PURPOSEFUL HUSTLE BLOG

With devastating headlines pouring in and given the current political climate of our country, it can feel impossible to go anywhere without a serious topic coming up in conversation. We know that our kids are subjected to this overload of information as well, regardless of how much we wish we could keep them safe from it. Often, there are serious things happening even in our own backyards that will affect our kids, but we don’t always know how to bridge that gap of trying to talk with them about it. But no matter how hard, it’s important that we try. While so much is happening in our communities, and so much is changing in our culture, it is not in our nature as Purposeful Hustlers to stay on the sidelines. Part of figuring out how to best engage with the things we care most about is figuring out how to help our children process what is happening in the world around them.

You’ve hit a routine. You wake up, make your coffee, get in your car, turn on your radio and head to work. While en route, you often catch yourself getting lost in your thoughts, wondering if you’re even on the right path with your life.

The point of my new book Purposeful Hustle is to equip you with some of the tools, insights and steps that help you realize the power you have within you to make a positive impact with your work. However, when thinking about how to create the change you want to see in the world, it’s sometimes helpful to think about what NOT to do. This is my advice.

The employee resource group has been organized. The company has given its support. The membership is ready. The next step: putting together the event. Should be easy, right?

At some point in the process of getting really fired up about an issue or excited about an idea, we all realize that we can’t do this work alone. Even while living out our own unique purpose, we need the support of other people!

You know that moment when you’re watching a television show, and one of the characters is in mortal danger, or the two characters whom you just know have to end up together have a special moment where they just might kiss, and then there’s a commercial? Or worse, the episode ends? And you ball your hands into fists and scream at the sky, “NOOOO!” Most of us know that moment. It’s a universal tactic: If you end on a note where the audience just has to know what happens next, you’ve got them hooked for another episode. Or, in the world of your employee resource group, another meeting.

The pressure is on. You’re the head of your employee resource group (ERG), or perhaps on the committee. And now it’s fallen to you to plan an event—one that captures the soul of your group, keeps people in their chairs, and maintains the company’s goals. And you realize: You don’t know where to start.

Ask any event planner, and they will tell you that their job is not easy. Even if they love it, they can surely regale you with stories of events gone wrong, of troublesome vendors, of technical mishaps, of catastrophes and disasters and cataclysms that undercut your otherwise perfect event. After all, if event planning is a career unto itself, it can’t be all that easy, can it?

The centerpiece of almost any special employee resource group event is the guest speaker. After all, many of the members of an employee resource group already know each other. They’ve met at work, or at previous events or meetings. They’ve heard each other’s stories, perhaps even worked directly with each other. So one of the best ways to draw in an audience is to put someone on the agenda who has a fresh perspective. Someone who shares your values or ideals or goals but whom you don’t see in the break room.

Living within your purpose is a discipline that requires practice, working out certain muscles, and developing certain skill sets. Here are 10 skills to focus on while pursuing a Purposeful Hustle: