There is a difference between a teacher, a mentor and a leader. Teachers provide instruction on how to learn. Mentors are guides, who show you the way inward. Leaders are the embodiment of vision; they reveal the future and your place in it.

If there is just one thing that I cherish about Yoruba culture, it's the overabundance of men who teach, mentor and lead. Nothing touchy-feely. Nothing warm and fuzzy. Just masculinity in all its glory.

Nowadays, I find myself reflecting more and more on my experience with great men, like
Babalade Olamina, Imodoye Shabazz and others. Their generosity, coupled with an astounding intellectual capacity, has made it possible for younger men, like me, to make sense of the madness that is European and African, modern and traditional, physical and metaphysical.

When it comes to his destiny, man should negotiate but he should not compromise. The endurance of OrisaLifestyle is all the evidence you need. The Yoruba remain the Yoruba, in spite of relentless incursions from Christianity, Islam and modernization, precisely because the Yoruba do not compromise. Instead, they absorb those forces that threaten to destroy them.

I call out to every Black man today. I urge you to embolden your brothers. I wish to affirm your OBLIGATIONS to uphold the tradition. I seek to remind you that the Agbole belongs to your fathers and must be handed down to your sons.

What is the Agbole? It is the original family house, where your lineage's ancestral promise was made. The Agbole represents your family's commitment to uphold certain principles and practices in an effort to help bring about the Good Condition.

There is no shame in rulership and governance. Do not hesitate to make your deepest values clear to the entire world. Like Bob Marley sang, I'm a rebel, a soul rebel! I'm a conqueror! Soul adventurer!

Live the medicine!!!
​
Obafemi Origunwa, MA | ObafemiO.com
#LivetheMedicine

If you do not understand White supremacism, everything else will only confuse you.
 
- Neely Fuller, Jr.
 
I taught all of children to play chess before they were in third grade. It provides endless lessons in power.
 
Black children need to understand their relationship to power; how to establish it, how to expand it and how to refine it.
 
In the United States, power has been monopolized by White supremacists. I know what you're thinking, "That's extreme." But if you think a bit more deeply, you will agree that the Skinheads and the Klan are just crude expressions of White supremacism.
 
The church, hospital, courthouse, bank and school are bastions of White supremacism. Make no mistake about it, ALL American institutions are incubators, proponents and defenders of White supremacism.
 
That is, ALL American institutions are violently hostile towards Black male rulership and governance.
 
The White king is absolutely certain that the Black king is his most formidable adversary. When the Black king is subdued, the game is over. Therefore, the White king must weaponize EVERY individual in every institution in an effort to neutralize the effect of the Black king.
 
Likewise, the Black king recognizes the White king as his most formidable foe. Once the White king has been taken down, the game is over. So, the Black king must weaponize every individual in every institution in an effort to neutralize the effects of the White king.
 
Most urgently, the Black king must educate and empower younger Black men. Prepare them - physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually - for the reality of life behind enemy lines.
 
Love them with all your heart. But do not allow anyone to compromise their warrior spirit. Train them in the way of empathy and compassion. But never let them forget we came to conquer. Show them how to be fair and equitable in their doings. But teach them to be relentless in their commitment to African liberation.
 
The Yoruba say, as the spring causes the river to flow, so does the wisdom of the father cause his sons to walk with pride.
 
The Holy Odu OgbeYonu goes on to tell us of the epic journey of three souls as they travelled from heaven to earth. When given the opportunity to consult with their fathers before selecting their destinies, two travellers refused.
 
It was only Afuwape who broke ranks and went to seek his father's advice about the journey. His father was none other than ORUNMILA, the lord of wisdom. Orunmila was surrounded by his fleet of priests. They advised him to sacrifice so that his son's journey would be successful. Orunmila complied.
 
As a result, Afuwape was given the inside track on selecting the most favorable destiny. And while his contemporaries spent most of their lives struggling to compensate for their poor choices of destiny, Afuwape thrived throughout his life.
 
