I got a story from one of my 1st draft editors saying that the book helped her reconsider her career. Within the next 3 months, she is leaving her career as a lawyer and pursuing her passion for animals as a veterinarian. I heard this second hand through her friend who read her veterinarian school essays this past weekend. They are in the book club of 4 people that is reading the book together

A total 360 change!

If the fist draft can do that, wait until the final draft!

In my experience, I rarely see a guy give another guy something for free. But today, I got a free copy at Kinkos. I went on Tuesday to make copies for a book club that selected You Can't Google Purpose as its next read. I made 5 copies but I thought I paid for 6. So I went back today during my lunch break just to make sure that I paid for 5 and not 6. It turns out I paid $48 for 5 and I was more than happy to pay for a sixth one that I needed for someone else and the guy gave it to me for free. Maybe he saw the title and thought to himself "This is a noble cause! Why not?"

It's warm today, but I'm not talking about fans that blow wind. I'm talking about a fan that loves my work.

My homegirl, whose book club is reading the book, was reading it on the train and the guy sitting next to her was all up in her business as if they were reading the book together. He inquired about the title of the book and she let him read the first 2 pages of the book.

He said that he is an entrepreneur but is still trying find his purpose.

What a story to start your day off with.

I hope Google lets me use that title.

I want to thank all of my editors who made the time to endure the roughness of my rough draft. I had missing and misspelled words, incomplete thoughts, poor punctuation, and bad grammar all over. That's why it helps to have a few sets of eyes. Each reader found something new to edit, add, or delete. I'm trying to include as many people as possible in the co-creation of the work of art because I want to make sure that it truly transforms people.

Imagine doing this for 120 pages. It's taking me about 6-8 hours to go through each person's feedback. After going through 6 people's feedback over the past 2 weeks, I already know that the book is 10 times better. Below is what one edited page looks like and below that is the edited excerpt from the book.

Here's page 9 from the book:

You can tell more about a person by what they search for than what they have. If they already had what they needed, they wouldn't be searching for it. Instead of asking someone "Are you searching?" a better question is 'What are you searching for?" We're always searching for something. What you are search for tells someone where you are going which is more important than where you landed, where you are, or where you have been. What we search for inevitably drives our consciousness and consumption because we search for things we don’t have and therefore must want. The world we see today is simply a manifestation of yesterday’s thoughts and aspirations. Thus, we must be careful what we invest our physical and thought energy into today for it will inevitably become our reality tomorrow.

Most people's search for purpose begins outside of themselves, looking to people and places to help them find it. Often times our parents project their fears, disguised as hopes for us, from an early age. Parents tend to unconsciously carve a path for us instead of laying the foundation for us to carve our own. They plan our childhoods based on what they think made them or their peers successful. Instead of asking if you wanted to play the piano, they probably just signed you up for lessons and told you to go, and then got mad at you for not liking it. Our parents just want us to be safe and secure. They see their job as our protectors. However safety doesn't necessarily mean happiness. They are just acting out of love even if you may disagree. Then there is the teacher or counselor that said what you could or couldn't do based on your academic records and their short 45-minute interactions with you during your high school or college career. Finally, there are those assessment tests that claim to tell you the career that will fit you the best in 30 minutes or less. For the sake of this process, simply put everyone else’s projections of you in the backseat of your mind where backseat drivers should be. You may look to them later but you won’t need them now.

Great quest-ions lead to great quest. My hope is to narrow your search for purpose by simply channeling your curiosity to questions that matter like: who am I? What's my purpose? Why am I here? People all over the world are seeking to find meaning and answer these questions in church, at work, through volunteering, etc. You may have a purpose at work, but your professional self is only a fraction of your entire self. When I use the word 'narrow', my intention isn’t to shrink (as in make smaller and less impactful) your purpose. By 'narrow', I mean to focus (as in concentrate power to create more force and impact) your purpose so that it’s more powerful and effective. Your keywords will be unique clues for your quest and they will provide you with a starting point for the rest of your journey beyond this book.

Thank you to all of my readers for supporting me in this process by:

• offering to read and edit the first draft (Tanisha, Sam, Ayinde, Leslie, Sophia, Boris, Danya, Scott, Vera, Noni, Shaquita, Aimee, Mbwana, Kalonji, Daisuke, Sarah, Milan, Sallome, Angelo, Mommy)
  
• finding me opportunities to speak about the 8Ps (Real Talk & The Stoop)
• sending me words of encouragement over Google Chat (Everyone)
• continuing to read my blog (Everyone)

It's a real real rough 1st draft, but that's what 1st drafts are all about. I just needed to get it out. I can iterate from there. I still have to work on the end of chapter activities and questions as well as the profiles for each chapter. But the core content is there. I'm going to print and read through it once before sending it off to the 10 people who volunteered to read it.

My fingers hurt! I've started brushing my teeth with my left hand to give my right hand some rest from mouse clicking and space barring. The first draft came out to be 120 pages single-spaced. I'm not sure how many pages that's going to translate into as a book, but I don't want to the book to be that long anyway.

