Purpose and the Science of Changing Behavior for a Better Life

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What's working on purpose anyway? Each
week we ponder the answer to this question.

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People ache for meaning and purpose at
work, to contribute their talents passionately

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and know their lives really matter.
They crave being part of an organization that

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inspires them and helps them grow into
realizing their highest potential. Business can be

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such a force for good in the
world, elevating humanity. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration to help
usher in this world we all want

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Working on purpose now. Here is
your host, doctor Elise Cortes. Welcome

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back to the Working on Purpose Program. Thanks for tuning in again this week.

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I'm your host, doctor Reali's Cortes. Join you live from Dallas,

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Taxis, which is home base for
me. By way of introduction, I'm

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a management consultant specializing in meaning and
purpose, organizational logotherapist, inspirational speaker,

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social scientist, and author. Learn
more about me and how we can work

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together at either at least coretest dot
com or Gusto dshnow dot com. Let

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me thank my partner and sponsor,
work Proud. We are a perfect collaboration.

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Everyone wants to know they matter and
that the work they do is meaningful.

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And appreciated. Work Proud is a
mobile platform built to encourage employees to

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share stories and recognize each other's contribution, and they empower hr and business leaders

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to help create company cultures where all
employees are inspired to feel proud of their

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work. I'm proud of their company. Learn more at workproud dot com.

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With us today is doctor Brad Wright, a professor of sociology at the University

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of Connecticut, where he studies American
Christianity, spirituality, and well being.

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He has authored fifty plus articles and
written two books, including Upside Surprising Good

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News about the state of our world. We'll be talking today about purpose and

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how it's experienced, among other things. He joined it today from stores Connecticut.

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Brad, welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank you in a cord with

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your intro. I'm proud to be
here. I'm wonderful. I'm so happy

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to hear that you know. And
I don't remember exactly how it happened.

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We met on LinkedIn and when I
saw what you were doing, I was

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like, you must come on the
show and talk about that. So thank

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you for being willing to be caught. Well, thank you, You're welcome.

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So I just have to get right
into Both of us are social scientists.

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We're both lovely geeks in that way. And you study, as we

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said I said in the intro,
spirituality and well being, but also purpose.

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So let's get right into the nitty
gritty here. I want to get

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from your perspective what you've learned as
to whether purpose in life can be intentionally

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discovered. Well, that's the big
question, isn't it right? Because a

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lot of times when people talk about
discovering purpose, they talk about an organic

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journey, you know, something that
they didn't have control over, Like you

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put a canoe in the water,
you end up in the ocean. You

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say, this is wonderful I got
here. And if that's all there is,

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then we should be novelists. Right. In addition, there's the hope

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that there's things that we can do
intentionally to get more purpose. So I

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suppose, staying with a canoe analogy, you can paddle and choose your tributaries.

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You can do things that take you
to a different place. And that's

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what I love about this area of
study is that there's both a strong organic

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compound to it and also strong intentional
compound. Mm hmmm hm. And what

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I have discovered, and you've said
this in one of your podcasts, the

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field of purpose is incredibly complex and
profound. And one of the things I

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like to remind and teach people is
that purpose is not an on or an

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off switch. It's not either here
or not. There's just so many layers

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and nuances to it. And why
I guess both you and I here we

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spent all these years studying and inquiring
into it. One of the other things

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that you talked about, and I
think it was one of your podcasts that

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I was listening to, you said
that purpose might be randomly experienced, or

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it might be patterned and predictable.
And so if it is predictable and patterned,

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what are the patterns and how can
they be reproduced for people who might

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want it more purpose in their lives. Well, that's the big question that

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people like you and me deal with. We spend a lot of time talking

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with people finding purpose. We observe, we listen, we read, and

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we start to look for patterns,
and then we look for patterns among the

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patterns, and then maybe if we
get lucky and we're good, we see

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patterns of the patterns of the patterns, and we have like concise explanations for

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it. And so that's what I
spent all my time teasing about or trying

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to tease out, is what's the
patterning and a purpose. I'll give you

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one for example, It's pretty common
for people to engage purpose the most during

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transitions in their life. So you
think, you know, say, from

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eighteen to I don't know, seventy
eight, maybe that's the purpose range when

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people are engaged in purpose pursuits.
It's not you know, one part each

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year, one sixtieth each one of
those years where there tends to be in

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times of transition. You come out
of school, you come out of a

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marriage, you come out of your
first job, and it wasn't what you

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want, your kids leave home,
you retire. So that's an example of

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a pattern that we see. And
then you start seeing patterns of when people

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look forant and what they find and
how they look for it. I got

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to say two things to what you
just said there, Brad. One,

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this notion of teasing out how people
discover their purpose, and in my case,

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I'm very interested too in how they
express it, which we're going to

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talk about later as well. So
I'm just on the tail end of finishing

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up curating an anthology of twenty five
women's stories from across the world who have

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discovered their purpose and are pursuing it. And so guess who do not silence

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her phone? No, No,
rule number one. So I'm in the

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process now of categorizing their stories so
that as the anthology goes goes through,

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we can start to make sense of
the progression of their stories. So I

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think what I'm going to do is
I'm going to arrange the stories according to

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the expression of the purpose. It's
just so exciting. I can't even tell

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you. I can't wait. It's
coming out in the next cup months and

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anyway, so I'm curre reading that. And then the second thing I wanted

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to say about this notion of some
of these stages or some of these events

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that help despawn purpose, I can
absolutely tell you, and I know you

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won't be shocked that getting divorced five
years ago was a fantastic catalyst for me

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to really really clarify my purpose and
to enrich its expression. A huge catalyst

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for me. Yeah, there's an
element of sometimes we decide we want to

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seek purpose, and sometimes we're thrown
into needing defining purpose so even our motivation

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has different layers to it, and
it can be multifaceted. Yes. And

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in fact, one of the things
I really wanted to talk about on the

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heels of this whole conversation or this
whole topic, is you do say that

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we often discover more of our purpose
and moments of distress, and some of

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our deepest insights regarding purpose come from
these moments of distress. Will you say

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a little bit more about that?
I mean, I mentioned my divorce,

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but what is it about these moments
of distress that help us get access to

