Purpose Unlocked: How to Align Your Life with Meaning

Episode Transcript
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George B. Thomas (00:03):
Once you've done some experimenting, once
you've looked inward, you'regonna start to see patterns. And
when you see those patterns, nowit's time to align. This is when
you take those insights thatyou've gathered and you connect
them with your daily actions.It's it's about making sure that
your work, your projects, yourlifestyle sync up with your
passion and those core values.And when your actions align with

(00:26):
your purpose, that's wheneverything starts to click.
That's when your 6 cylinders, 8cylinders, whatever you wanna
throw in there. You see, you'reyou're no longer just moving
through the motions and thereare so many humans that are
living their life right now andthey're just moving through the
motions. But when you start toleverage this kind of real and

(00:50):
and you're aligning, instead ofmoving through the motions,
you're actively living out whoyou are. And much like I found
my groove through creatingpodcasts and HubSpot tutorials
and interviews, like this was myoutlet. It aligns perfectly with
my mission to educate and be acatalyst for others.
So when you align the patternsfrom the experiments and you've

(01:13):
got that inward looking selfawareness, now it starts to all
be together and the l, it's realsimple. You just need to live.
Finally, you need to live it.You need to live that purpose.
Once you've aligned your lifewith your purpose it's about
showing up every single day andcommitting to that purpose.

(01:35):
It's not a one time discovery.It's not a finish line you
cross. It's a practice. Purposeis a practice that you engage
with consistently day in and dayout. It's about embracing your
purpose in everything that youdo.

Liz Moorhead (01:52):
Welcome back to Beyond Your Default. I'm your
host, Liz Morehead. And asalways, I'm joined by the one,
the only, my favorite chaosgremlin in my whole world,
George b Thomas. Hi, Liz.George.

Good morning. How are you doing this morning?

See, people who do not know you, that sounded so
innocuous. Good morning, Liz.No. No. Those are the words of
an architect of danger.

I'm wearing purple today. I don't know if
that lets anybody know anything,but it is a purple day.

Like, if you're wearing orange, red, white,
black, those are colors I canwork with. Like, I know your
hoodie hat combos. For those whodo not know George, also, this
man's lid and hoodie game isalways on point. Color matched
hats and hoodies at all timeswhen it's a purple day. So just
for our listeners at home, I'mhappy to be here with you this

(02:42):
week.
This is also a cry for help.Just throwing that out there.
But, George

Yeah.

While I just while I

I'll be good.

That's that's also

a lie. I promise.

While I strap in my little podcast seat belt,
what's your high and low forthis week? Where are we at?

The low for me this week is I feel like I've
been having a little bit of whatI'll call an identity crisis or
just struggling a little bitmentally. You know, the good
thing is I I had a chance totalk to my daughter and my wife
last night about it becauseeverybody could kinda tell that
I was, like, the George versus,like, the normal George. And so

(03:21):
I've just been struggling with,like, this massive weight of
what I'm trying to bring to theworld. Am I good enough? Is it
sustainable?
Like, all of these things. Thefunny thing is that this episode
comes at the most appropriatetime for me. Like, as I was,
like, prepping for it, I'm like,oh, man. I needed to see this,

(03:43):
hear this, know this, believethis. My highlight would
definitely be just the abilityto have somebody to talk through
with it, to have someunderstanding around it.
And then I came to thisrealization, like, my own words
came back to me. Right? And Isuddenly started to feel a
little bit better when my ownwords came back to me. And and

(04:05):
I've said to many people throughthe years, like, when you're
getting close to where you'resupposed to be, life is gonna
get more difficult. And so thenwhen it came to my brain, I was
like, oh, well, no wonder I'mstruggling the last couple weeks
because I feel like I'm gettingreally close to where I'm
supposed to be, what I'msupposed to be doing, what I'm

(04:27):
supposed to be giving birth to.
And so it makes sense that Imight mentally be struggling
with the weight of which it is.That's me in a nutshell over the
past week, maybe even 2 weeks.What about you, Liz? What
highlight Wait.

What's your wait. What what's your highlight?

My highlight is that, having somebody to talk
to about this situation and thatmy own words kind of came back
to me. It's weird when you havethe potential or ability to be
your own mentor in life.

Since we always pride ourselves on being a 1000%
honest on this podcast, too.

Difficult sometimes.

Yeah. Because it did. Do you know how much I want
to give some sort of, like, youknow, this is my highlight. This
is my low light. This is mywhatever.
So it's Deborah just gonna getLiz unfiltered by highlight and
my low light are exactly thesame thing. I met someone, and I
hate

it. And

I like it. Yeah.

All at the same moment.

I'm so mad about it. I'm so mad about it.
Because, like, you know, acouple weeks ago, I took a week
off from life. All I did waswork or hiking in the woods. I
went to go visit an area where Iknew a lot of people, and I
purposefully did not tellanybody I was there.
The only people who knew I wasthere were the people who I was

(05:44):
house sitting for. And I spent alot of time thinking about,
okay. We're done surviving.We're done using, like, let's
talk about the past years. Talkabout no.
We're done with all of that now.So what is what is it we're
doing? Where do we wanna go?What are we calling in? We did
all of this brutal, bloody workto rip out toxicity from the

(06:05):
root in your life.
Nature abhors a vacuum. Sobefore you start calling back in
the same crap you just pulledout, maybe just think about
work, life, love. What is it youreally want? So I wrote it down.

As one should.

And much and love. All these things, like, what
does a perfect day look likefrom a work perspective? Who are
the people I want to be devotingmy energy to both personally and
professionally, like with you?You know, of course, George is
always on that list. And then,of course, I wrote down, so who
is this guy?
Right? I even gave him a fakename because I'm like, I just
can't talk to vapor, so I canhave a fake name. And I said, so

(06:38):
he's this guy. This is this iswho he is. Then I said, okay.
I'm ready. Sounds great. Met hima week later.

See see how the universe works? I'm telling
you.

