December 8, 2025 • 27 mins
In this powerful self-development conversation, Ryann sits down with Ian Chamandy, Chief Purpose Officer of PurposeU, to explore the deeper purpose of life and why your answer to “What is my purpose?” can be expressed in just seven words or less. Ian breaks down a simple but transformative process for discovering your unique gift — the inner thread that’s been living inside you all along — and how it becomes a practical decision-making compass for motivation, success, and everyday alignment.
Together, they discuss why so many people struggle to name their purpose, how to find purpose and passion in life without overthinking it, and the confidence that comes from finally putting words to who you really are. This episode is a grounded, soulful guide for anyone longing for clarity in motherhood, work, relationships, or personal growth.
Keywords: purpose, what is my purpose, purpose of life, find your purpose, self development, motivation, success, how to find purpose and passion in life, Raising Wild Hearts, Ryann Watkin, PurposeU, emotional health, clarity, confidence, personal development podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryann (00:00):
Welcome to Raising Wild Hearts.
I'm Ryan Watkin, and this is myweekly podcast where I share
conversations that matter,soulful talks to help you create
a fulfilling life, raise thenext generation with patience,
presence, and purpose, and staydeeply connected to yourself, to
others, and the divine.
Around here, we believe we canchange the world by starting at
(00:23):
home.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back to the RaisingWild Hearts Podcast.
Today I am joined by IanShamunde, the chief purpose
officer of Purpose U.
Ian is known for helping peopleand organizations define their
core purpose.
Get this in seven words orless.
A process that creates clarity,alignment, and deep meaning in
(00:47):
everyday life.
Ian's Purpose U online courseguides people step by step to
uncover that purpose and learnhow to live by it.
So I am obsessed with thisidea.
We were talking before werecorded, and you said purpose
is practical.
And I'm like, yes, becauseeverybody listening wants to
know like, how do I actually usethis in my everyday life?
And something that shocked meis I co-hosted an event
(01:10):
recently.
We had 40 plus women in theroom.
And I asked, does any, and thiswas midday after lots of talks
and inspiration.
And I said, Does anyone want toshare their purpose statement?
Or is anyone really clear abouttheir meaning in life right
now?
Like, could because I kickedoff with like, I believe we can
change the world by starting athome.
And so I wanted to hear thesewomen and their feedback and
(01:33):
their mission.
And not one person raised theirhand.
And I was really shocked.
I'm like, nobody even wanted totake a crack at it.
So whether that was hesitancyand shyness or just a complete
unwillingness to know or to takea look at it, I don't know.
But why do you think so fewpeople are actually aware of
(01:53):
their purpose?
Ian (01:54):
I think there's two reasons.
One is that they don't actuallyknow what purpose is.
And um, secondly, even if youknow what purpose is, not what
your purpose is, but what thedefinition of purpose is.
And even if you do know thedefinition of purpose, you don't
have a process for figuring outwhat yours is.
And it is a process.
You have to dig.
(02:14):
It's not easy.
And um, and and so I think theI think that that was the
embarrassment of ignorance.
And I don't mean ignorance inthe pejorative sense.
I mean just not knowing.
And the irony of that is everysingle one of them, I would put
my money on every single one ofthem, wanted to be able to
answer your question.
Yeah.
But they couldn't because A,they don't know what purpose is,
(02:37):
and B, they don't know how tofind their purpose.
Ryann (02:41):
This is so good because I love words and I'm obsessed
with the definition of words.
So what is purpose?
Ian (02:48):
Um, okay, so I'll tell you, first of all, what purpose
isn't.
If you went out on the streetand you asked a hundred people
what is purpose, they wouldlikely say something like,
either I don't know, or uh, whyI exist.
Now it is sort of why youexist, but how do you answer
(03:10):
that question?
The other thing purpose isn't,and I'm about to demonstrate
that, is that it's not somethingout there.
It's not something you'recommitted to.
It's not, you know, climatechange, it's not, you know, like
political, it's not any ofthose kinds of things.
It's not, it's not solvinghunger.
It's it's inside you.
Your purpose is inside you.
And that really got struck hometo me about six or seven years
(03:34):
ago when I stumbled upon a quotefrom Pablo Picasso, the artist,
right?
He said, the meaning of life isto find your gift.
And your purpose is to share itwith the world.
So you were saying you're awords person, I'm a wordsperson
too.
And I said, that's too manywords.
And I said, you know, he'sreally just saying your purpose
(03:54):
is to find your gift and shareit with the world.
Now, another way of saying thatis figure out who the best
possible you is and share thatwith the world.
And so the challenge becomesthen to define who the best
possible you is.
What is it about you that makesyou, at your essence, uniquely
(04:15):
remarkable?
And everybody does havesomething, even identical twins
have something that makes themuniquely and distinctly
remarkable.
And when you can define that inseven words or less, that's my
standard for doing it.
Why?
Because it can always be donein seven words or less.
Why would you write a paragraphor a page or a chapter to
(04:35):
describe your purpose?
And it's usually only done intwo or three or four words, not
seven.
So when you when you can defineyour purpose that clearly,
precisely, and compellingly, uh,you know, it does two things to
you.
First of all, it just elevatesyour confidence.
Now, whatever your baselineconfidence was, whether it was
(04:57):
not good or good, you're goingto go up a notch.
You're going to go up, youknow, from 1.0 to 2.0.
Why?
Because you know that you havea superpower and you know how to
use it because you've beenusing it all your life.
You just didn't know it.
But now you can use it withintentionality.
And no matter how much theworld beats you down, they can't
beat that superpower out ofyou.
I'll give you an example.
(05:18):
Mine is transforming confusioninto clarity.
That's my special skill.
If you've got some a reallyintractable problem that you
can't solve, I won't solve itfor you, but I can, I can lead
you through a conversation wherewe, whether that's just two of
us or a whole group of us,figure out the answer.
And I've got a specialtechnique for doing that.
(05:40):
And nobody can ever take thataway from me.
You know, no matter how howhard.