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our purpose? Distress is clarifying the
great enemy of purpose. And by the

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way, that's a nice way to
think about it. Instead of just thinking

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what creates purpose? You can think, well, what hinders purpose? And

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I've come to think that the great
enemy, the great barrier defining purpose,

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is busyness. I don't think it's
completely agree I don't think it's evil,

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I don't think it's narcissism. I
think it's busyness. And when we have

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tragedy in our life, some days
it makes things more busy, but it

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tends to push us into what matters
the most. It tends to get us

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asking big questions because it's very disruptive. So maybe busyness and sort of routine

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combined keep us from purpose and distress, you know, blows that up,

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as we all know very well.
Mm hmm. You know, I just

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started working this last Friday with a
new leader in an organist and she's really

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really interested on delving into her purpose. And I think she's in her mid

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forties. And she said, this
is the first time it's really really come

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up for her, and she was
sort of feeling she was sort of apologizing

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and sort of begrudging that that's where
she was in the moment. And I

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said, please, don't do that
to yourself. This is the society that

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we live in. We live in
a very fast paced world, and tell

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you catch your breath for a moment. It might have not occurred for you

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to go looking for your purpose or
try to understand it better. And so

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the same thing I told her,
as the world is so busy and fast.

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She just happened to be going on
vacation the next day, and so

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I told her, I said,
when you go on vacation, spend a

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little bit of time. Because they
were going to go out and be camping

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at a cabin, go sit in
the nature and just listen to the stillness.

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Listen to what you're being is trying
to tell you and what's trying to

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be revealed for you. You need
that stillness. So I completely agree with

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you about those barriers of busyness and
routine getting in the way of us getting

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access to her purpose. That is
so crisp. I love that. Thank

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you. I think your advice to
use her vacation that way is brilliant because

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vacations and travel disrupt our daily routines
in a very fruitful way. They give

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a space to think about things that
could be different than they are. And

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that's so much a purpose is conceptualizing
a different existence. And that's it's hard

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work, and it leaves space.
It is hard work, and that's I

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want to really draw attention to that, because just this afternoon or this morning,

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I was having a really really yummy
conversation with a young man who's thirty

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two, and he's really working at
this and we have these really really philosophical

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and deep conversations every few weeks,
and you know, I said, I

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remember how it felt when I was
your age on the journey. And he's

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working at this, and I said, this is not for the faint of

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heart. If you really are going
into this, this is real work and

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it's worth it. It's worth every
moment, every morsel of energy that it

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takes to do it. And so
to that end, I love what you

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also talked about here in one of
your podcasts, and this is I want

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to spend a lot of time developing, delving into each of these for our

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listeners. I like each for each
show or each episode that they can walk

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away with something they can immediately put
to work. And so you talk about

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four ways of engaging knowledge as we're
working toward our purpose, rational analysis,

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subconscious events and circumstances and signs,
and you say that we need to engage

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all four and it's a practical to
think about them in this way. So

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let's talk through each one of those. What do you mean by them and

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how how can we use them or
engage them. Well, let me start

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off with a metaphor that will resonate
with you in Texas, and that's finding

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oil. Now, I just thought
of using this metaphors. I didn't look

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up the specifics, but as I
have read about how people discover oil or

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how companies discover oil. The use
a number of different techniques. So they

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have like some sort of ground radar, They test the soil composition, they

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look at the topography, They do
a number of things, and then if

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and if each of those different modes
of discovery suggests something's there, then they

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draw a well. Okay. Likewise, when we pursue purpose, we can

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use different modes of discovery. We
can use our rational analysis, we can

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just stop and think about it.
We can't use our subconscious. We could

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listen to our dreams, we can
follow our intuitions. We can create experiences

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that give us a chance to test
how we react to things. And then

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we can interpret what happens in our
life, and you can added divines into

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that or not in terms of our
purpose. So using all four of those

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is the way to go in discovering
purpose because they'll often teach you different things,

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but eventually they often converge into just
a few things. And that's beautiful.

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It is beautiful. So it was
interesting, And I know you really

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did say that if I had this
right, you really care about empirical research.

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Do I have that right? Okay, So if you would for those

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of our listeners, I'm going to
guess that just a few of them rescription

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on their heads, going wait a
minute. Purpose and rational thinking? What

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do you mean by that? That
just seems like they don't go together.

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It's not. I don't think those
are normally talked about in the same sentence.

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So when you say rational thinking,
what do you mean? Do you

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mean like, you know? What
am I naturally good at? What could

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I analyze to say that I actually
know? Or what do you mean by

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rational knowledge? That's a purpose?
That's a great example, that's a great

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question. So what does it mean
to analyze something that's so sort of a

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theory on sublime is purpose? Yes, something is you know, basically applying

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spreadsheet logic to it. So you
know, how can you find purpose with

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a spreadsheet? Which is rational thinking? You can analyze your life. You

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can analyze your life up until this
point. You can analyze other people's lives,

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and any one of those analyzes will
help you. I'll give you an

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example. A good exercise that I've
found has helped people I work with is

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to I have them list twenty twenty
five activities they do regularly. Then I

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give them a five by five grid
with meaning and happiness on each dimension.

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So you have a twenty five cells. So I told you it's empirical.

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I just like, get started here. I like it. Then I say,

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place each one of those activities in
one of the cells based on how

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much purpose and how much meaning and
happiness it gives you. So low meaning

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low happiness would be bottom left,
high meaning high happiness would be bottom top

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right, and then you go from
there. When people do that, that

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just kind of straightforward analysis and plotting. They always have these AHAs of Wow,

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why don't I do more of what's
in the top right? Why am

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I spending so much time on the
top left? How can I move things

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up into the right? You know
what's so great about this? This is

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almost exactly the spirit of the conversation
I was having with this new leader I

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was working with on Friday, and
she was talking about how she know,

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she's just feeling overwhelmed because she's got
all these things she's doing in life,

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and I'm like, do you need
to be doing all those things? How

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many of those things could you actually
outsource or find a who to do them?

