S1R18: Purpose Is Impact with Marian Hodges

In this episode of Purpose Project, host Leslie Pagel welcomes Marian Hodges to discuss her life's purpose and two emerging themes noticed in season one of the podcast. Marian shares her journey of discovering her purpose, emphasizing that living your life’s purpose doesn't mean one must be broke. They discuss the significance of self-understanding, tools like box breathing and journaling, and the concept of a three-legged stool framework to define purpose. The conversation also covers the idea that life's purpose feels overwhelming to many and the importance of defining it individually. Marian encourages listeners to embrace their unique light and impact.

00:00 Introduction to Purpose Project

00:37 Meet Marian Hodges

01:42 Exploring Life's Purpose

03:23 Marian's Background and Curiosity

05:47 Defining and Embracing Purpose

09:03 Purpose and Financial Stability

13:19 Purpose in the Workforce

16:14 Overcoming the Overwhelm of Life's Purpose

20:10 Understanding Self for Purpose Discovery

22:31 Journaling and Box Breathing Techniques

28:37 Framework for Defining Purpose

31:25 The Role of Passion and Energy

33:36 Embracing Your Light and Impact

37:06 Final Reflections and Closing Thoughts

Resource: “Our Deepest Fear” poem by Marianne Williamson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EtAmAQfbxk

Purpose Project is a research study on the topic of life's purpose. You can follow along in the making of Purpose Project:
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Transcript

0:04

Welcome to Purpose Project. My name is Leslie Pagel. Thank you for being here. On today's show, we have something a little bit different. Our next guest, Marian Hodges, joins Purpose Project to share her purpose. That's no different than others. But also on this episode, I asked Marian To help me explore two of the themes that I've been noticing across season one of the podcast. It's an interesting conversation. Let's take a listen.

