The Life Purpose Podcast on Life Signatures Radio

If productivity is one of the biggest reasons we are alive, and it is, what would be the best way to make us productive? The answer is simple. We have to "die daily". It sounds harsh and weird but it is true. One of the things we have to do is to make sure that the object of our focus, that is our core work, is what we were meant to do in the first place. In other words, we can be "successful" in many things, but at the end of the day, we might not have led an effective life. An effective life has to be a productive life in the right things. Listen to this.

I do believe that the main reason why we are existing is so that we can be productive. We do this through work. We have to answer two major questions: "Where was I called to be productive?" In other words, how have I been wired so that whatever I do is what I am not only gifted at, but also what I have lots of passion at? After answering that question, we are left with one more crucial question to answer. "How best can I be productive at this?" That is the question that we need to take a look at in the next several episodes. Stay tuned.

When you are misunderstood as a visionary, you could be easily discouraged and thrown off balance. In the worst-case scenarios, people give up the vision so that they can fit in and conform to society. We have to understand that from the get-go, the thing you are passionate about as a visionary is not necessarily going to be generally accepted. At times, it is against the status quo of the day. When people feel that their status quo has been ruffled, they get so defensive to protect their turf. The question is, what are you going to do when you are misunderstood? The answers are summarized in this episode. Check it out

According to Napoleon Hill, "No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind." The more reason you need to mastermind when you are misunderstood as a visionary. There will be one or two people on the face of the universe who are as passionate as you are about ideas. This could be one of the best ways to make sure that you leverage other people's brains, efforts, and passion in order to succeed with your vision, especially when you have been misunderstood by friends and loved ones. Listen to this.

The word "disruption" is being thrown around a lot. The fact of the matter is that nobody wants to be disrupted in life, at least in the way they see their certainty in life working. People want to be sure that what works remains working. As a visionary, you might be disrupted when you want to do something totally different from the widely accepted norm, different from the status quo. What do you do? The lifeblood of your vision is in the actions that you take daily, without fail. Although you see no improvement, that is where the magic is. When you are misunderstood, do not break your routine. Listen to this.

So what do you do when you are constantly misunderstood by your friends and loved ones because you are pursuing or want to pursue a totally different angle in life from that which is widely accepted by the status quo? We are all different in our own unique ways. Perhaps the greatest misfortune in life is when we want to fit and conform more than we want to stand out and be distinct and celebrate our difference and uniqueness. Invariably, it never ends well when you conform. This is what you need to do when you are misunderstood by friends and loved ones because you are pursuing a different vision. Listen in.

It could be impossible for the whole wide world to turn against you as a visionary. If you look carefully there is always someone out there who understands you. As a visionary, one of the prices you will have to pay is being isolated, being alone, and being misunderstood. Why? Because your vision will invariably go against the grain and the status quo of the day. If you are not careful, that vision can easily be aborted. What do you do? You need to find an "uncle" that you can talk to and see what kind of support or intercession that you can receive. Listen to this.

As I have said in these episodes, you cannot expect everyone to believe your vision, or purpose, or passion. For the most part, people believe it when they see it. Not so for the visionary. The visionary believes it before they can see it. As you can see, there is a discrepancy between what the visionary sees and what the rest of the people see. You will be misunderstood over and over again before that vision can become a reality. This is why it is important to clarify your vision once more when you are misunderstood. Listen to this.

Perhaps you have an idea or a vision or some passionate pursuit that you are engaged in. You pretty much wanted your closest friends and loved ones to not only understand you, but you also banked on their support. Unfortunately for you, they do not see things the way you see, they do not feel what you feel. In fact, what you are trying to do is way outside of the norm, the known, the understood, and the experienced. You, therefore, find yourself alone and disillusioned, feeling like you are doubting yourself and you want to give up. Here is what you can do.

