In the inaugural episode of the "Life Podcast," Tim Pratt Jr. introduces the show’s purpose and his personal journey that led to its creation. He recounts his evolution from a finance‑focused blogger and speaker at churches to a creator of a multifaceted platform that addresses spiritual, financial, vocational, health, and social dimensions of life. Drawing on influences such as Michael Hyatt’s "Best Year Ever," John C. Maxwell’s talent‑passion framework, Rick Warren’s purpose‑driven living, and Brené Brown’s call for vulnerability, Tim outlines a practical method for discovering purpose: intersecting what you love with what you’re good at. He emphasizes the value of mentorship, especially seeking guidance from peers slightly ahead on the journey, and stresses that every soul matters regardless of audience size. Tim then uses the biblical story of Jonah as an illustrative parallel, highlighting the struggle to obey God’s call, the consequences of avoidance, and the ultimate impact of obedience on a larger community. The episode concludes with a call to listeners to subscribe, share, and visit his website for further resources, positioning the podcast as a space for ongoing exploration of purpose across life’s domains.
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Hey, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. I hope you hear something that adds value to your life, shaping your perspective, faith, and hope, as well as the application to see it through on this thing that we call life. Enjoy. So this is episode 1, and this will be kind of more so an intro and the why behind I created this thing that we call Life Podcast. But before we jump straight into the content, I kind of want to give you a quick overview of what this was birthed from. So I've been blogging for about 2.5 years now, and maybe in the last 6 months I've probably been more consistent than I've ever been. And that's because I've made a shift to focus strictly on this theme or topic, whatever you want to call it. Uh, but before that, I used to write strictly on personal finances and seek speaking engagement through local churches and things like that, and coordinating certain Financial Peace Universities by Dave Ramsey, and so on and so on. But I've started to become very restricted because as I was growing in my faith and growing in other areas, I was like, man, you know, life is multifaceted. And that's kind of what we're getting into today. And that's one thing that I feel like people need to understand, uh, that life is multifaceted and it consists of many interrelated domains such as spiritual, finances, vocational, health, social, and so on. And if you ever get a chance to read Michael Hyatt's book, one of my favorite people to study, Best Year Ever, he states that there are 10 areas and goes on to explain why every domain matters, because each one affects all the others. For example, your physical condition impacts your health and so on, meaning you have to give each one the appropriate attention if you want to experience progress in life. Therefore, in some shape, form, or fashion, finding your purpose will impact at least one of these domains, and that's why it's so important to basically take the time to cultivate and live a purpose-driven life, as Rick Warren said. So question: how do you find your purpose? There's plenty of books, plenty of material out there, but one thing that I came across a few months ago is something by John C. Maxwell where he talked about talents and passions can lead to purpose. So basically, in other words, what he was saying was people are passionate about what they are not good at. Also, people are good at something but don't have the passion. Therefore, it's not either/or, it's both/and. So let's say if you take a sheet of paper and you divide it down the middle, and on one side you put what are you passionate about? And on the other side you put what are you talented at? So for me, like, I'm passionate about, about helping people win, um, just cultivating people and things like that. And then on the other side, I feel that I'm talented at leadership skills, you know, analytical skills and so on. And please understand this is going to take some time. Like, I'm still working on it. Matter of fact, I was just talking to my wife the other day. We were laying up in bed and I was telling her, I was like, man, you know I'm almost 2 years into project management, and it's truly a position of influence. And I was just, you know, we were talking about things that we want to do outside of this, but now I'm starting to zone in, kind of using this John C. Maxwell perspective, and say, oh man, some of these skills I can use in ministry. It's some of these skills that I can use in trying to help create and develop mentorship programs and work with her, you know, as she's in the process of finishing her counseling, uh, master's in counseling. And so what I'm basically getting to is that we're still learning. Like, you're gonna have to wrestle with this, uh, but don't be afraid to talk to people that are a little bit ahead of you. You know, sometimes I feel like— and it's a bonus material— that we reach out and we try to like find that person that's doing everything that we want to do. And, you know, but however, it's like, why not go find someone that's just a few steps ahead of us? Because I just think it'll help cultivate us better. I mean, because we sometimes— it'll be so daunting when we hear them talking like, oh man, I gotta go through all of this, you know, and stuff. And so Basically what I'm getting to is like, kind of find peers that's a little bit ahead of you and don't hesitate to basically ask for advice, or don't feel that they're inferior because you might learn from each other. It's all about us coming together