Marian: 0:37

Marian, thank you so much for being on Purpose Project with me today. I am looking forward to our conversation. We have two topics. To talk about here today, one really looking forward to talking about your life's purpose and exploring that. And then also when you and I met, I started sharing with you some of the themes that I'm starting to realize in this study of life's purpose. And you were reacting to those with your own experiences. And I said, Marian, let's take this and have a conversation on the podcast. And so I'm really looking forward to picking up on that conversation that we started a couple of weeks ago. So thanks for being here. Thank you. Thank you, Leslie, for having me. I'm excited. I'll try to contain my excitement, but I love talking about purpose and life and, and living on purpose. Thanks. Mm hmm. Wonderful. Well, we're in the right space, aren't we? We sure are. Well, before we get into that topic, share with us a little bit about who is Marian. You know, in the spirit of what we're talking about, I think if I oversimplify and explain who I am, I would just say I am just another human person on this earth trying to live out my purpose and doing it in a way where I can actually financially support myself as well. I mean, so that's the gist of it. Well, I think most people can relate to that. We're all humans and, people are listening to this because they're trying to either realize their purpose, make it come to life or to find out what their life's purpose is. And then you added an element of, of making some, some money off of it as well, having some stability. Yes. And I'll, I'll add to that because I don't know where this comes from, but I get this idea or sense that people think that doing purposeful work or doing their purpose or living their purpose means that they have to be broke. And I don't know where that idea comes from, but what I do know is, and I've said this to some people about a week ago, I said, if you have an idea of what you think your purpose Unless you work on that idea. No one else is working on it for you. So you'll never know whether you of all the people in the world could monetize that unless you figure it out yourself. Love it. Love it. Anything else to say about, to share with us about yourself before we dig in? Okay, well I'll give a little bit more color. So I am, I have a different background. I'm a U. S. citizen, but I was born outside of the U. S. My father was in the military, so I grew up in Um, I went to English speaking schools, but where I was from, everybody was kind of like me. They were different, they were unique, but we were also transplants. So at a very early age, I had to learn about when you say we're friends forever, but you're really not friends forever because your friend leaves and you know, you don't keep in contact, you don't write letters. This is before email came into play. So you'd write little letters or postcards, et cetera. And so I guess for me, I was always. And it's in that question in and of itself that I realized that I was very curious about the human condition. About what made people decide what they were, what they would do or go left instead of right, you know, and I think this falls in line with purpose. And so I bring that into the work that I've done, uh, or any role. So before it was nouveau to change jobs a lot, um, pretty much people back in my day, it was not heard of to be in a company for five years and then leave. Right now, today, people stay for a year, you know, and they're bouncing around. But that's not how it was back then. And for me, it was, again, I was just curious. Even when I went to undergrad, um, and was declaring my major, it was, Well, like, why didn't, why is this the case in the world? I was an ethnic studies major. I went to UC Berkeley and, um, and I was just very curious and intrigued again. I was intrigued about people, but I will stop and say this. Um, I managed to get an advanced degree and I've MBA from MIT. I happened to work in the corporate world at some point. I've been an executive. I've done all these things. I've started a business before and failed and fired myself because I sucked at it. Um, and that was my first go around. And this is when the internet marketing was all big. Um, and I realized there are things that I could do, but for me, it's more important to do what really moves me and to more importantly, uh, make a difference. And that goes into kind of what my purpose is. I was just thinking that is a beautiful segue into what your, what your life's purpose is. So I assume that you've identified one. Is that, is that assumption right? Or. Yes. And I'll tell you something. So I'll tell you what it is and then I'll respond to how I feel about it. If that makes sense. Yeah. Right. Let me start with a story. I was working in my, I don't know, it was 24, 25 working at an afterschool program. And. The parents of two fourth graders that were in my program said, Hey, Marian, what do you want to be when you grow up? And so they're thinking that I'm going to say some job title. Now, I didn't want to tell them that when I was growing up, I thought I want to be a detective, you know, I wanted to be these different things. But in that moment, I gave a very adult and honest answer because no one had really asked me, not even a teacher. No one had asked me in my life what I wanted to be when I grew up. Which is crazy. But, um, I said, you know what, I just want to be able to say or do something that makes a difference in someone else's life. And that's what I said, and it was just so frou frou and kind of out there. But what I've