The last of the homemade chicken and rice soup is warming my belly. Got the Blues playing in the background and a peach on a plate near my keyboard.

What has any of this to do with confidence, or life purpose, you might well ask, and rightly so. But lemme splain. At times like this, I get contemplative. Some folks do that when it rains. It’s a good thing.

There is a line in a very famous book that says, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven”. It goes on in poetic and profound depth, explaining the different seasons of life itself. I shall not endeavor to improve on prior perfection; I just have something of my own to add.

Confidence and life purpose are not always best expressed outwardly. Indeed, those things always start as an inside job.

On dark and dreary seeming days, in stormy times of the soul, it is good to take some time to slow down, go within, and see what’s there. Be your own storm watcher. Get the lay of the interior landscape. Become aware of the mind clutter, and release it. Let it be washed away in the restorative rain, swept away in flooding torrents of debris no longer useful.

Do not resist Nature. Let your storm seasons wash you clean. What remains is fresher and revitalized. From that flash flooded place, confidence born of purpose naturally blooms like the desert after the rain, colorful and vibrant.

Ask yourself this question: What part of my life could use a cleansing storm?

It’s never too late to live a purpose driven life. Really. Start now. Continue ‘til you die.  Confidence ensues naturally in this purpose driven way, and can continue unabated for as long as you live.

After all:

• Georgia O’Keefe was an old lady painter, happy and successful.
• Michelangelo designed St. Peter’s Cupola when he was 83.
• Benjamin Franklin was past 80 when he helped draft the constitution.
• Artist Pablo Picasso as well as cellist Pablo Casals were both active into their 90′s.

Don’t you want the rest of your life to make a difference, be rich and fulfilling, and contribute to the betterment of the world somehow?  How about starting that now?  Now is a great time to start living the parts of your life that you’ve deferred. There’s nothing better you could do with your one precious life than to live it with gusto, after all. And now you’ve got the wisdom and perspective necessary to avoid oh so many mistakes that you’d have made when you were younger.  Cool, huh? These advantages alone should boost your confidence!

Sure, taking action in service of your dreams can seem a bit scary, but think of the satisfaction to be gained. Think of the truly stellar example you’re setting to those younger people all around you. Don’t THEY deserve to live a fulfilling life? Of course they do. Living a purpose driven life gives your children, students, friends and colleagues the example they need to go out and live their own version of a purpose driven life. They’ll know it’s possible to live a purposeful life themselves because they see you living your own wildly satisfying, fulfilling life.

Your life experience is tremendously valuable and useful. Claiming, owning the wisdom that age brings confers greater and greater confidence to those willing to claim the lessons of their history. No matter how old you –think- you are, how over-the-hill you’ve deluded yourself into believing that you are,  the kind of immediate energy shift that taking meaningful action provides can immediately propel you forward into a better, more satisfying life if you’re not doing that these days.

You can demonstrate every day by your own actions that a purpose driven life is the only kind of life that’s really worth living…

Affirmations: “All my dues are paid in full.” “I have everything I need to move forward.” “I serve best by living my truth”

Don’t you need to really LIVE for the rest of your life?

Molly Burke, CPCC MSU
Queen of Confidence
http://mollyburkeonpurpose.wordpress.com
“I’ve bottled confidence, and it’s for sale!”

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” –Ernest Hemmingway

Listening skills and the lack thereof is the topic today.

Hoo Boy! Here’s a lollapalooza of a blunder. You’ve met these misguided souls. They have no listening skills. They talk the talk and talk the walk and then continue to talk and talk. They talk over you, they hog every conversation and make it a monologue all about themselves. They’re pushy and overbearing and sadly unaware of the impact of their actions. They mistake self talk for self confidence.

I assume that they’d have to be clueless, because no one would deliberately shoot themselves in the foot like this, would they?

They’re the people for whom this joke was coined, “But enough about me. What do you think about me?” I call these people Big Talkers.

Big Talkers think they’re educating, informing, selling well by overtalking. They think that if they can just say enough, barrage you with enough facts and information and sales pitches, you’ll be convinced that they’re an expert, that you want to buy what they’re selling, or somesuch. They think that more yammer means more confidence. Oh, so wrong.

Those verbal steamrollers have no idea that what they’re REALLY doing is profoundly alienating their audience. They’ve no clue that their potential customers/friends/connections end up walking away, tossing aside the business card or phone number or resume and remembering only that they felt uncomfortable at the very least, and pissed off at the worst.  The Big Talkers fail to establish rapport through the simple act of listening. Listening MATTERS.

As my wise grannie said more than once, “You’ve got two ears and one mouth, because you should listen twice as much as you talk.”