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Currently reading a book called Who Not
How, which is really about how

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do you enroll people in your life
to help you achieve your vision, because

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you can't do it by yourself.
So that's you know. I'm like,

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do you really have to spend four
and a half hours every other week cleaning

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your house? Really? Do you
really have to clean your oven? And

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do you really have to do all
these things that someone else going to do

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for you? So I really appreciate
that clarity. Now, one of the

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other things that you talk about too
is events. By the way, I

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do chronicle my dreams I went in
the morning, I actually write what I

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dream about because I am looking into
my subconscious to see what I can learn

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from that. So I certainly get
that. But events, you made some

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kind of a comment about you know
what if somebody almost falls off a cliff

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or does fall off a cliff,
So how do events help us clarify or

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understand our purpose? Well, that
actually was a true story. One of

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my podcast guests fell one hundred feet
a ten story building high wow, all

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of the cliff rock climbing his His
claiming partner made a mistake and let go

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over rop when he shouldn't have.
And this my friend or now friend hit

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the bottom, shattered his leg,
but he bounced. He didn't die,

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and it's astonishing he didn't die,
but that changed how he saw the world

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thereafter. Now that's a dramatic example. For the most part, we don't

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want to be throwing ourselves off a
cliffs to find purpose. That's usually recommended

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against. But there are things that
happen in our life that can have meaning.

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You meet somebody, you get fired, your house sells, your house

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doesn't sell, some event, there's
a tragedy in your community. All of

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these can prompt or clarify your purpose. Beautiful, that was so helpful.

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It's already time for our first break. It goes so fast. I'm Alice

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Cortes, your host. We don't
think are with doctor Brad Wright, a

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professor of sociology at the University of
Connecticut, where he studies American Christianity,

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spiritual auit, and wellbeing. We've
been talking a bit about his studies and

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what he's learned about purpose. After
therik, we're going to get more into

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how it's experienced. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Doctor Elise

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Cortes is a management consultant specializing in
meaning and purpose, and inspirational speaker and

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author. She helps companies visioneer for
greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

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leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate
fulfillment, performance, and commitment within the

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workforce. To learn more or to
invite Elise to speak to your organization,

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please visit her at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your

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employees working on purpose. This is
working on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes.

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To reach our program today or open
a conversation with Elise, send an email

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to Alise Alise at elisecortes dot com. Now back to working on purpose.

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Thanks for stating with us, and
welcome back to working on purpose. As

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I've watched the pandemic continue on and
we look for ways to help companies support

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their employees handle the anxiety, stress, depression, and feeling disconnected while also

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helping to lift and inspire them with
ongoing professional development. We now offer a

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wellbeing webinar learning series called Grab your
Gusto Vital Wellbeing from the inside Out.

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I know you can relate to that
doctor right. You can learn more about

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it at a leasecoorretest dot com,
or send me an email to Elease at

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00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:36.960
leastcorretest dot com. If you're just
joining the program. My guess is doctor

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Brad Wright, a professor of sociology
at the University of Connecticut. He's the

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author of fifty plus articles, and
one of his books is entitled Upside Surprising

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Good News about the state of our
world. He joins today from Stores Connecticut.

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I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes. Okay, so now for this

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next segment here, Brad, I
think it's really interesting how you are riveted

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on the notion of the experience of
purpose. I think most people have the

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idea that it would be pretty good
to live from your purpose, but I

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don't think there's a lot of people
that really understand that very well. So

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I really definitely wanted to make sure
that we talked about it. And I

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love your School of Purpose podcast.
What a great name for a podcast and

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for an inquiry, But I just
love that. And so you say that

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you interview people who have found purpose
in their lives, and from their stories,

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we learned about how purpose works and
we are inspired to have more in

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our own lives. We also feature
experts as well, So talk to us

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a little bit about some of the
things that you've learned about how people experience

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purpose. Well, when people experience
purpose, their life is different. So

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thankfully I have not had COVID,
but the people I know who have had

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it said that they feel different when
they have COVID than when they don't.

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By analogy, we feel different.
Our life is different when we experience purpose.

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And there's a number of symptoms I
guess symptoms of purpose. One is

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people have a lot more energy.
You get out of bed, kind of

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a spring in your step. You
don't dread getting out of bed because you

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have something in front of you that
you want to launch yourself into. Another

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is that you often get into flow, so it flows, a psychological state

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that involves sort of losing consciousness of
time and the world around you because you

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get so focused on what you're doing. Another symptom that I've heard often is

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what you're doing feels very meaningful.
It has significance to you. You're not

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just wondering why you're doing it.
I was talking to a former student of

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mine who has a very well paying
job at a company you would have heard

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of, a tech company, and
I said, how do you like your

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job? He said, you know, most days I'm between I don't care

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and I kind of like it.
Wow, Okay, that's not purpose.

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Yeah, that's not And so that's
I guess a good negative example of what

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it is not to have it be
meaningful. So those are some of the

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indicators that I've seen a purpose.
I'll add a couple more and see what

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your take is on this. This
is based on my experience and some of

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my research too. But I know
I've had Nick Craig on my show as

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well from Boston, and he talks
about that courage gives us, excuse me,

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purpose gives us crazy courage oftentimes to
pursue these kinds of love it right,

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courage to go after these things.
I definitely have done crazy things high

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on purpose that I wouldn't have done
if I weren't high on purpose. It

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also changes our relationship with stress.
It redirects it positively so that we actually

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experience more of the good side of
stress to power us through versus the negative

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downside of stress. I don't know
if you've ever come across any of that.

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Okay, you're well being guys,
so as I am. And then

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finally, the other thing that he
says that I've really, really, really

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like is that the thing about being
about living from purpose is that it gives

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us access to a fuller spectrum,
to the human instrument of emotions. So

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we have a greater access to,
you know, feel much more deeply and

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broadly, So you know, we
can experience euphoria, we can experience confusion,

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we can experience you know, awe, and we can also experience doubt

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and vulnerability. But the thing about
living and purpose is that it lets us

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have a greater deeper access to what
it is to be a fully human person.

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And I think that's astounding. Yes, another one, and I love

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the crazy courage that I hadn't thought
of it in that term, in those

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terms, but he's absolutely right.
Yeah. Another thing is that when you're

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doing something purposefuel purposeful, it feels
authentic to who you are. It's like,

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oh, this is just right.
So it's almost like if you're trying

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unclosed and you try on your shirt
after shirt or jacket after jacket, and

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then one just slides on. My
built it was designed and constructed exactly for

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you. That's kind of how purpose
feels. Like. Oh yeah. The

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flip side of that is that everybody's
sense of purpose is different than somebody else's.

