A short interview transcript where James Laughlin asks James Shaw what advice he would give a 10–11 year-old about leading a life with purpose. Shaw recommends clarifying the difference you want to make, treating purpose as both discovery and deliberate choice, and committing to a single focus because one cannot do everything.
Last question. If we fast forward many, many years in the future and you know that it's your last day here on Earth and a very young person, maybe 10, 11 years old, comes into the room and says, James, how can I go about leading my life on purpose? What advice would you have for them?
I'm going to beg your forbearance for a couple of minutes with this one. Yeah. Of course, the first thing I would say is take some time to get really clear about what is the difference that you want to make in the world, in your life. And that's you can argue that that's a process of discovery, but I would also say it's a process of choice, because there is a where, especially in our world, we have lots of great options. And you can't do everything. You have to commit to one thing, and that means choosing.
