The Ben Mulroney Show - PurposeU - How to find your direction in life in seven words or less

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

- Ian Chamandy / PurposeU https://purposeu.ai/ If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠���⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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time only. Don't miss the collab that's actually worth the hype. Welcome back to the Ben Mulronish show. I want to thank you so much for joining us wherever you may find us on YouTube, on social media, on a streaming app or on radio. We'll take you where we can find you. And we're so glad that you're helping us build the Ben Mulroney Show one day at a time. Our next conversation is going to revolve around purpose

and identity and self-worth. When I left television, I thought I'd done everything I wanted to do in media. And I found myself with what I thought was a golden opportunity landed in my in my lap right after I left TV. It was to join a startup and do something I thought was really noble. And, hell, let's be honest, could have made me a lot of money. And it turns out it was all vapor. And I learned a lot of lessons, a lot of lessons.

But then I found myself after that. That's when the challenge of asking myself, what do I do? What makes me happy? What am I good at? And because of the world we live in, where so much of our self-worth and our self-identity is tied up in how the world sees us,

and a lot of that has to do with what we do professionally, my identity was sort of in question. And look, it's never, it's always changing, it's always evolving, but in that moment, it was the first time in my professional career I didn't know who I was in a very meaningful way. And so we're gonna have a conversation with someone from PurposeU, which is,

well, we'll have him explain what it is, but there is a platform out there that can help you figure out and answer these really important questions. So please welcome to the show. Ian Shamandi, Chief Purpose Officer of Purpose You welcome. Thank you very much, Ben. Please be here. Well, thank you very much. Okay, so tell me. Okay, what did did what I said right before I introduced you? Did that resonate with you?

Oh, absolutely. Because what you talked about, Ben, is that you experienced a trigger event and career change is one of the biggest trigger events that people can experience. And a career change can be because you're fired, because you're laid off or because it's your choice. Yeah. And when you have a trigger event, it creates all sorts of unanswered questions so if you decide that even if you choose to change your career and You know where you're going you could still have all sorts of unanswered questions

Yeah Are they going to accept me am I going to fit am I qualified to do that or am I do I have imposter syndrome? Do I you know, so am I do I have imposter syndrome? Do I you know, so am I going to regret this decision? Yeah. And so you have a trigger event causing all of these unanswered questions. And when you have an answer questions, you create uncertainty about your future. And look, when you have when you have uncertainty about your future, this is the last point is it creates anxiety and sometimes fear. So I'm going gonna throw it back to you and say can you relate well a hundred percent

I mean everything that you just said I've experienced and yeah, I'm not knowing, you know when I started in radio I mean took a while before I felt I belong here I was fortunate enough to have a boss who gave me the runway to learn on the job No, it's not something most people get, so I definitely appreciated that. But Ian, talk to me about this, we're living in a very, like a new period of history where like in the best of times, most people, you know, they either,

what you described in, you either left of your own volition or somebody else's from a job. And that's that trigger event. But what about this entire generation of people, of your own volition or somebody else's from a job. And that's that trigger event. But what about this entire generation of people, these kids that are coming up, that went to school, did everything they were supposed to do, and then they find themselves

on the other side of graduation, and there is no job for them. So everything that they worked towards, everything that they built up in their heads, all of the domain expertise that they got, yes, sorry, we're not hiring. That has to be a trigger event in its own way. Oh, absolutely.

And as proof of that, I was standing at a supermarket once, and there were these two mothers standing behind me talking about the crisis of graduation. The crisis of graduation. We normally think that is celebratory. And they talked about a crisis because, A, they knew that kids were going to come home to disrupt the household.

And B, what are they going to do with their futures? This is now the transition from being a child into an adult, graduation from university, trigger event, creates uncertainty, creates anxiety. What do you do about that? Right? And my answer to that is, is if you can reveal your purpose, if you can discover what your purpose is, it will give you the guidance and help you navigate into the brave new world of adulthood. And so listen, these are all really important questions. And I guarantee you there are people listening today who don't even realize that they went through a trigger event. They don't realize that that then gave them the anxiety and the worry that they've been carrying for so long. So all the more

reason to have the tools to to rid yourself of that baggage. And Ian, so many people have been using life coaches and therapists and to, you know, with varying degrees of success for years. I mean, and like a therapist are only as good as the people who are willing to listen to them. And so talk to me about this platform, PurposeU. What is it and how can people use it? Sure, well, I'll talk to you about Purpose first because, you know, being in the purpose business,

my biggest frustration is that nobody knows actually what it is. And so there's all this talk and and you know, about its benefits and woo woo and that sort of thing. And to me, purpose is a tangible tool that we use to make better decisions in our life. So, So purpose, okay, so Picasso defined purpose as he said, your purpose, the meaning of life is to find your gift and your purpose is to share it with the world. In other words, he's saying your purpose is to figure out the best you that you can be, and then share that with the world.

