Ok, here are the last 5 suggestions for super charging your life on purpose by supercharging your Purpose Projects. And remember, you can learn more about Purpose Project including how to create powerful, passion filled ones, by picking up a copy of my newly released book, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life.
9. Add in plenty of purposeful play. Purposeful playing has a combined spirit of intentionality and playful experimentation. The intentionality adds direction to your actions while the spirit of play and experimentation helps to keep you from getting bogged down by the details or by the need to produce a specific result or outcome. Let your creativity and imagination run free. Here are a couple ways to spark the playful, creative side of you.
Make a brainstorming list: Write down a list of at least 10 to 20 different ways you could move your project forward. Don’t worry about how you’d do them or if they even make sense or not. Just let your imagination out of its pen for a while.
Take a break and play with a child: As you’re playing observe how free most children are when they’re playing. Notice how they often will make up a new rule or ignore an old one if it gets in the way of their fun. How could you bring this spirit of play to your project.
10. Be willing to push on your comfort zone from time to time. While I don’t believe in the cultural belief of ‘no pain / no gain’ I do feel there are times that it’s appropriate to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. As I often tell people, coaching is about stretching people, hopefully without causing them to pull a muscle. So, push on your comfort zone once in a while. Call that person you’ve been afraid to call. Make 5 unreasonable requests in one day just to see what will happen. Pull out all the stops for just one week for the pure joy of it.
11. Align with others with similar visions and values. There is power in numbers and there’s supercharged power among people with similar visions and values. A powerful distinction to explore is the competition vs. cooperation. What would be possible for you if you gave up the notion or belief in competition and looked instead from the world of cooperation and collaboration? When you do, you’ll start to attract powerful people with common interests with whom you can align. The technology of the Internet is making such alliances even more possible and powerful. With whom could you open a conversation with this week in the spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit?
12. Expand your existence systems. As your purposeful life grows, your structures for holding it all needs to grow as well. Often times I hear people talk about being over committed. It’s a common ‘glass ceiling belief’ that can stop the most powerful person in their tracks. Often it’s not that they are over committed, it’s only that they’ve outgrown their existence system that they’ve put in place to hold their commitments. When you plate gets overly full, sure one direction to go is to cut back. Another option is to get a bigger plate. This means redesigning the support systems you have around you to be able to manage more commitments and projects. Consider this. What if Walt Disney had allowed himself to be stopped by the notion of being overly committed. How large do you think Disney would be today?
13. Create some controversy or mystique around the project. Controversy and mystique of the right kind can draw attention to your project. Be willing to think outside the box a bit. How could you draw the attention of the world to your Purpose Project? What’s holding you back? Look for leverage points. It sometimes takes making just that one strategic phone call, or making that one social contact to pop something into gear. What could you do this week to add some spice of controversy and mystique to your project?
14. Act as though it’s already done and live backwards. Known as the “Merlin Effect” this can be a very powerful exercise. Picture yourself 3-5 years out into the future. You’ve been consistently working on your Purpose Project and you now have the results to show for it. What will your Purpose Project look like 5 years out? Really allow yourself to dream a bit. Let your imagination fly. Now, back yourself to the present, year by year until you’re back to the present. You’re almost certainly will come up with new ideas you could implement to move yourself forward.