realized, because I'm older, decades later, what I've realized is that's been a theme for me, is really making an impact. And so It goes into sort of my philosophy about how I think about purpose. And so it's one of those things where you sort of said, this is what I think I am or what I do, what my purpose is. And then I didn't want to accept that's really what it was because it seemed too, I don't know, weird or different or too honest, right? I wasn't comfortable in it. And then as I look back, I'm like, But that is it. That is the answer. So just embrace it. And so what if it's different from anybody else? That's the whole point. Otherwise you're full of it, right? Cause I do believe that people are put on this earth to bring something unique in the world. And it's up to us to figure out what that is so that we have meaning right in our life, our significance on this world. So would you articulate your purpose as To make a difference in the world. Is that, is that how you would say it or say your purpose? Yeah. So I would say, um, it is to make a difference in the world. Now that sounds loose, but let me be more narrow. What I have found that has made been much more rewarding for me is to make a difference with people who have an idea of something bigger than themselves that they want to bring forth into the world. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a visionary CEO, a visionary person in your particular role, you want to do something big, right? Something that's. That you have to build essentially, right? And so my purpose has been right away. I can have a conversation with someone and what I do is I reflect to them what I see. Cause I feel that energy and sense that energy. So that gets into like, I have this whole framework that I use when I think about purpose. And for me, it's really about how do I help reflect to them? You know, a way that they can get to what they're trying to do in a tangible manner, right? That helps unlock an obstacle that they might be currently facing. Yeah. Well, and you talked earlier about. Really being able to identify your purpose and then draw some financial stability from it. And so I hear you saying, the theme, as I look back over my life is to make a difference. And when you narrow in on that. And I think about how you might make a living from it. It's about helping entrepreneurs succeed in their business. It's about helping, people with an idea be successful. Am I, am I connecting any dots here or no? You are, you are. And I would say that underlying all of that is this belief that of purpose equals impact for me. Right. So it is, How can you make the greatest impact? And to me, that's getting leverage. This goes into sort of an experience that I've had where is the work that you're doing today, um, your day job, whatever the day job is, you could be an entrepreneur, right? I don't care, but whatever the work is. So is that work where you are getting, paid, where you have an economic relationship with that role, does it meet your purpose? Or is there a small piece of that? Is it 90%? Is it 80%? And to me, that's a good gauge, right? Because what I have found is that if there is a major disconnect between what you do day to day to earn a dollar, to make a living wage, if there is a major significant Disconnect and you're the one to decide, right? I'm not going to give like, Oh, if it's 80%, you know, but if there's a disconnect between that and who you are at your core and what you believe. Then at some point there is a reconciliation that has to happen and it actually affects you physically, your body, right? Because the demands of the job, the demands of the industry. There are many more options available to people today than in the past, where you worked at a job, who cares if, you know, it was sucking the life out of you. There weren't very many options and you just had to do it. So pretty much people follow. The same type of path, right? Um, and so I think that's an important question for people to ask themselves And then if the answer is they're not really happy in their role Sometimes the reason why they're not happy in the world is because of how it's structured And maybe there's a way that you can work with whoever you're working with to restructure that But if you can't the question becomes can I live with myself if I continue working? In the way that I'm working today. Right. And that's a hard question to answer right. Yeah. Yeah, but I'll go back to what you said earlier, people, people have this belief, which I will say I haven't heard much of this belief yet on this show. But one of the things that you said is this idea that if I pursue my purpose, I'm going to be broke. And, and that's not necessarily the case either, you know, so it's correct. Don't let that. Perception keep you from realizing that you can pursue your purpose and make money. Correct. Correct. And let's, and let's make that tangible because I hear this a lot and, and I'm going to pick on women and I'm going to pick on women coaches. So there are women coaches in the very early stage of their, them building a business where they're getting their entrepreneurial legs underneath them. And they, are uncomfortable with charging what they're worth, what the service is worth, the value is worth, but they feel called to coach, but they don't, I don't, they feel weird about it, right? Asking for money. Now there's some other issues at play there, right? But at the end of the day, if you think about it, if you're called to be a coach for whatever reason, then guess what? You need to keep the lights on in order to do and provide the service to the world. You