“If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.” -Goethe

When you listen, you demonstrate interest and engagement. You encourage rapport. You make a dialogue possible, and that is the place from which real possibilities spring. And you never, ever act like a Big Talker, because you know that Big Talkers are big losers.

The skill of listening is one of the hallmarks of the truly confident. Truly confident people know that there is nothing at all that someone else can say that will diminish them. Therefore they never fear dialogue, indeed, they welcome it for the connections it enhances and the rapport it facilitates.

Confident people listen.

Are you listening?

Molly Burke, CPCC MSU
Queen of Confidence
www.lifepurposeworks.com
I’ve bottled confidence, and it’s for sale!

Your Confidence Tip of the Day:

Confidence gives you strength. Decide that you are already confident. Use your strength in service of others.  Act in the world with nobility of spirit, goodwill and good humor. Go out of your way in small ways, often, for strangers. Be kind. “I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.”- Leo Rosten

Affirmation: “I am confident enough to be genuine and kind.”

Confidence task: Go out of your way to be kind to a stranger. This can be as easy as a door held open with a smile, letting that guy into your lane on the freeway, feeding an almost empty parking meter, pay the toll of the car behind you.

How can you increase your confidence through kindness today?

Molly Burke, CPCC MSU

Queen of Confidence

I’ve bottled confidence, and it’s for sale.

The first big boo boo that people make when trying to appear more confident is that they choose to appear flawless and do not readily admit their mistakes. They think that admitting that they were wrong makes them look bad, imperfect, WRONG. Oh, the horror! A public chink in the shiny armor that will surely ruin their precious appearance of infallibility!

We all know they’re sadly mistaken, don’t we?

There’s nothing quite as insufferable as someone who doesn’t admit they’re wrong. Even when it’s painfully obvious, they bluster and try to avoid taking responsibility, they pass the buck or try to outright intimidate their observers into backing off. Then they refuse take action to mitigate the negative effects of their errors, compounding the problem.  Now the mess is huge, and like the elephant in the middle of the living room, is impossible to ignore, let alone move beyond. They look like jerks.

In contrast, the truly confident person readily admits their mistakes. Unlike the desperate types who haven’t real grounded confidence born of life purpose awareness, the honestly confident person admits their mistake as soon as they can. Further, they take timely action to make it right, and they humbly apologize.

This is a powerful, true measure of real confidence.  The supremely confident person realizes that they are human, and to be human is to make mistakes.  They know that it is what you do in relation to those inevitable mistakes that makes the critical difference between jerk and hero.

The truly confident person knows that their credibility is immeasurably enhanced by the humble admission of error combined with honest action to repair any damage. They know that their clients, friend and family will be better able to relate to them and trust them in the future to do what it takes to do the right thing. They know that their professional reputation is enhanced by honest efforts and candid admissions of any and all mistakes. More businesses and relationships are strengthened by the compassion and connections that result from a well handled mistake than were ever made possible by attempting unachievable perfection.

Do you readily admit your mistakes?

Molly Burke, Queen of Confidence

www.lifepurposeworks.com

I’ve bottled confidence, and it’s for sale…

A a writer I appreciate tools and tips that come directly from the Masters of Literature, because their pithy comments invariably illuminate, inspire and enlighten as they entertain. The advice, like the works of  the Masters, lives on, timelessly wise. And I like all that. I’ll bet you do, too.

(I’m also a bit too fond of commas. Sorry….)

Here’s what Sam had to say:  “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

Such a simple thing, but it makes such a difference. I’m sure there are a great many folks out there who will find this tidbit useful. I know I did. And if you’ve the chance, check out some of the lesser known works of Samuel Clemens here:

http://www.mtwain.com/l_shortstoryandessay.html

That’s damn good advice. I’m damn impressed, and feel damn glad that I was turned on to this damn useful piece of writing advice.

Yup, works great. Damn nice.

More about Molly at: http://www.lifepurposeworks.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mollyburkeonpurpose

http://facebook.com/MollyBurkeonpurpose

Molly Burke on Purpose: Leading insurrections against mediocrity.

That lead  recently to consider a more elegant synthesis of Life Purpose work and satisfaction management that I call Purpose management. Purpose management involves timeline work, creating future strategies, increasing real being awareness, career path development, working smart, story change. And more. Much more.

There are three main areas in which Life Purpose Discovery work and Purpose management provide maximum ROI. For people like me, ROI means the most bang for your buck. Those three areas are personal, business and professional/practitioner use.

On a personal level, Purpose management provides the opportunity to experience relationship satisfaction, meaningful work, more joy, harmony, true change, professional excellence, and alternative options to every personal challenge.

