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Everything in life has a purpose. Every living creature has a purpose. You, too, have a purpose….

The subject of “purpose” presents us with a very important challenge. Because most of us were not taught the value of knowing one’s unique personal life-purpose, many stumble though life… searching, hoping, following others… always looking to find careers and relationships that will fulfill our deepest needs. For many people, “the purpose of purpose” remains a mystery. Often, when asked the purpose of something, people tend to jump to “the first right answer” and… that’s the answer they often stick with.

Life is given to each human being
For a very special purpose.
This secret each human being
Must discover for himself 

Purpose helps us break free of concepts that limit us. It gives us the motivation to step away from our ordinary patterns of behavior and live life with greater openness. It allows us to tap into our creativity, courage, and intuition.

In these turbulent times is the ideal time to clarify your life purpose. Knowing your life purpose gives you a new context for your life – a context of meaning that has the power to shape each and every moment of your life…especially when the currents of circumstances are trying to throw you off course.

Our duty is to discern our uniqueness (which for most of us requires the right process and guidance) and then use it as a source of inspiration to create something distinctive and innovative. Your life purpose is a difference.

You are unique, and something unique to you is crying to express itself in the world. It has been with you your entire life. In the Hindu tradition, supposedly the oldest culture in the world, they have a word for this personal purpose. They call it “dharma”, which means “one’s most sacred duty, and key to their personal destiny”. 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post on Life Purpose. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts or questions.

In these times of global economic malaise, more and more individuals are eyeing innovation as a means of survival, and hopefully, even of growth. But what exactly is “innovation”? Does it only mean “something new”? If you haven’t scientifically thought through what you want to achieve with your next idea or strategy, you may have started down a road that could end up wasting time and money, (not to mention) unsettling or even antagonizing the people you work with. The GAPzip definition of innovation is: “The implementation of a new idea that generates value”.

GAPzip can offer you and your team support throughout the process of innovation. Apart from work-related skills that will have to be learned, complex issues will come into play, and nearly all of these will be fear-based: “Will I keep my job”; “Can I deal with the changes”; “I have suggestions, but dare I put them forward?” Areas of change and fear are where the GAPzip zipskills prove themselves every time. The four skills are: courage, creativity, intuition and openness.

It takes visionary and courageous leadership, plus committed and dedicated employees willing to embrace change, in order for a process of innovation to be successful. On our homepage, on the Main Menu bar under Our System, check out zipSkills: “The manifestation of these personal qualities has a major influence on the success or failure that one experiences in life. Without developing these profound potentials, individuals remain fearful, stagnant and defensive”.

Would you feel more optimistic and inspired if you knew from the start that you had an innovation process in place? That’s what the GAPzip System offers: a vision for your future, plus strategies (see zipCycle) and implementation processes. But it starts from within. Using the GAPzip zipSkills could make all the difference.

Sit quietly for a moment and consider how confident you feel about being able to launch a process of innovation. What feelings come up when you think about that?

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below.

Who could you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?

And here’s where it gets interesting. We “practice abilities” both consciously and subconsciously. So, understanding our subconscious “skills” can be very helpful to know. Most of us sabotage ourselves on a subconscious level, regularly engaging in fear-filled, negative and limiting thoughts and feelings.

If we could manage to be completely aware of our conscious and subconscious thoughts and feelings for even a single day, we would be amazed at the amount of time we spend in some kind of unproductive mental activity. Perhaps we would be even more amazed to learn what we are most judgmental about: ourselves! How many times a day do we tell ourselves that we’re not good enough, smart enough, successful enough,…? The list is long and the effects of such self-defeating thoughts and feelings can be paralyzing. 

How would it feel if, instead of continuously practicing this “skill of fear” you could flip things around and concentrate on manifesting the “zipSkill of courage”?

At GAPzip you’ll find the clarity, methods and support you need to be successful in making this uniquely valuable shift…  

If this sounds interesting…please return to the homepage after reading this, and click on “Our System” on the Main Menu bar. In the drop-down menu, you’ll see zipSkills, which will lead you to a valuable article and an insightful short video: “Who Do You Think You Are?”

There are both healthy and unhealthy fears. Any fear that warns us of danger, e.g. the rattle of a rattlesnake, is certainly a healthy fear. However, most of our fears consist of the unhealthy negative thoughts that are constantly running through our mind. They teach us not to believe or trust in our own innate strength. They are undeniably “un-healthy” They sap our creativity and undermine our entire sense of Self.

What difference would it make in your life if you could flip your way of thinking around, and instead of regularly practicing the “skill of fear” you could develop the “zipSkill of courage”?

Sit quietly for a moment and ask yourself these questions: “What do I say to myself when I make a mistake?” “Do I tell myself that I can and will do better next time, or that I don’t have what it takes, and should have known better?

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below.

Who could you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?

Failing

Often, one so-called “failure” can teach us more than any number of easily achieved successes. We learn what doesn’t work, how we can complete a task more effectively in the future, but above all, it teaches us to believe in ourselves and persevere. In “failure”, we are constantly learning how to learn.

In GAPzip, we call this process of learning from seeming failure, “failing forward”. To learn more about how the zipCycle (the GAPzip System thinking framework) can provide you with tools that will lead to predictable results, then please check out the information under “Our System” in the main menu.

All great men and women throughout history have failed, not once, but often repeatedly. It is their attitude to this failure that calls forth our admiration.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas A. Edison 

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”  -Abraham Lincoln

To “fail” indicates that you undertook a task to move forward with something, but did not manage to achieve the desired or intended target. As Edison reminds us, you will probably have acquired valuable information in the process. Then comes the question: Are we content with our failure, or are we going to believe in our passion, and with renewed enthusiasm, try again equipped with more wisdom, knowledge and experience?

Trying to avoid failure by “doing nothing” means placing ourselves on the sidelines and not taking part in the game of life; but is that really an option? Not in the long run. We may not be successful in all of our endeavors, but becoming passive and doing nothing is the true and ultimate failure. 

Do you remember the last time you failed at a project/task that meant a lot to you? How did you deal with that: did you give up or did you start over again?

Would GAPzip have been able to support you in the process? 

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below. Who could you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?

We all love movies in which the hero or heroine (always against terrible odds) fights his or her battles, perseveres through the dark times and comes out victorious. When we come out of the movie theater, our belief in human nature has been restored, and we have a renewed sense that if we do not give up, justice will prevail in the end. If life were only that simple!

Life is never constant, and as it moves ever forward, all of us are constantly being asked to react to changing and challenging situations. Our responses are usually colored by either fear or courage. In fact, this single choice influences every aspect of our life, from our relationships to our health, from career to finances. We are always making choices, and regularly facing fears. If our consciousness is predominantly fear-based, we will avoid creative and heroic choices and end up living the same life and getting mostly the same results. For many, this malaise is often the precursor to some kind of mid-life crisis.

Courage not only affects the way we live life, whether with a “brave heart” or often holding back, but heroism is also a key ingredient of all other core values.

Those who have lived large often point out that without courage many other core values cannot exist.

Courage, is the most important of the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage. ~ Maya Angelou

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities … because it is the quality that guarantees all others. ~ Winston Churchill

Every human being is unique and faces his or her unique challenges. What we all have in common is that we have to make the choice whether to be led by fear or whether we will follow the “bravery of our hearts”.

If you would like to learn more on the subject of courage, please check out the information under “Our System” on the Main Menu, then “zipSkills”. Also, don’t miss some short videos posted on our homepage that can open “undreamed of possibilities”. One video asks the question: “Who would you be and what would you do, if you knew you could not fail?”

Think back for a moment over the past year and write down a few of the challenges you faced. Now try to determine whether your response was based on fear or courage. How did this affect the outcome?