And I just articulated as Find out that one thing at your essence that makes you uniquely remarkable That's your gift and you and at purpose you what we show you how to do is first of all discover your purpose and then discover your purpose and then articulate it in seven words or less so that it's a clear, concise and compelling, basically a strategic line that guides how you live your life from that point on. Right. So, so that, so that, so that purpose could be anything then like, like, give me, give

me some examples of what some people have realized their purpose is. Okay. So, um, I have a colleague who is a CEO. It was her third gig as a CEO. She'd been there five years, we're having a drink. She said, the company's running itself, I'm bored. I said, it sounds like it's time for your next gig. She says, yes, but the thought of it scares me to death.

She'd been head down cleaning up this mess for five years. And she felt the business world passed her by. Yeah. So as she's contemplating going out for her next gig, she has unanswered questions, which creates uncertainty which creates anxiety. So she explained to me what really jazzes her in life. I just want to just sidebar for a second what you just described is a really interesting take on those trigger events. Because this is a woman that had sidebar for a second. What you just described is a really interesting take on those trigger events, because this is a woman

that had the safety of a job. She hadn't left a job. She wasn't worried about her finances, but she was worried that her window of opportunity for the next thing was gonna close. So it's sort of a demonstration that trigger event, it can mean multiple things to different people. Absolutely, and here's a woman who had her MBA

before she was 20 and had a number of CEO gigs. So there's no lack of accomplishment there. And yet she's a human being. So she's anxiety trigger events, la la la la la. So I got her to talk and basically the root of her story was I need a tire fire to engage my brain. And I said, well, the image you're conjuring up in my mind is of a new leader of a group of soldiers who have just been through hell and back and now they're facing a minefield and they're petrified.

And the new leader comes in and says, don't worry, I've been through a million minefields. I'm an expert at navigating through minefields. Follow me and I will lead you safely through the minefield. So her purpose became leading safely through the minefield. And you can imagine when she says it to these troops, they're just sitting there going, oh, thank God, thank God, just help us get across to the other side. Right? And so help us get across to the other side. Yeah. Right? And so that's the thing that makes her uniquely remarkable,

her ability to act under pressure in the most extreme situations. And then the other two things about her purpose, and it's true of all purposes, is that it's so simple and logical, it's self-evident, and in the right circumstance, when you're faced with a minefield, it resonates on a deep emotional level. Yeah. Yeah. When it, when you're, I have to assume that when

you're presented with it, you say, well, I'm on a deep level. I probably knew this already, but thank goodness I went through the exercise to uncover it. Yeah. Oh, listen, we're going to take a real quick break, but Ian don't go anywhere because this conversation has got to continue after the break. This is the Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. And if you're listening to this show right now and you might be in your car on your way to a job or coming back from a job and I don't know, maybe on your every day when you go

to work, you feel anxious about that job, that it's not the right fit, or that you're worried that you're not good enough for it. Or maybe at the end of the day, you're driving home and you feel just entirely dissatisfied that you didn't do everything you could with your day. You don't feel fulfilled. You don't feel like it's the right fit, but you're afraid to do something about it. Or maybe you you're afraid to do something about it. Or if you maybe you're not afraid to do something about it, but you don't know how to do something about it.

Well, that's the conversation that we're having right now with Ian Shamandi, the chief purpose officer at purpose. You, Ian, let's continue this conversation and let's speak directly to the person. I just referenced that person who just they feel stuck. They don't feel satisfied, but they have no idea what to do. And, and let's let's fold in your company. Let's fold in purpose you into this. Okay, so the key thing that you said there is they have no idea what to do. That's, you know, you don't know what you don't

know. That when I was talking about trigger events, that's the unanswered questions that cause uncertainty, that cause anxiety. So the thing is, and the other thing that you said, and you said a number of times in this interview, is do you know who you are or you don't know who you are? And that's the problem. You're making decisions without knowing who you are. Now, this is something that is really critical about purpose that helps explain why it helps you make better decisions. So remember purpose is that one thing at your essence that makes you uniquely remarkable. And its components, right? The electrons and neutrons that make an atoms

that make up purpose are your beliefs, wants and talents, right? They're your beliefs, wants and talents. And your unique combination and permutations of beliefs, wants and talents is what makes you you. So if you are making decisions that are aligned with your purpose, you are making decisions that are aligned with your beliefs, wants and talents.

And that's why they feel so right. Right, and it's important to point out, like if you derive great satisfaction from your job, right? And to the point that, you know, if you don't do this work that we're talking about right now, Ian, you're going to assume that your identity is that job. And why wouldn't you?

You're deriving complete satisfaction from it. You wake up every day and you walk into that office and you are building something that is completely aligned with your values. So for all intents and purposes, that job is you. But what happens if all of a sudden the company is sold and it goes in another direction? So it's still the same job.