have to take care, have your needs taken care of in order to keep living right and being of service. And there's nothing wrong with that. Right. So Marian, I know that you and I are doing a little bit of a recap on what I've learned in season one, which we're going to get to in just a minute. But what we're talking about is actually the theme for season two. So season two, so you might just have to come back and do a recap then too, but season two is all about how purpose shows up in the workforce. And I'm going to look at that from a lot of different angles. Um, but I'm curious, from what you're speaking to now, what do you think I might discover in season two? So I think, um, it's in the body language of the people that you work with. So if somebody's showing up to work and. They're just doing their job. And I'm saying that to encapsulate the body language, the way they're engaged, the way they're curious, the way they clock in, they clock out. Very different than somebody who seems to have a lot of energy. Towards what they're doing, right? Or even if that work opportunity, isn't their number one thing, they know why they're doing it. It's because I'm doing this to afford an opportunity for my family, right? So to move into a bigger home or to have this other vacation or actually travel outside of the country, because we've never traveled outside of the country, for example. Right. So I think it's, I think it's, Part of it is a behavior thing that I think you will see, um, and also people's attitude right towards their work. And then to what degree they, they are bought into the purpose right of the company that they're working at. Right. Um, and sometimes, and I actually used to say this to people when I would interview them at my last company and I was just being upfront and I said, listen, At some point in your career, you might decide that, you know what, you're no longer growing with us. And so what I would encourage you to do to make the decision to off ramp, right? Because it's important that you continue growing, but people aren't comfortable doing that and then what happens is if you're miserable at your job and then you start sucking at it, the performance gets affected. You might be invited to leave anyways. Right? Right. So why not you? Why not take control of your career? Right. And your life and your options. Yeah. Okay. So I'm hearing. When someone connects their purpose to their job, they're going to bring a different attitude to work, more energy, better attitude. And that, that isn't necessarily to say my job is my purpose. It could be my job. Is funding my purpose right? Serves a purpose. It serves a purpose, but maybe purpose. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. Perfect. Okay. Well, I'm going to be listening for that and in seeing how that shows up in the workplace. Okay. Well, let's shift gears. I mentioned that I've been studying this topic of life's purpose and I've been studying it in two regards. One is seeing what research has already been done on the topic and what can I learn from that? Where are the gaps? The other is through conversations and those have been happening through this podcast. Season one has been very much focused on people that have clarity in their purpose and they're actively pursuing it. And so I'm learning as much as I can from them about discovering your purpose and then putting the steps in place to, to realize it. And I've noticed a couple threads. Throughout the research that I've done. And one of those threads is that this topic of life's purpose. Feels big. It feels very overwhelming to people, even for the people that have clarity in their purpose. They would say things like, well, I think I have it, or I guess it's this, does it have to be just one, that type of thing? what's your reaction to that, theme of life's purpose being an overwhelming, big, scary thing? So my immediate reaction has to do with the need for us to define and clearly articulate things, right? So on the one hand, when I hear you say that somebody thinks, cause I've even said it, right? Well, I think it's this. And it's in response to, there's a definition that if you talk to an expert, right, of how they would define what purpose is, and then what's really true for you, if that makes sense. And to me, I feel like purpose, it feels very squishy. And I keep using that term because I go back inside. Right. And it's something to me that hits your spirit. And I, quite frankly, I believe it's how you want to define it. It's the thing that's driving you, right? Only you can say what's driving you. And the truth is, you may not be able to say what that is, in part because we need to quiet our mind and sit with ourselves for a moment. That's one way of doing that to figure out like what is it and hear the voice inside of us actually articulate some of that and then just put it in your shopping cart, for lack of a better word, right? And push it around the store, right? Around your life to figure out, okay, does this, hmm, kind of like this, right? Sometimes we need help, right? Because sometimes we can't get out of our own head trash. I've used this exercise as it relates to, um, what are you good at, right? And I've actually done, it's like a one person survey, and it's literally like a five minute conversation, and you can't give anybody a heads up, and you ask various people around you, friend, foe, you know, client, whatever, hey, what do you think I'm good at? And then you just write down whatever they say and you don't like argue with them. You don't talk about anything else. You might ask a clarifying question and then you get off the phone with them and move on to the next person. And it's better to do this like in sequence, like, just dial up and then get it and then gather that data and see what it says about you. Right. Right. Yeah. So I'm hearing there that the sense of it being overwhelming is this fear that like the experts say it's this thing, but the reality is we get to define life's purpose. When I hear that, I think. It shouldn't feel overwhelming because it's up to you. It's up to me. You know, we get to make the rules. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so remember when I said that my purpose was around making a difference, but it was like, well, it just sounds kind of, eh, you know, boring, but it's like, just own it. Well, the other thing that you talked about, there's actually the second theme that I've noticed in it is this theme of people that have clarity in their purpose. Across the board. They have a deep. Understanding of self, they take the time to go inward and you just spoke to that as well. It's like quieting the mind going inward. You shared a tool on asking people around you, what am I good at? And then looking at what you hear from them, any other thoughts or reflections on this theme of self understanding as a prerequisite for discovering your purpose. So here, here's my belief that there is something core to who we all are. Um, and then there are things about ourselves that we're constantly growing our depth of understanding, if that makes sense, right? So it's not like I have the, I know who I am and it never changes. Right? Like over time you grow, right? And through growth, you have an even deeper understanding of self, but part of really understanding self oftentimes is in juxtaposition to a role, to other people, to an experience, right? Because the experience helps you put words. Around it. And feelings around it. Like, oh yeah, that doesn't feel right. That doesn't seem right. Um, and it just helps you make sense of. Your your world, right? Who are so understanding yourself quite frankly, I think is just a key Uh superpower to understanding other people, and where you're similar or dissimilar or what have you but we're still all human and that's what makes us complex and challenging and annoying And wonderful and worthy of love and you know, you want to fight them sometimes or whatever Yeah, yeah I love that are there tools that you have used to help you understand yourself? So I do journal, but it's not journal in the sense of here's what I'm thinking today, but it's really a comp, I use a bullet journal. Um, and so, I do that for a different purpose, right? I do it so I get clear about what my priorities are for the week, but also I use it for self reflection and it's easier for me to find. And also I find a technology, which is Handwriting, which is starting to go away with the age of the dinosaur. Um, but there's something said about the written word and what gets imprinted in our memory and our belief system, right? And writing that and how powerful that is. So I'm going back to basics by actually doing writing. I still type things up and I have, you know, my Apple notes and all this other stuff. But the, to answer your question about what I use today, um, I started doing box breathing. And which, you know, if you would have told me this before I went on, I went on a health journey, um, several months ago and I, and I, if I hadn't known this, if I'd known this before then I don't know that I would have done it right. It's almost like when you finally need to do something right to make a change that you're more receptive to, to other tools. So I box breathe at least, you know, 15, 20 minutes, um, every morning I start my day that way. Share with us what box breathing is real quick for people that don't know. So, um, there's different ways of, of breathing, but imagine a box with four sides, right? And so I do a four count where you inhale for a count of four, and then you hold for the next count of four. Then you exhale for a count of four, And then you hold for a count of four and then you repeat the process. Right. And so, and the whole idea of why you do that is to quiet your mind. It's to focus on just your breath, but there's a science behind it. When you talk about like your parasympathetic nervous system and, and really relaxation. Right. And so most people struggle just to sit down. And just breathe for a little bit. And you're not supposed to do anything else. Cause we're thinking like, while you're doing that exercise. And it took me a while, I started thinking about work. I started thinking about, Oh, what am I going to eat? And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. Just breathe. Like just do that. And it's so, it was so incredibly hard to do in the very beginning. But it's becomes easier when you have practice and then over that I overlay, you know, affirmations and I overlay visualization of what I'm trying to do. So, but you don't do all of that out the gate, right? You just do the basic. You start with just every morning, every morning, 15, 20 minutes, it depends. Every morning. Focus on the breath. Every morning. And that's one of the first things that I do. You know, I'm not, I don't, some people do meditation, um, and I'm not going to get into the difference of those. I don't do that. I'm just starting with just the basics. Let me just breathe. Cause everyone's got to be able to breathe. And I just started learning about, you know, it just calms you down. Right. Um, and the thing about the human body is, you know, when we are, let me back up. I love. The feeling of fear and the reason why I love the feeling