His friends lamented, "If only I knew where Afuwape had chosen his destiny! I would have chosen mine from that same place" Afuwape replied, "We chose our destinies form the same place! But I sacrificed before I made my selection."
 
It was because of his father's wisdom that Afuwape became the epitome of excellence.
 
May we all rise to the occasion and raise our sons to become wise, Black kings! Ase!
 
Obafemi Origunwa, MA | ObafemiO.com

Last night, I dreamt of a spiral staircase. Not only that, it was rotating. There were a couple of young boys on the staircase with me. One of them remarked that you never return to the same place on a rotating spiral staircase like this one. In my mind, I agreed with him, but I also make a note of the fact that you do return to the same coordinates. You just reach those coordinates at a higher level each time.

People are fond of the saying, the lessons will repeat until you learn them. It sounds good but it's misleading because it implies that someday, the lessons will end. This is untrue. All of life is learning. When you stop learning you stop living. So except the fact that the lessons are actually very few. It is only a matter of your perspective and the level at which you are learning that determines how you learn it.

Consider for example, the law of reciprocity. You may have learned that lesson at 3 years old, but you will need to learn it again in a very different way at 30 years old. And then, even if you master the law of reciprocity you must turn around and teach it, which requires an entirely different learning process. So maturity is synonymous with endless learning.

I am looking for Leaders with a true commitment to guide others through positive influence, to live the medicine that will heal their lives and heal the lives of those who are they are destined to serve. Is that you?

Learn how Obafemi Origunwa and the Orisa Lifestyle Academy can help take your life to the next level.

Learn more: www.ObafemiO.com
#OrisaLifestyle
​#LivetheMedicine

MONEY & FREEDOM
The marketplace has deceived you. That is, your social environment relentlessly promotes the idea that money determines possibilities. The equation is simple; more money = more freedom. This is not entirely true, however. In fact, it's quite deceptive.

In reality, the more money you have, the more you have to lose. In other words, the higher the risk, the more conservative you become. Why don't "good" cops speak out against "bad" cops? They are afraid. Why don't ALL Black athletes take a knee during the National Anthem? They are afraid. Why don't you quit your job and become an entrepreneur? You are afraid. 

Money is NOT freedom. 

PRIORITIES
Your priorities are simply those things that you need to do NEXT. I'm not talking about putting out fires or resolving conflicts or overcoming crises. When I say priorities, I am referring to those specific activities that have a direct relationship to your mission in life. Your priorities must align with your destiny. 

True priorities begin with "WHY" and end with "WHAT." That is, WHY do you exist and WHAT are you trying to accomplish? 

My work revolves around helping you derive purpose in your life, not just get results from your actions. There is a huge difference.

I have worked with so many people who have spent tens of thousands of dollars and travelled halfway around the world to get beads, pots and titles but they have no idea why. The overwhelming majority of the people scrambling from teacher to teacher and from tradition to tradition cannot clearly articulate how any of their activities connect directly to their missions in life.

They have fallen into the trap of putting the WHAT before the WHY and their accomplishments leave them hollow and empty as a result. 

Everything meaningful begins with a clear definition of WHY. This is especially true when it comes to your spiritual journey.

Your highest priority is to get super clear about why you are seeking guidance, why you must accomplish certain levels of spiritual awakening and why ancestral empowerment is essential to your life's work. 

Until you set these priorities, you will remain a customer, whose priorities are incorrect and your development will be defined by external market forces. 

COME CORRECT
Your priorities consist of a short list of things that you must do in order to BE THE PERSON you know you are meant to be and MAKE THE CONTRIBUTION that only you can make.

When you look at your daily routine and you think that the odds are very high that these activities will GUARANTEE that you're aligned with your purpose, then you've probably chosen correctly. 

Here's the interesting part, your priorities are probably not very pleasant. You don't necessarily want to do the things that need to be done. 

Part of my role is to help you connect the dots between what you have to do and why it really matters. I help you see the link between the immediate actions and the ultimate goals, the most important of which is fulfilling your destiny. 