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It's not one size fits all.
So when you're talking about purpose,

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you're talking about tailored clothing rather than
off the rack. It's exactly right for

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you. And so that's what it
feels like. It just feels very authentic,

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you know what I love about what
you're doing. So one of the

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things that I am a meaning and
work researcher, been investigating that for years

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and I form my PhD dissertation and
then some post doc research. I discovered

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these fifteen modes of engagement that take
into account how important your work is to

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who you are, your identity,
and what levels that you're registering for that.

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And I discovered one mode called living
your Purpose. And essentially you and

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the work are inseparable. There is
no way to distinguish one from the other.

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You are it, and it is
you, and it is very important

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and who you are because it's it's
like to your point, it's the cloth

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you're made of, and it's how
you're showing yourself in the world, who

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you're being in the world. And
it's the second highest level that I found

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just under a transcendent connection. Transcendent
connection as the people that are generally facilitating

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connection with with God. So a
lot of them were with pastors and rabbis

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and priests and spiritual counselors and such. But anyway, so the way you

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described that is is very much in
alignment with how I talk. We can

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almost finish the other sentences. I'm
guessing on that. Wouldn't that be fun?

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Well? I think you're absolutely right
about the importance of work and purpose.

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And I mean I find even your
kind of your jingle in between episodes

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inspiring. It's like, yeah,
I want more purpose in my work.

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I heard Tony Robbins say once that
he didn't believe in work life balance.

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He believed in work life integration.
Yes, And I thought that was a

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very pithy and profound way to put
it. I use that same. I

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think that's the most we'll Actually the
latest one is work life harmony. That's

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the latest way to talk about it. So we went from balance to integration,

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and I think harmony is the latest
and I like that too. So

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now I have to get into too
at this school of Purpose, and I'd

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love to hear how you did this. It seems that you've convened a group

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of scholars, practitioners and students who
study how people find purpose, and you

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together have identified processes and created strategies
to help guide people in their journey.

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So first, how did you compile
this group of people and what are some

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of these strategies or processes that you
work with. Well, this is one

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of the choice of being a professor
is that you have all these students where

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you teach, and some of them
are really smart, and so I give

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them the opportunity to do research with
me, and they have to have a

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really high GPA to do it,
and I get great, I see,

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I'm old enough. I call them
kids, but I need to be respectful

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and call them a young scholars.
And we meet every week and we talk

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about these things. They collect data
and they interview people and they try to

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make sense of what's happening in their
world, in their friends world, and

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in the world of the university,
and then in the world of their older

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relatives as it relates to purpose.
And then from that we get more general

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lessons. I'll tell you what lesson
has come up recently is I've had them

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interviewing students about their parents' influence on
their purpose, and we've come up with

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a handful of ways that parents try
to influence the purpose of college students.

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So it can be laisse fair,
it can be directive, it can be

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corrective, it can be supportive encouraging. For me, that the broader lesson

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there is that we don't find our
purpose in a vacuum. That we have

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expectations from our family, our friends, our culture, ourselves that are often

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not inlign with our purpose. And
that's a big part of finding our purpose

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and enacting it is that we have
to be willing to let go of those

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expectations or distance our cells from them. So I use the analogy of if

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you're driving down the road and a
lot of other people are on it,

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if you're going to find your purpose, you're basically getting off the road in

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off roading. It's just you're leaving
the beaten path. M h. I

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love that. I was just reading
I'm part of a group called a Global

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Purpose Leaders. Brandon Peale, who's
been on my radio show in Hollywood's also

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on my show, are part of
that and or stewarding that, and I

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reading What's something they put out is
they talk about how purpose is revealed to

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you. It's not something that you
can really just go out and just say

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that you declare it, or even
even to some degree even discovery. It

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sort of has a revelation process,
which why I like your idea of the

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off roading to go off to be
to get access and be present to it.

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I like to talk about it as
you know, what is it your

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soul? What is your soul?
As desperately trying to whisper to you that

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you can't hear. Yes, okay, So that is something has really confounded

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me for some time. And I
just read something by a Robert Johnson who

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has passed away, but he's a
union psychologist and he actually worked with you,

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and he made a brilliant point about
this, and that is he said

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that our rational mind is fantastic,
and he didn't use the word purpose,

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but he meant basically the same thing
for finding purpose when it comes to collecting

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information. He said that our mind
is the eyes and ears of God,

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but we have to wait for our
soul to tell us which way to go.

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Is great at identifying options and understanding
them, because the problem is if

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you go with just intuition, you're
scratching lottery tickets, or if you go

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with just analysis, you can't get
to anything more important than a spreadsheet.

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But you combine them and you have
this beautiful interplay between the mind and the

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soul, and that I value quite
a bit. So I would agree with

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what they said, and I would
incorporate it with rational thought. As I

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just mentioned, it's just a yummy
conversation. You know, this is why

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I love hosting the show. And
you know, really, what I see

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you doing with your undergrad students is
together you're really advancing the the inquiry and

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the dialogue of purpose among other things, whatever else you're experiencing or whatever you're

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investigating. And I'm doing the same
thing on this radio show. I'm advancing

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the conversation by curating its contents to
move it along toward a higher level of

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inquiry and understanding around purpose work,
inspirational leadership, and conscious capitalism. And

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so it's just it's so I love
that you actually, so you have a

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group of students, and I have
this ongoing series of guests like you do

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too. So it's a similar kind
of approach. One thing that you talk

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about. Sorry, go ahead,
Brad, aren't we fortunate? We are?

