What are you graced for? After a chance meeting with a sparked Purpose Peep whose light was so incredibly bright that it filled the room, I realized the experience was not just something to revel at, it was unlocking something for me. But what was it?
After recognizing this as a spark experience, I responded by reflecting. Quietly the answer came. I could see what this person was graced for without a business card, without an elevator pitch or a title or letters behind a name. I saw what this person was graced for by how he served–passionately & without reserve. Then, I learned the other stuff that most of us lead with.
But that aha is not the nexus of this episode. We each get to figure out how to authentically extend purpose. Beyond the example of service and within short purpose stories, I observed how it looks to know what you are graced for and give it away. The timing is amazing because I spent a lot of time creating freemiums to serve and get to know Purpose Peeps but what this person was doing was showing up, giving himself away, having experiences like you would not believe which opened doors of opportunity like you would not believe.
In this episode, we unlock what we are graced for, and end in an activity for you to see the “graced for” signposts in your life! Share with other Purpose Peeps and don’t forget to subscribe. Most importantly, share what you are graced for and your experience in doing the work to unlock and leverage it! We are also having an experience of this life lens as our Big Question of the Week in the Purpose Peep Community.
To Your Purpose & Results That Matter,
Dena
Dena Wiggins is a Transformational Author, Consultant, Certified Purpose Coach & MBA. She takes an unwavering stand for your purpose. Dena unlocks purpose in sparked Purpose Peeps facilitating businesses and organizations to transform into lighthouses that shine solutions into the marketplace, no matter what. As a Purposed Resultant, she combines her experiences and passion for spark, purpose, and strategy to create impactful solutions that deliver your results that matter. Learn more about her Unlock The Keys To Your Success And Turn Them Into Results® programs and A Life of Purpose® Products that shift your sparks (or ahas) into action at www.denawiggins.com.
Wow, it’s been a minute… Can you believe we are approaching the end of the first quarter of the year? Incredible, right?
In this episode of The #Sparked Life Podcast, we unlock a part of one of my favorite purpose math formulas. It hails from one of my favorite teachers and mentors, Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. It is Event + Response = Outcome or E + R = O.
In this episode, we apply E + R = O to being sparked. So the event is being sparked, which we do not own, it’s something we experience plus + our response, which we completely own = our outcomes. Looking at this purpose math, we see that our outcomes are co-created!
Our new podcast includes:
Catch Up! You know how friends that have not spoken in a while pick up as if they spoke yesterday,
Real life examples of the power of our response! It’s so juicy,
How the purpose partners spark & nudges work in our lives,
Realizing the true intention of our sparks,
New freemium for your purpose in celebration of YOU and my special birthday,
Our new mantra, and
How to Marie Kondo & create room for the doors of expansion that our responses unlock.
Snag another Purpose Peep to join our community. Don’t forget to subscribe and download on your favorite device. And, share your ahas and results on your path to purpose journey at info@denawiggins.com, @denaforyourpurpose under the podcast announcement.
After you have a listen, you will understand this is OUR opportune time!
Last week I featured a clip of CBS Good Morning about workism in our compilation paper, Connecting With Purpose. As I listened to Derek Thompson succinctly present the case of workism, which he defines as the way work has morphed into a religious identity—promising transcendence and community but failing to deliver, I nodded my head enthusiastically as he shared the symptoms of workism. I recall thinking, “yes, Derek, I am tracking with you!” …Until the conclusion that the intersection of purpose and work translates to seeking the meaning of life from work, which makes the seeker miserable because work is not designed for that and the purpose and work story seems to end there. That’s where Derek and I differ because I know of an additional chapter in the story of purpose and work that is unfolding and it’s a game changer.
Over a decade ago, I became impassioned about the intersection of spirituality and work. At that time the question that sparked me was, “how can I bring my full self to what I do?” I felt exhausted from the ways I compartmentalized my life and believed I had to seek different fulfilling experiences from multiple sources that I felt were easier to unleash my authentic self. I read and studied and tried to make this a mental exercise but it was a soul question and exercise and it took years to figure that out.
I was gifted with the opportunity to work at a consultancy that embraced that exploration in its culture! Talk about manifestation. My employer was a Spirit At Work award recipient and community member allowing me access to living models of intentional practice or being with big questions in an organizational context.
In 2009 like so many workers, I was laid-off.
My bounce back from this lay-off was really difficult not just because of the strains in our economy but because of the importance I placed on this job. I think I developed a slight case of workism in this place of noble pursuit. My case of workism was not about working crazy hours to make meaning of my life but rather how so much of my identity was locked into the work environment that allowed me to explore my big question.
After a challenging couple of years, I realized that purpose, which I define as the fullest expression of who I am (spiritual, savvy, experience, passions, goals) and the authentic service that comes from that knowledge, comes from within me as an ongoing exploration. Whether I am working or not, whether my doing is compensated or volunteered or how I am with my family and community, it all comes from my home center, my knowing who I am and the value I bring that delivers different outcomes in different environments.
When we unlock ourselves, we take ourselves everywhere we go including the workplace.
My lay-off was a gift, a catalyst that allowed me to amplify what I learned. I realize the job that I loved was really my cocoon for transformative growth and post-layoff was time for me to learn my wings and fly. I learned that when I unlock purpose I take that knowing everywhere I go, including the work that I do. It may seem like a slight distinction but the order is everything.
