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I want to share with you on our episode
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today um about a book that was presented
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to me by a friend of mine and he said,
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"You're going to love this. It's right
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up your alley and it has really changed
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the way that I run my business. It's
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changed the way that I make decisions on
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the day-to-day and it it's really
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changed the way that we have run our
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hiring process." So, the book that we're
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going to talk about today is The Big
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Five for Life. It's by John Strleki and
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it's a bit of a parable in that uh you
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don't know that it's not a true story
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sort of until the end. Um but it's uh
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it's such a good uh example about how to
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organize your life. And I think that so
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many of us are really living just on
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autopilot. You know, think about from
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the time I get up, I go through the
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motions, I make my plans, and I don't
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necessarily have a goal for the things
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that I'm doing each day. and I haven't
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had a lot of purpose. So when I think
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about how do I organize this, we have to
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slow ourselves down. And this book helps
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us to determine a couple of things. It
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helps us to determine if we want to look
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into it and and do the activities in the
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book, our purpose for existence, which
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sounds so heady and our big five for
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life. And so the examples that they talk
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about in this book are based on the
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metaphor of walking through the museum
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of your life. And so when when he talks
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about it, he says, you know, we spend
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our time every single day doing things
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kind of monotonous monotonously or
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mindlessly. And if you narrow down what
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you want to be doing and and the things
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that are going to be important in the
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museum of your life, it helps you to
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clean up what it is you're going to um
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focus your time and energy on. And so
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basically if I were saying that my for
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example my purpose for existence is to
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serve humankind. I know that I'm here to
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be of service to help people through
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their trials and tribulations. It's what
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prompted me to become a teacher. It's
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what prompted me to recareer in my early
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30s to become a mental health
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specialist. I knew that I had more in me
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to help. It's part of what prompted me
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to adopt children when I was really
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young that were my husbands and stick it
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out to raise them. I knew that I could
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offer them something that they wouldn't
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have otherwise had if I wasn't in their
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life. And so when I think about my
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personal purpose for existence, it's to
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serve humankind. But everybody has
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different purposes. And when I think
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about how I narrow down my big five,
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these are going to be the five most
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important things you want to do or see
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or experience before you die. And so
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this museum concept is like you want to
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visualize each day kind of as an exhibit
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in the museum of your life which
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encourages more intentional living.
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You're going to align your work with
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purpose. So you want to ensure that your
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professional endeavors align with your
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personal values and your big five for
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life. So it's a way to sort of filter
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the choices that you make. Part of this
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is recognizing that we can't see our
3:00
blind spots. And so having mentorship
3:03
throughout this process to help keep you
3:05
in line, almost an accountability
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partner, whether that's a friend that
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you trust to tell you the hard things or
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a counselor, someone in in your church
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or even a sponsor. The importance of
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having a mentor to guide you in
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discovering your big five for life is
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pretty important. It takes a lot of
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introspection and it's it's helpful to
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have somebody that knows you well to
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help you kind of narrow down your big
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five. The other piece that's important
3:29
related to this book is having a value
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of continuous growth. Meaning that
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you're striving for ascending life
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represents continuous growth,
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achievement, learning new things,
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leaning into discomfort, and trying to
3:42
grow and stretch in areas that might
3:43
have been otherwise uncomfortable.