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I'm so grateful. It's just I
pinched myself very frequently. That's why

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I've got all these bruises in case
you're wondering. You talk about something that

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I don't think I've really heard anybody
else say, which is one of the

408
00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.079
reasons I wanted to have in the
show because you advance the dialogue. But

409
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:04.480
you say, applied purpose is an
opportunity. So first, what do you

410
00:29:04.519 --> 00:29:10.359
mean by applied purpose? And how
is it an opportunity? Okay, So

411
00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:15.200
this is the off road side of
me as a scholar. Most people when

412
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:22.599
they study purpose, study how it
exists as a phenomenon, and they study

413
00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:26.240
it in its natural setting. So
if we were studying a disease, they'd

414
00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:30.960
be a epidemiologist, you know,
the epidemiology of purpose, how does it

415
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.720
affect people, what does it do? But I've gotten really interested in the

416
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:40.920
study of how to change purpose,
the study of purpose interventions. And I

417
00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:47.200
haven't seen a lot of studies of
purpose interventions other than a handful of studies

418
00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:51.759
of a given intervention. But it's
almost like, if you're going to study

419
00:29:51.799 --> 00:29:53.799
a disease, do you study how
it spreads in the wild, or do

420
00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:00.559
you study what affects it, what
cures it, or what changes its symptoms,

421
00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:04.000
Because you can say both they're different
enterprises and So the latter is what

422
00:30:04.039 --> 00:30:08.240
I'm calling the applied purpose, and
that is the study of how to cultivate

423
00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:12.759
purpose, the study of how people
bring it about, like the work that

424
00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:18.279
you do if you're consulting, and
I just think it's fascinating. And you

425
00:30:18.279 --> 00:30:22.440
know, if you can really understand
something, you're able to change it,

426
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.200
So why not study how to change
it? I really like that. And

427
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:32.960
here's why I see purposes. The
words meaning in purpose are probably some of

428
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:38.240
them now most overused words that are
ill ill applied. Then then and then

429
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.920
I can possibly imagine they're well intentioned, right, but it's because people want

430
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:45.960
them. They're elusive, they don't
really understand them. So I really like

431
00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:48.920
what you're doing about you take You're
really taking it and using that empirical approach

432
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:56.920
that you do to really get access
to them and generate them into your world

433
00:30:56.920 --> 00:31:00.240
and your existence in a productive way. And I think that is this is

434
00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:03.359
what we need, Brad. It's
like the next level levels up. I

435
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:07.039
feel the same way. I'm just
so excited about it. I have a

436
00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:08.640
new team of students coming on in
September, and honestly, I want to

437
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.319
ask them if they'll work with me
through the summer. I'm just so excited

438
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:15.079
to do this. Oh that's so
great. It should be like that.

439
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:18.880
All right, let's take our last
break here. I'm Alice Cortez, your

440
00:31:18.920 --> 00:31:22.000
host. We're on the air with
doctor Brad Wright, professor of sociology at

441
00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.160
the University of Connecticut, where he
studies American Christianity, spirituality, and well

442
00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:30.720
being. We've been talking about the
notion of how we experience purpose and so

443
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:33.880
many manifestations. After the rak we're
to learn more about some of his other

444
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:37.240
areas of inquiry, like the subconscious. Stay with us, We'll be right

445
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:42.359
back. Doctor release Cortez is a
management consultant specializing in meaning and purpose and

446
00:31:42.519 --> 00:31:48.559
inspirational speaker and author. She helps
companies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and

447
00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:56.559
develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infused
cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and

448
00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.319
commitment within the workforce. To learn
more, to invite Elise to speak to

449
00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:06.319
your organization, please visit her at
Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how

450
00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:16.720
to get your employees working on purpose. This is working on purpose with doctor

451
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:22.319
Elise Cortes. To reach our program
today or open a conversation with Alise.

452
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:30.000
Send an email to a lease Alise
at Elisecortes dot com. Now back to

453
00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:38.160
Working on Purpose. Thanks for stating
with us, and welcome back to Working

454
00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:42.960
on Purpose. I mentioned after the
first break about the Grab Your Gusta well

455
00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:46.240
being a webcast learning series. The
content from that program is adapted from part

456
00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:51.359
one of my book which is called
Purpose Ignited, How Inspiring Leaders Tognite Passion

457
00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:53.559
and will Elevate Cause, which is
now avable on Amazon. And I wrote

458
00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:58.279
that book to awaken readers to their
passion and their purpose and help them transform

459
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:01.480
them into inspirational leaders who enliven the
workplace and elevate the contribution of business to

460
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:06.440
all at stakeholders. If you're just
joining us, my guest is joining us

461
00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:09.400
from stores Connecticut, doctor Brad Right. He's a professor of sociology at the

462
00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:14.440
University of Connecticut, and he I
was about to say he was working on

463
00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.160
his next book, but he's actually
working on several different different articles and has

464
00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:22.279
two books out already. I'm your
host, Doctorurly's Cortes. So for this

465
00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:25.160
next segment here, it's so interesting
what you get to do. I'm envious,

466
00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:29.279
right because I'm such a such a
geek myself, and I'm a researcher

467
00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:35.440
too, but I'm very interested in
your studies on the subconscious. So what

468
00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:37.240
I want to ask you is,
what have you learned about the subconscious and

469
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:40.400
relation to purpose or even behavior change
if you want to take that one on.

470
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:45.440
Okay, So I'm happy to talk
about it, as long as you

471
00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:47.359
don't think I'm an expert with the
subconscious with behavior change, I am,

472
00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:52.519
okay, fair enough. Subconscious was
off my radar. The subconscious was off

473
00:33:52.519 --> 00:33:57.240
my radar. With purpose. I
was thinking in terms of analysis and experience,

474
00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:00.240
because okay, you know, the
social science is a social scientist site

475
00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:05.119
study what can be measured. But
time and time again, the subconscious kept

476
00:34:05.160 --> 00:34:07.159
on coming up in the stories I
heard that people interviewed what I read,

477
00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:12.039
and then in my own life,
and I've started finding that the most productive

478
00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:16.519
ways, some of the most productive
ways of finding purpose involved basically hacking the

479
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:22.599
subconscious or listening to it. And
so that's how I got interested in it.

480
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:29.079
M that's so interesting. So I'm
always every I invest in myself.