The press that I felt beginning in the early 2000s was the beginning of my awareness of The Purpose Economy, where consumers are purchasing not solely based on the widgets made or products and services provided but on a company’s ability to answer its big question, who it is in its fullest expression. What is its fully intended impact? Like my personal experience of awakening, many organizations are compartmentalized and the shift is moving to an integrated existence. Many organizations are moving from a model of this is what we do, this is how it relates to community and multiple sets of stakeholders to this is what we do, this is why we do it and this is how we integrate what we do with why we do it for a continuum of results that matter.
Source: Making Work More Meaningful: Building a Fulfilling Employee Experience, 2018 PwC, CECP, Imperative
The next chapter of extracting more meaning in life is not trying to wring it from our employment by doing more but rather by bringing our full selves and the expanding knowledge of the value we bring to the organizations we partner with for results that matter. I agree with Derek insomuch as the order matters. Work is not doling out purpose but it can be designed as a purpose-friendly facilitator with measurements including employee-fulfillment and the impact of purpose enrollment between individual, organizational, consumer & community stakeholders towards results that matter.
In this new paradigm, people are leveraging what they know about purpose and gaining fulfillment through intentional doing with purpose clarity. Through this lens, work is a purpose partner and as we shift our jobs, we shift purpose partners. Employers partner with employees in the way it provides opportunities for relationships, impact, and growth, which are the pillars for fulfillment in what its employees do. This is critical as some say we are in a growing Gig Economy.
The next chapter of purpose and work that we are all coauthoring contains external pushes from shifts in our economic environment as well as internal pulls from what many people are experiencing in pursuit of fulfilling and meaningful living. Organizations reside between the economic environment change and the personal internal transformations of its employees. Choosing to be market and employee responsive are good strategic choices for the organization, which are systems of people, and yet the demand is coming from the people in support of what is transpiring within the people.
Dena Wiggins is a Transformational Author, MBA Resultant, and Certified Purpose Coach. She takes an unwavering stand for your purpose. Dena unlocks purpose in sparked Purpose Peeps who transform businesses and organizations into lighthouses that shine solutions that transform our world. Stay connected, join the conversation, take inspired action.
I just got sparked! Just proclaiming that statement has a ring of excitement. Imagine seeing a jolt of spark or lightening connecting us and causing our bodies to jump in response!
Although the beginning of the sparked story can be a thriller, it’s what happens next that takes us to the really good stuff. It’s what happens next that is the difference between knowing we got sparked to being with the spark and moving to sparked or inspired doing.
Our response to getting sparked determines if we unlock the intention of the spark.
It may take a minute to recognize our spark language. Everyone has his or her own type. It’s the way life gets our attention. Once we move from realizing synchronicity is not random and deja vous moments could be our current self being sparked by a gift from our future self, we tune into our spark language.
Tuning into our sparked language allows us to engage more with the sparks. And yet there is more to the spark. Your spark introduces you to its Purpose Partner–nudges.
Nudges are the gentle prods and push that happen after we are sparked. Sparks are disruptive and ignite something inside and nudges inform us by moving us into the direction of the intention of the spark.
Sparks ignite and are disruptive and nudges allow us to be present with the nature of the spark. Nudges require presence and awareness to recognize them.
Here is where things get juicy. Without responding to our spark with inspired action that supports the direction of the spark, the spark will fizzle out.
Here are three keys to unlock following your sparks:
Sparks may seem positive or negative to you but they are always disruptive. The nature of the spark is to disrupt a pattern that ignites something within us.
Sparks require responses in order to sustain the spark. Acknowledging the spark is a great response if you don’t know what action to take. Acknowledgment is a first and powerful action step.
Nudges require presence and awareness. Set an intention to understand your spark. Respond to the soft pushes that pull you in different or unfamiliar directions. The spark is here to change and shift us towards new possibilities on our journey to our highest reality.
One of the biggest reasons we may be stuck after being sparked is because we perceive the requirements to align with it as fearful, nonsensical or misaligned with our current path. Consider that we first meet the spark with our current understanding and wisdom. Shifting our mindset that sparks gift us with changes that are for us allows us to respond with the sparks and nudges instead of resisting them.
Dena Wiggins is a Transformational Author, Consultant, and Certified Purpose Coach. She takes an unwavering stand for your purpose. Dena unlocks purpose in sparked Purpose Peeps who transform businesses and organizations into lighthouses that shine solutions that transform our world. Stay connected, join the conversation, take inspired action.
Hey Purpose Peeps,
Welcome to 2019! The transition from 2018 to 2019 was beautifully reflective for me. I was led to share a couple of key insights that may have a broader appeal. I call these key insights #keys2success because it requires me to be intentional about the application to get the desired result–success which I define as results that matter!
In this episode learn how:
Seemingly unrelated stuff, the life stuff, comes together to weave a purposeful story
The significance of Kairos messages and what they require from us
Four #keys2success that I was nudged to share
A keep it super simple (KISS) technique to unlock more about words that spark us
Why it’s ok to take our time with setting our theme word or intention for the year
Our first The Sparked Life affirmation for 2019
Purpose Peeps, I’m excited about 2019. I am thrilled to be even more intentional this year and being guided through a process to integrate my downloads and nudges. This is what happens when co-creation is in your DNA and a strategic decision for my business.
Let’s learn and grow together in 2019 livin’ The Sparked Life!
Dena,
Your Partner in Purpose & Resultant
Dena Wiggins is a Transformational Author, Consultant and Certified Purpose Coach. She takes an unwavering stand for your purpose. Dena unlocks purpose in sparked Purpose Peeps who transform businesses and organizations into lighthouses that shine solutions that transform our world. Stay connected, join the conversation, take inspired action.