Mad about it. So mad about it, but I'm also happy
about it. And that's what I'mgonna say for right now. What I
will say is that it is veryinteresting how if you stop
trying to be such a flippingcontrol freak about everything
and not controlling what anoutcome is

Have we done a control? Episode? Will. Oh, wow.
Doing that.

Yeah. We both do that. Thoughts. We we both had a
discussion this weekend whereit's like, so this is exactly
what I wanted in completelyunexpected packaging,
antithetical packaging. So wherewill this go?
I don't know. We're gonna findout. It's gonna be but yeah. So
my highlight and my low light ishow dare you, universe. I told
you what I wanted and youlistened.

Yeah. Thank thank you, god. Yeah.

You're the best, god. Love it. So, yeah, that's
my highlight and my lowlight,but let's get into what you
teased before, which is thispodcast has think of a little
habit of, like, all of thetopics always aligning with what
it is that

we It really does. It really does.

We already teased for our listeners, if you've
been listening for any length oftime, what we're gonna be
talking about over the next fewweeks. So we talked a lot about
the superhuman framework, whichis a little gathering, a little
cloister, if you will, of 10daily habits and qualities that
we cultivate. Right? So hunger,holiness, helpfulness, humanity,

(08:09):
humor, all these little bits andpieces that allow us to
architect a life beyond ourdefault. Right?
And when we say beyond ourdefault, it means we're done
living the life we think weshould. We're done with it. We
did that. Didn't work. Not doingthat anymore.
We're here to do what lights usup. But if we think about any
sort of endeavor, George, to usean analogy that we feel more

(08:32):
comfortable with, we are in themarketing space, and your tools
and your technology are reallyhelpful, right? Your tools, your
marketing automation systems,your sales CRM systems, the
website platform you choose tohost on. All of these things are
really important, but they don'treally mean anything or do
anything for you if the strategyyou're putting into it is

(08:55):
crappy. If you don't have astrategy, if you don't have a
vision, if you don't have a why.
And so over the next few weeks,we're gonna be talking about
what we discussed in the lastepisode, which are the 4 or 2
episodes ago, actually. The 4cornerstones of the superhuman
framework. Right? Yep. Purpose,passion, persistence, and love,

(09:16):
baby.

Yeah. But not that kind of love.

But it's it can be that kind of love.

I mean It can

be love.

Yeah.

You know? But we're talking about purpose
today. Purpose, the drivingforce that gives meaning to our
actions. Right? It's the whybehind everything that we do,
providing the clarity and themotivation that goes beyond our
day to day tasks at a high levelpurpose is that tether, that
connection for our actions witha deeper sense of meaning.

(09:42):
But here's what makes purpose soimportant because, you know, I'm
I'm a big numbers girly. I lovedata. I hear somebody say
something out in the vapor. I'mlike, uh-huh. So where's the
data to support that?
Is there research? Purpose iswhat makes our goals more than
just, yep. We need those.Purpose is what makes our goals
more than a checklist. Forexample, there was a study that
was done by the Journal ofClinical Psychiatry and

(10:05):
individuals who have a strongsense of purpose report lower
levels of depression and higherlife satisfaction.
And conversely, 25% of peoplereport feeling a lack of purpose
contributing to higher stresslevels of dissatisfaction. But
it gets even crazier. It's notjust psychological. It also
attaches to our physical health.A study published by the Journal
of American Medical Association,which has the greatest acronym

(10:28):
ever, JAMA.

Oh. I

love that. It makes me happy. Showed that
people who have a clear sense ofpurpose are associated with a
15% lower risk of death. Butit's also on the flip side.
Right?
Purpose is this beautiful thingthat we all want to be able to
define for ourselves, people tofind for ourselves, but it's not
always easy. And a surveyconducted by the Institute For
Life Purpose found that 69% ofpeople say they struggle to

(10:51):
define their life purpose, and50% of millennials, that's me,
express a desire to find a jobwhere their work aligns with a
sense of purpose, something thathas only increased in the post
pandemic era. So Yeah. That iswhat today's conversation is all
about. We are exploring what itmeans to live with purpose, how
to find it, especially when thatpath forward isn't always clear.

(11:13):
So, George, I wanna turn it overto you. Real softball to start
things off. You know me. I lovea good softball. What has this
journey been like for you indiscovering your purpose?

You know? You you gotta you gotta redefine
what you call a softball, firstof all. But listen, my my
journey to discovering mypurpose has been this winding
road full of twists and turns,definitely a lot of
experimentation, like, testeverything. Try it. Liz, as I
thought about this question,I've worn so many hats.

(11:45):
Right? Like, military guy,restaurant worker, furniture
store employee. And and even inthat was, like, from warehouse
guy, manager, district manager.I was even a manager of a water
park, a horse riding instructor,a camp counselor, a bouncer, a
youth pastor, a designer, adeveloper, a video editor, and
eventually became the HubSpotguy. Like and if as I'm doing

(12:07):
that list, I'm like, yeah.
That's a lot. By the way, that'sonly a fraction. Like, I didn't
go into specifics of, like, whatrestaurants and this and that.
But here's the thing. Over thepast 12 years now, I've been
this HubSpot guy.
And you almost have to, like,stop and go, why? Because
anything for me has not reallyever lasted 12 years, has not

(12:28):
really had any length. Like, ifyou take the mathematical
probability of all the thingsthat I listed, it's a short
period of time. This HubSpot,this inbound, this HubSpot guy,
12 years because it's given me aspace where my purpose could
take root and my purpose had aplace to flourish. You see,

(12:49):
HubSpotter or inbound has becomethis playground where I could
educate others, help them grow,and be the catalyst that I'd
always been searching to become.
I talk about, like, leavingpeople better than I found them,
and this is literally the theplace that this has been able to
happen. It was literally thefirst time that all of these

(13:09):
scattered pieces that Ireferenced earlier of my life,
they began to make sense. Like,oh, I was this because of that,
and I used this piece of thatfor this. And so what's fun is
even though it was twisty andturny in this crazy road, like,
everything actually ends upaligning in a way that felt kind

(13:29):
of authentic and fulfilling whenyou get to the point where you
actually find your purpose andare leveraging it. But listen,
I'm just gonna be real honest.
Getting to that point getting tothis point wasn't easy. And even
being in this point, as Ireferenced in the beginning of
this podcast, sometimes evenbeing at this point isn't the

(13:51):
easiest, but at least you havethe purpose. Right? Like,
throughout all those jobs andidentities, by the way, because
you have to realize there'salmost like another side of this
coin. The identities during thistime frame, skateboarder,
rapper, sales guy, cowboy,evangelist, agency employee.
Like, I went through someserious, like, who am I really?