So I have sort of an elevatedbaseline confidence because I
know I have a superpower calledtransforming confusion into
clarity.
And then the other thing is itbecomes a very powerful
decision-making tool for you.
And that's really the practicalelement of it, right?
The what I'll call woo-wooelement is this idea that you
(06:04):
feel like you have a superpowerto give to the world, and
therefore you can make goodthings happen with it.
And then the practical part isit just becomes a
decision-making tool for you.
It helps you make makedecisions that are more aligned
with who you are.
Ryann (06:19):
So you filter everything you do through this purpose
statement, I'm imaginingeverything that goes on your
calendar, every, you know,meeting you take, every action
you do, are you filtering itthrough that purpose statement
to make sure is this alignedwith who I am and what I want?
Ian (06:37):
Absolutely.
That is absolutely thetangible, practical way that it
works.
Yeah.
And I'll give you an example.
When you have to make adecision about something, um,
let's say you get laid off.
So you didn't do anythingwrong, you're a good employee,
but you know, just economicconditions, you're laid off.
(06:59):
Now you have to go find anotherjob.
And you say, What am I gonnado?
Now that's a big question withno parameters, no guidelines, no
guardrails inside the question.
But instead, if you were to askthe question, which of the
options available to me outthere are most aligned with my
purpose, all of a sudden youhave guardrails, parameters put
(07:24):
on that question.
And the pool of options narrowsfrom anything to just these few
things.
And then you and then you do ananalysis and you say which one
most aligns with my purpose?
And then you can choose, youknow, whichever one you want,
because all of them align withyour purpose.
Ryann (07:41):
Yeah.
Is purpose always about moneyor career?
Ian (07:46):
No, it's about decisions.
Any decision, right?
So, what are you gonna do inyour retirement?
What courses are you gonna takein university?
How am I going to manage mydivorce?
How am I gonna deal with myempty nest?
Ryann (07:59):
Right.
So if we think of like theseseven or eight, I forget what
there are, like, you know,categories of life.
So we've got our spirituality,we've got our family, our
relationships, our work, ourfinances, like all these areas
of our life.
It's factors in all of that.
Ian (08:13):
Every single one.
So I uh when I was inuniversity, um, I learned a
great metaphor, and I can't tellyou how many times if this guy
got a nickel for every time Iuse his metaphor, he'd be rich
and I'd be poor.
So he was a computer scienceprof from Northwestern
University, and he wrote a bookcalled Girdle, Escher, and Bach.
(08:34):
Girdle was a Germanmathematician who came up with a
theorem that didn't just changemath, it changed the world.
Escher is the artist, you know,with the who does the the mind,
the mind-bending opticalillusion art.
And Bach is a guy who, youknow, wrote some pop tunes in
his day on the piano.
And he described them as threeshadows cast from the same
(08:57):
stone.
And his effort in the book wasto describe the stone.
And I loved that metaphor.
And I stole it.
And so to me, your purpose isthe stone in your life.
And everything that you do andsay is a shadow that is cast
from that stone.
And if I could just wave amagic wand, Ryan, and you would
(09:18):
know your purpose in seven wordsor less in this moment.
You would look back at yourlife and you would say, Yeah,
I've been doing that all along.
And in the places that Ihaven't been doing it, you know,
that that aren't aligned withthis, those were not positive
experiences in my life.
Ryann (09:34):
Right.
Ian (09:35):
And as I look back, I could have said, I could have avoided
those experiences if I hadknown my purpose, because very
clearly they're not aligned.
Ryann (09:42):
Yeah, right.
Okay, so I think I have apretty clear idea of what my
purpose is, but to be clear,it's not a belief.
So I say, and like the NorthStar that guides this podcast is
I believe we can change theworld by starting at home.
If I shifted that to a purposestatement, it would be something
like changing the world bystarting at home, right?
And I think about that and I'mlike, yes and no.
(10:04):
And so my question is for thoseof us who are multi-passionate
and have many varied interests,is it gonna evolve?
And how often do we take a lookand like go back to the drawing
board to kind of zhuzh thispurpose statement up?
Ian (10:18):
Once you nail it, it doesn't evolve.
Uh I'm sorry, it could evolve,but you're going to fine-tune
it.
So mine evolved, right?
Mine for years and years andyears was from confusion to
clarity.
And then I designed the course.
And I have to take the courseto make sure it works while I'm
designing it, right?
And I changed it totransforming confusion into
(10:39):
clarity.
Now that may seem like a smalldifference, but from confusion
to clarity, I loved.
But transforming is moredynamic to me.
Ryann (10:48):
It's a cool word.
Yeah, I love that word.
Ian (10:51):
And especially in that sentence.
So I changed it.
I changed it two years ago whenI resigned the course.
Let me ask you this question.
Why, when you stated where youare right now with your purpose
statement, did you say kindayeah, kinda no?
Ryann (11:05):
Why did I say kinda yeah, kinda no?
Ian (11:07):
Because I This will be instructive, by the way.
Ryann (11:09):
Yes, I get that.
Great question.
So because I am aperfectionist, because I don't
want to be pigeonholed intosomething, because I don't want
to feel limited by this, like,you know, short statement.
I want it to really encompassall of who I truly am.
And when I think about, okay,changing the world by starting
(11:32):
at home, what about when I'moutside the home?
Okay, well, it still applies,right?
I really believe and the theessence of it is like, and I
think I could peel back thelayers of the onion even more.
The essence of it is that it'snot just changing the world by
starting at home here in myhome.
It's at home here in my ownmind and heart.
(11:53):
Like that's how I trulybelieve.
Like peace begins with me.
Like, okay, and then somebody Ipicture somebody like
countering in a debate.
Like, well, what about, youknow, the wars happening and
hunger and homelessness and allof those?
How do you change that bystarting at home in your own
mind and heart?
And what I would say to that isthat the only thing we have
(12:15):
control over is the reactions,the responses, the way that we
show up in our little corner ofthe world.
Like that's it.
So tell me what you see basedon that.
Ian (12:27):
The two criteria is is it so logical that is self-evident
to you and others?