You're still getting paid the same amount. Your job title hasn't changed, but all of a sudden you do not feel good about the exact same job that you had the day before. Have you changed at all? Absolutely not. The job has changed. And that's where that disconnect is between the

identity that you've essentially offloaded, subcontracted to your business as opposed to actually looking inward and figuring out exactly who you are. People who are have just retired or contemplating retirement are in exactly the same boat. Because you know, what you described was a situation where my job gave me purpose. And if my job doesn't give me purpose anymore, either because I'm changing it or because I'm retiring. You know, who am I? What do I do now? Yeah. And that's it. And the thing is,

You know, who am I? What do I do now? Yeah, and that's it And the thing is what you don't know is your job was never your purpose right your job was a Manifestation of your purpose. Yes. I heard a great metaphor once It's the stone from which all the shadows are cast So your purpose is the stone from which all of your activities are cast Yeah, and when you can articulate your purpose, you can make sure that all of your activities are expressions of your purpose. Essentially what we're doing, what we're doing right now, we're challenging people to be self-sufficient in their personal identity.

Right? So like I said, you know, if we look at the examples that we've been using, we have been, I said, offloading or subcontracting our purpose to somebody else. And that you're essentially giving someone else or something else agency over how you feel about yourself. And so the challenge today is for people to find a way to reclaim that agency. And so if I go to purposeu.ai, what am I, what do I just answer a few questions and boom, the seven words pop up? Well, it's a little bit more complicated than that, but I will describe the process for you.

So you go there and you've got two different places that you do work There's the videos that you watch and then there's the workspace where you actually do exercises and in the workspace we have an AI agent called wordsmith and Wordsmith is an expert in all things purpose. And so I'm sitting on one side of you in all of these videos purpose. And so I'm sitting on one side of you in all of these videos guiding you through the process and AI is sitting on the other side of you helping you find the words and helping you see things that you don't see. So what we do is we get you to identify two accomplishments that you're really proud of and I take you through a seven-step process of deconstructing those accomplishments until at the bottom what you're left with and what you discover for the first time is your unique beliefs, wants

and talents. And that becomes the raw material for you and Wordsmith, the AI assistant, to sit down and say, what do we see here? What are what is the what's the thread that ties all of this together? And wordsmith will give you a million examples of ways to tie it together. And you just choose the one that sings to you. So that becomes your purpose. So these the work that has happened, I mean, it takes hours and hours. My producers suggested that you could do it over a weekend if you're really dug in.

This is not surface level stuff. You actually have to go pretty deep when you do this. But in your experience with those who've gone through the process of working with on your platform, what are they able to, what have they told you they've been able to do after discovering what their purpose is that they may have been held back from doing prior? Well, you know, we're really new in the course. The course is in a pre-launch phase.

You can take the course now and you get a big discount if you do take the course now. But, you know, there have been a few. There was a guy who was five years away from retirement. And he was he was the chief communications officer at a university. And he was on that treadmill, you know, 1416 hours a day, six, seven days a week. And he was sick of it. Yeah. And he needed a little bit more money to top himself up before retirement in five years. But he didn't know like he thought, I can't stay, I can't stay on this treadmill for five more years. Yeah. So his purpose ended up not surprisingly, for somebody who is a communications expert, was make it simpler. And when he looked at his life, he said, I've made it way too complicated for what I want

at this point in my life. And make it simpler, gave him the permission to take a big step back and become a staff writer at a not-for-profit. And he clocked in at nine. Yeah, he went home at five. He didn't take his work home with them. Yeah. He did what he does best. He sat in front of a keyboard and typed out words for five years. Yeah. And then he and his wife retired to Vancouver Island. And he

wrote his first novel. Oh, I love his dream. What's what I have to assume you've gone through the process. What's your purpose? My purpose is transforming confusion into clarity. Because I have a methodology, I know my process, what I do is I take complex issues like purpose. And I break them down into much simpler elements like beliefs, wants, and talents. And from that, the more you break down, break down, break down, until you get to a point of self so

simple, it's self-evident. And so I think that my purpose, transforming confusion into clarity, you get it, right? I don't have to explain that. Oh, yeah. And, and so that's how I get you to understand your purpose is get is deconstructing until it's so simple, it's self evident. Yeah. And my purpose speaks to that process. Well, Ian Shamandi of purpose you.ai. It's I'm so glad that we were able to have this conversation. I think people need this clarity and this independence from outside factors more today than ever. And I really thank you for, this has been a really great conversation. I appreciate it. Ben, my pleasure. Thank you very much for the opportunity. the It'd be all other compact cars for exceptional reliability, value, and safety to become Consumer Reports 2025 Top Pick. Right now, lease the 2025 Sentra for the equivalent of $59 weekly for 36 months. Hurry in to your local dealer today.

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