Category Archives: helping others

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You Can Supercharge Your Life – Without the Energy Drinks

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We all want to be energized and fired up to take on the day. So much so, that we may turn to coffee for a pick me up. For some, that’s not enough. Bring on the energy drinks!

But haven’t you had days when you felt invigorated without having to slam an espresso? What’s happening on those days?

I bet you’re doing something you’re passionate about and that you love.

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested-EM Forster

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When I was a kid it was really hard to get out of bed to go to school every day. I hit the snooze bar several times, fell back asleep, moaned and groaned, and finally, begrudgingly got up.

But at the age of ten I joined a bowling league. (Yes, I was one of those kids.) The league was every Saturday at 9am. I had to get up at the same time I got up for school in order to be at the bowling alley on time. And here’s the strange thing. Even though I stayed up later on Friday nights than I did on school nights, I never hit the snooze bar on Saturday mornings. Most of the time I didn’t even need my alarm. I would happily pop out of bed and get ready to go bowling.

I didn’t wake up tired, I woke up inspired.

What made the difference in my wake up attitude? I loved bowling. I looked forward to it. (Maybe my mom should have taken me to a counselor. Hey, what’s wrong with bowling?) My best friend was on my team and I didn’t want to let him down. I was excited to get up early and go bowling.

I didn’t hate school. I liked some of my classes and I enjoyed seeing my friends. But the school structure did not excite me and most of my classes bored the mess out of me. It was tough to get excited about.

As an adult, I’ve noticed the same phenomenon.

While I’m giving a presentation to a few hundred people or hosting a radio show, or playing a gig with my guitar I don’t feel tired. I feel supercharged. I’m hyped. (Even when my radio show was four hours long every week day, it didn’t wear me out. It actually took me a while to calm down once I was off the air.)

I’m passionate about those things and I love doing them.

Working on what you’re passionate about energizes you. Working on what you hate drains you.

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When’s the last time this has happened to you? Isn’t it amazing that you can work harder and longer doing what you love – and still feel more energized and satisfied – than working shorter hours doing something you hate?

Yes, we all have to do things we don’t want to do. But, how often?

Is there a way you could do more of what you’re passionate about and less of what drains your energy? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Wouldn’t that help you and everyone who comes in contact with you?

Sure, Greg, and then I’ll ride a unicorn over a rainbow into a pot of gold.

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I know it sounds impossible, but what if? How about this for a start?

1) Figure out what you love and what you don’t. Make a list of everything you do each day, for a week. Highlight all the activities you enjoy in green. Highlight all the activities you don’t enjoy in red.

Which type of activities are you spending most of your time on? If they aren’t the green ones, look out.

2) Now start looking for ways to minimize the red and maximize the green. Are there people who like what you dislike? Could you delegate to them? Could you group the things you dislike and do most of them once a week? Could you talk to your boss about where you do your best and see if that could be where you focus your time? Remember, it will help the company bottom line, too.

3) If none of that works, do you need to change jobs or careers to do more of what you’re passionate about?

4) Is there a way you can reframe the work you have to do that doesn’t energize you? Can you see the purpose of your work and how it helps others? For example, if you’re an insurance salesman instead of seeing your job as “selling insurance,” could you see it as helping people find the best way to keep themselves and their families healthy and financially protected?

5) Do this exercise with your personal life as well.

Life is too short to spend most of your week doing things that suck the life force out of you.

How does so much energy come from a passionate idea? Is one charging your life?

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The world needs your best work and that work is driven by your passions. Find them…and you can throw out the energy drinks.

I want to give as many people as possible my free eBook, 5 Steps to Finding Your Purpose. Please forward this to a friend who needs it. If they click here, they can get the free eBook.

Let’s GO!

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How Do I Find My Purpose?

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The biggest frustration I hear from people right now is, “How do I find my purpose?” If you don’t get that right, you’re missing the whole point, right? You can act like it doesn’t matter, you can busy yourself with the day-to-day things, and you can even fake happiness for a while. But the question keeps gnawing at you. It keeps scratching at the door like a dog that wants in. It keeps throwing pebbles on your window like a boyfriend trying to get your attention.

Some people try to ignore it their whole lives because thinking and doing something about it is too scary and hard. But it will not be ignored without negative, soul-crushing consequences.

You don’t want to ignore it. You have this feeling deep inside that you were made for something better. You realize this is it. This is your life – right now. You don’t get a dress rehearsal or a do-over. You get one shot and it’s not going the way you want it to go right now. You were supposed to be somewhere else by this time in your life. You want more – more meaning, more significance. You can’t stand the idea of being average, mediocre or just getting by.

I’ve got so much to say about this, I could write a book on it. Oh, wait. I did. You can get my book, GO! by clicking here. You can get the companion workbook, 5 Steps to Finding Your Purpose, as a free eBook by clicking here.

But I want to add to that as well. So, I’m going to write a series of posts over the next few weeks to help you find your Passionate Purpose and then a few more about how to pursue it.

We better define what purpose means when we talk about it here.

Purpose – pur·pose: The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
–Oxford online dictionary

For me, your purpose is not just your job or career. Your purpose is why you do everything you do. It’s why you’re here taking up space and breathing. (Oh, is that all? No problem. I’ll figure that out on my lunch hour today, Greg. Thanks a lot.)

Hey, I didn’t say it was easy. But it also doesn’t have to be so hard.

You get up every morning, wouldn’t you enjoy it more if you figured out a compelling reason?

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Let’s bust some myths.

Myth #1: There is only one way to find your Passionate Purpose

If you’re struggling to find your Passionate Purpose, I get it. I spent years trying to figure it out. (Hey, I still don’t have it completely figured out. Is that ok to admit?)