Thanks for all of your support!

Book Overview

Since March 2008, I been focused on writing my first book, "You Can't Google Purpose: 8 ways to narrow your search for purpose" (Click here to try Googling your purpose).

Whereas Google's search engine helps us search for external information outside of ourselves, the only search in-gine that can help us find our unique purpose is us. The book is based on the 8 Principles of Purpose, an 8 step process to facilitate the in-word search for individuals and organizations.

In the meantime, follow my journey as I write the book here or start here:

1. Google's letter to me regarding the book title
2. My 1st book proposal rejection letter.

Right-ing!

Google needs to self-reflect

In case you don't know, I'm writing a book called "You Can't Google Purpose". I had to ask Google for permission to use their name in my book title and here's what they said.
_____________________

Hi Jullien,

Thanks for your request. Your current title is categorically untrue
because you can in actually search for the word 'purpose' on Google.
Therefore, literally you can 'google purpose' and metaphysically, many
people do find inner guidance and spiritual answers through information
retrieved by web searches. Additionally, we do not allow for the use of
'Google' as a verb as in 'googling'.

You may use the word 'Google' on a cover, as long as that usage is
approved. However, you may not use a Google logo. Feel free to respond
to this email alias to further discuss your future title.

Please respond to this message; any emails sent directly to
brand-permissions@google.com will not be received.

Thanks,

Googler

I went to work early today so that I could get home early and spend the rest of the evening writing the first chapter of You Can't Google Purpose. While on the train, one of my brothers for good, William Pena, sent an email to over 50 of his family and friends asking us to vote for his video on Current TV so that it gets aired on national television.

The 6 minute video is about a young man named Hunter Silcock who lives with cerebral palsy. William had the the privilege of working with Hunter for a year back in 2006, documenting his passion for writing and painting and inspiring the world through Hunter's positive outlook on life.

Then I thought to myself...Here I am...Laying on my bed...Procrastinating...Making up excuses NOT to write a book that I know can change the world. No more excuses!

Thank you Hunter & William for pursuing your passions for writing, painting, and filmmaking together.

I voted!

Don't wait until November to get in the habit of voting :)

1. Watch the video
2. Register
3. Vote "I like it".

I'm right-ing,

Internally and externally, I feel called to write this book...now! I was going to wait until I moved to California and had "space and time" to focus, but I can't. That was just an excuse. The space and time is now. I feel like the book is already within me and just needs to be written.

My 26th birthday is on July 11th. My hope is to be able to give out the 1st draft of the book to all the guest at my 26th birthday. It would be like an album release party :)

So here's my time line:

Chapter 1: Preface by 5/15
Chapter 2: Process by 5/17
Chapter 3: Principles by 5/24
Chapter 4: Passions by 5/31
Chapter 5: Problems by 6/7
Chapter 6: People by 6/14
Chapter 7: Picture by 6/21
Chapter 8: Pioneers by 6/28
Chapter 9: Positioning by 7/4
Chapter 10: Possibility by 7/11
Chapter 11: Conclusion by 7/11

Right-ing!

April 30, 2008







Today I lead a workshop on the 8 Principles of Purpose for 300 Ghanaian young adults through my friend Allah Jesus' (that's his real name) company called Real Talk.

Because it was over the phone, I wasn't really able to engage with them as deeply as possible, but here are a few question that I got:

1. Once you've found your purpose, how do you maintain it?

Friends and community are your maintenance. It's easier to fix a flat tire with 2 people instead of 1. Your partners pump you up. Its no fun going on a road trip alone.

2. What if a physical disability is preventing you from doing what you love?

There are many examples of people with physical dis-abilities that are living or lived purposeful lives. They have found ways to use their dis-ability to their advantage instead of thinking about it as a dis-advantage:

• sprinter, Oscar Pistorius (double-amputee, still competing to be in the 2008 Olympics representing South Africa)
• theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but is still making ground-breaking discoveries in phsyics)
  
• author, Helen Keller (deafblind, yet campaigned for woman's suffrage and worker's rights)
• former boxer, Muhammad Ali (Parkinson's dis-ease, yet still lives life more fully than most)
  
• former Superman, Christopher Reeves (paralyzed, but now leading stem cell research movement)
  
• musician, Ray Charles (blind, but made inspiring music nonetheless)
• musician, Stevie Wonder (blind, but has made incredible music that has influenced many other musicians)
  
• "Back To The Future" actor, Michael J. Fox (Parkinson's dis-ease and appeared before Senate to advocate for federal funding)
  

I plan to share my journey to write my book, You Can't Google Purpose, with you all. The purpose is to remind myself that rejection is NOT failure....if I listen to the 'why'. It just a numbers game (how many agents I reach) and every time I "fail" it just brings me one step closer to success.

After writing the first draft of my book proposal in February, 8 of my blog readers read it on a private blog and gave me feedback. Thank you! I completed the next draft in March and as of April 1st I started reaching out to agents. Here's rejection letter #1 and my interpretation of how I can do better next time.