(14:14):
But and at those points, I looklike, was I living an authentic
life, or was I just shapeshifting into whatever freaking
role I found myself in and justtrying to fit in? I mean, for
the longest time, I thought Iwas being fake, to be honest
with you. Like and I've toldthis story on the podcast before
about, like, a chameleon. Right?

(14:34):
Like, changing my colors, butnot in a good way. And I felt
like I was blending in whereverI went and never really standing
out or being true to myself. Idon't know if I've said on the
podcast, but I've I've told thisstory about how even one time in
my career, somebody told me thatI needed to turn down the light
a little bit because I wasgiving people a sunburn. But I I

(14:57):
need to let the light shine. Ineed to be my true self.
But all of this, like,identities and the things
happening and the not beingaligned with my purpose, like,
it left me with a lot ofquestions. Things like, what do
I actually need to be happy?What is it that will bring me
joy? Not just in, like, thesemoments, but, like, lasting real

(15:17):
joy for, like, a long time? Whatam I passionate about?
I mean, let's be honest. I Icould be passionate about
everything. I am built in thatway, and I understand that I
gotta be careful because I'llput myself in so many situations
doing so many things because Ijust feel like I wanna be
passionate about that. It'sslightly a superpower because it
makes me a transitionspecialist, but it's also a evil

(15:39):
enemy because if I don't watchout, I can easily burn out. But
it took me a long time to kindof wrestle with these questions
and and honestly face thediscomfort that came with those
questions.
And I would I would beg thelisteners to think of those
questions for themselves andspend time in that discomfort as

(16:01):
they journey to trying to figureout the purpose. But but here's
the thing. We get to we get tothe point where I can say, and
then there was HubSpot, whichsounds weird. That that's what I
would say as far as, like, tyingit to life, but it's not
remissed on me that over adecade of learning, over a
decade of growing, over a decadeof figuring things out, no more

(16:21):
of this sporadic all over theplace, like, way that I used to
learn and do. But there's, like,been this level of
intentionality.
And, honestly, when you havethis learning, this growing,
this figuring things out, like,that's when things really
started clicking. The rolewasn't just a job. It became the

(16:42):
space where I could continuouslyevolve and grow into something
better, whether I was at thesales line or was whether I was
at Impulse Creative or whethernow, like, owning my own company
at Sidekick Strategies. Like,it's it's evolving and growing,
and and we're focused on thisbeyond the default. Right?
We're focused on the the better.It allows me purpose, and

(17:02):
understanding my purpose allowsme to show up as my best self,
which by the way, let's just getto the brass tacks here, an
educator, a guide, a catalystfor others. That that's my
purpose. Like, if I can putmyself in a space where I can
educate, guide, and become thecatalyst for their growth path
and so what what's fun is, like,this journey hasn't been about

(17:26):
finding a job title or no. Itit's, like, deeper.
It's and we'll talk aboutpassion next week, but it's
about aligning my passion forgrowth and education with the
platform that let me do it everysingle day for almost the last
12 years. And it's also beenthis realization that those
previous roles, all thatsearching, I shouldn't hate

(17:48):
myself for that. It wasn'twasted. All of that historical,
like, searching and turmoil andtwists and turns was building me
up piece by piece for this greatpurposeful moment in life. And
so, Liz, to answer yourquestion, my journey before
discovering my purpose was along and windy road filled with

(18:08):
countless roles and identityshifts.
But it wasn't until I found mypurpose and this understanding
that I truly could educate,inspire growth, and be a
catalyst for others that all ofthose pieces of my life finally
aligned, and it's reallyallowing me to live out my
passion and purpose in a veryauthentic and honest way every

(18:34):
single day.

In our initial conversation, when we were first
talking about the 4 differentcornerstones, you referred to
purpose as a compass. A metaphorthat, you know, on its face
makes a lot of sense. Right?Especially given what we've
already discussed so far. ButI'd be curious, how does that
metaphor play out in real lifespecifically when things get
tough?

Yeah. When I talk about being a compass, what
I'm talking about is being aguiding force that keeps you
pointed in the right direction,especially when things get
tough. Listen. In real life,when challenges hit, whether
it's career setbacks andidentity crisis or those moments
where everything feels off trackby the way, it's exactly what I

(19:16):
was talking about that I've beenfeeling for the last 2 weeks. It
just feels off track.
It doesn't feel quite right. Idon't know if I'm good enough.
The only thing that has helpedme keep my sanity is that I have
this purpose that grounds me.And I understand no matter how I
feel, this is the direction thatI need to go, and I have this

(19:39):
compass. And so because I havethis compass that is my purpose
of educating, guiding, and beinga catalyst, I then can realize
in real life that it's not abouthaving all the answers.
It's not about knowing exactlyhow things will play out because
I have zero clue. And I'm alsotrying to live in a space where
I'm trying to not control thethings that are happening

(20:01):
through these experiments thatI'm doing, but it is about
having a direction that I canalways return to. Right? So,
again, for me, in this realworld scenario of, like,
struggling and feeling like it'snot clicking on all cylinders,
For me, my purpose is educatingand helping others grow. And
what's fun is when you unpackall of this, you start to

(20:24):
realize, oh my god.
This is why I love doinginterviews. This is why I love
creating HubSpot tutorials. Thisis why I have so many podcasts
like this one and Hub Heroes andWake Up With AI. It's like
because it is a position where Ican apply my purpose for
educating and helping othersgrow. Like, these are my
catalyst outlets.

