Perfect in Every Way - Readings and Reflections from Onward

Welcome to Season 13 of Creative on Purpose Live. This season's going to be a little different. Instead of the usual conversations with guests who are making a difference worth sharing, this season I'm sharing readings and reflections from my upcoming book, Onward: Where Certainty Ends, Possibility Begins. It's available for presale now on Amazon. These episodes will help you embrace uncertainty, navigate adversity, and step into possibility with the difference only you can make. I'm your host, Scott Perry, author of Endeavor and Chief Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose. Visit creativeonpurpose.com to learn more about how our Difference Maker community and coaching programs dedicated to helping people like you make things better through endeavors that make a difference. So today is going to be some readings from part 1 of Onward. Last Thursday, I shared some readings from the introduction. Part 1 is all about answering the question, "What's now?" It's about helping you cultivate the mindset and posture of a difference maker by taking a look at your situation as it is now, as it really is, not as it might be in kind of the emotional sense, or if you're bringing value judgments into the situation, but to look at it objectively and clearly so that you can best frame the choices that you have available, the silver linings that might be in the situation and make a decision about where you want to go next. So again, part 1 of Onward is titled Perfect in Every Way. So let's get started with the readings. Part 1: Perfect in Every Way. No, this isn't the Mary Poppins line. She was only practically perfect in every way. Perfect in every way speaks to the mindset of a difference maker. To make change happen, you must be present and mindful. This section encourages you to answer the question, "What's now?" It's about taking stock of yourself and your situation as it really is right now, not as your emotions or ambitions interpret or want things to be. To change how you think and feel about yourself and how things are, you need to change the stories you're telling yourself. Choose your story, choose your future. Ready to embrace what's now? Let's go. Appreciation. There's plenty of science to show that practicing gratitude cultivates well-being, and gratitude starts with you. It's challenging to be genuinely grateful for external circumstances or relationships if you cannot express gratitude for yourself and your inner life. To cultivate deeper appreciation, start your day by writing down 3 gratitudes about yourself and your situation. These might include physical, emotional, or character strengths. You might also list a recent experience, a simple convenience or pleasure, or even a challenge that tests and develops yourself. What 3 gratitudes are you— are on your list today? Finding the good in others. Cultivating the mindset and posture of a difference maker begins with gratitude, and it bears repeating. Gratitude starts with you. It's the work you get to do, not the work you have to do. And since it's work done with and for others, our efforts in gratitude must extend to others. The effort of empathy only makes a difference through the action of compassion. Here's a helpful practice I learned from Seth Godin's Alt MBA called Finding the Good in Others. There are just two steps. First, Catch someone doing something right. Second, tell them. Here's an example of a catch and tell: I noticed that you're reading my book today. Thanks for lending me some of your valuable attention. It means the world to me. Why not try finding the good in others today? And finally, here's appreciation and presence. One of the reasons appreciation is an effective and efficient mood lifter is that it returns us to the here and now. It cultivates presence and mindfulness. You can't be grateful and anxious at the same time. Anxiety is often caused by attachment to unhappy stories you're telling yourself about the past or unhealthy expectations you have about the future. Unhealthy desires are the root of suffering, and appreciation is the antidote to desire. Gratitude helps you see opportunities in the obstacles before you and find the silver linings in your situation. Appreciation recognizes that you are not flawed or broken. You're a work in progress. What unhealthy stories based on your past are you ready to let go of? What outcomes beyond your control are you willing to detach from? Get where you're going by starting where you are right now. So obviously in this section of Onward, what I'm sharing is one of the greatest life hacks that I know of. If you are in need of reframing your situation, if you are in need of boosting your mood or lifting yourself out of the negative emotions because of a situation that you find yourself in, gratitude has been scientifically proven to be an instant mood lifter in a different mindset changer. And so it's just a matter of expressing out loud or typing in or writing down some gratitudes. You can write down gratitudes about people in your life, about what you're experiencing, uh, at any given moment in terms of being out in nature or just, you know, the weather or anything like that. Simple conveniences, simple everyday pleasures, all fair game. And then this idea of extending gratitude beyond ourselves and, and towards others. So the finding the good in others, the idea of catching somebody doing something right and then sharing of gratitude for what they just— what you just witnessed with them. So this is a way of building empathy, compassion, connection, and of course all of this is really, really important for changing your mood, and cultivating the mindset of a difference maker, somebody that can see possibility and then get themselves ready to step into that possibility. So I will be sharing in the chat here, uh, just a link to the Onward, um, which is available for presale now. It's gonna come out, so unsurprisingly on Thanksgiving Day, uh, this is because This is because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Gratitude is one of my favorite practices, mostly learned through, uh, practices that were shared with me by my wife Lisa Kay. And I'm hopeful that you will find some resonance, uh, with what is going on now, uh, in Onward when it releases, but out in Thanksgiving. It's all about Embracing Uncertainty and Navigating Adversity as You Are Stepping into Possibility. The idea that we can make things better regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. If we start with who we are and where we are, and if we gather the right people around us, then we have the opportunity to exit a situation even better than we entered it, including a situation like the one that we find ourselves in these days. So again, here's, uh, I'll just share the link here to the Amazon page where you can learn more about it. You'll see that it's already getting some rave reviews from recognizable names. I'll just leave it at that. Go ahead and take a look. And if it looks like it might be the kind of thing that's for you, I would love to have you pick up a copy now. They'll be coming out again, the ebook and the paperback release on Thanksgiving Day. So that's, uh, our broadcast for today, this special season of Readings from Onward. Want to thank everybody for tuning in. I appreciate you lending me some of your valuable time and attention, and I hope today's broadcast motivates you to lean into an endeavor that matters with consideration, creativity, and courage. To continue this conversation, visit creativeonpurpose.com and sign up for a weekly dose of insight and inspiration for making things better through endeavors that matter. You'll receive access to a community of difference makers, special events, and every replay of this broadcast. Hope to see you inside. Thanks a lot for tuning in. See you next Thursday.