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below.

Who could you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?

Want to learn more about fear? Click HERE for a FREE Webinar on How to Use Fear as Fuel!

Have you ever taken a close look at how you deal with fear? Like most of us, you may try to ignore it, work around it, or pretend it’s not there.

However, if your boss calls you in for a job evaluation and praises you for all the good work you’re doing, but then adds one point where there is “room for improvement”, – what are you going to be thinking about in the days to come…? Such is the focus of fear!

Admitting to feelings of fear makes us feel vulnerable, and when that happens, a small but persistent voice in our head starts to whisper, “Maybe I don’t have what it takes” “My colleagues would know more then me”, and the little voice endlessly repeats its sabotaging self.

When this happens, it means you have arrived at a crossroads; you can either listen to that inner voice and allow it to paralyze you, OR you can decide that now is the time to do something about it.

How would it feel if, instead of choosing the safer well-trodden path, you were able to process your fears and courageously choose to set out on your own unique life-journey?

If anyone earned the right to give his opinion on fear, Nelson Mandela would be one. He wrote, ”I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers his fear”.

How would it feel to know that you had help in understanding and processing your fears? The GAPzip System addresses Courage in its personal elements, the zipSkills (which include courage, creativity, openness, intuition).  There is always new information to provide you with support, guidelines and tools to help you take your life to the next level.

Ultimately, you may find that digging into the dynamics of your fear can be one of the most empowering experiences that gave you insight into your innermost power, including hidden courage at your very core.

EXERCISE: Make a list of three of your biggest (unhealthy) fears and then look at how you are dealing with them. Do you try to ignore them or do they inspire you to take action?

We sincerely hope you have received value from this post.  We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below, and we encourage you to share this with anyone else who might benefit from it.

Want to learn more about fear? Click HERE for a FREE Webinar on How to Use Fear as Fuel!

First, check out the GAPzip System on our website. There you will find an explanation of the five phases of the zipCycle:

1. visualize (consisting of purpose and ideal future)
2. measure
3. strategize
4. projectize
5. orchestrate

Instead of often being reactive, trying to solve one problem after another, the zipCycle will provide you with a dynamic framework for thinking that will allow you to turn your creative ideas into value-producing innovations.

The first phase of the zipCycle will provide you with clarity on your purpose, no matter what project you’re working on. You could use it to examine your life-purpose or the purpose of a specific issue. Getting deeper clarity on your purpose will allow you to visualize how to shape your ideal future.

The following four phases of the cycle will give you many effective tools to materialize your vision into reality.

Developing your innovation by using the zipCycle is so simple, but the results will be unbelievably different than if you just used problem-solution thinking. Many workshop participants and consulting clients have told us how they wished they’d discovered this method years ago.

Using a scientific method of thinking like the zipCycle can make a huge difference in your life. Not only in getting results cheaper, better and faster, but with so much less stress and wasted resources. The zipCycle actually employs five different modes of thinking, thereby adding a level of depth to your thought process that will yield superior results every time.

If you feel that using the method of the zipCycle is something you might benefit from, perhaps you might like to answer the questions below:

What does your project look like when you have succeeded?
Why do you want to accomplish it?
When you accomplish it, what will you say to yourself?

We sincerely hope you have received value from this post.  We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below, and we encourage you to share this with anyone else who might benefit from it.

This certainly seems evident when one looks at dwindling church attendance throughout the Western world today. On the other hand, the interest in a vast array of various spiritual practices continues increasing at a rapid rate. What does all this mean?

Western religious thinking fundamentally rests on faith rather than experience, which is ironic because Western science’s pragmatism has ever demanded the burden of proof.

What are your beliefs regarding faith and experience? Whatever you believe, whether you live in the East or West, your culture and values are being tested during this time of massive transition. The challenges of all kinds that we all face are unprecedented.