GET CLEAR
Most people have too many priorities (and too much stuff on their altars!), The best way to fail is to try and please everybody. One of the first things I do with people is remove the clutter. You're distracting yourself with all these irrelevant options that just leave you running in circles. 

Eliminate all the unnecessary options because ultimately, too many priorities means you actually have no priorities. I like the Haitian proverb that says, "Dog had four legs, but only walks in one direction." 

You can only choose one direction. You can only excel at one discipline. You can only serve one person or cause. Get clear about who you really are and let your priorities follow suit. 

FOCUS IS FREEDOM
As you limit your focus you also free yourself from distractions. Your imagination can run wild as you leverage all your resources in support of a single outcome, which is fulfillment of your destiny. 

FREEDOM WITHIN A FRAMEWORK
A couple of days ago, I was chatting with a friend about my spiritual practice. At one point she remarked, "Oh, so you like order." My first response was, "Yes!" But in my heart I was thinking, "NO!" So, I had to think about it and then retract my "Yes!"

In truth, I am not much of a stickler on discipline. I just like the freedom that order creates. For me, the best example of this is jazz. In terms of rhythm, pitch and key, it's extremely precise. But in terms of improvisation, jazz is equally free flowing. This particular balance is what some people call freedom within a framework. 

The basic idea is that the framework provides consistency and stability. Once you're safe within the framework, you're free to be as creative - and productive - as you can be. 

PUTTING OUT FIRES IN THE RAT RACE
If you're like me, you would like to enjoy the freedom without having to manage the framework. It's cool for a while. But sooner or later, the lack of order will catch up to you. Next thing you know, there is all kinds of chaos and you're suddenly running all over the place trying to put out fires. If you have small children - or have ever had to manage a team of adults - you know how frenzied life can get without a framework:

​You wake up an hour before work and rush to get ready. You shower at lightning speed, MAYBE gulp down something for breakfast, and run out the door. You get to work, still running and already overwhelmed. To make things interesting, maybe you're also late for a meeting or you're behind on a deadline. You spend all day scrambling to catch up. 

After work, you eat dinner, sprawl out on the couch, and binge on social media or Netflix. You fall asleep around midnight, wake up the next morning and do the same thing all over again. By Wednesday, you’re burned out and know you won't hit this week's goals. How do you get out of this miserable rut? How do you create the mental space you need to be more productive and creative? Two words: Daily routines.

The first time I really learned to appreciate how a daily routine creates a creative framework was in college. I wanted to study abroad in Costa Rica but I had just transferred and my GPA was a little too low. I was carrying a full course load and I worked part time. So my time was extremely limited. My schedule had to be air tight if I was going to do everything I wanted to do. I remember writing my daily routine down and posting it on the wall above my desk. I kept another copy on the cover of my binder. There was no room for deviation. 

My daily routine paid off! The framework granted me twelve months of tropical freedom and a lifetime of precious memories! Believe me when I say, being productive is just the beginning. The real value of following a daily routine is that it allows you to create the kinds of experiences that will make your life truly meaningful. 

How do you want to live? Above and beyond what you want to accumulate and what you would like to accomplish, what kinds of experiences do you really want to create for yourself and the people you're destined to serve? ​

Daily routines set the stage for success and fulfillment. They help you achieve more, think clearly, and do what actually matters, instead of run around chasing shiny objects and putting out fires. Daily routines keep you from randomly stumbling through your day and make sure you get the most important things done.

All it takes is a bit of discipline, along with a routine that will set you up for real success. Here, I'm going to share my own experience with daily routines so that you can implement your own and start to create more perfect days for yourself and the people you serve.

MORNING RITUALS: JUST GET UP!
​I invite you to go do a bit of research on morning rituals. You'll find that most high achievers awaken before dawn in order to prepare for the day. My mother - of blessed memory - used to tell me, "Son, you can get more done before 6 am than most people do all day long if you put your mind to it." In those early hours, you can execute the rituals that prepare you for the rest of the day while the rest of the world is asleep. 

I know, I know... You're not a morning person. Neither am I! To be honest, I don't know many people who are. But you can - you should - train yourself to wake up before dawn for the many benefits an early rise can bring. The most important benefit of rising early is that you are granted more productivity with fewer distractions. You get time to think. You will also enjoy greater creativity because you can work when your mind is fresh, before the daily stress sets in. And, if that weren't enough, researchers in one study found that people with morning rituals reported higher levels of positivity and well-being. [1]

As soon as you get up, bathe and get dressed. If you dilly dally, you'll end up falling back to sleep... Just for five minutes... An hour later, you're later than ever! For about 5 years, I have been waking up at 4:30 am. Once I am up, bathed and dressed, I have time to do my prayers and meditation. If you're one of my clients, I have probably prescribed a morning ritual for you to recall your dreams and plan your day. Before dawn is liminal time, when the world is in between stillness and activation. It's the infancy of your day, when your consciousness is closest to raw, unfiltered mental energy. It's the best time to envision, clarify and plan the rest of your day. 

EVENING RITUALS
Your end game is just as important as your opening. By implementing evening rituals into your daily routine, you prepare yourself for the next morning, evaluate your performance that day, and give yourself more incentives to get things done the next day. 

Before bed, review your day. Start from the evening and work your way backwards, to the beginning. This is an important exercise that I have prescribed to many of my clients with great results. Not only does it increase your memory, but it also helps you come to a better understanding of how things actually unfold. Mike Tyson said, "Everybody has a plan until he gets punched in the mouth." How did you actually respond in real time? Where did you do well? What opportunities did you overlook or mishandle? What prevented you from doing your very best? 

The answers to these questions will create more opportunities for you to learn from your experience and make the necessary adjustments for improvement going forward. So, the last thing you do before sleeping is to set your intentions. Psychology teaches us that children grow while they sleep. Teachers know that the mind processes information while you sleep as well. So, things you are introduced to on one day can be well-understood the next. What is the one thing you would like to address and improve upon tomorrow? End the day by sending your mind on an errand to retrieve the answers you need. 

It can seem tough to ritualize your day. It definitely takes intention and discipline. Most of the time, it is much easier to just play it by ear and let things happen as they will. 
But before you know it, you'll find yourself in a rut. Things will become too random or you'll be trapped in a meaningless rat race, scurrying from work to home to the market to pick up and drop off children at school.

The best thing about creating your daily routine is that you get to organize it around the things you WANT to do. You decide what freedom is for you and then you create a schedule that will enable you to enjoy it! 
So stick with the process. You may find it tedious at first, but you’ll find your days will flow much more smoothly when you've committed to quality morning and evening routines. 

If you would like support around creating and adjusting your daily routines, let's talk. I would be glad to help you achieve more of what you want. 

RIDE OR DIE
Thousands of years ago, bridge burning was a military strategy used to sever the route between your troops and an advancing enemy. It also meant there was no returning to where you’d just been: You were committed to marching onward, no matter what happened. 

Burning the ships was a very similar tactic. Legend has it that the practice originated in 1519, when Hernán Cortés set sail to Veracruz, Mexico with his crew. Cortés had defied the orders of his superiors and left Cuba on a mission to see the magical city of Tenochtitlán, which is present day Mexico City. He faced imprisonment or death for defying the governor if he returned to Cuba. So his only alternative was to advance. Those of his men still loyal to the Governor of Cuba conspired to seize a ship and return there, but Cortés moved swiftly and decided to sink his ships. With no possibility of leaving Mexico, Cortés marched into the interior, to confront the Aztecs. Burning our ships - like burning bridges - means there is no turning back to old habits and ways.  

KNOW YOUR ENEMY
​There was once a small bird who loved the woodsy northern climates so much he stayed until fall, instead of flying south for the winter. When he finally did leave, it was far too late in the season to be flying and he got caught in a fierce storm somewhere over a farm. The storm coated his wings in ice and he fell to the ground where he thought he would die. As he laid on the ground a cow wandered by and shit on him. At first he was angry and mortified. Then he realized the warm mess was melting the ice on his wings and heating up his frozen body. As he came back to life and struggled to get out a coyote who was passing by saw him and came over to dig him out. “A friend!” the little bird thought. “Let me help you,” the coyote said. “Stop struggling and leave it all to me.” “How fortunate I am to have found a friend,” the bird thought…until the coyote finished digging him out popped him into his mouth and ate him.

THE MORAL: Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy and not everyone who helps you is your friend.

THE PRISONERS' DILEMMA
The prisoner's dilemma is a standard example of game theory that shows why two completely rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge, but they have enough to convict both on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The offer is:

• If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves two years in prison
• If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve three years in prison (and vice versa)
• If A and B both remain silent, both of them will only serve one year in prison (on the lesser charge).

It is implied that the prisoners will have no opportunity to reward or punish their partner other than the prison sentences they get and that their decision will not affect their reputation in the future. Because betraying a partner offers a greater reward than cooperating with them, all purely rational self-interested prisoners will betray the other, meaning the only possible outcome for two purely rational prisoners is for them to betray each other.[1] The interesting part of this result is that pursuing individual reward logically leads both of the prisoners to betray when they would get a better reward if they both kept silent. 

THE THIRD OPTION
In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey describes six paradigms of human interaction. All but one is based upon polarized, dualistic thinking; somebody either wins or loses. Unfortunately, because the overwhelming majority of our people are employees and renters, we never actually win anything. So we end up like street gangs and prison kingpins who are willing to die on every hill without ever gaining the leverage necessary to actually OWN it. In this regard, maintaining any kind of win/lose mentality is painfully self-destructive. Every time you win, you actually lose. It's either we both win or there is no deal. 

Recently, I saw an exemplary post on a friend's Facebook page. He's from Ghana. According to this post, every family in the church congregation is earning over 100K. Not only that, every high school graduate had been accepted to college. The only way you can get those kinds of outcomes is when the culture is organized around win/win thinking. 

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it."
- Patrick Young

Let's start with the indisputable fact that all information is subject to change. We cannot predict anything with absolute certainty. But what if you had the ability to really predict the future?!?! Imagine the things you could do, the problems you could avoid. Your confidence would skyrocket from being able to anticipate things before they even happen. Certainly, the power to predict is what has made oracles an indispensable part of every civilization on earth, since the dawn of time. From the Chinese to the Danes to the Aztecs and the Yoruba, you will not find a single civilization that has not traditionally practiced some form of divination.

In contemporary business and science circles, people don't openly speak of oracles and divination. Instead, it is more common to talk about "forecasting." As such, statistics, pie charts and graphs have taken the place of bones, shells and crystal balls. But the desired outcome remains unchanged: Get high quality information before your competitors so that you can take the advantage.  

When I was a corporate consultant, my biggest client was Walmart. It was during that time that I was introduced to some of the ideas of Sam Walton, the founder of the company. One of his quotes really resonated with me and I never forgot it: "You can't just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing. To succeed, stay out in front of change."  Today, Walmart remains the industry leader, achieving peak performance in its brick and mortar stores and in online sales, as well. [1]

FORECASTING HEALS
Forecasting does more than create competitive advantage. When done strategically, it empowers and heals people. Stated another way, when people don't know that they are doing and why, it creates anxiety and sets the stage for underperformance. Forecasting clarifies responsibility and priorities and facilitates cooperation. As a healing mechanism, it gets the team thinking about cause and effect—what they can do now to improve future results or avoid some identified risk. In my personal experience, forecasting makes me a better leader and teacher, and it gets everyone on my team involved in helping our group to achieve collective success. [2]

​Patterns of Prediction and Control 
In a paper published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, the researchers show that potential entrepreneurs expressed reluctance to start a new venture in scenarios in which they felt uncertain about the options at their disposal, their ability to achieve their goals and the responses of their competitors (McKelvie et al., 2009). Think about it, most people hesitate when they are unclear about what is going to happen next. 

Two main strategies to reduce uncertainty stand out in entrepreneurship research— namely prediction-based and control-based strategies. Predictive strategies focus on gathering information to estimate unknowns, whereas control-based strategies aim to shape the environment through proactive behavior. [3] 

When we consider the Stages of Change theory, however, we glimpse an interesting intersection between prediction and control. The idea here is that change is a developmental process that unfolds in a consistent, five stage pattern: 

1. Pre-contemplation: People in this stage are not thinking seriously about changing and tend to defend their current behavior patterns
2. Contemplation: People in this stage are able to consider the possibility of quitting or reducing a behavior but feel ambivalent about taking the next step. 
3. Preparation: People in this stage have usually made a recent attempt to change behavior. They the 'cons' of continuing as outweighing the 'pros' and they are less ambivalent about taking the next step. They are usually taking some small steps towards changing behavior. 
4. Action: People in this stage have actively involved in taking steps to change their using behavior and making great steps towards significant change. Ambivalence is still very likely at this stage. May try several different techniques and are also at greatest risk of relapse.
5. Maintenance: People in this stage are able to successfully avoid any temptations to return to prior behavior. They have learned to anticipate and handle temptations to use and are able to employ new ways of coping. They can have a temporary slip, but don't tend to see this as failure.

​
[RELATED: Listen to the podcast version]

THE POWER OF PREDICTION
Prediction enables you to control your future by anticipating risks and opportunities. And if you engage your team (e.g., your family, coworkers, etc) in the process, you’ll find that the people around you are more likely to pay attention to their performance in ways they never did before. Now, for me personally, this is something that is really pertinent to my work in the classroom, as well as within the temple. So, what I am going to share reflects what I have learned until to date, as well as adjustments I will make going forward. 

Here’s how to optimize prediction:

1. First, focus on the one thing that determines whether your team is winning or losing. In our temple, we practice a biweekly divination called itadogun. It's a time when I cast Ifa for the community and share predictions about everything, from health to employment to relationships, all according to the message of Ifa. My challenge going forward will be to share the message in a way that relates to the one thing that will reflect how well we're doing as a group. I other words, in order for prediction to work for us, we need a single target that will guide every member's interpretation of the biweekly message. In the classroom, it simply boils down to the targeted average grade. For example, I might forecast that the class will average a B+ and use that prediction every grading period to guide each student's performance. Your own key number could be income, shipments, or any other variable that’s critical to your group's success. The real power is to tie an incentive plan to improvements in the key number in order to really drive interest. 
2. Second, involve individual team members in the prediction process. In the temple, we perform the itadogun together and I usually share the outcomes with the members via email.  Recently, I have been assigning an “owner” to each function that will make the itadogun successful. Going forward, however, I am going to take it a step further and delegate responsibility for each line item that affects our key number.  That way, everyone can see how the different components affect our overall performance.
3. Third, get people together weekly to update the forecast. Historically, we gathered weekly for worship. But going forward, I am going to adjust the format to focus on how well we're doing, relative to our key performance indicators. After all, what could be more important to discuss each week than whether we're winning? Even if the update is simply “no change from last week,” it will keep our eyes on the prize. When forecasts do change, however, that's where we can discover real value. As the leader, it will be my responsibility to encourage the members to provide a brief explanation of why things have shifted favorably or unfavorably, so that everyone can absorb the lesson, relative to our key performance metrics. This process encourages additional learning. It also gives you a clear idea of who is on top of his or her business and who needs help.
4. Fourth, identify "nano practices" that give people single-serving behaviors that begin to form the patchwork of action toward solving a single problem or reaching a single goal. Nano practices can - and should be - easy to remember and convenient to perform. Over time, these repeated small actions become habits that shape our daily lives. Eventually, such practices even shift our core values.  

Based on these theories and practices, I have created a model to measure the effectiveness of communications in moving individuals towards behavior change through prediction. The model tracks individual progression from awareness to action. Depending upon the nature of the prediction and its subsequent campaign, the model seeks to frame up your personal and collective goals within a specified period of time. Are you ready to learn more about how you can use prediction and forecasting to support your personal and group planning?

JUST DO YOU
The all-consuming-self has an endless appetite for attention. If that weren't bad enough, the culture seems to validate and reinforce the idea that your self satisfaction is all that really matters. As a result, just about anything you do in the name of "doing you" is justified in the court of public opinion. You can find an almost endless supply of books, blogs, and websites that will help you "do you" better than ever. Doing you is synonymous with happiness.  Over the years, however, experience has shown me a very big difference between two kinds of happiness;

• happiness that comes from gratification and
• happiness that comes from a sense of purpose

Happiness that results from gratification usually focuses on events, products and experiences that feel positive in the moment. The downside of "do you" happiness is that unless it is tied to something sustainable, you eventually end up feeling worse than when you started. Stated differently, the world will certainly celebrate your impulsive spending, excessive sexual indulgences, unhealthy food choices, or substance abuse in the name of "doing you." And while plenty of businesses profit from making it convenient to "do you," nobody bears the consequences of having done so... but you. In the end, you'll come away with some cool stuff and a handful of good stories. Unfortunately, these experiences are balanced out by some intense feelings of emptiness and regret. 

The truth is, the majority the people I have worked with over the years really have more than they need to live comfortably. In spite of the fact that they're doing well financially, they are also struggling daily to connect with a deeper sense of meaning.  

So let's take a look at how can you find meaning in a world that is flooded with messages that constantly reinforce the idea that every need can be fulfilled through purchasing something. 

This is where we turn away from instant gratification and materialism and focus upon happiness that results from a sense of purpose. Ironically, purpose-driven experiences might not be purely pleasurable, but they do increase your sense of connectedness to deeper values. Consider volunteerism, for example. Studies have shown that volunteering helps people who donate their time feel more socially connected, thus warding off loneliness and depression. [1] Altruism in many forms, from donating money to a worthy cause to random acts of kindness, have been shown to light up the same reward centers of the brain associated with food and sex. Helping others is a natural high our brains are wired for. [2] Again, these activities may not always be easy or convenient, but they will intensify your reasons for living. 

​PURPOSE IS PERSONAL 
By now, you might be getting the message that self indulgence is bad and service to others is good. Beyond good and bad, however, I want you to pick up on what will work best for you over time and under a variety of circumstances. That is, your purpose is what some people call your True North. "Are you all you want to be? Do you have a path to fulfilling your dreams? You can do so just by being yourself, and developing the gifts already inside you. Can you recall a time when you felt intensely alive? A moment when you could say with confidence, “This is the real me?” That is when you are in sync with your True North.[3]

There are many reasons why you may not know your purpose (i.e., True North). Sometimes it's because the world's problems seem too big. Other times, you might think you're just too small.  But if you want to change all that and find your life purpose, follow these steps:

1. What are your natural gifts and talents? What comes naturally to you? 
2. Who do you serve? Who seeks you out for advice, services, support or products? What problem do you help them solve? How do you know when they are satisfied with your contribution? 
3. What have you been doing? Recall a job you did very well. What was your role? What did you accomplish? What was your greatest difficulty?  How did you make it? Who were your supporters? What did you learn from the experience overall? Why did you leave? 

​
I encourage you to pause momentarily and synthesize the main ideas we have covered so far, from happiness to service to innovation. Together, they set the stage for you to recall and practice your purpose at will. 

As you recall your responses to the questions I posed above, juxtaposed against the image of the Hero's Journey, you will likely see some overlap. The hero - like Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins, or Luke Skywalker - represents the quest to discover and master your identity, which is synonymous with destiny. The process of becoming a hero then, is what we call Ijo L'aiye, the journey of life. Each segment of the journey is an invitation to show up more fully and demonstrate your ability to focus relentlessly and perform effortlessly.  The ways in which you answer those questions will become the laws of your personal priesthood. Your life story is your sacred text in this regard.  Every day, you contribute to another chapter.  

​Obafemi Origunwa, MA | ObafemiO.com
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