Be Wrong In Public

Finding your purpose is hard

Finding out what you’re supposed to do in life is hard.

Finding out who you’re supposed to be is messy.

I really only know one surefire way to go about it.

Be willing to be wrong in public.

Emerson…

When I was 25 years old, I stood in front of a group of family and friends and declared that I would spend my life with a particular woman.

Wrong.

Later that same year, I started my first post-college job as a children’s minister in Florida. I assumed I was beginning a career.

Wrong.

Sometime after my first wife left and people my age started having children, I declared that I would never have kids — that I just wasn’t cut out for it.

Wrong.

I tried working for a church again. This time doing video production for a mega church. I stated loudly and often that this was my dream job.

Wrong.

After that job went away. I started a video production company — assuming this would be an area where I could make my mark.

Wrong.

I started advising companies on telling their story via marketing. I was the story guy.

Wrong.

I focused on teaching personal brand to business owners and entrepreneurs. I was the personal brand guy.

Wrong.

I was the hypnotherapy guy.

Wrong.

I was the dream analysis guy.

Wrong.

Every time I was wrong in public, as painful or potentially embarrassing as I imagined it to be, I got closer to my purpose. Got closer to the real me.

Have I arrived? Am I finally done with being wrong in public?

I doubt it. I doubt I ever will be.

But, as Emerson said, when viewed from enough distance, the path I’m on will look like a straight line - Like I’ve only ever been headed in one direction.

All those wrongs finally making a right.