POWERED BY PURPOSE BLOG

Christine Her, executive director of ArtForce Iowa, shares how understanding values and purpose can transform your work and your life.

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Powered by Purpose Speaker, Emily Steele, is the ultimate relationship-builder. Read her guest blog to find out what first sparked her realization that it was her purpose and learn how building meaningful relationships could help you amplify your purpose and better your business. 

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Erik Dominguez, public speaking and storytelling coach with Speak Up Stories, encouraged our Powered By Purpose Speaker Series attendees to share - publicly - something they like about themselves for 30 days. He took on the challenge himself and shares what he learned from his experience in this guest blog. 

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From a voiceless child to a woman sharing the voices of the community, Dwana Bradly shares her life of purpose in this guest blog post.

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Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel, Proteus Executive Director, fearlessly lives out his purpose as a strong leader and voice in our community. Daniel shared this  blog post he wrote about a friendly, well-known children’s TV host who first inspired his quest for equality and justice. 

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In this guest blog, Tony Wilson, motivational speaker and author, shares the inherent process we go through to create our reality and encourages readers to be more intentional about the thoughts we have in every moment.  

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According to our guest blogger Tessa Mills, fertility awareness educator and founder of EmpowHERed Coaching, the first step in living a purposeful life is to define what that would look like for you. Let's get started with these 8 questions. 

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How a Pantone color-of-the-year inspired Coral Thede, a cultivator of arts & experiences in Des Moines, Iowa, to live a life of purpose and passion.

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In December of 2019, I helped host a women’s retreat in Des Moines. Since the retreat took place right before the new year, it was a good time to help participants take time to think about their priorities and values. Identifying individual values is critical as you work toward defining or revisiting your life’s purpose. Even more importantly, your values help you live out your purpose, guiding not only the thoughts and people you allow into your life, but also the activities you say “yes” or “no” to participating in.

As a new year approaches again, it is a good time to re-evaluate values—especially after the year we’ve all endured!

Follow the five steps below to narrow down and identify the values you find most significant to your own purpose.

1. Print out (or write down) the list of values below. You may find it helpful to cut out each word into its own square, allowing you to move around and prioritize the values that most resonate with you as you work through the list.
   
   
2. Narrow the list down to 15 values that you identify as important to you by eliminating those that aren’t as important to you.
   
   
3. Take a moment to think about this list and narrow it down again to eight values. Removing words from your list doesn’t mean they aren’t a part of your life or that you don’t respect or value the words meaning; it just means they are less important in your day-to-day than the remaining values.
   
   
4. As an effort to consider what is truly the most important to you, narrow your list down again to four values. Theses final four are the most important to you at this point in your life and hold the most weight.
   
   
5. Intentionally make space for the four values. Choosing behaviors, activities, words in conversations that align most with these final four will show you where your interests and passions are and allow you to live your most authentic life. 

Family
Courage
Comfort
Diversity
Trust
Forgiveness
Creativity & Innovation
Fun
Fitness
Mindfulness & Presence
Adventure
Change
Professional Achievement
Commitment
Personal Achievement
Wisdom
Benevolence & Generosity
Fairness
Time Off
Adventure
Faith/Spirituality
Growth
Accountablility
Nutrition
Kindness
Drive & Determination
Teamwork
Balance
Recognition
Love
Structure
Volunteerism & Service
Simplicity
Punctuality
Curiosity
Joy
Authority

About the Author:
Jessica Nelsen is the Community Impact Coordinator in Health for United Way of Central Iowa. She also co-owns Sisterhood Soup, an organization working to connect women to a community of supportive sisters and empower them to discover their inherent magic.
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How often are you working in a group with team members you vaguely know? How well do you know the people and leaders in your department? How well do you know the leaders of your organization?

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