and winning at this thing that we call life. And then when you find purpose, you gotta understand is that it's always connected to someone. I'm real big on saying that every soul matters. Like, just to keep it real with you, once again, it's like I would post statuses, and if it did— if they didn't get a certain number of likes in a certain time frame, I'll take the status down because I'm like, man, dang, like, no one really likes my content. Um, and I remember once again going back, talking to my wife. It's truly like— she's truly my best friend. I was like, man, you know, we were just talking, and so we came up with this concept, like, man, every soul matters. So if it's only 1, 2 likes, if only one person is reaching out that soul matters, that's eternal. And so therefore I can't get caught up on because I'm not getting the reception or the response that I feel like I should be getting. I'm— and then even on top of that, I have to ask myself, am I truly doing it for God? And so now I'm truly learning that I have to see things through because at the end of the day, I don't know if I'm connected to 5 people, 500 people, or thousands of people, but at the end of the day, I'm connected to someone and I have to live this thing out. And so I kind of want to transition to more so a story that I've been kind of studying and just really touched me. So growing up in Sunday school, I'm pretty sure everybody knows about the story of Jonah and the whale. That's all I ever knew. I'm just being honest with you. Been in church, or more so just in a building, my whole entire life. But recently I've really been just studying the word of God for myself and just going in depth through different type of versions and study Bibles, as well as like understanding the Hebrew language and things like that. But to get to the point, I want to talk about the story of Jonah. And to kind of give you context, Jonah was basically supposed to go and to preach to the people of Nineveh. And of course, you know, at a very high level, he ran from it, got swallowed up by a whale, spit out, repented, and he eventually led and went to preach to the people of Nineveh. But before you judge Jonah like I did, um, I think it's something that you understand, and this just kind of gives you a context. So the people of Nivea, man, just imagine everything going on that's totally disrespectful to God. I mean, just flat out disrespectful. And God is telling you, of all people, to go preach to his people. And so what we understand is that if you go read that book, is in the first 2 verses, God gave him purpose. Or as Simon Sinek say, he gave him a why as well as the application behind it. But you know, like us, a lot of times when God gives us clear directions on and puts something deep in our heart, we don't want to do it because we start looking and listening to the enemy. And that's what I'm struggling with right now. And once again, going back to my wife, like, she has something awesome, has been through a tremendous story, and I feel like she's connected to so many people through her story. And she's in the process of seeing it through. Like, we— she has to, because just as Jonah, he wasn't going to do it, and that's why he left. And, you know, basically his life— I mean, being, you know, thrown off a boat, swallowed up by a whale, and going through all of that stuff when he could, you know, he just really could have done it the first time. Because at the end of the day, if we choose to live a life of— for God and go through his sovereignty, you're going to end up right where he wanted you to. So why not just do it the first time? And that's what we're both learning. But if you take the time to finish that story on out, you will learn that, you know, eventually Jonah did— he went and preached, and it brought Nineveh into repentance. And of course, we can get into grace and all that type of stuff, but that's another topic. But what I'm basically trying to demonstrate is that if Jonah would have never done it— like, let me replace Jonah name with me. If I never took the time to step up to this mic, took the time to blog, took the time to put myself out there or try to speak, and I listen to all of those— really, sometimes truly the inner me, uh, is our worst enemy. If I look at so much criticism— I was just watching something last night by Brené Brown on her Netflix series where she was like, if you're not willing to get, get into the arena— and basically she was saying put yourself on display and live a courage life and rumble with vulnerability, if you're not willing to do it, I don't really want to hear your criticism. And so therefore, that's what I'm trying to learn and embrace going forward. But kind of transition back to the point is that if Jonah would have never done this, a whole nation probably would have been lost forever. And that's what we have to look at too. We have to see what's bigger. This is bigger than us. And so therefore Find— take the time to find your purpose. Start by finding things that you're passionate about and you're talented about, and seek those things to intersect. Like, don't be afraid to, um, but it's so worth it. And I promise you, like, you'll live a more fulfilling life. And so with that being said, as I conclude this episode, this was more so the intro and the why behind it. But I promise, as mentioned earlier, we will get into so much more, such as spiritual, personal finances, vocational, and so been so long. Hey, what's up? So once again, I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to the content today. Also encourage you to subscribe to the podcast as well as share with family, friends, and on your social media platforms. Also check out www.timothypratt.org for more information about this thing that we call life. Be blessed.