As a society, we are increasingly grappling with change. It is scary to change. When you have always known how things are supposed to operate and all of a sudden someone you care about wants to do it differently, you get scared at times. And this is happening in areas that are interesting in life, such as careers, meaning, and purpose. Increasingly, our friends and loved ones are seeking to move away from the status quo, from that which we have always known to work, and they are moving towards the untried, the unproven and the untested This is how we can respond. Listen in.

Let's face it. No one is obligated to believe your vision. However, when you have persevered enough and seen the vision bring fruits or it becomes a reality, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon of belief. The fact is that everything is created at least twice. The first creation is when you get the vision, the idea, the purpose, or the passion to pursue it. At that moment, there is no evidence that it will work. In fact, at that moment, it tends to go against the grain, against the popular status quo. There are at least four ways that a visionary will be affected when they are misunderstood by friends and loved ones as they pursue their vision. Listen in.

When a visionary is misunderstood by friends and loved ones, for the most part, it will be because they are taking a stand that is different from what the status quo offers. People will not see what you see, feel what you feel, and hear what you hear. That should be what you and I have to understand from the get-go. At times we get it wrong when we think that people will have the same passion as we do with our purpose and our pursuit. When they don't, it affects the visionary in different negative ways. this is one of them. Listen in.

We all go through pain in our lives at one point or another. Perhaps the greatest pain that we suffer is not physical pain, it is the pain in our souls that is brought about by being misunderstood by the people that we expected to understand. Many times a visionary downloads something out of this world, and just the fact that it doesn't fit in the status quo of the day, we vilify them and make them go through lots of inner turmoil. This is one of the greatest pains that a visionary can ever go through. It is one of the prices they pay for their vision, to choose between the vision and the family, the vision, and friends. Listen to this.

As a visionary or someone who is hot on the heels of purpose pursuit, make no mistake about it, you will be misunderstood. No one is obligated to believe you. No one. So when you are misunderstood, you will go through several things. It is very important for your friends and loved ones to come alongside and help you, support you and shield you, providing a strong belief in what you do. But what happens when they don't? And believe me, they won't at some point in time. This is when you will discover that blood is not necessarily thicker than water. Listen to this.

A Jesus-type of visionary will always be misunderstood and for good reasons. They are unlike anyone we have seen. They take on massive "impossible" projects. In our world, we can equate this kind of visionary to an Alexandar The Great, a Julius Ceasar, a Napoleon, a Shaka Zulu, an Abraham Lincoln, or even to some extent, a John F Kennedy or a Martin Luther King Jnr. One can even say an Elon Musk or a Steve Jobs exemplifies this kind of visionary. It is easy to see how many of these people were misunderstood, in fact, many of them were killed. Let's see what to do with this kind of visionary.

We always misunderstand visionaries among us. This is in families, classrooms, office blocks and community. They see what we don't. They are motivated unlike we are. So we vilify them, judge them, laugh at them, and so on because we want them to operate in life with total respect to the status quo. Unfortunately for us, there is one type of visionary that does not play games with their vision. If you stood up against them and their purpose, you will become the victim, unlike the visionary that we saw yesterday. Listen to this.

Joseph is the typically gifted visionary with a heart to save multitudes, but so docile to defend themselves. We have such kinds of visionaries in our lives today. The worst thing you can do as someone who is close to a visionary is to misunderstand their passion and their spirit. Every day, such a one gets misunderstood all over the world. If you are a "Joseph-Type" of visionary, you find that the greatest thing you need is support. Your vision is so clear and yet for it, you get vilified, even threatened with death itself. Let's listen to what happens to a Joseph Type of visionary.

There are at least 7 ways in which we show our great misunderstanding of some of the visionaries on earth. These are the round pegs in square holes, the misfits, and the trouble makers as Steve Jobs an Apple called them. They are found in our homes, our classrooms, our workplaces, and our politics. They are found in our religions and sports arenas. They stick up like a sore thumb against the status quo. When we are uncomfortable with them, we get scared and we vilify them. Find out how that happens here.

There was an astronomer or a scientist who at the time of popular belief that the world was flat, came up with his findings that the earth was indeed round. He was vilified, misunderstood, and excommunicated. He was forced to recant his sayings that were termed as heresies. Later on, the world proved that he was right, and it was Pope John Paul the second that asked for forgiveness on behalf of the church about that. That's the same thing we do with some visionaries today. When they do not fit our status quo we misunderstand them. Here are two more ways in which we do that. Listen to this.

At times, unbeknown to us, we are living with geniuses. However, we are so hell-bent on making them fit in instead of letting them flourish and stand out. We want them to toe the line, to conform, to be normal. To do what everyone else does on a daily basis. And so we misunderstand their passion, commitment, and drive. We get scared of their crazy ideas. We ask them where the money will come from and we tell them to go get a real job just like anyone else would do. In this episode, we look at two more ways that we vilify these visionaries. Listen to this.

"Here is to the crazy ones, the misfits and the rebels" That was Apple way back in 1997. They had a point. Today, in our own backyards, in our own homes, classrooms, and office blocks, there are misfits that are being vilified. We do not understand their passion and their purpose. We do not understand their commitment, vision, and ideas. So we want to stop them dead in their tracks. In this episode, we look at the first two ways that we stop them. Stay tuned.

One of the greatest enemies in my work is the status quo. The other one of course is ignorance. These two coming together have killed dreams of different visionaries the world over. Day in and out, these visionaries are misunderstood because we feel like they do not toe the line. They are not like us. Such weird people can be found in our houses, schools, and office blocks. Daily, we have no idea what we are doing to stop them because we do not see what they see. Listen to this.

There are several reasons why in your pursuit of passion or purpose, you are not earning enough. Probably you have just started or you have been at it for ages but there are only trickles to show for it. Some of the reasons why that is the case are covered in the 8 episodes prior and this one just summarizes all of them into one episode. For the most part, people would rather take a job than pursue their purpose because of the different dynamics in monetization. Listen to this.

They say that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Quite instructive. I normally poke holes in some of these nuggets. For example, what if the bird in the hand is lame, or has a defect? Will it still be worth two in the bush? Well, that will depend. In pursuing our purpose, we soon enough become weird in the eyes of our friends and loved ones. The greatest question they would be asking is: Why is there no money in your purpose pursuit? In this episode, we look at one more reason why that is the case.

When someone is told, "Go get yourself a real job", chances are that that someone was pursuing something of passion or purpose. Now, a "real" job has some guarantees. You know that you will earn X amount of money consistently in a certain period. That gives you certainty. You know that your bills of survival will be covered without trouble and as promised. Not so with Purpose pursuit. As much as there are misconceptions in purpose pursuit monetization, chances are that you are the one shooting yourself in the foot for not monetizing it. This is one way that happens.

There could be basic fundamentals that are not being followed whenever something is not working. Also, the timing could not be right, probably, when something is not working. Whatever the case, we need to make sure that the blame is not on us. When it comes to purpose pursuit, we have to answer the question that is age-old, "Why is there no profit in my purpose pursuit?" Why is it that people of purpose more often than not are always told, "Go get a real job"? Isn't the pursuit of purpose a real job? Let's find out here why there is no profit in your purpose pursuit.

Why is there no profit from my purpose pursuit? That's a question very many people grapple with. It is probably the same question asked by a businessman after years of trying. Or a farmer, or a graduate looking for a job? There are many reasons out there why this is happening. Of course, some of the factors would be beyond your capacity to handle, but some of these factors are self-inflicted. In this episode, we take one more look at this topic and discuss one major reason why there is no profit in your purpose pursuit. It is the simple things that make a big difference. This is one of them. Listen to this.