From a business perspective, Purpose management is a direct gateway to improve productivity and job satisfaction, motivation and workplace change that benefits the bottom line. Through customized Life Purpose work coaching, your future business plans will expand to include more and better ways to make your business productive. Your empowerment team will act as a development catalyst to inspire others in your organization to higher levels of professional excellence and workplace satisfaction.

As a human development practitioner, Purpose management empowers the relationship between practitioner and client from the first meeting, provides a comprehensive overview of your client in very little time, and results in faster, lasting change that moves them in the right direction. You will be able to build strategic relationships with your clients based on who you both know them to be on a “real being” level. This enables you to be  an even more effective ally, coach and counselor in less time with increasingly better results.

Overall, the practice of personal, business or professional Purpose management leads to only good things. By adopting decision making that puts Life Purpose first and foremost, you can more directly access harmony, meaningful relationships, more joy and financial gold.  Your life, on purpose.

There’s nothing finer. Purpose management and Life Purpose Discovery work are powerful allies if what you want is to have what you want. Is that what you want?

I’m going to do that in reverse order.

An overview of Life Purpose satisfaction services first. When I type “satisfaction services” I get a tickle out of doing it. That’s because I’ve witnessed so many glorious transformations of lives and spirits in the course of this work. It’s a delight to share it with you now, because I know that some of you will already be on your own path of Purpose, and still others of you are ardent seekers. And I loves me them ardent seekers. It is for you that I created this work.

The satisfaction services that we provide here at Life Purpose Works are designed to directly address any personal challenge to effective fulfillment work our clients are engaged in.

These satisfaction services include:

• The Fulfillment Series: Fulfillment strategies, fulfillment inventory measures, future strategies, growing more meaningful relationships, opening to more joy, learning how to make everyday life meaningful,  ongoing personal fulfillment process clarity and communications building, finding contentment.
• The Success Series: Building strategic relationships, exploring business possibilities, learning how to meet every performance challenge, managing workplace satisfaction, learning better decision making, creating your own empowerment team, defining meaningful work for yourself, career path development.
• The Business Series: Increase employee satisfaction, improve customer relations, meeting corporate challenges, building performance productivity and morale at the same time, provide a better management career path structure and employee career path plan, empowering employees and simultaneously working to enhance customer experience.
• The Satisfaction Series: workplace satisfaction, job satisfaction and performance, relationship satisfaction, creating a Fulfillment Group, fulfillment plus future strategies, making day to day life meaningful, working health, how to obtain true change through choosing more joy.

At Life Purpose Works, we provide resources for self empowerment. We measure self empowerment in subjective terms of fulfillment and satisfaction because success is different for everyone.

The bottom line, however, is the same whether you’re a single person looking for your life fulfillment, a family seeking to make richer, more meaningful relationships, or a company looking for business empowerment…..

It’s all about satisfaction management. Defining it for yourself, setting up your goals and dreaming your big dreams, and then learning the tools, tricks and techniques needed to gain dominion over your own sense of satisfaction. You do it by living on Purpose. It’s a fulfillment process, rich and compelling. At Life Purpose Works, we know how.

Welcome, one and all, to my new and improved blog site. Herein you will find tips, tools and fulfillment strategies, along with my observations about life, the Universe, and everything (with a nod to Douglas Adams). I’ll quote my friends and famous folks, turn you on to great resources, introduce you to quality people, and do everything I can to further worldwide fulfillment.

It’s a great pleasure to share a slice of myself and my work with you. So let’s get started…..

To begin, let’s examine the phrase “satisfaction management”. I believe it is important to know exactly what we’re discussing before I go into why it’s so important and how we go about achieving success with it. Let’s start with a couple of definitions:

SATISFACTION:

1. The fulfillment of a desire or a need.
2. The pleasure or contentment that is derived from such gratification.

MANAGEMENT:

The act or manner of managing; handling, direction, or control.

For the sake of this discussion, we’re going to use these definitions, and explore how Life Purpose awareness significantly increases your satisfaction management skills.

In order to even get in the ballpark of satisfaction management, it is crucial to know who you are and what you’re meant to do with your life. You’ve got to be aware of  what is is that you truly desire and need on a fundamental Soul level. Only then can you start to experience, measure and then improve your own satisfaction management.

Why is that? Because only by knowing, accepting, and expressing your unique Life Purpose can you know real satisfaction and fulfillment. And only when you have a lucid experience of fulfillment can you then learn to enhance, encourage, and ultimately master satisfaction management.

NEXT:  What Life Purpose Discovery work can do to support satisfaction management, and an overview of what Life Purpose satisfaction services are.