Secondly, does it resonate on adeep emotional level with you
and with others?
Now, it's not always going toresonate on a deep emotional
level.
But so for instance, with me,transforming confusion into
(12:47):
clarity, if you have a team atwork, or you know, you're doing
a community project or whatever,and you have a problem that you
just can't crack, thentransforming confusion into
clarity in that, in that contextis going to resonate with you.
If we're just yaking in a dogpark, you know, while we're
running our dogs, it's not gonnaresonate with you.
(13:08):
So I guess my question back toyou is does it, is it kind of,
but not there because it is notyet so logical that it is
self-evident?
And secondly, does it does thatstatement resonate on a deep
emotional level with you andothers?
And and here's one moreelement.
(13:28):
If it doesn't do number one, itcan't do number two.
If you don't have the rightwords that so that it's so
logical that it's self-evident,then it won't, it won't resonate
with you on a deep emotionallevel.
Ryann (13:39):
See, as I continued to like blah, blah, blah it out, I
did feel that emotion.
But, you know, so like as I hadto just add more words to it.
So therein lies the problemwhere people are going, how do I
do this in seven words or less?
And why is that brevity soimportant too?
Ian (14:00):
So the reason it's so important is what I call the
three easies.
It's easy to understand, right?
Transforming confusion intoclarity.
That's pretty self-evident.
It's easy to remember.
Why?
Because it's easy tounderstand.
So you remember it, and thenit's easy to repeat.
So, Ryan, if you meet somebodylater in the day and they say,
(14:20):
you know, we're having thisproblem, and every time we try
to solve it, we just put it onthe shelf for the next time we
discuss it.
We keep kicking it down theroad.
What more do you need to hearabout my purpose for you to say
to them, hey, I know this guy.
Now you're not going to be ableto explain to them in depth how
I can help them, but you cansay, I know this guy, and his
(14:43):
superpower is transformingconfusion into clarity.
It sounds like that's what youneed.
And your friend would say, Oh,yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly
what I need right now.
We stop kicking this down theroad.
You don't need to hear anythingmore from me to make that
pitch.
Then I get an email from thatperson, and you know, you've had
a 30-second conversation as anas an evangelist for me.
And you the reason you could doit was because my purpose was
(15:06):
defined in seven words or less,and and had the three easies.
Easy to understand, easy toremember, easy to repeat.
Ryann (15:13):
This will be really helpful at like a cocktail party
or a networking event.
Because when you have thisnailed down so specifically, you
mentioned confidence.
I just imagine people beinglike, What do you do?
And you being like, I transformconfusion into clarity.
Oh, really?
What does that mean?
Tell me more about that, right?
Ian (15:33):
Okay, look at how you reacted there.
You're right.
That's really important.
Ryann (15:36):
Yeah.
Ian (15:37):
So when you've nailed your purpose statement and you say
it, people go, That'sinteresting.
Tell me more.
They're not, they're not askingout of confusion.
They're not asking becauseyou're not clear.
Ryann (15:50):
Curiosity.
Ian (15:50):
They're asking because they're intrigued.
Ryann (15:52):
Yeah.
Ian (15:53):
You've piqued their interest.
The headline in the newspaperwork.
Now you're going to read thearticle.
Ryann (15:58):
Yep.
So I'm back to the drawingboard, perhaps, with my purpose
statement.
And where does somebody who's alittle confused, like me, but
maybe not fully confused?
Like, where do we start?
Ian (16:10):
The question I usually get people to contemplate to get
them thinking in the rightdirection is if that you do and
say is a means to an end, what'sthe end?
And then what it does is itgets you to recognize that
everything that's going on inyour life is happening at this
level, but there's actually alevel above it that guides it,
(16:34):
right?
Everything you do and say, youknow, going to work, being a
mother, a father, you know, allthat stuff, having your kids in
sports, whatever it is, being amountain climber.
Those are shadows that are castfrom the stone.
So when I say if everything youdo is a means to an end, what's
the end?
It makes you start thinkingabout the stone.
What's the what are the commonthreads in all of these things?
(16:56):
So that you can do, you know,to really sort of nail it.
What I've what I've tried to dois make it as easy as possible
for you.
But we are talking aboutdigging into you.
That's a complex organism,right?
So the first part of the coursegets you to go through a
process where you break down twoaccomplishments in your life,
(17:18):
two things that you're proud of.
And I get you to break thosedown until they produce at the
end of that first segment threebuckets: your beliefs, your
wants, and your talents.
And who you are, what makes youuniquely remarkable, is
whatever your unique combinationof beliefs, wants, and talents
is.
So now we've got the buildingblocks of Ryan, right?
(17:40):
The psychological buildingblocks of Ryan.
Now, as I lead you through thatprocess, I'm sitting on one
side of you holding your hand,and our AI assistant is sitting
on the other side holding yourother hand.
The AI assistant is calledWordsmith because it does two
things.
It um, you know, when you'retrying when you're answering
(18:00):
questions in the exercises, ifyou're not happy with the words,
it will help you find betterwords for that answer.
And then the second thing thatit does is it can see things
that you can't see.
So when we get a bunch of rawdata, like your your sets of
beliefs, wants, and talents, wecan get we can get wordsmith to
(18:21):
look at that and say, what doyou see here that I don't see?
And that's, you know, that'sthe next step in getting to your
purpose statement.
Now, when I'm sitting besideyou on one side holding your
hand, I think we have like 27videos.
They're all two minutes, fourminutes, five minutes, nothing,
nothing.
But they give you very detailedand substantive instructions.
(18:42):
So you go to video one, you getdetailed and uh comprehensive
instructions, then you go to theexercise space where Wordsmith
is waiting for you to help youanswer, do the first exercise
and answer the first question.
Then you go back and watchvideo two, then you go back to
Wordsmith and you blah, blah,blah.
So that's how the that's howthe course works.
(19:03):
And in the end, you have youryour purpose defined in seven
words or less, and you have yourpurpose pitch, which is a
three-sentence paragraph thattells the story of your purpose.
