Your Life On Purpose

It’s been an absolutely incredible week and I hope you too are feeling good about what you accomplished so far this week.   Take a moment and think about your wins. What is one thing you did this week that moved you down your path on purpose?    For me, my weekly goal was to get published on another top platform besides The Huffington Post. I’m honored to help contribute to The Huffington Post, but I wanted to expand my reach and do more as a writer.   Today I just heard back from both elephant journal and Collective Evolution and they will publish my work.   So, I’m really excited and honored to join them in sharing the message I talk about here on Your Life on Purpose.   I share this story with you not to brag. I share it with you to show that I’m right there along side you, walking down my path on purpose.   You see, I love to write, but I never really thought of myself as a writer. Yeah, I went through a lot of higher education and have these fancy pieces of paper that say I can write, but I never really

After you’ve started your own project and create something, I’ve mentioned how you leave The Ordinary World. You hear your call to purpose and act on it. First of all, that’s awesome because most people never do this their whole life and go to the grave with their best ideas still inside them. Just by listening to this podcast, you’re asking yourself the questions that many people are too afraid to ask themselves. So, that deserves some recognition. But, something unique happens after you reach a turning point and experience a level of success. It’s like you’ve climbed so far up a mountain and got to the top and experience the high of being on top of Everest, then realize the hardest part is ahead of you. You still need to come down the mountain and that requires you to be even more dedicated. In fact, to keep going with the mountain climbing metaphor, most deaths on Mt. Everest happen on the way down. Just read the book Into Thin Air by one of my favorite authors, Jon Krakauer to know what I mean.  And I th

This level of The Hero’s Journey is called “The Turning Point”. We’ve all been here before. This is the moment when you actualize something new in your life. For example, if you’ve ever picked up a new sport and struggled at it for a while, then after practice you starting getting pretty good. Then, one day -- all your hard work pays off and you’re no longer mediocre. You’re actually pretty good at it. That’s The Turning Point. It’s the moment when you become solidified in your new role. In other words, there’s no turning back now. In The Goonies, for instance, it’s when they are so far already on the treasure hunt that they can’t turn back. For Neo in The Matrix, it’s when he chooses the red pill over the blue pill. He is no longer in ignorance and see’s a whole new reality. It’s impossible for him to go back to his old belief system. I know that, for a lot of people that I’ve interviewed, a turning point for them was when they saw the lack of freedom they had in their career. There’s a whole new movement

The bottom line of today’s message is this: Real heroes are humble and check their ego at the door. They ask for help.   By the way, I realize that many of you are at a point in your life where it’s embarrassing to ask for advice. You may be a CEO of a company, or just too old you think to ask for mentorship. That’s your ego talking to you.   That’s the thing you need to check at the door.    When I’m 80, I hope I’m still wise enough to take mentorship from a teenager when it’s needed.   How do you know you need help? When the resistance kicks in and says you just can’t do it.   You’re just not smart enough.   You’re not agile enough.   You’re not strategic enough.   And the list goes on. There’s always going to be some sort of mental game that our brains play.    But imagine if someone came up next to you and gave you just what you needed. They interrlocked their hands so that you can step rise up to climb the tree.   If you’re open and receptive to help, them mentors will show up to help hoist you up the tr

So, today, I’d like to do something a bit different. I’d like to offer you a tip that I learned (and I’ve alluded to before) that helps squash the resistance.    It’s called, developing your mantra. Here we go….   What is Your Mantra? I stared bleary-eyed at the mile marker 10 as Lake Seneca glistened in the periphery. My legs felt like bricks and sweat stung my eyes like battery acid. Energy depleted. Exhausted. Spent. I whispered my race mantra, “This is Water....ebb and flow,” over and over as my legs continued to somehow pump up and run and maintain proper running form. Three miles later I crossed the finish line for my first Half-Ironman race, beating my race goal by ten minutes with a smooth time of 4:50:26 and quickly found my way to the nearby ice bath. For my athlete friends out there, you know what I’m talking about here. We’ve all had moments when our bodies said, “Nope, You’re Done. Stop Moving.” But, when our bodies tells our minds that we’re done, it’s possible to breakthrough to a whole new lev

Here’s what happened this week on Your Life on Purpose:   1. The Hero Inside All of Us   We embarked on The Hero’s Journey and are taking a close look at how it mirrors our live when we choose to live on purpose.   We all have a genius. We all have a hero inside all of us. It’s our mission to activate it and live it fully. That, my friends, would be sucking out the marrow of life, knowing that when I came to die that I had truly lived and not just merely existed.   And, yes, that was an allusion to Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden.   2. A New Vision   There are plenty of moments where we are able to see anew with a whole new set of eyes. When have you experienced a new vision and saw something so beautiful you didn’t even know existed beforehand?    For many of the people that I’ve interviewed, the new vision (like an awakening) happened when they started living their life on purpose, in accordance with their passion. When their motivation to work came from the soul instead of just trying to pay the bills,

Level 3 is where the resistance really starts to kick and we find a number of reasons to talk ourselves out of walking our own path.    Why?    I think Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist, said it best:   “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”  - Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist    If you’re listening to this podcast, my guess that you’ve heard a call to live more intentionally. More in tune with your purpose. Or you may just want some sort of change.   But, even when you know this, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy to enact that change.   You have responsibilities to yourself and your family that need to be taken into consideration. And it’s so easy to grow comfortable in the everyday.   The everyday is what your body is used to. And, as much as we as humans don’t like to admit, we’re creatures of habit.    And western culture absolutely loves being able to predict everything. That’s why Big Data is so popular. Why many people get paid a lot of mone

If you’re new to this podcast, head over to yourlop.com to catch up and learn more.   Yesterday we talked about leaving the ordinary world. That’s the world where people are not walking their own paths, but instead are following the paths that outside forces say you should follow.   if you’re hearing a call to live more aligned with your purpose, then you’re hearing The Call to Purpose. It’s where you seek an adventure to learn more about yourself and do more in your life.    A hero feels a call to adventure when they need to leave the ordinary world and set off for a life-changing adventure.Perhaps you’re in an unsatisfying job or you’re taking another class for another degree, but it doesn’t feel perfect. It’s time now to choose your own path.   Are you ready to accept this mission?    Here are 5 things to do when you hear The Call to Purpose.   1. Identify a Quest   What’s a quest, you ask? A quest is a goal so epic that it scares you. It challenges you to be more and do more. Here are a couple examples o

Yesterday I mentioned this week’s focus, The Hero’s Journey. I’ve been re-reading Joseph Campbell’s work (good thing I saved all of my books from college) and today I’d like to further explain the journey a hero takes to live their life on purpose.   Because when you live your life on purpose, you activate your inner hero.   And I realized that The Hero’s Journey is exactly what a person who chooses to live their life on purpose goes through.   If you don’t know the work of the late philosopher and mythologist Joseph Campbell, you absolutely need to read his work. There’s also a lot of beautiful archived interviews with him that you could download.   Most people already know The Hero’s Journey, even if you never heard of Joseph Campbell, because it’s the basis of a lot of popular movies out today: Star Wars, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings.    And here’s the thing: if you are listening to this podcast and you’ve been joining me here for a while, you know you are a hero.    Because it takes heroic courage to cho

I’d like to expand a bit on the first stage of The Hero’s Journey when you realize that you no longer want to live in the Ordinary World and hear a call for adventure.   This is when you live your life on purpose and choose to walk your own path instead of following someone else’s footsteps.    It could be when you decide to leave the job that weights you down or stifles your creativity.    It could be when you decide to let go and stop resisting change so that you can embrace it.   Or it could be something completely different. When you feel the Call to Adventure, it’s a sound only you can hear.   And it’s up to you to listen.   Yesterday, Seth Godin referenced Pema Chodron and this morning I decided to reread one of my favorite books by Pema called Living Beautifully.    Pema Chodron gives a beautiful analogy for what it’s like when you experience something you’ve never even known existed.    Pema needed cataract surgery — perhaps a surgery your parents like mine have gone through. After her eye surgery, sh