(20:45):
These are the ways that I livemy purpose. So, Liz, when things
get messy or I start to, like,question, again, the last 2
weeks of my life, perfectlytimed podcast. I'm still on the
right path because I can sitthere and look at my compass per
se and go, oh, that's right.This is my purpose. And by the

(21:06):
way, the reason I'm feeling souncomfortable, the reason I feel
like it's not ticking is becauseI am passionately chasing my
purpose in a bigger project.
And so this purpose, it is whatthen can take me from this,
like, place, and it gets meexcited to show up. And it makes

(21:26):
me wake up every day, and itmakes me wanna do the work, and
it makes me do the work thataligns with my mission. And,
yes, I'm using the word missionon purpose. And listeners, I
feel like HubSpot, which isweird to say, or this inbound
ecosystem, or if I even broadenout this, like, digital online
world we live in is my mission.And I would even maybe take it

(21:50):
further to say it's my missionfield.
And when you're on a mission,you need a compass. Because when
you're on a mission, you needdirection. And so, Liz, to kinda
tie this all together, like acompass doesn't stop the storm
but points you in the rightdirection, purpose works very
much the same way for me. Like,it's not gonna stop the rough

(22:10):
times, but it helps me pointinto the fact of, like, yes.
Keep going.
You're headed in the rightdirection. It doesn't make the
tough times disappear. I don'tknow if there's anything that
can actually do that. But thisleaning in and leveraging and
understanding your purpose, itat least gives me gives you
something to navigate towards.It keeps you moving forward,

(22:32):
which ties into persistence,which we'll talk about, but
helps you keep moving forwardeven when everything around you
feels disjointed or uncertain orscary, whatever words you wanna
use there.
But, Liz, I'm I'm super curiousof your thoughts on this.

You know, when I think about the idea of a
compass, right, it's easy tostay. If we wanna, like, get
really heavy handed with themetaphor here for a moment,
like, let's just go right intoit. Right? Like, you're on a
hike. It is very easy to stay ontrail.
It is very easy to stay on map.It is very easy to stay in the
right direction when theelements aren't working against
you. When it's sunny, when it'snot too cold or too hot or

(23:15):
raining. But the moment theelements start getting to you,
you could literally have a mapright in front of you and know
exactly where you're supposed togo, and all of a sudden
everything feels awful.

Yeah.

Everything feels terrible. And when I think about
the moments where I have reallystruggled now granted, I know I
made a joke earlier. Like, youneed to stop talking about last
year. Right? But, like, that'smy it's my closest point of
reference.
Why did I keep getting up in themorning? Because I didn't know
where I was going to be 6 monthsfrom that moment, but I knew I
had a problem to solve right infront of me. And so I think when

(23:47):
we think about purpose, andwe're going to start digging
into this in the next questionthat I have for you. When we
think about this purpose, Ithink sometimes what our concept
of what our purpose actually isversus what we have been trying
trained to think it is, like, itit we tend to think it's just,
like, very big grandiose thing.And in some ways, it's literally

(24:07):
it's very simple cookies.
Like, it it's it's it's wildlyimpactful because it is simple.
And so when I think aboutpurpose, the terrain is gonna
change. The weather's gonnachange. The time of day is going
to change, all of thesedifferent things are going to
change. All purpose does is tellme, so this is the direction you
should be pointed in to solvethe problem right in front of

(24:27):
you.
You don't know what the weatheris going to be like on the other
side of the ridge when you getthere tomorrow morning. You You
don't know if it's gonna berocky, lots of roots, high, low.
You don't know all of thesethings. The goal is you don't I
think I've said this to youonce. You don't have to know
exactly what the kingdom lookslike in order to start walking
in the right direction.

Yeah.

And that's the whole point. The whole point of
this is that you don't you don'tunlock your purpose and suddenly
some big booming voice from thisguy is like, you did it. Trophy.
This is your road map toeverything that you didn't know.
It is just simply, like, whatare the problems you are built
to solve more uniquely thananybody else?
Right? How does that evolve atdifferent stages of your life?

(25:09):
Because your purpose may evolve.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. You know, like, things will change. So
when I think about this conceptof a compass is all it does is
make sure I'm still pointed inthe right direction when stuff
gets hard.

Yep.

And I just look down at my feet and say, okay.
Just solve the problem right infront of me. That's all I need
to do because I know I'm pointedin the right direction. I know
I'm moving in the rightdirection, but I don't have to
solve anything except what isright in front of me right now.
Yeah.
And that's where I get a lot ofsafety in that.

I think that's a huge point because listen. I
went through the entire rangeof, like, maybe I just need to
throw it all away versus howabout I just fix this thing
right in front of me. Right?

You don't get to throw things away, George.

Yeah. But but but I will do

dumpster diving.

I will pull

them out of the

But that's what I want people to understand
is, like, sometimes we, like, gointo this chaotic all or nothing
when it's no. Actually, it wasyou just needed to apply a
little duct tape or, like, fixthis one little thing, and then
you could've got down the roadfurther. It's it's funny too,
Liz, because you mentioned,like, this idea of purpose
doesn't have to be complex. Itit can be simple. Now the parts

(26:19):
around your purpose might becomplex.

So I'm very excited about this question
personally because to be fair,this is a little bit of pot
kettle situation because we welove a good worksheet.

Are you phoning in for a friend?