That’s what I want you to know today. There’s more than one way to find your calling. One way is no more right than any other. It’s what ends up working for you that is your right way.

Don’t feel like something is wrong with you because you’re not doing it the ‘right’ way.

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Some people are struck by lightning when they’re young, they know why they were born and they pursue their passion for the rest of their lives. (I tend to hate these people. Ok, not really hate, I just really wish that had happened to me.)

Others try a bunch of different ideas until something resonates with them. They keep going with it until their desire builds or burns out.

For most of us, we don’t get the Aha! moment. We have some ideas about our purpose, some things that excite us, some ideas we’d like to try, but nothing like a voice from a mountaintop telling us what to do.

And. That’s. Ok.

But if we’re not careful we can spend weeks, months, years, even decades waiting for that Aha! moment. We’ll keep reading books and blogs, watching TED talks, listening to podcasts and buying online courses, and not taking any real action to change our lives.

Get this. For most of us, there is no perfect purpose, idea, career, job, or plan for our lives. The best we can do is go with what resonates with us the most right now. Take action on it. Try it on for size. See how it feels. If a passion for it starts to grow, feed it some more. It might grow to become your Passionate Purpose. If it isn’t doing anything for you, try something else.

Here is one way to start working on it: Ask yourself some questions:

Why do you get up in the morning? Why are you here at all? What do you want to do with the time you have? What difference do you want to make? What do you want to accomplish? With your life? Your family? Your relationships? Who do you want to become? What do you want to be known for?

Those answers will get you started. My free eBook has a ton of questions that can help you drill down deeper on this. From there you can work on how you use your purpose to fuel every part of your life in and out of work.

Maybe you’re like me and you need to spend time searching for your purpose that will lead you to the extraordinary life of your dreams. I spent countless hours thinking introspectively to determine why I was here. I read books, listened to tapes, attended seminars, watched videos, kept journals, and did all kinds of exercises.

That works for me. I put that in the present tense because I continue to work on personal growth. I love learning this stuff. But that’s me, not necessarily you.

You might do best trying a combination of these methods, or something totally different might get you where you want to go.

Even after you think you know what your Passionate Purpose is, you will still take some detours and hit some speed bumps along the way. You might decide to change your mind and pursue something else.

All of this is OK. Walk your own path.

However, some things are the same for all successful people. They know what they want, why they want it, they take consistent action and – even if they stall out for a while – they keep going.

Myth #2: You can only have one Passionate Purpose in your life – ever

Most people have more than one purpose – often more than one at a time – and they change throughout their lives.

I have several purposes right now. My work purpose is: To help as many people as I can find and pursue their purpose so they can live out extraordinary lives and change the world.

That gets me super excited. I want to get up early to do that. I want to help people do that through my books, blog posts, online courses, coaching, videos, and more!

My family purpose is: To unconditionally love and serve my wife and daughters and help them live the extraordinary lives they were created for.

That leads me to spend more time with them and finding ways to help them.

My spiritual purpose is: To develop a deeper relationship with Christ and try to act more like Him.

That leads me to spend more time reading the bible, praying, and looking for ways to serve.

What about you? What purposes get you excited? Please don’t just read this and forget it. Take some time today or this weekend and figure it out.

Action steps:

1) Get my free eBook and spend time this weekend answering the questions to get you started on finding your purpose.

2) From your work answering the questions, take at least one action on a purpose that resonated with you.

3) Let me know how it’s going and ask me any question that pops up by emailing me: greg@gregorybknapp.com

Let’s GO!

Ramp it up. One to one coaching and an online coaching program for various budgets now available. Click here for more details.

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The Paradox of Serving Your Way to Success

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When you first hear it, serving your way to success sounds crazy, doesn’t it? The idea of being someone’s servant even sounds a little bit demeaning. And don’t I have to focus on me to get ahead? No one else cares about me as much as me.

“I love me some me!” — Terrell Owens, former NFL receiver

That can lead to a downhill spiral – fast. You end up feeling greedy, selfish, and desperate. And, it usually leads to financial and relational struggles.

But, when you truly understand it, serving your way to success makes perfect sense. You can track every bit of success in your life to your service of others.

  • You got promoted and made more income by serving your customers, coworkers, and boss
  • Your marriage is great because you put your spouse’s needs above yours
  • Your business is thriving because of the way you serve your clients
  • You have lots of friends because you’ve shown that you’ll help them any way you can
U can have everything u want in life if u just help enough other people get what they want-Z.Ziglar

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Sometimes I forget this. Whenever I find myself pressing in my business, or feel like I’m working too hard trying to sell, I always notice that I’ve gotten away from the focus of serving others. As soon as I start looking for ways to help and serve, things start working out again.

I start to feel happier. I begin to create better relationships and friendships. I have more fun in my work. I help more people.

As a bonus, I get more speaking engagements, coaching clients, and book and online course sales. But that isn’t my focus.

Sports demonstrate this as well. You’ve heard people say about a great player, “he’s so good, he makes everyone around him better.” That doesn’t just happen by accident. The great ones serve their teammates by helping them become better. They give them tips on how to play their position, how to study film, how to be mentally tough, and more. They lead by example and by their hard work. They never ask someone to do something they aren’t willing to do themselves.

It’s true in more than just sports. The really great parents, friends, and business people make everyone around them better. And they do it by serving.

It’s amazing how the process of helping others makes you a better person, and leads you to greater personal success than you’ve ever known. Quite often it even leads to more income. That’s not why you do it, but it sure doesn’t stink.

Let’s GO!

Questions for comments:

  • How do you switch your focus to serve others?
  • What do you do to serve others?
  • How does that change how you feel and what you achieve?

(I now offer one to one coaching and an online coaching program for various budgets. Click here for more details.)