Most of the reasons why there is no profit in purpose pursuit are because of either the ineptitude or the ignorance of the visionary. For the most part, it is because the visionary lacks the intentionality to do what they must in order to earn. The truth of the matter is that there could be people in the world who would pay for that purpose, that passion, that gift, or that talent. But as long as the visionary will not have the fortitude to look for the profit, it shall not come. Here is one major reason why there is no profit in your purpose pursuit.

"Yeah, but where is the money?" That's the question very many passionate people are asked when they present their weird ideas, causes, and purpose pursuit. Frankly, that question is important, because a man who works has to eat. However, how do you grapple successfully with a society that doesn't think that there is profit in purpose pursuit? At some level, the people in purpose pursuit ought to blame themselves for not gaining profit for one reason or another. A big reason is discussed in this episode. Check it out.

How can you monetize your talent, your gifts, your passion, and ultimately your purpose? This ought to be the most asked question the whole world over. However, we find that the question, "how can I get a job" is probably more asked. Why is that? It is because, with a job, there is an instant promise for certainty. There is cash money in your pocket at the end of the month. There is a big reason as to why the people that are gifted, people of purpose are not generating income from their purpose pursuit. Let us look at this major reason in this episode. Listen to this.

Invariably, the purpose people do not feel like they should charge for their trade for one reason or another. I think the main reason is that they feel as if it is cheating. Traditionally, we have been schooled to think that we earn to the direct proportion of our academic papers. Also, we have been conditioned to think that we earn in direct proportion to the complexity of work that we are doing. The problem with that set up is that those two scenarios cannot serve the entire wide world. That is where purpose pursuit comes in. Listen to this.

Purpose pursuit is an incredibly important thing and ever increasingly so. More and more people are being employed to work in the "Gig Economy", and that is where purpose thrives. Environments were created for jobs. Institutions have been set up at a global level in order to skill people so that they can have jobs. The jobs are fewer each succeeding year. Purpose pursuit though has not been given enough emphasis, and as a result, it is not easy to convince someone to pursue it. The people who pursue purpose are the few who are exceptionally gifted. The rest think that "there is no money in purpose pursuit" Listen to this.

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I know this can be a little controversial. If you were to choose between Miracles and work, what would you choose? Of course, you would choose miracles. We also know that in the grand scheme of things, God is a miracle worker. We expect him to do stuff for us. However, this is the very reason why God's personal brand takes a beating. When you are in dire straits, you will need a miracle. However, that is not a daily situation. It is once in a while. Daily, we are supposed to work, use what God has put in place to prosper...listen to this.

Every waking day, someone is abusing or misusing God's personal brand somewhere in the world. One wonders why God is not doing something to rectify the situation. The answer to that conundrum is related to the different ways in which God's personal brand gets misinterpreted. I think top on the list is ignorance. This is both of those who believe and those who do not believe alike. For as long as ignorance thrives, God's personal brand will continue suffering. Listen to this.

God's personal brand has certainly taken a bad rap over the years because of the advent of impostors. The problem of course is not just the impostors. Every impostor out there needs a gullible, ignorant, and lazy person to take advantage of. So God ends up being blamed over and over again for things being done to people in his name, but at the end of the day, it is the impostors who are responsible for this. Listen to this.

Let me ask you a question. Is God really in control? Think about that. I have had debates upon debates with different people on the answers to this question. At the end of the day, God's personal brand suffers a great deal because of this statement. When you say "God is in control", people have a picture of a loving, powerful, and caring God. How can they reconcile the atrocities we see on the face of the earth to this God? Listen to this.

There is a great misunderstanding even in the religious circles on how God operates. The misunderstanding and the misinterpretations make God's personal brand to suffer every now and then. There are reasons why this is in play every waking day. Why is it that those people who are not religious are misunderstanding the concept of God. Why is it that those who are religious are disillusioned about the concept of God? How come there is a discrepancy between God's promises and the reality on the ground? Listen to this.