481
00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.440
Every year I go and I do
some kind of a program somewhere just to

482
00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:37.360
keep learning. And this year I
did PSI's Seven Days Work, which is

483
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:44.039
really I would say that it's really
designed to uncover your shadows, and so

484
00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:47.239
it's shadow work kind of thing.
So it's designed to see where where it

485
00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:51.559
serves you up a whole week of
getting your buttons pushed and seeing where do

486
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:52.880
you have work to be able to
do? And you start to notice some

487
00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:55.079
stuff. Isn't that cool? Look
at the look on your face? Oh

488
00:34:55.159 --> 00:34:58.639
my goodness, I love it.
Shadow work is the best. Well,

489
00:34:58.679 --> 00:35:00.360
and I don't have I haven't done
a shadow work yet, so I wanted.

490
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:04.280
I'm trying to do everything that I
can right to be on this journey.

491
00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:09.000
So so the notion of shadows and
subconscious is really interesting. Dreams are

492
00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:14.639
really fascinating. Have you have you
studied dreams at all? I am an

493
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:21.800
enthusiastic probably an obnoxiously enthusiastic amateur and
okay interpretation. I just discovered it three

494
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:24.840
four months ago, had a guest
on my show who talked about it.

495
00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:28.119
I read some of the books she
recommended. I went to some of her

496
00:35:28.199 --> 00:35:31.639
dream circles. Oh my goodness.
I had no idea dreams could be interpreted,

497
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:37.880
and I had no idea that they
had so much to say it's Remarkable's

498
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:42.159
here's the analogia use. There's digital
computers that we all use there on our

499
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:45.960
desks. There's also quantum computers.
They use an entirely different logic. They're

500
00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:52.320
good for an entirely different kind,
different kind of problem that like physicists and

501
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:58.679
like Google use for some things.
Our mind and our subconscious work is one

502
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:02.840
as as the two combined, and
we can get so much more done when

503
00:36:02.840 --> 00:36:07.480
we're paying attention to our subconscious and
the different ways it's connecting. So basically,

504
00:36:07.559 --> 00:36:12.639
I've come to view I used to
view the subconscious as almost like your

505
00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:15.639
stomach just digesting food. You don't
have to pay attention to it, just

506
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:19.679
just doing some work. Now I'm
thinking it has as many messages for me

507
00:36:19.719 --> 00:36:22.119
as my rational mind, and they're
both committed to my well being. And

508
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:29.920
I've been so silly to have ignored
it for so long. If I have

509
00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:32.559
this right, and listeners who've been
to PSI, you can come and correct

510
00:36:32.599 --> 00:36:36.360
me if I don't have it right. But I think I remember in the

511
00:36:36.599 --> 00:36:40.400
three day session that PSI gave last
June here in Dallas, Courtland Warren gave

512
00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:44.440
that he's fantastic in his work as
a facilitator, and I'm pretty sure that

513
00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:50.599
he said that the subconscious works to
make what we want come true. Does

514
00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:53.880
that sound right too? That's how
it sure does. Okay, So listeners

515
00:36:53.880 --> 00:36:57.039
and viewers, if I'm wrong about
that and you have another view about it,

516
00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:00.000
get a hold of me and set
me straight. But pretty pretty amazing

517
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:06.599
stuff. So now we go onto
this idea here, this notion of how

518
00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:08.800
purpose in life is enacted. It's
sort of like what we've been talking about

519
00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:14.039
before, but I think it's a
it's it's actually another step beyond. So

520
00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:16.360
discovering purpose in life is only the
start, which we both we both agree

521
00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:19.719
we've been talking about. The next
step is to live it out. And

522
00:37:19.760 --> 00:37:22.719
that's one of my big things.
That first book was about awakening passion and

523
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:25.239
purpose. The next book that I'm
writing is about is about activating it and

524
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:29.480
doing something with it, bringing it
into the world. So, but you

525
00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:34.679
say that this means changing behavior,
which is often extremely difficult. So in

526
00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:37.039
this one, this is your area, right behavior changes is your jam.

527
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:42.639
So talk to us a little bit
about how we can change our behaviors.

528
00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:47.519
So I love your distinction between discovering
purpose and enacting purpose. If you discovered

529
00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:53.280
and don't enact it, that puts
you in a very painful place. You

530
00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:57.000
know what, you know what your
life is to to be about, but

531
00:37:57.039 --> 00:38:00.360
you never got around to it.
Yes, and so I love your emphasis

532
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:07.159
on acting on it. I would
say in terms of behavior, a good

533
00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:15.480
approach is to start making small bets. Start trying small, small experiments to

534
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:20.119
give you a sense of how to
enact it. So, my son is

535
00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:23.679
in the software industry. He uses
the phrase of agile development, where you

536
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:28.280
create a lot of you create a
prototype and you test it right away.

537
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:31.920
So, for example, if you
think that you want to be a K

538
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:37.199
through twelve teacher, don't ignore that. But also don't necessarily quit your job

539
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:42.280
and go sign up for it.
Instead, find a place we can volunteer

540
00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:46.360
for a week. You'll meet people, you'll develop skills, it'll give you

541
00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:50.320
a sense of what to do.
And so I guess that's what I would

542
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:53.840
say, is start small and move
forward. Okay, I like that,

543
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:57.000
and I'll add on to that as
well. A couple of years ago,

544
00:38:57.039 --> 00:39:00.519
I had Jeff Hayden on my show, He's great, You like, here's

545
00:39:00.519 --> 00:39:05.360
any wonderful Jeff? Hear that smart. Two of us love you. He

546
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:08.599
is very smart. And he wrote
a book called The Something about the Myths,

547
00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:12.840
the Myths and Motivation or something like
that, Motivational Myths, and we

548
00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:16.960
talked about So he studied really really
accomplished people and wanted to understand how does

549
00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:21.639
they achieve so much. One of
the things that he discovered is that it's

550
00:39:21.639 --> 00:39:24.559
not about them being motivated. It's
that they motivated themselves by always taking the

551
00:39:24.840 --> 00:39:29.280
doing the next right thing. So
they're putting themselves in some kind of a

552
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:34.960
perpetual motive movement toward their goals.
And it was that movement that gave them

553
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:37.800
the energy and the and the Jews
and the belief that they were making progress

554
00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:40.360
and pulled them forward. So I
think that's kind of what you're saying too.