Yeah. But here's the thing. There are so many
workbooks. There are so manyworksheets. There are entire
books.
There are podcasts. There like,the amount of media, multimedia
toolkit, download, overload, allof these things that are devoted
to the act of defining yourpurpose. And to be honest, to be

(26:54):
honest, you know, I'm not evengonna lie. I'm not asking for
I'm asking for me and on behalfof all of our listeners. It
makes everything feel soimpossible.
It makes your purpose this bigthing that it's, like, how am I
supposed to define this? I don'teven know what I had for
breakfast this morning. We arejust white knuckling it through

(27:14):
life. We're just trying tofigure this out. So I I want to
hear from you as someone who hasconsumed a ton of help self help
stuff from someone who has donea lot of this work for yourself
in a very real human tangibleway.
What do you believe are the truesteps to defining your purpose
if there's even a process atall?

So it it's funny. The the thing about
purpose, like, people do make itfeel like it's really big, or it
feels like this abstract conceptthat you can't even put your,
like, mind around, or it feelslike, something that you're
supposed to check off. Oh, Iknow what my purpose is, and
then, like, you move forward. Ifwe stay with this, like, compass

(27:58):
that guides you principle thatwe kinda talked about beginning
of this, Purpose is to me, it'sall about aligning with who you
truly are and building thereality you actually want to
live in. When when you connectwith your purpose, it becomes
that, and I'll use anotheranalogy, it becomes that anchor

(28:19):
that keeps you grounded whilealso giving you the freedom to
grow into the best version ofyourself.
In other words, the beyond yourdefault version of yourself.
It's not about being thatchameleon that I struggled with
and trying to fit into, like,every role in every place. It's

(28:40):
about finding the role or placethat lets you show up as your
authentic self or as Liz likesto say, whole beep human. Right?
And so when I think about asimple way to remind myself of
this or teach others about, howto do this, Liz, I love using
the acronym real, real, real.

(29:03):
So let me

Liz is frantically taking notes?

Yeah. Let me let me I I thought that might
happen during this section, bythe way. So let me let me
explain this, break this down alittle bit. The r stands for
reflect. The first thing thatwe've gotta do is look inward.
You're not gonna find yourpurpose out in some guru's
workbook, worksheet, blah blah.That might help unlock you to do

(29:25):
this thing of reflect, but youyou've gotta look inward. This
is where you start to ask thebig questions. What truly
excites you? What brings youjoy?
What kind of impact do you wannamake in the world? And this is
where when you're lookinginward, you think back to the
moments that felt the mostmeaningful and impactful in your

(29:46):
life. This reflection isn't justabout figuring things out on
paper. It's about kind of tuninginto the things that light you
up and connect with your values.Now that is if you understand
what your core values are andthat you're living by those core
values.
But it's it's the same way acompass points you in the right

(30:08):
direction before you ever startthe journey. Purpose starts with
clarity and self awareness. Soyou need to look inward, have
some self awareness, and startto clear out the clutter in your
brain to kinda set the path. Thee stands for experiment. Here's
the truth.
Purpose doesn't always come witha clear roadmap. I love that you

(30:31):
used that word a little bit ago,Liz, of like and here's your
roadmap. Ladies and gentlemen,you've gotta experiment. You've
gotta try different things.You've gotta jump into new
projects.
You've gotta explore roles andstep outside your comfort zone.
Like, I used to look at all thethings that I listed out at the
beginning of this podcast asnegatives, but I have been a

(30:52):
great experimenter along theway. This is where you have to
let go of the idea that you needto have it all figured out, and
you need to give yourselfpermission to explore. By the
way, you're gonna have to giveyourself a little grace in this
area. You see, it's it's it'svery similar to how my journey

(31:14):
played out.
Going from military guy to youthpastor to HubSpot expert. Like,
purpose often reveals itselfthrough action, not just
contemplation. You can sit onthe couch and contemplate till
the cows come home, butsometimes you just have to take

(31:34):
action. So my my goal here, myhopes is that you you dive in
and and notice what fills you upversus what drains you. The a by
the way, it's I'm it's it's notmissed that you're having a
visceral response to the things

that are coming out my mouth. Brace for myself?
How dare you? How dare you

Yeah.

Keep going.

We'll we'll get into it. I'm like, I can't
wait till I'm done with thisreal talk here because Liz is
having a visceral response tomany of the things coming out my
mouth. So a stands for align.Once you've done some
experimenting, once you'velooked inward, you're gonna
start to see patterns. And whenyou see those patterns, now it's
time to align.
This is when you take thoseinsights that you've gathered

(32:19):
and you connect them with yourdaily actions. It's it's about
making sure that your work, yourprojects, your lifestyle sync up
with your passion and those corevalues. And when your actions
align with your purpose, that'swhen everything starts to click.
That's when your 6 cylinders, 8cylinders, whatever you wanna
throw in there. You see, you'reyou're no longer just moving

(32:42):
through the motions, and thereare so many humans that are
living their life right now, andthey're just moving through the
motions.
When you start to leverage thiskind of real and and you're
aligning, instead of movingthrough the motions, you're
actively living out who you are.And much like I found my groove

(33:03):
through creating podcasts andHubSpot tutorials and
interviews, like this was myoutlet, It aligns perfectly with
my mission to educate and be acatalyst for others. So when you
align the patterns from theexperiments and you've got that
inward looking self awareness,now it starts to all be

(33:24):
together. And the l, it's realsimple. You just need to live.
Finally, you need to live it.You need to live that purpose.
Once you've aligned your lifewith your purpose, it's about
showing up every single day andcommitting to that purpose. It's
not a one time discovery. It'snot a finish line you cross.
It's a practice. Purpose is apractice that you engage with

(33:48):
consistently day in and day out.It's about embracing your
purpose in everything that youdo. When you live your purpose,
Liz, it's like planting yourfeet firmly on the ground
knowing who you are, what you'reabout. And when things get tough
or dicey or the waves of lifecome crashing in, you understand

(34:11):
that you're being real.
And by using real, reflect,experiment, align, and live, you
create a process for finding andnurturing your purpose in a way
that feels achievable, it feelsauthentic, and it feels true to
who you are and who you'retrying to become because it's
not about becoming someone new.And by the way, I've we've had

(34:33):
this conversation, like, not onthis podcast, but I think, like
well, maybe even on thispodcast. Because I was always
trying to be the new George. Iwas trying to forget the old
George, the the bad George.Right?
It's not about becoming someonenew. It's about uncovering who
you've been all along andcreating a reality that matches

(34:56):
that person. Liz, what are yourthoughts?