So, like you said, Ryan, whenyou're at a when you're at that
cocktail party and and then yougo, oh, what does that mean?
Well, next out of your mouth isyour purpose pitch.
Ryann (19:23):
So what part does challenge, trauma, pain have to
do with purpose, if any?
Ian (19:31):
Everything in your life informs who you are.
Those, you know, those are sortof negative areas of your life,
right?
What we do is we look for themost positive areas of your life
because that's where yourpurpose is raging at the time,
right?
Like if you're involved in aproject, either you're you're
doing it yourself, you'rerunning it, or you're a cast of
thousands.
If you're proud of it, thenthat's a really positive
(19:55):
experience in your life.
And you know that in thosesituations where you did
something that you were reallyproud of, you were in that flow
state.
It was like, this isn't work.
This is play, right?
I'm getting to play, and lookwhat I'm accomplishing here.
So there are very positivetimes in your life that we
deconstruct in order to come upwith your purpose because that's
(20:16):
where it's raging.
Ryann (20:17):
I love that.
I am reading a book called TheMastery of Self.
And in that book, it gives anexample of like kind of a
statement where there's adifference.
So, this event that I did, Istarted off with this like hard
story about my childhood andda-da-da.
And I really, after readingthis book, thought if you took
every single sentence you wroteout and you flipped it to the
(20:40):
positive.
So, for example, you know, myparents got divorced when I was
three, and oh gosh, that washard.
No, like, okay, my parents gotdivorced when I was three, and
my mom really taught me like notto settle and to be, you know,
really like, you know, stay trueto who I am and, you know, get
treated well.
So I was like, oh God, this isso interesting.
(21:00):
And so I love that this is notdiving into all like the muck
and the mire.
Like, I love that we're stayingon the lighter side of things
because that really is like ifwe can invite more of that
positivity into life.
And I'm not talking likebrushing stuff under the rug,
no, like we all need therapy,right?
(21:21):
But I'm talking about likereally focusing on like those
events and things that you'reproud of.
So I think that's a great placefor people to start.
Like, what am I proud of rightnow?
Right.
Like in this season of life,even.
Ian (21:35):
So when you say I'm making a decision that is aligned with
my purpose, what you're reallydoing is you're saying, I'm
making decisions that arealigned with my beliefs, wants,
and talents.
And that's why you get theintellectual and emotional
resonance, because it alignswith your beliefs, wants, and
(21:57):
talents.
The more you can make decisionsthat are aligned with your
beliefs, wants, and talents,those are good decisions.
And even if you're using yourpurpose as a decision-making
tool to get you out of adistressing situation, every
step out of the distressingsituation, you're still
distressed, but you're less andless and less.
(22:17):
You're you're you're climbingout, right?
You're getting to a betterplace.
Ryann (22:20):
That's what I was gonna ask you, actually.
Like, so we know our purposestatement.
Let's assume that we're walkingaround like having this
statement in our back pockets.
Like when we're havingchallenges, stressful, chaotic
seasons of life, how do we usethat as like a life preserver?
Like, how do we actually holdon to that to keep taking that
one step forward?
Ian (22:41):
Well, um, so it it all goes back to the two cores, right?
The second, the first one beingit elevates your confidence,
the second one being it's adecision-making tool.
So I'll give you an example ofa distressing situation that I
experienced very near thebeginning of my career.
I worked as an accountexecutive in an advertising
(23:03):
agency.
I am built entirely wrong to bean account executive at an
advertising agency.
So it will not shock you tohear that I sucked at that
position and I got fired as aresult of sucking at that
position.
And I was my ego was crushedand I was panicked because it's
(23:25):
like, what do I do now?
I didn't know transformingconfusion into clarity back
then.
But what I would have done is Iwould have started saying I
would have said two things.
One is, that job did not allowme to transform confusion into
clarity, right?
That job was for someone whoseprimary talent was keeping order
(23:48):
in chaos.
That's not me.
And so I what I would have doneis I would have said, what I
did say was, what am I gonna donext?
What I what I could have saidis, what options are there out
there for me to transformconfusion into clarity?
Doesn't solve my problem rightaway.
But now I'm looking in theright direction, right?
(24:08):
Now I feel like I'm moving,although I'm still depressed
and, you know, panicky andwhatever, I'm moving in the
right direction.
Might be slowly at first, butI'm moving.
I'm not stuck.
And I know it's the rightdirection, and it's going to get
me somewhere that is going tobe better than where I was.
Ryann (24:31):
Yeah.
Love this.
So, how do you see this purposestatement, this work that
you're doing at Purpose U?
How do you see it impactingfamilies, communities, and
future generations, really?
Ian (24:44):
There's the individual way, and then there's the community
way.
The individual way is I'mconvinced that, you know,
there's 8 billion people in theworld, and I'm convinced that
half of them are walking aroundthinking that there is nothing
special about them.
And because there's nothingspecial about them, they can't
accomplish anything special andthey don't deserve anything
special.
(25:05):
And like I said to you before,Ryan, you know, until you can
show me two people who have theexact same set of beliefs,
wants, and talents, like eventwins don't, then you are going
to have something that makes youuniquely remarkable.
And if you can walk around, A,with your chin held a little
higher, and B with therealization that you can make
(25:28):
positive change.
And here's the community part.
When you know what yoursuperpower is, what your purpose
is, then you can go out and youcan give that to the community.
You can look for opportunitiesto exercise that in the
community.
And you're only going to belooking for opportunities that
allow you to exercise that, notjust opportunities in general,
(25:49):
just that.
And then once you find those,you're going to be able to make
a difference there.
You're going to be able to makea difference because that's
your superpower.
You're giving them yoursuperpower.
Ryann (26:00):
Yeah.
So good.
Ian, thank you so much forjoining us today.
If you are listening andfeeling the nudge like I am, to
explore your own seven-word orless purpose, head over to
purpose you.ai to learn moreabout Ian's course.
Of course, follow along onApple, Spotify, YouTube, or
wherever you get your shows formore great conversations like
(26:23):
this.
Thanks for exploring purposewith us today.
