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Take control, find your purpose
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Published: May 31, 2009
Carole Howard, retired vice-president of the Reader's Digest Association, tells a story from when she headed the digest's charitable foundation.
Laurance Rockefeller, one of the world's most famous and experienced philanthropists, was on the board.
One day, while she was presenting a long list of things she wanted to do, Rockefeller interrupted to say, "What you really need is a Tall Tree project."
He explained that the best charitable grants stand out like a tall tree towering over the other trees in the forest. He said tall trees change the landscape by making a unique and lasting difference in a community or the world.
He added that the digest foundation would do more good with one significant Tall Tree project than with dozens of small grants.
You, the Tall Tree
Can you see the lesson here for you and me? Is your life just a laundry list of many things you do adequately, or do you have a purpose and passion that makes you stand out and be unique?
What are you known for? What makes you special? What one skill, talent, contribution, or purpose would make for your life's "Tall Tree?"
You, the Individual
The first step to becoming unique is to define yourself, on your terms, not someone else's. Far too many people allow themselves to be told how to live their lives.
Says Howard Thurman, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
Earlier this year, we discussed you doing something that you've always dreamed of doing. How's that going? Have you started yet?
You Take a Stand
Once you identify your true purpose and passion, pour your energy into that cause.
Tallulah Bankhead noted "I'm a foe of moderation, the champion of excess. If I may lift a line from a die-hard whose identity is lost in the shuffle, 'I'd rather be strongly wrong than weakly
right.' "
So many people walk around each day with no real purpose.
Napolean Hill, in "Think and Grow Rich," tells of the two-year study of 3,000 Americans by psychologist William Marston.
Dr. Marston asked this simple question: "What are you living for?"
He was shocked that 94 percent of those interviewed had no definite purpose. These were men and women who were simply enduring the present while they waited for the future.
How would you answer Marston's question?
You and the Big Picture
In this rapidly-changing world, you will be exposed to increasing diversity and different viewpoints.
Often, we berate those who disagree with us, and circle our intellectual wagons along with those who agree, to block out any other way of thought.
To become a person of uniqueness, seek out those who are most different from you, and find out why they are so passionate about their way. You aren't compromising, you are learning.
Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Do Something!
Will this world be a better place from having you in it? You have a reason and a purpose.
The hardest part of all this is figuring out what it is, then making it happen.
When you have doubts, remember Henry David Thoreau's advice: "One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something."
It's time to do yours.
Jeff Corbett has done public speaking across the Southeast for many years. He lives in Statesville and can be reached at jeff@speak-well.com.
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