At least that’s what I thought the email said.  The real title was “Don’t Punish the Children.”   My sister is a sociology and economics major and a very important person at her job at Target of all places. She is probably a lot better than me in a lot of ways, but I do enjoy writing and communicating, so she asked me to help her with a paper she is writing as a final par of a sociology class at the University of Utah. She did a great job and it was well written, however I totally disagreed with the argument.

To her credit, she didn’t agree with what she was saying either, the assignment was to argue a certain point one way or the other, and she was assigned the side of basically socializing parenthood. Arguing and persuading our new black Moses, President Elect Obama, to support and reform fiscal policy to subsidize child care costs for low income families and that doing so would be better than welfare. Well, my point here is not to get political, but it is actually to get deeper, a lot deeper with why we even work on building our businesses, and our purpose and our why.

Really, what is the point of it all? Have you asked yourself lately why you are doing what you do?

Frankly, if I had the attitude of the people in her paper, I really would just want to give up, quite and wait for my welfare check too. It is said that the most deprived man is one without a purpose. I may have butchered the quote but you get the idea.

Are you pursing a game worth winning?
Do you love the life you live?
Are you living a life worth loving?
If you get what you’re after will it really make you happy?

The deeper these questions go, the more personal fuel and clarity you have around every single action. This can be tied directly to your bottom line. Napolean Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich spoke about the most successful men he knew having a major definite purpose. Of all people he would know.

That is why I felt so disgusted to help make the point I was helping my sister make in her paper. (I was really happy to help her because you know… I just didn’t like what we were arguing.)

There seems to be this complete disconnect between desired results and true principles and actions that will really bring them about. I was discgusted because, there are these people who, my heart goes out to. Really, can you even imagine, having to decide between buying more food or paying the bill for day care so you can keep going to a job you hate, that doesn’t pay the bills you have, only to survive long enough to do it again tomorrow? I truly feel a great sense of empathy for these people. I just don’t think a pile of money will solve their problems. Sure it may be needed, and is in many cases. I am NOT saying don’t be charitable and give money to poor people. What I am saying is that the arguments that are made to get people in need, the help they need to survive, deprives them of ever rising above that. There are a lot more starving people who make good money here in good old America than we tend to believe sometimes. Its not necessarily physical, so often it is purpose, clarity, focus and understanding. If people understood what they were truly capable of and did something about it our world would be a different place. Anyway, what does this have to do with you and your business?

I’ll answer my question with a question. Do you know anyone who has 25 hours in a day? Do you know anyone who has 366 days in a year?
Obviously by now you think I am wacko. The answer is of course no. We all have the same amount of time. The difference in our results lies more deeply in the way we use our time than any other action.

The way you manage your life is the key difference. So, there are people making $100,000 per year and others making $1,000,000 per year. Businesses that make $1,000,000 per year and businesses that make $10,000,000 per month. What is the difference?

Time. No one has more time than you, they just know how to use it differently. There is one other characteristic, and that is leverage. Usually through people. If people have significant amounts of money working for them, they have done one of two things.
1. Inherited it
2. Learned how to build systems and networks of people (to get more time by having more people working to benefit you and them simultaneously) to generate the income that they could put to use to make $10 Million per month.

So, unless you are a trust fund baby, you have to learn how to put people leverage to work for you. That means you become a leader. Becoming a leader is usually more about having a vision, a direction, a dream, an idea, A PURPOSE that others buy into and then unite with you, follow you, support you, and synergize with you.

Does purpose have anything to do with the bottom line? Absolutely.

I want to wrap up this rant with the emotional side of things. Lets think about the legacy that we are leaving behind and the world that we are creating around us. You have a purpose and a mission and a reason for being here.

This plays into your niche, your adventures, your brand and all that, but it is so much bigger than that. I believe that each one of us has a chance, in our own way to change the world and to truly make a difference.

You can affect change, you can choose you can leave a legacy. Are you “punching the children” (figuratively) by the beliefs you have? Are you allowing your future and your families future to fall short by failing to identify why you do what you do? If you knew what you were uniquely able to do, why you are here and what your ideal role in society is, how would that change your daily actions? What would you accomplish? What kind of brother, mother, father, sister, son or daughter would you be?

In his book, The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho says that a person’s highest responsibility is to seek out and live his or her own personal legend. I believe this to be absolutely true. Living out your mission, your purpose, is the greatest gift you can give the world.

I close with a quote from Marian Williamson, one of the quotes which has most deeply moved me in my life.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, By Marianne Williamson

So seriously, don’t “punch the children.”  Don’t allow your fears and tears to tear down the dreams of tomorrow.  There are people all around you who you can be the difference.  You may not even see it, but by living your mission and going forward as productively as possible, you inspire others to be more and do more and have more, and the world can change.  It can be better.  And you can be a part of the solution, not the problem.  I firmly believe that entreprenuers feed more hungry and cloth more naked than all the charities and governement subsidies ever could or would.  The funny thing is, the more millionaires I meet, the more people I know who run charities and who sit on the boards of organizations with the sole purpose of blessing the lives of others less fortunate than them.  Be more.  Find you purpose and live it, and tomorrow will truley be brighter than today.

AJ