of fear is it tells me that I'm human and usually when something comes up in your system that makes you afraid You it's because you're uncomfortable Right, and you have to realize is this something that's going to actually hurt me like physically hurt me Or is it just false evidence appearing real? Right. Is it just saying, well, I don't know, but really, so, so to me, breathing, right. Quieting your mind and being still and saying, okay, what is this? And then capturing that and then just say, okay, it's okay. So I say that I had a knee injury. Um, I'm a runner. I hurt my knee. I haven't been running in the last two years. And as I was doing rehab, I can't like squat fully. I get knee pain. And what I found when I was working with my trainers, I was trying to squat and it's my left knee. My left knee subconsciously. Started coming inward because he was afraid. That it was going to get hurt. It didn't want the pinging because there's pain. The body remembers, right? And so this sounds silly. I just start talking like, okay, that's okay. Me just know that I'm in alignment with you. You can trust me, but I don't want to do anything to hurt me either. Literally my trainers laughing, but it's so true. And I'm like, okay, we're going to do some squats today. And I'm looking at my knee. We're going to do some squats today. Just come on. Just, we can do this. And so we do. You know, you know, and then it's okay, but then I have, so that's what I'm saying. The body knows, you know? Yeah. Well, and what went through my head is you're making the subconscious conscious. Your knee was doing that and then you recognize it's doing it. And so now I've got to tell the knee consciously, you know, we're going to squat. Don't, don't go inward. You know? Yes, exactly. Cause you're making it worse for us. Right. And quieting the mind, the force, the box breathing helps quiet the mind, which also gives you space to kind of think about the subconscious and bring that conscious. Yes, absolutely. And the subconscious is where all of your programming happens, you know, that you don't even really realize sometimes is happening while you react to certain things, right? Right. The beauty of the, the box breathing also is it's about you controlling your response to things. So when you're doing, going the day to day and somebody's coming at you the wrong way, You don't automatically just react. It's like if you take a couple of breaths, I'm not saying stop and do box breathing right then and there for 15 minutes, but if you take a couple of breaths, you're like, okay, hold on. Like, let's give them the benefit of the doubt and you control your response, versus your reaction. Right. Right. Yeah. Marian, earlier you mentioned a framework for purpose. Could you share that with us in case that's helpful for others? Sure. Sure. Um, so it's a framework that I came up for myself and I'm going to use the idea of a three legged stool and the seat of the stool. I'm going to use the word impact because I mentioned to you earlier. That I found that my purpose is about making a difference and making a difference means impact also. So you can define impact. So whatever you want to define that impact is. And then I, the first part of the stool is really around identity, right? Who you are. And so sometimes it might be a role. Sometimes it just might be, you're just a good person at the core and you see something in others, right? That you want to elevate. Um, and so that's one thing it's just, and so self awareness comes into this, right? Yeah. So that's, that's number one, like, who are you? Right. And by the way, this applies to companies also, right? Who are you as a company, as an organization? Okay. Um, the second leg of the stool, um, I've gone back and forth and it depends on how I apply this really goes back to your superpowers. So it's not so much, um, What you're good at, but what's really distinct about you. Right. Remember I grew up with, you know, actually like the halls of justice and super friends and stuff like that. And so every superhero had a different skill set that was distinct to them. But when they came together, they were able to solve, you know, some of the greatest challenges, right. To humankind. Right. So with a company or even with yourself, you know, what's distinct. About you, right. That you've developed or are developing and to really be able to like identify what that is. Um, and that's just having a number of times at bat, you know, practicing, working on that. Right? Right.'cause there are some things, like you can say you wanna go to the moon, but do you, can you really go to the moon? You specifically like right at this day and age or whatever. Right. So it's, you know, applying. That to, um, a particular cause, so to speak, cause, rule, what have you. And then the third leg, um, I talk about it from, from sometimes I call it messaging, but it's really a point of view, right? So what does all of that mean? Right? Like bringing who you are, what's distinct and unique, um, and your superpower to a specific result or impact that you want to have, right? And so I bundle all those three things together and you want to point it at a worthy cause, something that's worthwhile of your time, your effort, your attention, your energy, and ideally that you could also get paid for. Yeah. Yeah. So the second leg of the stool, you talked about your unique kind of talent or what's unique about you. One of the things that often comes up when I've been talking with people who are clear in their purpose and they're pursuing it is this concept of passion. It is what lights them up. It is what brings them