Latest / Revolution of Purpose Podcast / Keep the Vision, Change the Plan

Transcript

Keep the Vision, Change the Plan · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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What if the next step toward your dream requires you to stop doing
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something that you've been determined to make work? You can believe
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deeply in your vision and still need a different approach. But sometimes
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we become so committed to the plan that we stop noticing
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where it is taking us. Today, we're talking about when to keep
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going, when to change course, and how to stay rooted in who you're becoming
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while allowing yourself a different path forward.
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Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm your host,
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John Streit, and each week we bring you conversations with thought
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leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals who have aligned their life
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with purpose and created extraordinary results. So I'm gonna live through it and accept
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it radically with grace and hope and love. I mean, I would
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be proud to be in this council. It was an honor. I had so much
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fun. Tune in every Monday for the Revolution of Purpose solo show and every Thursday
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for Revolution of Purpose Conversations. Welcome back to the Revolution of Purpose
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podcast. I am John Streit, and I am so glad you're here. There is a
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kind of determination that serves you beautifully.
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It helps you keep your commitments. It gets you through the early stages when
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you're learning, growing, and doing things that feel unfamiliar.
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Every meaningful goal will ask something of you.
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But determination needs discernment because you can
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work hard at an approach that no longer serves the
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life that you're trying to create. You can keep repeating a routine just
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because it's familiar. You can continue offering something in the same way
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because that's how you started. You can pour time into
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a strategy because you've already invested so much in it.
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And then eventually you have to ask an honest question.
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Am I doing this because it's moving me toward my vision or
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because I've become attached to doing it this way?
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That question can open a door, especially if you are a business
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owner, an entrepreneur, someone who takes pride in following
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through, someone who's trying to launch their own dream and really pursue
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the things that they've thought about deeply for, for years.
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Maybe you may have learned to associate changing course with giving up.
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So you just keep pushing. You just keep hustling harder.
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You, you tell yourself to be more disciplined, more committed, more willing
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to do whatever it takes. Sometimes that is exactly what's needed.
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And sometimes you have been faithful to the effort, but haven't
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paused to examine the direction you're going. More effort
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deserves a clear purpose. Before you decide
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to push harder, take a moment to, to look at what you're pushing
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toward. Is it the life that you actually desire, or is
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it the plan that you made before you knew just where
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you were going? Those can become 2 very different things. You see, a plan is
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created with the misunderstanding that you have at a particular
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moment. More effort deserves a clear purpose.
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Before you decide to push harder, take a moment to look at what
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you're pushing toward. Is it the life you actually desire,
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or is it the plan that you made before you knew what you know now?
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Those can become 2 very different things. A plan is
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created with the understanding that you have at a particular moment,
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but then you begin, you meet people, you gather experience, you discover
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what your audience needs. You learn more about your own strengths.
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You, you discover who your clients are, who your customers are.
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You have the information that you didn't have when you started.
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Allow that information to matter. You don't have to keep
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making yesterday's decisions simply because you were sincere when you made
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it. You can be sincere, my friends. You can be committed, but you
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can also be willing to adjust. Think about a stream that's moving
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through a landscape. You know, the water encounters a rock,
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but it finds a way around it through a narrow opening along another
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part of the bank. The course changes as the water meets the terrain,
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and that's a useful picture for our own life. An obstacle
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may require a different route. It may reveal an opening that you
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wouldn't have noticed otherwise. And the experience of navigating it
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can refine you. It can grow you. You become clearer
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about what matters. You discover your strengths. You release assumptions
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that were becoming limiting beliefs to you. The question
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becomes, where is there room for movement? Maybe you have been
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staring at one blocked path for so long that you haven't looked around
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for another option. You've decided that this particular person has
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to say yes, or this particular opportunity has to happen.
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This offer has to work out in precisely this form. But does
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your larger vision actually require that? Or have
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you assigned one route more importance than it actually deserves?
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Consider an example from Oprah Winfrey's career.
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Before she became known for talk television, she worked
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in television news. Baltimore. She has described
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being demoted from her news role and later being assigned to a talk show called
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People Are Talking. She found a strong sense of belonging in that
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format. She— the change wasn't initially a
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triumphant career move for her, but she began to change
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through it. It came through an experience that she described
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as a demotion, but it placed her in a setting where her ability
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to connect with people could finally shine.
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She could find expression there. And here's what I want
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you to consider about that story. An experience that looks like a setback
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in one role can lead toward a better use of your gifts
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and your skills. We cannot know what would have happened if her career
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had unfolded differently, but we can recognize the importance
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of being available to a different form of work. Imagine insisting that your
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only successful future must look exactly like the
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role you have originally pursued. How many possibilities
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would that exclude from you? You may know the impact that you want
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to have without knowing every single detail of how you're going to have it.
