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The Power of Purpose: Creating Meaning in Your Life and Work By Richard J Leider ( Berrett-Koehler Publishers )
Release Date: 2005-01-01
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List Price: $16.95
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Product Description
"Purpose" and "calling" seem at first to be grand words, applicable to only a gifted few. But career coach Richard Leider argues that everyone possesses a true calling, as well as the unique talents needed to support it. Filled with useful tools for self-assessment, The Power of Purpose helps readers uncover their own talents and aspirations, and shows how to incorporate "the common sense of soul" into everyday life. Interviews with people of all ages provide inspiring examples of those who have created lives filled with meaning and passion.
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Amazon.com Review
The Power of Purpose: Creating Meaning in Your Life and Work, by respected life/work planning specialist Richard Leider, is a lofty yet down-to-earth guide for people struggling to find their true professional callings. Developed through the author's considerable personal experience and extensive interviews conducted over the past 20 years, it's designed to serve as a jumping-off point for those who'd truly like to combine their "own unique gifts" with "the needs of the world" to carve out a vocational niche that's both individualized and highly rewarding. A helpful guide to using the material in a reading group is included.
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 The Purpose of "Purpose" ( hucklehillpress )
I discovered Richard Leider at the 1st Positive Aging Conference in Tampa, Fl last year. He is a powerfully persuasive presenter, so I decided to read the book that echoed the messages he gave when he spoke.
The Power of Purpose is a spiritually-based how-to book that builds on the presumption that all human beings long to discover their purpose; when they do, it has the power to direct and focus their energies and gives them a reason to wake up in the morning. The desire to leave a footprint, he wrote, gives us a reason for being, a mission, a sense of how important we are. ANd, in turn, we make the world a better place.
That's a big promise. And a big assumption. Leider believes that we all have a purpose, but we don't often pay attention to looking for it, noticing it, or acting upon it.
THis can be an inspirational message for people who are lost and seeking. ANd it can be validating for those who are experimenting with living life "on purpose."
I wonder, however, if every purpose is equal. Do not some of us in the world seem to have a purpose that hurts and maims others? Or sometimes our sense of purpose is purely self-serving or self-aggrandizing.
As a life coach and psychotherapist, I've spent decades working with all kinds of people. True, those with a mission and purpose, or even those who are seekers of that, as Leider describes, are wonderful to work with. But, what of the other souls who declare that they have nothing to do or think about when they are not working or watching TV? How do we help them access a purpose that's positive and healthy?
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 Obstacle2
I agree with other reviewers about positive points in this book, but what bothers me is the examples given : they all seem to be very special people : trainers, founders of training centers, vice-presidents of companies,....
This confirms obstacle 2 as given by the author : "only a few special people have true purpose in their lives". I think we have a need for purpose in our lives, even if we are a gardener, a pizza boy, a cleaning lady, a sweatshop youngster sewing T-shirts in Laos, an office clerk doing standard routine work. It is a pity that we find no such examples in this book. From the book we get the impression that the only way to find a purpose is to quit our present job and to become a trainer, writer, etc... but there are also other jobs to fill, I think. Moreover, if everybody goes into training and/or writing, these jobs will loose their financial attractiveness, I suspect.
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 This book is a must read! For negotiating mid-life transition, it's a very helpful guide! ( optechno )
I have read many of Richard Leider's books, & among them I consider 'The Power for Purpose' as the most influential on my personal growth. I have read this particular one in the late eighties/early nineties - about the time I started to ponder about what I want to do with the second half of my life. I was then a successful corporate rat, working in quiet desperation - looking damned good but actually going nowhere.
The 'Power of Purpose' is not another book about goal setting. It's a workbook to help you think through & decide whether you want to choose to lead a purposeful, productive & meaningful life. In fact, the parts that attracted me most at that time were these questions posed at the beginning of the book:
- Is your work rich & purposeful?
- Do you see yourself, through your work, as making a difference in the world?
- Do you view most work days with a sense of enthusiasm?
- Have you developed your won philosophy of life & success?
- Do you feel a sense of meaning & purpose for your life/
- Are you living your life now - or hoping that life will work out someday?
It comes complete with self-assessment questionnaires, checklists, & exercises. I recall I had spent considerable effort & time in using them to probe my life during that period of time. Together with a few other books (including Frederic Hudson's, Marsha Sinetar's & Joe Dominguez's), this book has been instrumental in creating abundant opportunities for doing what I love & loving what I do. Many thanks to you, Richard!
Since then, one of the tools that I have picked up from the book for continuing ultilisation till today is the purposeful reflection: soloing & journaling from Chapter 19. This one is a real gem! Also, from this particular chapter, I have made use of &/or adapted all the strategies as outlined in the author's 'Other Strategies for Self Management'. They have really helped me in realising total satisfaction & fulfillment in my life!
To end my review, I want to say this: This book is a must read! If you are going through a mid-life transition, just like what I had gone through during the early nineties, I can guarantee this book is definitely a very helpful guide!
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Your Simple Truth [....] ( serenesamurai )
In 1999, I read this book 3 times, during what I still say had to have been the worst possible time in my life. It was a time of profound family betrayal, or acceptance of what I didn't want to believe about who my family really is, what they had expected of me for my 43 years of life, and the role that I blindly held. This book was a painfully compelling book for me to read, yet one that had supported me through my crisis, and led me to convert my family history into becoming a public speaker, a gender-based self-esteem coach, and a journalist. Last week, I decided to read this again, as I noticed that I am being invited to events that signal to me that I have made giant steps since reading this book in 1999. I am so excited about writing and presenting tailored training to make a difference in each of my client's lives. I had written so many introspective documents, for so long, that now, even though I continue to introspectively write, I am consciously and unconsciously talking as someone who is here to make a difference in everyone whose life I do touch in some way. I have found a level of peace through reading Richard J. Leider's book that required me to look deeply in my soul and befriend everything about myself. I actually giggle when I reread my journals from 1999, where I had written profound painful feelings that I experienced. I giggle because I see how I weathered my way through living the life I am meant to live. I gave myself or found in myself gifts that I definitely approve of having.Regardless of where you are in your life, I suggest that you read this book, with a pen in hand to write down what you are thinking and feeling. Accept that this will be scary, at first. Do this, knowing that you deserve to love yourself for all who you are -- you are sent here to make a difference.
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 A Solid Effort! ( rolfdobelli )
Richard J. Leider believes everyone needs to find an individual sense of unique purpose. When you have this sense of purpose, you can use it as a central core of direction to guide your life and give it meaning. The book is simply written, easy to understand and targeted to a general audience. However, it also seems quite repetitious, in that the same ideas are explained many different ways. Some of these concepts are quite familiar, echoing some basic ideas about the importance of having a sense of mission, path, and goals, much like Laurie Beth Jones' book, The Path: Creating Your Mission Statement.... Finally, while some readers may respond deeply to Leider's spiritual and religious references, others may find them problematic, given the split in the business community about spirituality in the workplace. We... recommend this book for readers who have not yet considered this mission-focused dimension of life planning and for managers who wish to understand this perspective.
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Addiction
