The Impact Formula Lets Connect to Purpose
[Music]
remember when we were little kids
playing in the backyard in the grass
hysterically laughing at all the weird
little bugs we’d find back there
maybe we’d scream and cry ew because we
found one that was
super gross well back then
i was fascinated by the world that
existed within the grass
and the multitude of activities that was
occurring in that backyard
the ants for example were
extraordinarily
organized efficient and strong
they could create a living bridge with
their own bodies
to carry a morsel of food a hundred
times their size
over that bridge and back to
headquarters by using
teamwork this memory of ant has stuck
with me as i grew older
and sometimes i would find myself
pondering how
remarkable it was that there was never
any discussion
between the ants on how to complete this
task they didn’t have a management
meeting
or a list of deliverables to check off
yet they each seem to inherently know
their role in the task and how to
complete it
flawlessly
it’s observations like these in nature
that have always made me feel
that nature is purposeful
just like how each individual ant has a
purpose that contributes to them
accomplishing
impactful things in their own worlds
today as an adult i’ve learned that a
lot of nature operates on the earth’s
electromagnetic fields
this is what tells the birds to fly
south for the winter
it’s also what draws bees towards pollen
filled flowers
it’s almost as if all of nature is
operating on some sort of species
specific wi-fi signal
connecting each of them to their own
purpose
well if this is true if all of nature is
hooked up to a signal that’s driving
their purpose
and maximizing their impact
then how can we as human beings
reset our connection to that wi-fi
signal
and get connected to our purpose because
we’re getting a
spotty connection at best
let’s be honest if the human race was
getting a
clear and strong connection to our
purpose
we probably wouldn’t see things like the
employee burnout
rates across the globe or the mental
health crisis that’s just
accelerating worldwide and don’t even
get me started on how unsustainable our
food systems are becoming
so before i share with you the impact
formula
that can help us all get connected to
purpose
you might be wondering yourself well
what would that be like for me as a
human being to be connected to a purpose
that
nature intended for me how would that
benefit me
well for one it would give you a sense
of direction
just like the birds that fly south for
the winter
the birds don’t get stuck in analysis
paralysis
they’re not calculating exactly how many
days they have to stay down in florida
to claim domicile and
avoid new york taxes no
the birds don’t assess all the roots on
google maps to figure out how to save 15
minutes in traffic
of course not the birds just follow
their intuition they get up and they fly
in perfect formation mind you
and they get exactly where they’re meant
to be
imagine if you could have that sense of
direction in your life like an inner
compass
the next time you have a big decision to
make or need to figure out
where to go or what to do next
another thing that connection to purpose
does is
it aligns your own self-serving
interests and actions with that of the
greater good
what does that mean let’s take the bees
for example
the bee’s sole purpose in life
is to gather food for themselves
and take it back to the hive to share
with their community
so the bees spend their entire day
going from flower to flower collecting
nectar
and pollen because that’s their food
it’s a completely
self-interested action every single day
but what the bees don’t seem to realize
is that as they’re going from flower to
flower
collecting their food in complete
self-serving
interests they are also
cross-pollinating
all of the plant life on this planet so
that vegetation can grow
all over earth so we are
all benefiting from the bees
self-serving
acts here’s a little hint for you
if you’re playing a zero-sum game
with your business or any other facet in
your life where your actions
are at the detriment or disadvantage to
everyone else around you
well you’re not connected to your
purpose because being connected to
purpose
aligns your self-serving interests and
actions
with that of the greater good just like
the bees
and the most exciting thing about
connecting to your purpose
particularly for the leaders the change
makers
the influences of our world is that a
clear
strong connection to your true purpose
maximizes your impact just like those
ants we were watching when we were kids
in the backyard
the ants are always performing at the
top of their game
they are always reaching their highest
potential
so that as an individual or as a team
they’re accomplishing they’re
accomplishing
astounding things in this world it would
be pretty cool to operate like this
right
but unfortunately because that pesky
wi-fi signal we’re getting as a human
race
we need a little help getting connected
to our purpose
i’ve created this infographic to help
demonstrate the relationship
between impact and purpose these arrows
pointing outwards are the impact you can
have on the world externally
and at the base of these arrows the core
center point
of this graphic that is the force
the fuel that is the power behind the
punch of your
impact and the thing about identifying
clarifying strengthening your connection
to that true purpose so that you can
actually
utilize that fuel source behind your
impact is that you must
follow this long winding
path inwards it’s the path of
introspection
and the deeper you go down that path the
stronger your connection to purpose
becomes
and the more fuel you have behind the
power of your impact
because impact and introspection are a
symbiotic relationship
if you want to maximize the impact
you’ll have on the world externally
you must optimize the states that exist
internally
and it’s this introspective path that
the impact formula
is all about and here it is
maximum impact equals mind plus body
plus energy optimization master the mind
balance the body and plug into energy
and this is what puts you on that
introspective path
to identify clarify and strengthen your
connection to your
true purpose and fuels your impact
i’m going to take you through a couple
very quick examples
of uh concepts tips and practices that
you can try out
for each of these three elements in this
impact formula just so you can get
started using the formula
starting with master the mind
fortunately these days there’s a lot of
great resources out there for mindset
mastery so
alongside things like the mindfulness
practices or the breath work techniques
or
you know maybe the gratitude journaling
that you might be experimenting with
it’s also really important that we
familiarize ourselves with
two very key concepts so that we can
foster
an awareness of what’s occurring within
the mind
while we’re doing these practices the
first key concept is
get to know your unconscious
the states and levels of consciousness