And until next time, go lovesomeone well.
All right, that's it for today.
As always, thanks for beinghere, friend.
Remember, changing the worldstarts in the small and soulful,
the quiet and the mundane,around the dinner table, on
walks, and most importantly,inside your own heart.
Make sure you're following thepodcast or subscribed on
(26:46):
YouTube.
And if you feel inspired rightnow, share the link to this
episode with a friend or write areview on Apple Podcasts.
It means the world.
Until next time, take care ofyourself and go love someone
well.
Welcome to Raising Wild Hearts.
I'm Ryan Watkin, and this is myweekly podcast where I share
conversations that matter,soulful talks to help you create
a fulfilling life, raise thenext generation with patience,
presence, and purpose, and staydeeply connected to yourself, to
others, and the divine.
Around here, we believe we canchange the world by starting at
(00:23):
home.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back to the RaisingWild Hearts Podcast.
Today I am joined by IanShamunde, the chief purpose
officer of Purpose U.
Ian is known for helping peopleand organizations define their
core purpose.
Get this in seven words orless.
A process that creates clarity,alignment, and deep meaning in
(00:47):
everyday life.
Ian's Purpose U online courseguides people step by step to
uncover that purpose and learnhow to live by it.
So I am obsessed with thisidea.
We were talking before werecorded, and you said purpose
is practical.
And I'm like, yes, becauseeverybody listening wants to
know like, how do I actually usethis in my everyday life?
And something that shocked meis I co-hosted an event
(01:10):
recently.
We had 40 plus women in theroom.
And I asked, does any, and thiswas midday after lots of talks
and inspiration.
And I said, Does anyone want toshare their purpose statement?
Or is anyone really clear abouttheir meaning in life right
now?
Like, could because I kickedoff with like, I believe we can
change the world by starting athome.
And so I wanted to hear thesewomen and their feedback and
(01:33):
their mission.
And not one person raised theirhand.
And I was really shocked.
I'm like, nobody even wanted totake a crack at it.
So whether that was hesitancyand shyness or just a complete
unwillingness to know or to takea look at it, I don't know.
But why do you think so fewpeople are actually aware of
(01:53):
their purpose?
Ian (01:54):
I think there's two reasons.
One is that they don't actuallyknow what purpose is.
And um, secondly, even if youknow what purpose is, not what
your purpose is, but what thedefinition of purpose is.
And even if you do know thedefinition of purpose, you don't
have a process for figuring outwhat yours is.
And it is a process.
You have to dig.
(02:14):
It's not easy.
And um, and and so I think theI think that that was the
embarrassment of ignorance.
And I don't mean ignorance inthe pejorative sense.
I mean just not knowing.
And the irony of that is everysingle one of them, I would put
my money on every single one ofthem, wanted to be able to
answer your question.
Yeah.
But they couldn't because A,they don't know what purpose is,
(02:37):
and B, they don't know how tofind their purpose.
Ryann (02:41):
This is so good because I love words and I'm obsessed
with the definition of words.
So what is purpose?
Ian (02:48):
Um, okay, so I'll tell you, first of all, what purpose
isn't.
If you went out on the streetand you asked a hundred people
what is purpose, they wouldlikely say something like,
either I don't know, or uh, whyI exist.
Now it is sort of why youexist, but how do you answer
(03:10):
that question?
The other thing purpose isn't,and I'm about to demonstrate
that, is that it's not somethingout there.
It's not something you'recommitted to.
It's not, you know, climatechange, it's not, you know, like
political, it's not any ofthose kinds of things.
It's not, it's not solvinghunger.
It's it's inside you.
Your purpose is inside you.
And that really got struck hometo me about six or seven years
(03:34):
ago when I stumbled upon a quotefrom Pablo Picasso, the artist,
right?
He said, the meaning of life isto find your gift.
And your purpose is to share itwith the world.
So you were saying you're awords person, I'm a wordsperson
too.
And I said, that's too manywords.
And I said, you know, he'sreally just saying your purpose
(03:54):
is to find your gift and shareit with the world.
Now, another way of saying thatis figure out who the best
possible you is and share thatwith the world.
And so the challenge becomesthen to define who the best
possible you is.
What is it about you that makesyou, at your essence, uniquely
(04:15):
remarkable?
And everybody does havesomething, even identical twins
have something that makes themuniquely and distinctly
remarkable.
And when you can define that inseven words or less, that's my
standard for doing it.
Why?
Because it can always be donein seven words or less.
Why would you write a paragraphor a page or a chapter to
(04:35):
describe your purpose?
And it's usually only done intwo or three or four words, not
seven.
So when you when you can defineyour purpose that clearly,
precisely, and compellingly, uh,you know, it does two things to
you.
First of all, it just elevatesyour confidence.
Now, whatever your baselineconfidence was, whether it was
(04:57):
not good or good, you're goingto go up a notch.
You're going to go up, youknow, from 1.0 to 2.0.
Why?
Because you know that you havea superpower and you know how to
use it because you've beenusing it all your life.
You just didn't know it.
But now you can use it withintentionality.
And no matter how much theworld beats you down, they can't
beat that superpower out ofyou.
I'll give you an example.
(05:18):
Mine is transforming confusioninto clarity.
That's my special skill.
If you've got some a reallyintractable problem that you
can't solve, I won't solve itfor you, but I can, I can lead
you through a conversation wherewe, whether that's just two of
us or a whole group of us,figure out the answer.
And I've got a specialtechnique for doing that.
(05:40):
And nobody can ever take thataway from me.
You know, no matter how howhard.
So I have sort of an elevatedbaseline confidence because I
know I have a superpower calledtransforming confusion into
clarity.
And then the other thing is itbecomes a very powerful
decision-making tool for you.
And that's really the practicalelement of it, right?
The what I'll call woo-wooelement is this idea that you
(06:04):
feel like you have a superpowerto give to the world, and
therefore you can make goodthings happen with it.
And then the practical part isit just becomes a
decision-making tool for you.
It helps you make makedecisions that are more aligned
with who you are.