God being God is supposed to be the one with the greatest personal brand there ever was. It is even stupid to try and measure God, but we shall use some assumptions here, so work with me. What we see in some quarters in society though is God's personal brand taking a beating and having a bad rap. There are several reasons as to why that is the case. God does have a brand and that brand is critical to his success. Listen to this.

In a world that has become so noisy in the human resource space, the highly competent person is paid peanuts while the highly branded person is overwhelmed with work. Personal branding becomes the new CV that helps people to rise up and deploys their potential in the world, add value in the world, and solve problems. As a result, they get recognized and appreciated. Let's see some of the advantages of having a personal brand. Listen in.

Refreshing a personal brand is a critical thing. Of course, coming up with a personal brand is no mean fete. It takes time and effort. There is a sense of breakthrough when you finally have a brand crafted. However, down the line, you will quickly realize that you cannot stay in the same mode that you were in when you started out. You have to improve, increase, and stay relevant. Brand presence as well as perception have to be kept at the top of your to-do list. That's why the brand has to remain fresh through tweaks here and there. Listen to this.

Fresh is always as good as new no matter how long they have been in existence. Ask Coca Cola. Personal brands will be the in thing in life, but they cannot be left stale. We need to keep them refreshed from time to time. There are several ways in which we can do this and the top of the list is innovation. When a new product or service is added to a personal brand, that brand has just refreshed itself. Listen to this.

The thing that people in our targeted audience will interact with is what will form a critical aspect of our brand. Personal branding is not just about what we say we can do. It is also about what we do. When what we do confuses people, we are losing leverage with our personal brand. That is why we need to step back and refresh it. One of the ways of refreshing a personal brand is to rethink its focus and its value proposition. It is to cull all other things that are bandwagoning and focus on one sharp aspect. Listen to this.

There is something called the broken windows theory. It portrays the fact that where environments are run down, security levels are bad. When you spruce up that environment, the cases of insecurity go down accordingly. The same thing is mightily true about your personal branding. If your personal brand is not refreshed in any way, it sends a signal to your audience. That negative signal will affect your brand. When you refresh your brand, it sends a positive signal that keeps your audience connected to your brand. Listen to this.

If you keep yourself fresh and well attended to, it sends a signal to the world. It tells the world that you are alive and that you care. That is the same thing with a personal brand. Creating a personal brand is one thing, but delivering value consistently and refreshing yourself as you do that is not an automatic thing. One has to plan consciously how it is done. If not, people will forget or assume that you are no longer interested in your brand, or you do not care at the end of the day. Consequently, your brand suffers a body blow. Let's see how this can be rectified.

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One of the reasons why we have successful stories, whether it is through books, movies, TV sitcoms, articles, and so on is because of heroes. One of the reasons why mothers' day is cherished more than fathers' day the whole wide world is because the mothers are good at ownership. In creating a personal brand, one has to learn how to be a hero like a mother. Let's see how this is done.

It is already known and it is increasing in knowledge worldwide that a personal brand is "the new CV". Our resume's today are not those three paged documents that we present at interviews or we send by mail soliciting jobs. Today, we move ahead and we transact in life depending on the perception that is in the minds of other people about what we are already doing, what we are passionate about, or what we are identified with either because we are experts at it or we have been recommended. That is where a personal brand comes in handy. Let's start learning how to build one.

It is possible to do life in the dark, while all the time you presume that you are OK. That is the anatomy of misconceptions. It is only later on in life that you wake up and realize how wrong you were! Well, that is why mentors and knowledge are good. They help us to deal with misconceptions before we can delve knee-deep in them. In building a personal brand, there are quite a number of glaring misconceptions that people go around with. Let us see what they are and how to deal with them.

Neglect screams a million things. Care does the same thing, as well as compassion. With personal branding, it makes a difference to make sure that what is being communicated subliminally with your brand is care, compassion, and refreshing. That is why it is a travesty to think that personal branding is what is done in a January New Year Resolution meeting and then left to fend for itself. Listen to this.