In this current chapter of human evolution, everyone now stands at a crossroads. In the coming period, we will choose to destroy the planet and/or each other, or bond together to usher in a new age. Ironically, the German mathematician Leibnitz predicted this intersection in 1700. He wrote, “Human beings will analyze everything and make great discoveries, but at one point, they will have cut up reality to such an extent that they will be lost in the complexity. At that moment, there will begin an age of universal thinking.”

Back in 1854 the native American, Chief Seattle referred to this same idea of “wholeness” and “connectedness” when he said,

We have not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web,
we do to ourselves,
All things are bound together,
All things connect.                                                          

This age has begun. World figures like Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and thousands of others have supported this shift by separating dogmatic sectarian beliefs from true spirituality. To some extent, traditional religions have lost their inner essence and become bound by orthodoxy, dogma and ritualism.

True spirituality transcends pre-defined beliefs, and instead, rests on personal experience – the value practitioners have ever sought.

What are your thoughts? Perhaps you can take a moment to reflect on your deepest personal experiences about life, love and the power called God? 

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below.        
Who could you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?

How many times a day do we ask ourselves “why” questions: “Why am I not more successful?” “Why is this happening to me?” “Why am I not finding more fulfillment in my work?” Most likely you can add a few questions of your own.

It is difficult to find answers to these “why” questions on your own. When we’re in transition, we tend to look at what’s currently not working for us, without looking at the bigger picture and trying to determine what we REALLY want out of life. This is where the GAPzip System can be of invaluable assistance. Clarifying your purpose – at the level of life, career, relationship or business is one of the key practices in the GAPzip System.

These turbulent times are the ideal time to clarify your life purpose. Knowing your life purpose gives you a new context for your life – a context of meaning that has the power to shape each and every moment of your life…especially when the currents of circumstances are trying to throw you off course.

As Friedrich Nietzsche said, “He who has a “why” to live for can bear almost any “how”.

Our individual duty is to discern our uniqueness (which for most of us requires both process and guidance) and then use it as a source of inspiration to create something distinctive and innovative. Your life purpose is a difference that only you can make.                             However, GAPzip can help you attain insight into your Life Purpose and help you navigate the stormy waters of these dramatically changing times. What a difference that could make!

When you have a quiet moment, reflect on what value there might be in learning more about your life purpose, and how strongly your unique purpose is vitalizing and guiding your journey. Understanding Purpose Dynamics is the first step.

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below.                   
Who might you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?

Did anyone ever ask you, “Have you figured out yet what your life-purpose is?”

Well, there was no GAPzip yet to ask this uniquely valuable question!!

It’s easy to be flippant when we look back at previous generations.

Times were difficult, and the choices people made about their future were not as concerned with finding personal fulfillment as with simply surviving and supporting a family. Personal fulfillment was a luxury people thought they could not afford.

But what if…? What if it was possible to have both at the same time? What if you could support yourself – and your family – by doing what you are passionate about? What if you were able to feel that what you were doing was in alignment with your innermost being? What if your thoughts, decisions,  choices, and ultimately your daily actions began to be shaped by a greater meaning for your life – your life purpose? How would that feel? Liberating?

Once you have clarity on your purpose, you will be able to break free of limiting concepts and beliefs. The GAPzip System and its zipCycle offer you a clear and concise framework for thinking that will help you to discover what is most meaningful to you in life and will then supply you with the tools that will enable you to set out on the most challenging, but at the same time the most satisfying journey of a lifetime: the hero’s journey.

Please do not think that you don’t have the time, that you’re already too old or any of the other excuses our ego will come up with – it’s exactly because we are not twenty anymore that we need to connect with our life-purpose NOW.

Perhaps you would like to try this exercise: write down your life-purpose in one sentence and then consider if the way you live your life is in accordance with your statement.

We welcome your comments, questions and feedback below.
Who could you share this with who might contribute to the conversation?