Ryann (06:19):
So you filter everything you do through this purpose
statement, I'm imaginingeverything that goes on your
calendar, every, you know,meeting you take, every action
you do, are you filtering itthrough that purpose statement
to make sure is this alignedwith who I am and what I want?
Ian (06:37):
Absolutely.
That is absolutely thetangible, practical way that it
works.
Yeah.
And I'll give you an example.
When you have to make adecision about something, um,
let's say you get laid off.
So you didn't do anythingwrong, you're a good employee,
but you know, just economicconditions, you're laid off.
(06:59):
Now you have to go find anotherjob.
And you say, What am I gonnado?
Now that's a big question withno parameters, no guidelines, no
guardrails inside the question.
But instead, if you were to askthe question, which of the
options available to me outthere are most aligned with my
purpose, all of a sudden youhave guardrails, parameters put
(07:24):
on that question.
And the pool of options narrowsfrom anything to just these few
things.
And then you and then you do ananalysis and you say which one
most aligns with my purpose?
And then you can choose, youknow, whichever one you want,
because all of them align withyour purpose.
Ryann (07:41):
Yeah.
Is purpose always about moneyor career?
Ian (07:46):
No, it's about decisions.
Any decision, right?
So, what are you gonna do inyour retirement?
What courses are you gonna takein university?
How am I going to manage mydivorce?
How am I gonna deal with myempty nest?
Ryann (07:59):
Right.
So if we think of like theseseven or eight, I forget what
there are, like, you know,categories of life.
So we've got our spirituality,we've got our family, our
relationships, our work, ourfinances, like all these areas
of our life.
It's factors in all of that.
Ian (08:13):
Every single one.
So I uh when I was inuniversity, um, I learned a
great metaphor, and I can't tellyou how many times if this guy
got a nickel for every time Iuse his metaphor, he'd be rich
and I'd be poor.
So he was a computer scienceprof from Northwestern
University, and he wrote a bookcalled Girdle, Escher, and Bach.
(08:34):
Girdle was a Germanmathematician who came up with a
theorem that didn't just changemath, it changed the world.
Escher is the artist, you know,with the who does the the mind,
the mind-bending opticalillusion art.
And Bach is a guy who, youknow, wrote some pop tunes in
his day on the piano.
And he described them as threeshadows cast from the same
(08:57):
stone.
And his effort in the book wasto describe the stone.
And I loved that metaphor.
And I stole it.
And so to me, your purpose isthe stone in your life.
And everything that you do andsay is a shadow that is cast
from that stone.
And if I could just wave amagic wand, Ryan, and you would
(09:18):
know your purpose in seven wordsor less in this moment.
You would look back at yourlife and you would say, Yeah,
I've been doing that all along.
And in the places that Ihaven't been doing it, you know,
that that aren't aligned withthis, those were not positive
experiences in my life.
Ryann (09:34):
Right.
Ian (09:35):
And as I look back, I could have said, I could have avoided
those experiences if I hadknown my purpose, because very
clearly they're not aligned.
Ryann (09:42):
Yeah, right.
Okay, so I think I have apretty clear idea of what my
purpose is, but to be clear,it's not a belief.
So I say, and like the NorthStar that guides this podcast is
I believe we can change theworld by starting at home.
If I shifted that to a purposestatement, it would be something
like changing the world bystarting at home, right?
And I think about that and I'mlike, yes and no.
(10:04):
And so my question is for thoseof us who are multi-passionate
and have many varied interests,is it gonna evolve?
And how often do we take a lookand like go back to the drawing
board to kind of zhuzh thispurpose statement up?
Ian (10:18):
Once you nail it, it doesn't evolve.
Uh I'm sorry, it could evolve,but you're going to fine-tune
it.
So mine evolved, right?
Mine for years and years andyears was from confusion to
clarity.
And then I designed the course.
And I have to take the courseto make sure it works while I'm
designing it, right?
And I changed it totransforming confusion into
(10:39):
clarity.
Now that may seem like a smalldifference, but from confusion
to clarity, I loved.
But transforming is moredynamic to me.
Ryann (10:48):
It's a cool word.
Yeah, I love that word.
Ian (10:51):
And especially in that sentence.
So I changed it.
I changed it two years ago whenI resigned the course.
Let me ask you this question.
Why, when you stated where youare right now with your purpose
statement, did you say kindayeah, kinda no?
Ryann (11:05):
Why did I say kinda yeah, kinda no?
Ian (11:07):
Because I This will be instructive, by the way.
Ryann (11:09):
Yes, I get that.
Great question.
So because I am aperfectionist, because I don't
want to be pigeonholed intosomething, because I don't want
to feel limited by this, like,you know, short statement.
I want it to really encompassall of who I truly am.
And when I think about, okay,changing the world by starting
(11:32):
at home, what about when I'moutside the home?
Okay, well, it still applies,right?
I really believe and the theessence of it is like, and I
think I could peel back thelayers of the onion even more.
The essence of it is that it'snot just changing the world by
starting at home here in myhome.
It's at home here in my ownmind and heart.
(11:53):
Like that's how I trulybelieve.
Like peace begins with me.
Like, okay, and then somebody Ipicture somebody like
countering in a debate.
Like, well, what about, youknow, the wars happening and
hunger and homelessness and allof those?
How do you change that bystarting at home in your own
mind and heart?
And what I would say to that isthat the only thing we have
(12:15):
control over is the reactions,the responses, the way that we
show up in our little corner ofthe world.
Like that's it.
So tell me what you see basedon that.
Ian (12:27):
The two criteria is is it so logical that is self-evident
to you and others?
Secondly, does it resonate on adeep emotional level with you
and with others?
Now, it's not always going toresonate on a deep emotional
level.
But so for instance, with me,transforming confusion into
(12:47):
clarity, if you have a team atwork, or you know, you're doing
a community project or whatever,and you have a problem that you
just can't crack, thentransforming confusion into
clarity in that, in that contextis going to resonate with you.
If we're just yaking in a dogpark, you know, while we're
running our dogs, it's not gonnaresonate with you.
(13:08):
So I guess my question back toyou is does it, is it kind of,
but not there because it is notyet so logical that it is
self-evident?
And secondly, does it does thatstatement resonate on a deep
emotional level with you andothers?
And and here's one moreelement.
(13:28):
If it doesn't do number one, itcan't do number two.
If you don't have the rightwords that so that it's so
logical that it's self-evident,then it won't, it won't resonate
with you on a deep emotionallevel.
Ryann (13:39):
See, as I continued to like blah, blah, blah it out, I
did feel that emotion.
But, you know, so like as I hadto just add more words to it.
So therein lies the problemwhere people are going, how do I
do this in seven words or less?
And why is that brevity soimportant too?
Ian (14:00):
So the reason it's so important is what I call the
three easies.
It's easy to understand, right?
Transforming confusion intoclarity.
That's pretty self-evident.
It's easy to remember.
Why?
Because it's easy tounderstand.
So you remember it, and thenit's easy to repeat.
So, Ryan, if you meet somebodylater in the day and they say,
(14:20):
you know, we're having thisproblem, and every time we try
to solve it, we just put it onthe shelf for the next time we
discuss it.
We keep kicking it down theroad.
What more do you need to hearabout my purpose for you to say
to them, hey, I know this guy.
Now you're not going to be ableto explain to them in depth how
I can help them, but you cansay, I know this guy, and his
(14:43):
superpower is transformingconfusion into clarity.
It sounds like that's what youneed.
And your friend would say, Oh,yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly
what I need right now.
We stop kicking this down theroad.
You don't need to hear anythingmore from me to make that
pitch.
Then I get an email from thatperson, and you know, you've had
a 30-second conversation as anas an evangelist for me.
And you the reason you could doit was because my purpose was
(15:06):
defined in seven words or less,and and had the three easies.
Easy to understand, easy toremember, easy to repeat.
Ryann (15:13):
This will be really helpful at like a cocktail party
or a networking event.
Because when you have thisnailed down so specifically, you
mentioned confidence.
I just imagine people beinglike, What do you do?
And you being like, I transformconfusion into clarity.
Oh, really?
What does that mean?
Tell me more about that, right?
Ian (15:33):
Okay, look at how you reacted there.
You're right.
That's really important.
Ryann (15:36):
Yeah.
Ian (15:37):
So when you've nailed your purpose statement and you say
it, people go, That'sinteresting.
Tell me more.
They're not, they're not askingout of confusion.
They're not asking becauseyou're not clear.
Ryann (15:50):
Curiosity.
Ian (15:50):
They're asking because they're intrigued.
Ryann (15:52):
Yeah.
Ian (15:53):
You've piqued their interest.
The headline in the newspaperwork.
Now you're going to read thearticle.
Ryann (15:58):
Yep.
So I'm back to the drawingboard, perhaps, with my purpose
statement.
And where does somebody who's alittle confused, like me, but
maybe not fully confused?
Like, where do we start?
Ian (16:10):
The question I usually get people to contemplate to get
them thinking in the rightdirection is if that you do and
say is a means to an end, what'sthe end?
And then what it does is itgets you to recognize that
everything that's going on inyour life is happening at this
level, but there's actually alevel above it that guides it,
(16:34):
right?
Everything you do and say, youknow, going to work, being a
mother, a father, you know, allthat stuff, having your kids in
sports, whatever it is, being amountain climber.
Those are shadows that are castfrom the stone.
So when I say if everything youdo is a means to an end, what's
the end?
It makes you start thinkingabout the stone.
What's the what are the commonthreads in all of these things?
(16:56):
So that you can do, you know,to really sort of nail it.
What I've what I've tried to dois make it as easy as possible
for you.
But we are talking aboutdigging into you.
That's a complex organism,right?
So the first part of the coursegets you to go through a
process where you break down twoaccomplishments in your life,
(17:18):
two things that you're proud of.
And I get you to break thosedown until they produce at the
end of that first segment threebuckets: your beliefs, your
wants, and your talents.
And who you are, what makes youuniquely remarkable, is
whatever your unique combinationof beliefs, wants, and talents
is.
So now we've got the buildingblocks of Ryan, right?
(17:40):
The psychological buildingblocks of Ryan.
Now, as I lead you through thatprocess, I'm sitting on one
side of you holding your hand,and our AI assistant is sitting
on the other side holding yourother hand.
The AI assistant is calledWordsmith because it does two
things.
It um, you know, when you'retrying when you're answering
(18:00):
questions in the exercises, ifyou're not happy with the words,
it will help you find betterwords for that answer.
And then the second thing thatit does is it can see things
that you can't see.
So when we get a bunch of rawdata, like your your sets of
beliefs, wants, and talents, wecan get we can get wordsmith to
(18:21):
look at that and say, what doyou see here that I don't see?
And that's, you know, that'sthe next step in getting to your
purpose statement.
Now, when I'm sitting besideyou on one side holding your
hand, I think we have like 27videos.
They're all two minutes, fourminutes, five minutes, nothing,
nothing.
But they give you very detailedand substantive instructions.
(18:42):
So you go to video one, you getdetailed and uh comprehensive
instructions, then you go to theexercise space where Wordsmith
is waiting for you to help youanswer, do the first exercise
and answer the first question.
Then you go back and watchvideo two, then you go back to
Wordsmith and you blah, blah,blah.
So that's how the that's howthe course works.
(19:03):
And in the end, you have youryour purpose defined in seven
words or less, and you have yourpurpose pitch, which is a
three-sentence paragraph thattells the story of your purpose.
So, like you said, Ryan, whenyou're at a when you're at that
cocktail party and and then yougo, oh, what does that mean?
Well, next out of your mouth isyour purpose pitch.
Ryann (19:23):
So what part does challenge, trauma, pain have to
do with purpose, if any?
Ian (19:31):
Everything in your life informs who you are.
Those, you know, those are sortof negative areas of your life,
right?
What we do is we look for themost positive areas of your life
because that's where yourpurpose is raging at the time,
right?