I'm just having a big old squishy feeling moment
because this is one of myfavorite things that I talk to a
lot of my clients about. Youknow, I've had situations where
people will thank me and say, ohmy gosh. Thank you. I would have
never gotten there. You gave methe right words.
And make YouTube realize theseare your words. This is who you
already were. You just needed apermission structure to turn off
all the artifice that you feltlike you've had to put on every

(35:22):
day. And you and I have hadconversations about it. We've
had pretty specific and detailedconversations about it of, like,
you need to stop bearing thepast and fuse with your past
self.
You know? You have to understandthat where you are standing
right now is because of everystep you took before it and not
in spite of it either. You know?Again, I will reiterate having
grace for myself. How dare you?

(35:42):
I just think that's rude, and Ijust wanna point that out. You
did say, however, one of myfavorite words. Right? And and
this says to me, yes. We need tohave a conversation more
structured around controlbecause it really is an act of
discovery as opposed to an actof definition.
I think and that because I dosee also things like discover

(36:04):
your purpose. No. It's discoveryreally is about waking up in the
morning and understanding whatare the triggers you are looking
for, what are the measurementsyou're looking for? And doing so
from a place of curiosity. Youknow?
When I think about the momentsthat really have led me to doing
the work that I'm meant to bedoing, which is I consider

(36:27):
myself catalyst for catalyst.I'm here to help change the
world just. Yeah. I know. I knowit makes you feel good inside.
George, I owe you get to takeall the credit for that. But in
reality, though, when I thinkabout my purpose, I just wanna
change the world for the peoplewho are meant to change the
world. I don't have to change itfor anybody else. You know, my
work is best accomplished, and Iknow I'm successful often when

(36:47):
I'm invisible because my wholegoal is to set the conditions
for people and organizationsthat are solving real problems,
not imagined ones. And that'sreally it.
But when I think about how I gotto this point, it's because I
wasn't trying to sit down. Like,I wouldn't have been able to
tell you any of this 24.

Yeah.

I wouldn't be able to take any of this at 24
because I think there isprologue. There is plot. There
are things that we're meant tobe doing. And my purpose at that
time was just to be a sponge. Mypurpose was to learn.
My purpose was to live the lifeI was living, which enabled me
to do the work that I am doingnow.

Yeah.

And you brought up something else that I found
fascinating. So when I say yougo out into the world with a
mentality of discovery and noneed to define, like, that's the
hilarious part. Right? If youit's it reminds me of our
conversation about oppositesthat we've had before. Right?
You want life to get easy, dosomething hard. You want a
dessert to sing, add a littlesalt. If you want to define your

(37:46):
purpose, stop trying to defineit. Like, that's the thing. If
you go out into the world withcuriosity and say, why don't I
make sure I'm listening for theright things?
I'm feeling the right things.Right? Like, are you paying
attention to what George saidearlier, which I think is
critically important, somethingthat I've been really working
hard on over the last year? Whator who is draining you? Why are

(38:08):
you giving that attention?
Why is your energy going there?Right? You don't have to answer
why. You don't have to answerwhy it's draining you. If it is
a persistent constant drain,where for those things or places
or people or whatever, it's anexception rather than the rule
that they're not draining, stepback.
Right? Just start listening tothe right pieces, and then start

(38:31):
listening to what the worldtells you. I'm doing most of the
work I'm doing today becauseGeorge will just say little
things like, yep. That's whatyou're doing. Yeah.
That right there. You are notthe best judge of yourself. You
will always see a distortedversion of yourself. It's kinda
like how we actually don't knowwhat any of our faces really
look like because the onlyinteraction we have with it is a
mirror, which is inverted. Whatis easy to us is magic to other

(38:54):
people.
We are terrible at defining thatfor ourselves. If you go out to
the world with this backbone ofI am going to discover by
experiencing, I am going tolisten to my body. I am going to
listen to what I like to call myinner cupcake. You could call it
your intuition, your voice ofGod. Don't care what you call
it.
I'm declining. It is a sentientbaked good that lives in my

(39:16):
belly somewhere. Right? If youlisten to those things, it will
tell you are in the right placeat the right time, and it will
also tell you when you're not.And then your gifts will be
revealed to you.
What you are meant to be doingwill be revealed to you, and
you'll understand it is notsomething that stays written in
permanent marker in front ofyou. It is something that

(39:40):
evolves. Right? My purpose yearsago when I was the editor in
chief of impact was to learn andto push myself outside of my
comfort zone and to show peoplethat, like, look, if I could
stand on stage and act like acomplete goober and make money,
so can you. You can also standin front of us like a video.
My job was to be uncomfortable alot and to do things I did not

(40:02):
enjoy a lot, but that's how itpositioned me to do the work I'm
doing today. So that's when Ithink about it is that, like,
when I look at all these books,I love some of the questions. I
love some of the questions thatthese worksheets, these
workbooks, these things have methink about, but it sets us up
sometimes to fail because itmakes you feel like you're doing

(40:22):
something wrong if you can't getto the last page and have that
purpose statement.

Yeah. You gotta keep it simple on
honestly. That's what anyway.

I love that. Simplify the complex. And and
one of the things my there were2 quotes that really jumped out
at me when I was doing researchon this, and that is the first
one from Mark Twain. The 2 mostimportant days in life are the
day you were born and the dayyou find out why. And my
favorite part is that I lovedthat quote, but I also disagreed
with that quote because I cannottell you how many days I've had
where I'm like, oh, I'm supposedto be here doing this thing
right now having thisconversation.