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You may know the kind of leader that you want to become without knowing the
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exact business model. You may know that you want a life of greater
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freedom, contribution, and abundance while still discovering exactly
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how to create it. Give yourself room for that discovery.
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Give yourself the chance for your stream to move around the
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rocks, to find a different path. This is where identity becomes so important.
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I talk so much about living from the identity of your wish fulfilled,
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and that means connecting with who you are as the person living
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the life that you desire. How do you think as that person? What do you
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value? What do you make decisions about? How do
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you treat people? What do you take responsibility for when you're living from
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your wish fulfilled, your goal achieved identity?
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Because when you become clear about that identity, you have something
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deeper to guide you than attachment to a particular strategy.
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Suppose you see yourself as a confident, effective business owner.
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Would that person refuse to review an approach that isn't producing
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useful results? Would they keep doing something simply
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to avoid admitting that they need to make a change? Or would they be
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willing to learn, to seek advice, and make a thoughtful
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adjustment? Flexibility can be an expression of that identity.
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You can make a new decision from confidence. You can say,
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I am committed to building this business and I'm willing
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to improve how I build it. Or I am committed to making
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this contribution and I'm open to a different way of delivering it. Your identity
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gives you a place to stand while the plan changes,
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while it evolves. Now, how do you recognize when an adjustment is
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needed? Well, that's the, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it?
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Well, first you start by listening. Listen to the results that you're receiving.
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Listen to the people you serve. And most important,
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listen to yourself. Listen to your gut. Your gut deserves
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a place in this conversation because there are times when you're, you're doing something
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difficult, but underneath that discomfort, you still
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feel like it's life-giving. You care about the work. You want to develop
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the skill. Even when a day stretches you, there is a deeper sense
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that this matters. And you want to keep growing in it.
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That is worth paying attention to. Something can be challenging and
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still be life-giving. Think about preparing for a presentation
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that you care deeply about. It may take hours. You may need to practice.
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You may be developing your PowerPoint presentation. You may feel
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nervous, but you're connected to the opportunity to contribute.
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The work asks the energy of you, and it also engages something
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meaningful within you. And then there are experiences where you feel increasingly
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disconnected from what you're doing. You just keep going through the motions.
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You struggle to explain why the approach still matters.
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You see little movement toward the life that you desire, and you keep
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overriding that sense that something needs attention.
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Well, that deserves an honest review. Please pardon this interruption to your
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podcast episode. This will not take but a minute. Before we continue, I want to
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ask you something. Do you know that you're capable of more, but your life right
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now just isn't fully reflecting the person you know you can
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become, then I want to personally invite you to schedule a Shift Mindset call with
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me. This Shift Mindset experience is something that I
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created to help you identify one decision that you can make that will
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shift your life. And when I say that this is a call with me,
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I mean exactly that. This is a live, one-on-one personal
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call between you and I. This is not prerecorded.
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This is not a member of my team. It is you and I having a
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real coaching conversation about your life. And it does not
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cost you any money. It is a 45-minute exchange of time.
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I'll give you 30 minutes of my best mindset coaching to help you
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identify a decision that will create a real shift in your life. And in exchange,
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I just ask you give me about 15 minutes to show you the coaching experiences
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that I offer. There's no obligation. But there is an opportunity
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to create a meaningful shift in your life just from this
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call. You can schedule yours today at johnstreet.org.
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Just click on the button that says schedule your shift call.
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And also, if this podcast is helping please subscribe,
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please like, and please share it. Every time you do that, every time
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you engage, you are helping to spread this message and inspire someone
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else to create their best life through also living their own
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revolution of purpose. Now let's get you back to the Revolution
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of Purpose podcast. One difficult afternoon won't tell you
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everything. Exhaustion can make meaningful work feel heavy.
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Fear can make an appropriate step feel uncomfortable. So give yourself enough space
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to hear clearly, Rest, reflect,
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take a deep breath, and then look at the pattern that's
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forming over time and ask yourself, when I am rested and honest with
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myself, do I still want to grow in this direction that I'm going?
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Can I see how this work connects with the life I desire
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to be building? What specifically is draining my energy?
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And that last question, it really matters because perhaps
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the vision is still deeply meaningful, but the way you're pursuing it needs to
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change. Maybe you love serving your clients, but the structure of your offer leaves
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you stretched too thin. Maybe you believe in your work, but you're trying
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to communicate it through a method that doesn't allow your strengths to
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come through. Maybe you need support with a task that you've been insisting
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to carry alone. Maybe the question you need to ask yourself
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is who, not how. And be specific about what
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needs adjusting. You don't have to abandon an entire dream because the—
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there's one part of the approach that needs attention. Let's make this
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practical. Imagine that a business owner whose vision includes doing meaningful
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work, serves his clients well, and having time to enjoy life
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with their family. She builds a service that allows clients to contact
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them at any hour. And at first that feels so generous.