Last week, I closed the week talking about what it means to be a hero and it seems that that topic struck a chord with a lot of people.   So, I’d like to expand on that a bit today and dive deeper into the hero inside all of us.   I’ve also just come home from a six-hour drive home and listened the entire time to archived radio interviews with Joseph Campbell. So, the topic of “the Hero’s Journey” is alive and well in me right now.    Since I started off my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve been fortunate to get to meet a lot of incredible people and not a day goes by where I’m not amazed at what someone is creating or their desire to be the change they want to see in the world. There’s this incredible spark in someone’s eye when they’ve found their sweet spot and are die-hard passionate about their work.   I’ve seen this same look in a lot of my students too when they work on a project that means far more than a silly grade.   It’s a beautiful thing.  I mentioned before that it’s like the soul has been ac

It’s a beautiful day ladies and gents. And it’s been an incredible week here at Your Life on Purpose. When I first launched this podcast, it wasn’t only meant to be the audio book to the free guide I wrote called Your Life on Purpose. You all convinced me to keep this podcast going and I’m seriously grateful for that. Over 1000 people are tuning in each day and the listenership keeps growing. Quick note: It’s really important to me that I share stories and tips that help empower your life and help you connect your dots. We all have a unique thread that ties our story together and this is our unique value to deliver to the world. With that said, if there’s something I say that you want me to talk more about or you have something you think I should focus on, let me know. mark@yourlop.com @markwguay If you don’t have your copy of Your Life on Purpose yet, get it over at yourlop.com So, it’s Friday and that means we’ll quickly go over the concepts shared this week. Before I do that, I have a Public Service Announ

If you’re new to this daily podcast, head on over to YOURlop.com to get your copy of Your Life on Purpose, 10 actionable tips to live a life with impact which goes with this podcast and if you’d like, you’ll also be able to join our weekly newsletter.   Okay, here’s the thing. You don’t need permission. I see so many people, young entrepreneurs, students — just real incredible people that want to do amazing things in this world and they are waiting for permission.   You don’t need any permission to live the life you want to live and do the work you want to do.    Most people feel they need permission because that’s how most of us are raised. In the school system, it’s designed around a permission economy.    Students usually to age 18 often have to ask to go to the bathroom before graduating high school.    Just consider the behavior psychology of that for a moment.    If a person spent the first 18 years of their life asking permission to go to bathroom, it makes sense why many people wait for permission

This past weekend Saturday, something interesting happened. I had a clear calendar. I didn’t have any business meetings or calls scheduled. No meet-ups planned or mastermind sessions. So, I did my morning routine of coffee, meditation, yoga, then hopped in the car and started driving. I ended up again at Omega Institute -- the mindfulness center in Upstate New York. And I’d like to share with what a bit of what I learned there. (FYI -- my goal is to bring you thoughts and reflections on connecting the dots and living purposefully. So fully expect my work to be one part Richard Branson and one part Dalai Lama -- not that I’m nearly as cool as either Branson or the Dalai Lama, but you get the point.) I knew that Dr. Brian Weiss had a weekend retreat scheduled there, but I didn’t plan on going there before yesterday.   Dr. Weiss is the leader authority on reincarnation and past-life regressions. After graduating from Yale and starting up his psychotherapy practice, Dr. Weiss began his practice. Everything change

Last episode, I've talked about  ways we can identify and crush our barriers and I mentioned self-limiting beliefs. And Sometimes, we just need to get out of our own way as Jay Stolar taught us. Today, I’d like to dive deep into self-limiting beliefs. Why?   Because I’m having them right now and something tells me you might too.    Sometimes whenever I have self-limiting beliefs, I like to think back to my childhood.   I mean, heck, everything in the books says I should be a failure.   I’m adopted. Was raised in a poor family with parents who didn’t go college.  And had an alcoholic as a father.    When I look at Maslow’s hierarchy of self-actualization, it makes little sense why I’ve been able to get to where I am today.   Apparently, the research says adopted kids typically end up in jail or really struggle to make something of themselves. They also tend to have bizarre personalities due to attachment or abandonment issues. For instance, that’s why adopted kids like Steve Jobs of Apple Computers and Larry E