555
00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:45.920
Yes, it's very similar to that. Yeah, Yeah, he's a

556
00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:46.960
lovely man. That's another great thing, right, I mean I get to

557
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:51.039
read all these great books and talk
to people that are that are amazing enough

558
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:55.519
to something in life, So every
week good for me. So now we

559
00:39:55.559 --> 00:39:58.880
talk a little bit about this,
and I know you've written about this in

560
00:39:58.920 --> 00:40:00.519
some of your articles and you speak
about it and you teach on it.

561
00:40:00.559 --> 00:40:04.400
But I'm very intrigued with your inquiry
of how to change your behavior to have

562
00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:07.079
a better life, not just in
purpose, but a better life. What

563
00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:10.880
have you learned there? So I've
had a chance to work with some of

564
00:40:10.920 --> 00:40:15.280
the luminaries in the field. I
worked with, read an article with Roy

565
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:20.920
Baumeister of Willpower Fame, I had
a chance to have some in depth training

566
00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:24.960
with BJ Fog of Tiny Habits,
and I read widely for a number of

567
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:30.199
years on behavior change and everything ended
up settling down into one of three categories.

568
00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:38.639
You either change your environments, or
you change your motivation, or you

569
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:44.639
exert self control. So if you
want to change behavior, then you want

570
00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:46.199
to think of one of those three
things. Change your environment to make it

571
00:40:46.239 --> 00:40:52.360
easier to do a behavior, do
something to motivate yourself, or do something

572
00:40:52.360 --> 00:40:54.079
to give you more self control.
Because all three are involved, give you

573
00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:59.159
an example of motivation. This is
an easy hack for change in the behavior.

574
00:40:59.559 --> 00:41:02.039
If you want to start doing something
regularly, read a book every night

575
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:05.760
for about five or ten minutes of
somebody who does it or advocates it.

576
00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:07.400
So if you want to try a
newt, I did this when I went

577
00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:12.840
on basically a paleo diet. The
whole thirty is what I went on every

578
00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:15.400
night for a month. I read
a book on whole thirty now not the

579
00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:20.599
whole book, just like five ten
minutes worth, and that sort of contagion

580
00:41:20.760 --> 00:41:24.599
of their views and their attitudes and
their information came on to me and that

581
00:41:24.639 --> 00:41:30.800
motivated me. Then I also changed
my environment where I didn't have the junkie

582
00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:34.559
food that I had been eating,
and I got rid of them, and

583
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:36.840
then I minded my self control.
I made sure I got to sleep at

584
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:38.280
night at a regular time, and
that gave me, you know, the

585
00:41:38.280 --> 00:41:43.639
oom to say no when I wasn't
used to say no to cheetas and ice

586
00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:49.440
cream and at all. So I
got to say two things. Well,

587
00:41:49.480 --> 00:41:52.679
I'll say one thing that I've another
question for you on that regard. So

588
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:55.320
for me and my work, the
way that I build motivation, I love

589
00:41:55.360 --> 00:41:59.559
the idea I read a ton and
it's definitely inspiring and motivating for me.

590
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:05.320
And another thing that I do is
as an inspirational speaker and working from passion

591
00:42:05.400 --> 00:42:10.599
and inspiration as my platform is helping
people to create the vision that they want

592
00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:15.320
for themselves in the world or they
want in their lives. Right, if

593
00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:17.039
it's a dietary thing, it's to
be healthy, or maybe it's to get

594
00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:22.000
into the outfit and look smashing or
whatever it is. But really being pulled

595
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:27.679
by the inspirational vision that you want
to live into, as opposed to the

596
00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:30.480
stick or the push kind of motivation, which is, you know, if

597
00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:32.280
I don't do this, I'm going
to have to go to the doctor and

598
00:42:32.280 --> 00:42:36.280
get that operation or whatever it is, which is more of a it's a

599
00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:42.280
need sort of motivation instead of or
a drive sort of motivation instead of that,

600
00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:45.199
more of the inspirational space. So
I like that very much. And

601
00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:47.920
that's a way they can craft it
of their own making, according to what's

602
00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:51.000
important to them. And I think
that aligns very well with the idea of

603
00:42:51.079 --> 00:42:52.920
reading something every night in the space
that you want to be in, so

604
00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:58.960
you're really grounding and better able to
delineate that vision for yourself and make it

605
00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:00.559
so clear that you know it's right
in front of your face. I can

606
00:43:00.639 --> 00:43:05.400
get it right. So I love
that. And then the next question I

607
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:07.960
want to drill on is how would
you change your environment? What do you

608
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:13.519
mean by that? Oh, so
that's a great question. There's some research

609
00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:15.599
that came out of the University of
Chicago number of years ago on what they

610
00:43:15.639 --> 00:43:21.360
called nudging, and that is you
change your behavior, change your environment,

611
00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:23.719
so it's harder to do what you
don't want to do, and it's easier

612
00:43:23.719 --> 00:43:27.960
to do what you do want to
do. So bj Fog is a great

613
00:43:28.039 --> 00:43:30.599
example. He wanted to start eating
healthier so he could lose weight, so

614
00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:35.639
he completely redid his the interior of
his refrigerator. He bought a bunch of

615
00:43:35.639 --> 00:43:42.079
those glass Pyrex storage food storage containers, and every Sunday henus partner chop up

616
00:43:42.119 --> 00:43:45.880
food, put it in those that
they like to eat that's healthy. Put

617
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:50.000
those containers and put them on the
front of the shelves that way all week.

618
00:43:50.039 --> 00:43:53.400
When they open it up, the
easiest thing to do is to eat

619
00:43:53.440 --> 00:44:00.519
the healthy stuff. So Scott Adams
of Dilbert fame said, I always do

620
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:02.960
what's easiest. So I make the
easiest thing to do the best thing for

621
00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:07.880
me. Mmm. I like that. I really like that. I have

622
00:44:08.039 --> 00:44:13.800
found that for me. I am
from Oregon originally, so I actually really

623
00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:17.760
quite like the darker wet days.
I find them really given for contemplation and

624
00:44:17.880 --> 00:44:22.639
peaceful and you know, settling.
I just really really like that. But

625
00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:27.960
I also find that I, no
surprise, I derived tremendous energy from from

626
00:44:28.039 --> 00:44:30.280
sunshine, from light. And so
what I find is that if I if

627
00:44:30.280 --> 00:44:35.760
I know that I need to do
something, you know where it's gonna take

628
00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:38.159
me a lot of energy, I
tend to go seek parts of my office

629
00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:40.400
or my home that have that heavy
duty light. If I want to be

630
00:44:40.519 --> 00:44:46.039
more you know, really really concentrated, maybe i'm writing or I'm analyzing or

631
00:44:46.119 --> 00:44:52.920
producing a report for a client,
I that that that more dark environment works

632
00:44:52.920 --> 00:44:55.079
better for me. And so I've
just found that that's works best for me.

