Richard Leider is a best-selling author and coach, he’s also a very entertaining speaker. His Ted Talk, at the Edina Tedx event, is full of stories and insights.
My purpose, is to help others unlock their purpose.
Richard Leider
The first story he tells is of an interview with a tribal elder of the Hadze people, sitting under a baobab tree in Tanzania. The elder turns the interview around and asks “Richard, do you know what the two most important days in your life are?“.
The two most important day’s of your life are the day you are born, and the day you determine why you are born: how you fit in, what you’re here to do, and be, in the tribe.
Tribal elder of the Hadze people
Richard Leider goes on to tell another story of walking through foot hills of Kilimanjaro and the experience of ‘repacking your bags‘ (the title of one of his books) to be fit for the journey.
In repacking your bags for your journey ahead he talks about 3 fundamentals, the ‘3Ms’:
- Money
- Medicine
- Meaning
I was surprised that the first ‘M’ was money! He talks about money “determining success”, to me that’s not quite right. Money is fundamental, only because it allows you choices in life.
Medicine is code for health.
And Meaning is our reason to get up in the morning.
To bring this to life, he tells another story of a conversation with a Boston taxi driver. They’re stuck in traffic and they get chatting. Richard asks him 3 questions, on a scale of 1 – 10 (1 = no, 10 = yes, and somewhere in between):
- Do you love what you do?
- Is there any part of your day when you really love what you do?
- Are there any people that you love serving more than others?
These 3 questions helped the taxi driver find his calling. Take a look at the video:
As Richard says:
Callings are when you bring your gifts, your passions, and your values together, into your work, into your life.
Richard Leider, Ted Talk
Are you using your gifts, on things you feel passionate about, in environments that fit your values?
Richard, in his Ted Talk, described this as the bottom line of happiness, productivity and fulfillment.