Today I’d like to focus on mindset and how so often times we need to get out of our own way.   We’re living in a world today that gives you the potential to do real meaningful changemaking work if you allow yourself to do so.   I see a world where we have the tools to create transformative and meaningful work that can build a better tomorrow, regardless of how much wealth you grew up with or what school you graduated from.  And I’m not just some guy who is saying that.   I’ve seen it. I’m a part of it. You’re a part of it.   I’m constantly blown away by the future of work and what people are doing these days to both do what they love and make a difference in the world.   When I first starting interviewing the successful entrepreneurs and game changers of today, I wanted my interview process to be organic, so I kindly asked that each person I interview introduce me to someone who they think I should interview.   That led me to interviewing people from all different walks of life.   Digital Nomads like Natalie

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and thought about something. What if I do a weekly wrap up of all the things talked about this week?  What if I share what I learned this week? Because I’m here with you. I'm just a regular guy trying to make a positive difference in the world. A lot of the information that that I’ve been sharing on this podcast is deep. They’re simple thoughts, tips, and tricks I’ve learned from interviewing a lot of the world’s greatest change agents, but they are deep. It takes time for lessons like this to sink i n and become part of the daily mindset and become habitual.  Besides that’s where real and meaningful learning comes from. There needs to be some level of wrap up to revisit all the things talked about so far.  Also, really learning something comes from doing. Learning is throughdoing. So, please don’t just listen to this podcast. Actually go ahead and try some of the things out that I talk about here.  What did I learn this week? Overcoming Resistance:  As Mario Ar

Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."   It’s a quote I think of often as I go through my life, taking a look at what I repeatedly do and wondering how can I take what I do on a regular basis and level it up, make it better, so that I can level up my life, my impact, and break through barriers.   So, today’s focus is on growing a limitless mindset by identifying your barriers.   Before getting into anything yet, just think about that for a minute. How do YOU identify your barriers?   I truly believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. It’s just up to you to believe in yourself.    Like Steve Jobs said, the world was made of by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it.   In short, there's nothing different between you and those you aspire to be more like.   Fear, self-doubt…they’re totally normal and I can’t name one person I’ve interviewed who didn’t have fear and self-doubt. In fact, most of the people I meet and intervi

Head over to YourLOP.com, where you’ll also be able to get the free life plan template that goes with this podcast. Today, I’d like to talk about redefining you. I’ve never met someone who didn’t work hard at building their identity. That structure that makes you YOU. The webbing of your purpose. In fact, I’ve spent my whole life building it. I’ve invested a lot of college tuition and coaching lessons along with devouring self-help books like candy. When the bookstore Borders lined every Main Street and before Starbucks sat at every corner, I’d sit in the coffee shop with a pile of books and a foamy latte. I decided early on that I only have so much time here on this planet and I want to make an extraordinary positive impact. Even as a kid, I loved the big hairy questions like why am I here, what is my purpose. I guess I was a bit of a weird child in that sense. I’ve learned, however, that holding on so tightly to an identity can make it difficult to live in the present, especially when an event so debilita

Before even getting into today’s episode, I’d like to celebrate that so far we’ve had a total of 15,000 listeners tune in to Your Life on Purpose.    That’s amazing!    I also wanted to let everyone know that I am creating a habit-hacking course that helps you live your life on purpose, do what you love, and make a difference.    I’m still talking with designers and such, so it’s in real beta form, but I invite you all to sign up for my weekly newsletter where I’ll keep you in the loop on when it goes live.   Sign up at thetravelingcup.com.   On today’s episode, I’d like to sit still and focus on focus.   Because here’s something I think you can relate to.   I want to do so much in my life. No, really, it’s like I have a thousand lives in me that I feel I need to live.   I want to do so much, yet if I don’t focus on one thing I’ll never get anything done. Seriously.    We live in the most distracted time of our history. It’s a beautiful time to be alive and I really feel like we’re living in a new renaissance