Like if you're involved in aproject, either you're you're
doing it yourself, you'rerunning it, or you're a cast of
thousands.
If you're proud of it, thenthat's a really positive
(19:55):
experience in your life.
And you know that in thosesituations where you did
something that you were reallyproud of, you were in that flow
state.
It was like, this isn't work.
This is play, right?
I'm getting to play, and lookwhat I'm accomplishing here.
So there are very positivetimes in your life that we
deconstruct in order to come upwith your purpose because that's
(20:16):
where it's raging.
Ryann (20:17):
I love that.
I am reading a book called TheMastery of Self.
And in that book, it gives anexample of like kind of a
statement where there's adifference.
So, this event that I did, Istarted off with this like hard
story about my childhood andda-da-da.
And I really, after readingthis book, thought if you took
every single sentence you wroteout and you flipped it to the
(20:40):
positive.
So, for example, you know, myparents got divorced when I was
three, and oh gosh, that washard.
No, like, okay, my parents gotdivorced when I was three, and
my mom really taught me like notto settle and to be, you know,
really like, you know, stay trueto who I am and, you know, get
treated well.
So I was like, oh God, this isso interesting.
(21:00):
And so I love that this is notdiving into all like the muck
and the mire.
Like, I love that we're stayingon the lighter side of things
because that really is like ifwe can invite more of that
positivity into life.
And I'm not talking likebrushing stuff under the rug,
no, like we all need therapy,right?
(21:21):
But I'm talking about likereally focusing on like those
events and things that you'reproud of.
So I think that's a great placefor people to start.
Like, what am I proud of rightnow?
Right.
Like in this season of life,even.
Ian (21:35):
So when you say I'm making a decision that is aligned with
my purpose, what you're reallydoing is you're saying, I'm
making decisions that arealigned with my beliefs, wants,
and talents.
And that's why you get theintellectual and emotional
resonance, because it alignswith your beliefs, wants, and
(21:57):
talents.
The more you can make decisionsthat are aligned with your
beliefs, wants, and talents,those are good decisions.
And even if you're using yourpurpose as a decision-making
tool to get you out of adistressing situation, every
step out of the distressingsituation, you're still
distressed, but you're less andless and less.
(22:17):
You're you're you're climbingout, right?
You're getting to a betterplace.
Ryann (22:20):
That's what I was gonna ask you, actually.
Like, so we know our purposestatement.
Let's assume that we're walkingaround like having this
statement in our back pockets.
Like when we're havingchallenges, stressful, chaotic
seasons of life, how do we usethat as like a life preserver?
Like, how do we actually holdon to that to keep taking that
one step forward?
Ian (22:41):
Well, um, so it it all goes back to the two cores, right?
The second, the first one beingit elevates your confidence,
the second one being it's adecision-making tool.
So I'll give you an example ofa distressing situation that I
experienced very near thebeginning of my career.
I worked as an accountexecutive in an advertising
(23:03):
agency.
I am built entirely wrong to bean account executive at an
advertising agency.
So it will not shock you tohear that I sucked at that
position and I got fired as aresult of sucking at that
position.
And I was my ego was crushedand I was panicked because it's
(23:25):
like, what do I do now?
I didn't know transformingconfusion into clarity back
then.
But what I would have done is Iwould have started saying I
would have said two things.
One is, that job did not allowme to transform confusion into
clarity, right?
That job was for someone whoseprimary talent was keeping order
(23:48):
in chaos.
That's not me.
And so I what I would have doneis I would have said, what I
did say was, what am I gonna donext?
What I what I could have saidis, what options are there out
there for me to transformconfusion into clarity?
Doesn't solve my problem rightaway.
But now I'm looking in theright direction, right?
(24:08):
Now I feel like I'm moving,although I'm still depressed
and, you know, panicky andwhatever, I'm moving in the
right direction.
Might be slowly at first, butI'm moving.
I'm not stuck.
And I know it's the rightdirection, and it's going to get
me somewhere that is going tobe better than where I was.
Ryann (24:31):
Yeah.
Love this.
So, how do you see this purposestatement, this work that
you're doing at Purpose U?
How do you see it impactingfamilies, communities, and
future generations, really?
Ian (24:44):
There's the individual way, and then there's the community
way.
The individual way is I'mconvinced that, you know,
there's 8 billion people in theworld, and I'm convinced that
half of them are walking aroundthinking that there is nothing
special about them.
And because there's nothingspecial about them, they can't
accomplish anything special andthey don't deserve anything
special.
(25:05):
And like I said to you before,Ryan, you know, until you can
show me two people who have theexact same set of beliefs,
wants, and talents, like eventwins don't, then you are going
to have something that makes youuniquely remarkable.
And if you can walk around, A,with your chin held a little
higher, and B with therealization that you can make
(25:28):
positive change.
And here's the community part.
When you know what yoursuperpower is, what your purpose
is, then you can go out and youcan give that to the community.
You can look for opportunitiesto exercise that in the
community.
And you're only going to belooking for opportunities that
allow you to exercise that, notjust opportunities in general,
(25:49):
just that.
And then once you find those,you're going to be able to make
a difference there.
You're going to be able to makea difference because that's
your superpower.
You're giving them yoursuperpower.
Ryann (26:00):
Yeah.
So good.
Ian, thank you so much forjoining us today.
If you are listening andfeeling the nudge like I am, to
explore your own seven-word orless purpose, head over to
purpose you.ai to learn moreabout Ian's course.
Of course, follow along onApple, Spotify, YouTube, or
wherever you get your shows formore great conversations like
(26:23):
this.
Thanks for exploring purposewith us today.
And until next time, go lovesomeone well.
All right, that's it for today.
As always, thanks for beinghere, friend.
Remember, changing the worldstarts in the small and soulful,
the quiet and the mundane,around the dinner table, on
walks, and most importantly,inside your own heart.
Make sure you're following thepodcast or subscribed on
(26:46):
YouTube.
And if you feel inspired rightnow, share the link to this
episode with a friend or write areview on Apple Podcasts.
It means the world.
Until next time, take care ofyourself and go love someone
well.
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