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them. MichelleJ
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4] Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4] Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening. Chris


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