joy. And it's not, they don't talk about it in terms of that's their purpose. It's actually been more of. Their purpose is X, Y, Z, but they use their passion to enable their purpose. It's the how of how they achieve their purpose. Could passion fit into that second leg of the stool so I think it could. If somebody wants to borrow this framework and use that for themselves. I don't use the word passion myself, right? Because I think that, um, many people misunderstand passion. And I have to then explain what passion is, right? Because sometimes passion and purpose get mixed up. Confused. Yeah. What I focus on is energy, right? And so I am not a physics major, but has it's been explained to me. We all have energy. We bring energy. So, you know, when somebody walks into the room and they just brighten up the room, they don't even have to say a word, their presence. Just brightens up the world. Right. Um, and I think that as humans, we all have a light that we can bring in. So I think that, you know, when somebody says that it's their passion or they have all this energy towards something that kind of, it drives them, it, it, um, it brings them joy. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you reflecting on season one. We did actually a little foresight into season two unexpected. So appreciate that. Thank you for sharing your purpose. Is there anything else left unsaid when it comes to this topic of purpose? So, I like to end these sorts of conversations with, um, something that I picked up from Marianne Williamson's, Our Deepest Fear poem. And I recommend for people who are not familiar with it, and I don't have it memorized by heart because I always forget different parts of it. I'll put it in the show notes for people to read. Wonderful. Because she talks about how our deepest fear. Um, it's really that we're more powerful, right? It's our light, not our darkness, right? And so the thing that I want to leave with everybody when I think about how we all have something unique to bring, I think that, um, if we don't identify our purpose, And work towards our purpose in whatever capacity, we will never discover or uncover the thing that special thing that you bring to this world that could change the life of forget about the whole world. How about your immediate self and family, right? You could be the first. You could be the one that changes the history of your own family. So I'm not saying you need to be Einstein. I'm not saying you need to be president. I'm not saying any of that. I'm saying in your own little world, you impact other people. And if, and until you can bring that light out for yourself that we can all see, right. And letting your light shine, then guess what Marianne Williams talks about. Williams talks about is then you give other people permission to let their light shine. You know, so be a light to others, right? Role model the behavior. Yes. Yes. You said something earlier about oftentimes what we fear is the light. Don't fear the light, be the light, be the light, you know, and I don't want to bring up old movies like poltergeist, but they were all attracted to Carol Ann, right? Cause she was a light. And people are attracted to the light, right? People who are haters of the light. You can tell there's this jealousy that people have. And I realize it's because humans are natural mirrors, because again, it goes back to having energy, what you bring to the table, right? And so sometimes people who No, that there's something more that they could be doing and they're just not doing because they don't want to apply themselves or for whatever reason, you know, you they're confronted by that without you even saying any words by just looking at you. Right, right. And so all you can do is just be you do you and be a light. You know, love it. Surround yourself with others, you know, who have a light, right? And so you're in a lit room, but here's the deal. I know this sounds crazy. Here's the deal. But in order for you to really appreciate that light that you bring, sometimes you have to be in the darkness. So that you realize that you do have a light and how bright and shiny your light is, right? I got goosebumps there on both the idea of a group of lights shining bright and then being the light in the darkness for others. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Thank you so much for coming here on Purpose Project and, and sharing with us and, and reflecting on season one and, and looking forward to season two. It's been a pleasure having you on the show. Thank you for having me, Leslie. This was really fun. Awesome.

Leslie: 37:06

One of the themes that Marianne and I talked about is that life's purpose feels so overwhelming to people. And as I've continued to explore this topic of life's purpose, that worries me. Um, Because I want life's purpose to be accessible to everyone. And it worries me to think that some people might feel it's too grand, too big for them. I love this notion that Marian talks about that each of us gets to define what life's purpose is. We don't need an expert to tell us what life's purpose is. It's up to each of us individually. And I love how Marian defines. Purpose for her as impact in this three legged stool of identity, our superpowers, and our point of view coming together to determine our impact in life. Marian, thank you for being on Purpose Project and thanks to all of you for tuning in. Purpose Project is brought to you for education and for entertainment purposes. This podcast is not intended to replace the advice that you would receive from a licensed therapist or doctor or any other qualified professional.