633
00:44:55.119 --> 00:44:58.840
So when you said something about environment
and you know, trying to really

634
00:44:58.920 --> 00:45:01.880
motivate yourself or change your behavior accordingly, that's kind of where my mind went.

635
00:45:02.599 --> 00:45:07.360
Those are great examples. I like
them. Thank you. It's it's

636
00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:09.159
you know, it's and so this
is what I would say to listeners and

637
00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:14.400
viewers. One thing that I'm very
very much big on is this notion that

638
00:45:14.440 --> 00:45:19.280
we as human beings can always grow, learn and change. I wanted my

639
00:45:19.320 --> 00:45:21.760
pet peeves. Just when people say, well that's just the way that I

640
00:45:21.800 --> 00:45:24.760
am or that's just my personality,
well, there's a there's amazing things you

641
00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:29.039
can do to change that. If
you are motivated enough and you really can

642
00:45:29.079 --> 00:45:31.119
see the benefit of change, there's
a lot you can do. And of

643
00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:35.159
course I wouldn't do the work that
I do if I if I didn't think

644
00:45:35.159 --> 00:45:37.280
you could change and learn and grow. And so that for me is an

645
00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:44.760
ongoing lifetime thing. So let's let's
keep it that. We are already at

646
00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:46.599
the end of the show, doctor
Wright, So I want to leave you

647
00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:49.920
with the with the ability to close
the show as you like. You know,

648
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:52.960
this show is listened to by people
across the globe. They're really interested

649
00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:57.280
in being able to create workplaces where
people can experience meaning and grow to their

650
00:45:57.280 --> 00:46:00.719
best and develop themselves as inspirational leaders
and do business that betters the world.

651
00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:07.199
What would you like to leave them
with? Two things? One, realize

652
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:15.679
that finding your purpose is shockingly important. What good is it climbing the ladder

653
00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:20.400
if the ladder's leaning against the wrong
building? So it's something I heard Jack

654
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:23.239
Canfield say that has always stuck with
me. And secondly, there's lots of

655
00:46:23.239 --> 00:46:28.480
ways of finding purpose. I'll give
you a quick hack. Do little experiments

656
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:32.119
to see if you like something.
Anytime you think you might be drawn to

657
00:46:32.159 --> 00:46:36.880
something, go find a way of
doing it for an hour or two or

658
00:46:36.920 --> 00:46:40.400
even a day, and see how
you react. Don't let those little impulses

659
00:46:42.920 --> 00:46:46.480
go unacted upon, because you won't
know until you act. And those little

660
00:46:46.960 --> 00:46:52.039
those little niggles and dreams and feelings
we have, those are the things of

661
00:46:52.079 --> 00:46:57.159
purpose. What a beautiful way to
finish, Brian. Thank you so much.

662
00:46:57.199 --> 00:46:59.639
Thank you for doing the work that
you're doing in the world, and

663
00:46:59.639 --> 00:47:01.039
for sharing you with the rest of
us and all of your books, your

664
00:47:01.119 --> 00:47:06.039
articles, through your students, through
your research. It's a gift. Thank

665
00:47:06.079 --> 00:47:09.000
you. You're welcome and it's a
pleasure being on your show, Alise,

666
00:47:09.079 --> 00:47:13.239
and I think you're just doing great
work and I'm so glad you're doing it.

667
00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:16.480
Thank you. I am grateful I
get to do it. Listeners and

668
00:47:16.519 --> 00:47:20.119
viewers, if you want to learn
more about doctor brad Wright, his books,

669
00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:23.719
his podcasts, start by visiting his
personal website. It's Bradley wrightphd dot

670
00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:28.320
com. Let me spell that for
you. Bradley b R A D L.

671
00:47:28.360 --> 00:47:32.400
E. Y Wright, w R
I G h T PhD dot com.

672
00:47:32.400 --> 00:47:37.639
Bradleyritephd dot com. And thanks again
to our partnering sponsor work Proud,

673
00:47:37.679 --> 00:47:40.519
which helps companies build a platform where
your workforce receives meaningful feedback and thanks for

674
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:44.800
their work from people across your company. Last week, if you missed the

675
00:47:44.840 --> 00:47:47.519
live show, you know catch it
recorded podcast. I took the show on

676
00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:51.559
the road and as I was performing
an employee engagement survey for our client in

677
00:47:51.599 --> 00:47:54.199
West Texas and the Panhandle, and
I had my colleague Cherry Elliott Eerie join

678
00:47:54.280 --> 00:47:59.559
me. We talked about why companies
conduct employee engagement surveys to remain in communication

679
00:47:59.559 --> 00:48:02.480
with employe ease to use their feedback
for ongoing, continuous improvement and connection.

680
00:48:04.280 --> 00:48:07.320
Next week will be on the air
with Susan Lucci talking about her work as

681
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:10.280
a soulful facilitator, circle convener,
and purpose guide. See you there.

682
00:48:10.320 --> 00:48:13.800
Remember that work is at least a
third of our life, so let's work

683
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:22.840
on purpose. We hope you've enjoyed
this week's program. Be sure to tune

684
00:48:22.840 --> 00:48:27.599
in to Working on Purpose featuring your
host, doctor Elise Cortes, each week

685
00:48:27.599 --> 00:48:31.920
on the Voice America Empowerment Channel.
Together, we'll create a world where business

686
00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:39.119
operates conscientiously, leadership inspires impassioned performance, and employees are fulfilled in work that

687
00:48:39.199 --> 00:48:45.719
provides the meaning and purpose. They
crave see you there. Let's work on purpose.