Sunday Night With John: Purpose

I woke up this morning in a changed world. Not just the  world at large, where increasing tensions between differing views continues to grow louder and louder, but also my corner of the world that was changed forever on a personal level today. This heightened my focus on the concept I have been focusing on all week--purpose, more importantly my purpose, my message’s purpose, and Sunday Night With John’s purpose. As I witness a world where people increasingly distrust each other, where fear seems to be the leading notion our leaders are tapping into, and hopes for success seems to slipping away, it becomes time to examine my purpose.

Everything I do should revolve around moving my message into new audiences, expanding its reach, and booking more speaking engagements. But I cannot in good conscience head down the road of this message only serving me because that is not how it started. I started this message because I hold emotional health near and dear to my heart and want to create genuine interactions between people. I made the conscious decision years ago that this message and my stories would not be driven by the bottom line. I would not tag every blog with my speaking page engagements, I would not constantly direct people to my book, and I would speak or blog every week about my message. I have listened to speakers all my life continually reference their products, their other talks, and their books in the name of increasing their brand. It has always turned me off because I felt like a mark, a dollar sign to them, a way to not change, improve, or inspire a life, but a way to make sure they could afford the next addition on their house. I never wanted anyone walking away from my talk or reading my blog to feel I was using them to make money. It was a condition I promised myself as a wide eyed 23-year-old just starting out, and has become an ethos I refuse to let go as I age.  

So some weeks this blog is going to appear to be a diary entry because there was a moment, a person, an act of kindness in my life that inspired me and I’m passing it along hopefully to inspire you--much like last week’s blog about the old gentlemen at the gym who inspired and reminded me to keep moving. I received an email from a reader saying, thanks for the wonderful story and I’m going back to the gym because of it. Some weeks the blog will be about world events in hopes my view of the event will inspire conversations. The week after the election, I exchanged a ton of emails about my blogs. Some weeks the blog will be about my message. This will not be to spur you to have me in to talk with your group, but because it’s a message I believe in and so do others, because many people have had me in to speak with their group.

Do I want more speaking gigs? Yes! I want lots of them! Book me soon! Do I want my blogs to reach a bigger audience? Yes, I want millions to share my page, my blog, my posts! Do I want this message to grow? Yes, I want it to grow across continents! Will you send it out for me? Do I want to end up on a show like, Ellen, talking about this message and the lives it inspires? Oh boy, that would make my dreams come true! But this isn’t just about me. It’s about you, the person struggling with life, who comes across my message and leaves inspired. My purpose, even in this changing world, is to create genuine interactions with people around emotional health. And, whether they have me in to speak, buy my book, or read my blog, I want,everyone, everywhere, to walk away after an interaction with me and say that it was genuine, that he was honest, and that he cared about me. That is a purpose that will enrich my life greater than anything else this world has to offer.