(40:52):
I had that with you when we hadthe whole Ass Human
conversation. Like, when are yougoing to show up and be you?
When do you realize that thefriction you've been feeling is
not because you are a sidecharacter, it's because you've
always been a main character andyou've just been pretending. But
then I also have other thingswhere it's like, I'm supposed to
be here right now making thischange. Like, in another life, I
was a beer writer changinglegislation in Maryland, and now

(41:12):
there are breweries that existbecause of the work that I did.
You know? And that has nothingto do with anything that I do
now. Sometimes your why is goingto shift. And if you're just
open minded and not so closedminded about what those whys
will be, you

will

not just have 2 important days of your life. You
will have 100. But the point ofwhat you are talking about with
purpose is that it's it's thisother one that I saw about Henry
David Thoreau. It is not enoughto be industrious. So are the
ants.
What are you industrious about?What are you doing? Like, I
can't tell you how my purposewill evolve. I can tell you that
the problems I have chosen to beworking on today, this week,

(41:48):
this month, I know these are theright problems. I know these are
the right plot problems I'msupposed to be solving.
I am rooted where I am. I'mwhere I'm supposed to be. I am
not just industrious. I am notjust busy. I am producing.
I am in alignment with thethings that matter to me. So I
wanna switch gears here for aminute. You've talked about

(42:09):
purpose driving persistence.Persistence is another
cornerstone of the superhumanframework, which we will be
getting to. But I want tounderstand how purpose sustains
you during those moments ofdoubt and failure.
I know we talked about it a bitfrom, like, the compass and
whatever, but, like, again, itis so easy to be like, yes.
Purpose. Why? Whatever. Whenyou're starting to doubt

(42:31):
yourself, when you are startingto see failures instead of wins
from the work you feel likeyou're supposed to be doing
Yeah.
What happens?

There's 2 things I love in life. 1, I love
cruise ships and being at sea.And 2, I love a great analogy.
So I'm gonna start this outbecause we mentioned the anchor
before. Right?
But purpose and around thisconversation of persistence,
it's like this massively hugeunshakable anchor in one's life.

(43:01):
It's something that keeps yousteady when since it's an
anchor, we'll say waves of doubtand struggle start to kinda
crash around you. No matterwhat, life is gonna throw you
storms, many storms. My anchor,my purpose, your anchor, your
purpose become the beacon thatreminds us why we're out there

(43:25):
pushing forward, why we're doingwhat we're doing, like kinda
like you just mentioned a littlebit ago, Liz. It's less about
hitting targets and achievingmilestones on this one.
And I hope people understandit's about this bigger mission.
Whatever whatever your biggermission is, again, for me, it's
to educate, to inspire, to guideothers on their own paths to

(43:47):
growth. Literally, why we'redoing this podcast. When I'm in
those moments of doubt, wheneverything feels off course,
it's almost like I've wanderedinto like a fog, and I can't see
the path ahead. And the onlything I can do is come back at
that point to purpose.
For me, purpose, it is the lightthat cuts through that haze,

(44:08):
through that fog. It is thething that shows me the
direction even if thedestination is still far off and
hidden. Listen. When I thinkabout the superhuman framework,
when I think about what we'retrying to do with it, who we're
trying to take it to, it feelslight years away. At the same
time, I feel like it's right atmy feet, which is very
confusing.

(44:29):
And so I could be all over theplace. I could be sporadic with
it. I could throw it away. Icould chop it up. But because I
have this anchor, even when I'min this mental storm that I
started to share with everybodyat the beginning of this
podcast, I know that, like, it'sgonna be okay.
We're gonna get there. We'regonna figure it out. The other

(44:49):
thing too around thispersistence piece that I wanna
throw out there, Liz, and itI've talked about it again on
the podcast before, and I Ishare it with anybody that I
can, is a little bit of a beliefstructure. And I I believe,
fundamentally, there is no suchthing as failure. It's lessons.
It's lessons along the way.Like, every setback, every

(45:12):
detour, I look at it as, like,how is it teaching me something
valuable? What lesson can Ilearn in this moment? And not
only what lesson can I learn inthis moment, but, like, how is
it preparing me for the nextstep that I need to take? This
other piece that I need peopleto kind of embrace, and I had to
hear my own words and embrace itwith this journey that I'm on

(45:35):
right now.
Is that sometimes the closer youget to where you're supposed to
be, the harder life pushes back.Is that really what you want?
Are you really supposed to behere? You're about to unlock a
massive amount of good in theworld. Maybe the universe has
two sides of it, a yin and ayang, a dark force, if you will,
the Darth Vader or LukeSkywalker of life per se.

(45:57):
Whatever it is, I know it's ait's a truth. Like, when you
when you get to where you'resupposed to be, there's been a a
hill, a challenge. And so if Itake all of that, like, the
resistance isn't a sign to giveup. It should be that sign that
you're on the brink of somethingimportant. Like, honestly, when
life gets rough, and I haven'tsaid this for so long, and I'm

(46:20):
so glad we're doing this podcastepisode.
I'm preaching to myself rightnow, by the way. When life gets
rough, I get excited because Iwonder who am I gonna be on the
other side of this. Purpose is asustaining force. It sustains me
in those moments because it'snot tied to one specific result

(46:41):
or achievement. It's it's tiedto the journey itself.
So many times as humans, we getcaught up in just the moment and
not the momentum. And I think alot of this, what we're talking
about here with purpose andpersistence is it's the creation
of momentum through the thingthat you're becoming and the
thing that you're impacting.Purpose in times, when you need

(47:04):
persistence. It's a guide thatgets you through the darkness.
It's a guide that keeps youpointing towards true north.
Again, it can be something sosimple, but it can be something
so powerful. And so like when Iwake up this morning and I know
that I have multiple podcaststhat I get to be on, I I have
the ability to do the thing thatI do. Knowing that my work and

(47:28):
mission are bigger than anytemporary setback, that's what
fuels my persistence. It helpsme lean into the hard moments.
It helps me push through andremind myself that every
challenge is just another stepon this way to being better, on
this way to growing, on this wayof breaking through my default.