are a very complex topic i’m not going
to give you a psychology lesson right
now
but what i will summarize for you is
that while the conscious mind
is aware of the teeniest tiniest sliver
of your thoughts feelings and behavioral
patterns it’s actually the unconscious
mind
the part of your mind that you are
completely unaware of
that is the control panel running
all of your automatic responses
reactions decisions and compulsions
according to freudian psychologists it
is the unconscious mind
that is the source of all human behavior
so it’s probably worth getting to know
what’s going on in yours right and the
more that you learn
about how the states of consciousness
and mindset coexist
the better chance you’ll have it
mastering them the second key concept
for mastering the mind is get meta
metacognition
which is basically thinking about what
you’re thinking about and one of the
best ways to do that is to foster an
awareness
of your thoughts particularly the ones
that you would like to change or are not
serving you so for example the next time
you have a negative thought a criticism
a judgment a generalization
whether it’s about other people or about
yourself
try to take a step back and think to
yourself well hmm
why did i have that thought and more
importantly
get curious about where could it have
originated from
and sparking that curiosity of your
thoughts eventually fosters an awareness
of them
and hopefully a detachment from them
which is essentially the goal
so those are two very key concepts that
you can try out
that are very important to dig into
while
while doing the gratitude journaling the
breath work and the mindfulness
for a more mastered mind the second
element in
the impact formula is balance the body
and everyone as soon as i said it is
probably thinking diet and exercise
right
and of course diet and exercise are
extremely important for
a balanced body you want a great
relationship with food and a great
relationship with movement
but equally as important as those things
are is to learn
to process your emotions
and i have two very simple practices
that anyone can try
to help process their emotions for a
more balanced body
the first one is to cry
i know it sounds a little crazy but i
think a lot of us need to cry more
we’re all brought into this world as
babies that are expected
and accepted for crying every time
anything upset us or disturbed us or we
saw that gross bug in the grass
we would scream and we would cry and it
was perfectly fine
but somewhere along the line and i think
this is particularly true for boys
unfortunately
somewhere along the line we start
telling ourselves well it’s no longer
okay to cry anymore
and we need to start suppressing and
repressing those emotions
and that accumulates emotional baggage
and that’s not good for anything so the
next time you’re sitting in a board
meeting and things aren’t going your way
i get it you don’t want to just like
start crying then right
but what i’d like to encourage all of
you to do is the next time something
really upsets you
things aren’t going your way you get
really angry
schedule time and space for yourself put
it
in your calendar a time and a place
where you can just ugly cry it out
scream into a pillow moan grow and move
your body but do what you need to do
to process that emotion so you don’t
accumulate
that emotional baggage and as soon as
you’re done ugly crying
it’s really important that we balance
that out with the other side of the
spectrum
and that we play because our original
nature as children was playful
we used to play in our imaginations or
just in the yard with sticks and bugs
and it was easy and fun and we can get
back there so just as you would schedule
time and space for yourself to cry
schedule time and space
in your calendar to skip jump
sing dance and most importantly to laugh
and laugh in a way that’s deep and
genuine like when we were playing when
we were kids
that did not rely on our favorite
cocktail to get there
i know it’s gonna be a challenge for
some of us so those are two very
simple practices we can all try to help
process our emotions from our balance
body
the last element in the impact formula
is plug into energy
and energy is really the source of your
intuition
it’s the source of your inspiration
these are naturally occurring energies
that are accessible to anyone so one of
the best ways to tap into these
are to immerse yourself in nature so
get out for a walk or hike go jump in
some salt water read some fresh air get
some sun on there on your skin but i
understand
these things might be a challenge for
those of us living in places like
new york city for example so
if you can’t get out to a park every day
if you can’t fill your workspace or your
apartment with potted plants it’s
important to realize
that any respect to nature
can also help you plug into these
energies
so supporting eco-conscious sustainable
and conscious businesses
for example uh are a great way to
connect to these energies some of my
favorites
are regenerative farms or one of those
subscription boxes
uh that deliver the organic ugly produce
to your door those are great because
they’re
really solving the food waste problem by
plugging it into the food deserts
problem you can
even learn to compost in places like new
york city
a lot of people don’t know this but you
just save your food scraps in a bag in
the freezer
and when it starts getting full you can
drop it off to one of the city’s pickup
locations and they literally take your
food scraps
and turn it into soil to be used
how cool is that so any sort of support
of these sorts of businesses and
organizations that understand in our
respect to nature can also help you plug
into these energies
and the last practice i want to share
with you is a really special one
because it optimizes all three elements
in this impact formula and that is
meditation meditation really is
the most accessible affordable
and effective practice there is to
master the mind
balance the body and plug into energy
and there are so many great styles and
techniques
and programs available for meditation
these days it’s just about
trying them out and figuring out which
one works best for you and then making
that a part of your
regular routine because it’s a three in
one deal
for the impact formula it’s basically a
requirement
and there you have it that is the impact
formula that connects you to your true
purpose
and whether or not this formula is going
to reset a wi-fi signal in your brain or
hook you up to an electromagnetic field
around the earth perhaps one day i’ll be
able to credibly tell you
but what i do know is that this impact
formula
mastering the mind balancing the body
plugging into energy this is what puts
you on the introspective path
to identify clarify and strengthen
your connection to your true purpose the
one that
nature intended for you we are all
forces of nature you are a force of
nature
and when nature acts it acts with
purpose
so let’s get connected to it thank you
so much
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you