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She just wants to be helpful. But over time, they get
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constantly interrupted. Over time, all of a sudden he cannot fully
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be present at home. Over time, their workday has
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no clear ending. They begin wondering whether owning a business
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is right for them. Before they question the whole vision, they need to examine the
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structure of the business. Could they establish clear communication hours?
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Could they create a better process for common questions? Maybe implement
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some better boundaries? Could they adjust how support is delivered?
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The person living their desired life would need to make those types
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of decisions. Changing the structure could reduce burnout
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and let you relight and reignite that fire within you.
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It could bring the closer— the business closer to the vision that inspired it.
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And that is a meaningful pivot. And it, it may require courage to make it
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because sometimes we keep pushing an old approach to avoid
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the discomfort of making that new decision. We know how to work harder.
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We're less comfortable saying this needs to change. Someone may
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have expectations. We may have to learn a different skill. We may have
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to release the satisfaction of saying we were right all along.
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But you are allowed to grow beyond the plan that got you started.
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Let me say that again. You are allowed to grow beyond the
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plan that got you started. You're allowed to recognize that
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something served a season in your life, but it needs to evolve.
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You can appreciate what an approach taught you without committing
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to repeat it indefinitely. Now, I also want to give
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you— your efforts enough time to teach you something. Changing course
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every time you feel uncomfortable makes it difficult to build momentum.
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So before you replace your approach, I want you to ask
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yourself, have I actually practiced this consistently? Have I
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given it a reasonable opportunity? Am I responding to a pattern
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or reacting to one disappointing experience?
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Sometimes the adjustment is a new strategy. Sometimes it is following
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through on the strategy that you already chose. Why is
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this reflection so important? Because you want to make the decision
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with your vision in view and the useful information at your
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hands. Don't judge yourself too harshly. Just look at what
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you're going through and review it with truth in your
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perspective. And then you can test a change. You don't always
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need a dramatic announcement or a complete reinvention. You can make
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one adjustment and observe what happens. Have a different conversation.
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Change how you explain an offer. Ask for support. Create a
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boundary. Try a format that allows you to use your strengths more effectively.
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Let the next step produce more understanding.
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That is how you can flow while remaining responsible for your
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direction. Flow includes participation.
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You're listening, you're choosing, you're acting, you're responding,
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and you remain engaged with the life that you're creating.
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So before we close, I want you to consider one area where you've
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been pushing instead of flowing. Bring a specific situation
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to mind. It could be a business strategy, a commitment, a way of working,
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something that you've continued doing because it's just the way you've always done it.
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And first, reconnect with the identity of living as your wish fulfilled.
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Picture that life that you desire and the person that you
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are living it, that person you are within that life.
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What qualities does that person bring to this decision?
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Is it clarity, courage, patience,
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willingness to receive support? Then ask, does my current
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approach help me practice those qualities and move toward that life?
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Be honest with yourself. You may recognize that you need to
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stay consistent. You may recognize that one part that needs
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to be adjusted, or you may know that it is time to release
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this root altogether and explore another path.
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Name one decision. Keep it concrete enough that you can
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act on it. I will ask for feedback before repeating this offer. Or maybe it's,
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I will set communication hours that allow me to serve
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well and be present at home as well as for my clients. Or,
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or maybe it's, I will stop relying on one opportunity and explore
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2 or more ways forward. Give yourself the next step that you
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can take and decide when you'll review what you learned.
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You can move with intention without demanding certainty, and you
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can trust your direction while remaining teachable about the
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route. I sure hope that this podcast reached you today in a time that
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you really needed to hear it. If you know anyone else that could benefit from
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learning about keeping the vision while changing the path, I hope that you'll send
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it to them as well. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next
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time, keep living your own Revolution of
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Purpose. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
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If this episode encouraged you, if it challenged you,
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or if it helped you see your life a little bit differently, would you
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do me a favor? Subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review,
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and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
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Every share helps us reach more people who are searching for hope,
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purpose, and a life greater meaning. And if you're ready
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to stop wondering what's next and start living with greater clarity and purpose in your
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own life, I would love to meet with you personally.
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Visit johnstreet.org right now to schedule your complimentary
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live purpose and clarity call with me.
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Until next time, remember, your purpose is not something you find.
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It is something you awaken to, and then you choose
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to live it. Go make today another step in your own
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revolution of purpose.