George, we need to take a moment for just where you
went with us. I I have aquestion that's not in our
outline.

Is it are you okay?

No. How did it feel to give your own self
advice in real time?

I always love those moments, to be honest with
you, because I know God, theuniverse, if you're Liz, your
inner cupcake

It's God and the inner cupcake.

It it has this it it has this unique way of
giving you all the things thatyou need. And the mind is a
wonderful thing that when itprovides you that information
that you knew in the time thatyou needed, I just find that
very fascinating. And it's forme, it's reassuring. It's
comforting. What's interestingis in real time when you realize

(48:42):
that there's something that youalways say to other people, and
now you have to say it toyourself, it's also quite
humbling.

For people who are struggling to define their
purpose, what advice would yougive them?

I wanna be, like, kind of, good luck. No. I
I don't wanna do that. Like, itis it is difficult. But, again,
I I go back to a couple things.
Keep it simple. Remember, it's ajourney. It's not a quick fix.
It's not something you're gonnadiscover overnight. It's
something that unfolds overtime.
It's about exploration. It'sabout action. It's about
reflection. Like, listen. We'vealready talked about the acronym

(49:16):
real.
I could literally give you thatas a straightforward answer to
the question that you just gave.But I think there's some other
things that we can hit on herethat I hope will resonate with
you and and the listeners. A bigpart of my life, later part of
my life, I wasn't always greatat this when I was younger, is
always explore and experiment.Purpose is not this light switch

(49:39):
that you flip on. It is a paththat you uncover one step at a
time.
And so the way that you do thatis you dive into new
experiences. You try differentthings, different hobbies,
projects, role whatever it is.It might be volunteering. It
might be taking on newresponsibilities at work. It it
might be pursuing a creativepassion that you've always just

(50:02):
felt like you hadn't been giventhe permission to take.
The goal is to explore whatexcites and energizes you as a
human. And as you go throughthat, pay close attention to
what feels fulfilling. Theinsights of what fills you are
invaluable. And, again, justbecause I can, Liz, give

(50:22):
yourself some grace during thisexploration and experiment.
Listen.
It's it's normal to not get itright the first time. Just know
that that's the truth. So thesecond thing I wanna hit here is
because I'm saying experiment,right, and have these
experiences. You have to learnfrom every experience. Don't
view setbacks or moments ofdoubt as failures.

(50:43):
See them as opportunities forgrowth. Each experience, whether
it's a success or a challenge,teaches you something about
yourself and something aboutyour path, which, by the way,
are 2 great questions you couldask yourself on a daily basis.
What have I learned about myselftoday, and what have I learned
about the path that I'm on? Yousee, because those two

(51:04):
questions, it's like collectingclues that help you refine your
purpose over time. And so focuson recognizing the positive
patterns.
What activities, whatenvironments, what people light
you up consistently. These arethe guideposts. So many time
there's this I think it's thebook, The Gap and the Gain.
There's so many times that we'rein the gap versus the gain. In

(51:27):
in other words, instead ofdwelling on what didn't work so
dang much, use the positivepatterns, the lessons to adjust
what you're doing, who you are,and how you move forward.
3rd and final thing I'll sayhere, and you mentioned open
mind in this, by the way,earlier in the podcast, and I
made a big smile. Number 3 isstay open and patient. Purpose

(51:48):
is not a race. I want you tohave this mentality. It is more
like a crock pot less than amicrowave.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am hereto tell you good things take
time to develop. Don't rush theprocess. Don't put pressure on
yourself to have everythingfigured out immediately.
Sometimes the hardest moments,the ones that make you question

(52:09):
everything, like the last 2weeks of my life, are exactly
what bring you closer to yourpurpose. It's during these times
that clarity can emerge.
So I beg you in these moments,be patient, stay curious, and
trust that purpose will revealitself as you continue to

(52:29):
explore and you continue tolearn. A big piece, I talk about
1% better each and every day.Remember, it's all about
progress, not perfection. So Ineed you to take one step at a
time and allow your purpose tounfold naturally through this
exciting journey because it'sabout discovering a life that's
beyond the default. A life thatfeels authentic.

(52:52):
A life that feels aligned. Alife that feels meaningful to
you. Liz, this has been afabulous episode. I'm super
curious. What's your one thingfrom this episode?

I'm the one who suggested that this is how we
end our episodes, so I reallyhave no one to blame but myself
because you were absolutelyright. I think this is the
conversation not only you neededto have for it with yourself,
but I also needed to have aswell because it has been a
crystallizing reminder ofsomething that I hope our
listeners are taking away fromtoday. How do you define your
purpose by not defining it? Itreally is that simple. It's it's

(53:27):
waiting for those moments whereyou feel in a way that does not
need to be defined.
I am exactly where I'm supposedto be, and I am right on time. I
was built for this moment. Andthe thing is is that I think we
have this expectation that it'sgonna be building to one moment.
That's how the human experienceis all about. You will have
chapters.

(53:47):
As we've discussed on previousepisodes, you will have seasons,
and you will have multiplemoments, I hope, where you say,
I am exactly where I'm supposedto be, and I'm right on time.
And the metric for success thereisn't that you can define it.
You can just know it and bepresent in that moment. George,
what about you? What's the onething you want our listeners to

(54:08):
remember from today's reallyjust incredible conversation?

So for me, it is a reminder that the
conversations that you need tohave are here will happen when
they're supposed to happen. Thefunny thing is we have not tried
to really control much of thispodcast or the conversations
that happen inside of it. Andtherefore, there are these

(54:33):
serendipitous moments where itjust seems to align with where
we're at in our life. The reasonI'm bringing this up as my
takeaway is because thispodcast, these conversations are
a great example of how purposeplays out. It has just unfolded
along the way.
It has just happened because wehave not tried to control it. We

(55:00):
have not even really tried todefine it. We have tried to just
build something that is open,authentic, conversational that
people can learn from. Whatwould happen if that's how you
lived life on this journeybeyond your default?

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