john erik metcalf - Latest Comments

Re: Dell Phone?

alexbiz882 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:30:07 -0000

I want know how it work if using android

Re: Life purpose

DP — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:52:29 -0000

try some reflection -
right after you wake up in the morning, i find that the mind is much more quiet and clear.

try waking up 10 - 15min. earlier, just sit up against a pillow, close your eyes and just breath. Get nice and relaxed, just breath, deeply and slowly.

And then, open your eyes, take out a sheet of paper with these questions at the top, (and some of your own), read the first one, and see what comes to mind. - i suggest writing out the answers that come in a journal.

-why am I here?

-What do I enjoy most?

-what are my stengths?

-what are some of my fears?

------------------these are just suggestions.
a couple points that I've come to understand - i have much to learn AND everyone comes from a different perspective, so take what resonates with you...

-----------------our purpose, from my understanding, is to simply follow what brings us inner joy. Purpose, to me, is discovered while living IN the moment, rather than figured out by thinking about it. I haven't a clue exactly where I'll be in 10 years or what I'll be doing, but I do know what i LOVE doing. -

----------------inner joy, as i've experienced it, stems from 4 sources -
1. Things I normally enjoy, talking with family, hanging with friends, eating bbq chips, drinking red wine

2. Selfless Things I'm wanting to achieve - establishing an elite entrepreneur network at UT, sharing with people the experience of CUTCO products, significantly impacting the lives of those close to me

3. Selfish things I want in my life - a new saxophone, 2000 in savings, acoustic electric guitar, pay off wells fargo loans

4. Acting towards - Feeling Good about - Acting out of belief towards what I'm wanting -- holding Texas Ventures meetings, throwing events, booking CUTCO presentations, taking a percentage of what i make and saving it.

so my purpose is to enjoy and love what ever it is im' doing - and that currently is Texas Ventures, CUTCO, UT Business School, and Daily Personal Development, and close Family and friends.

-------------------actions, feelings, thoughts stem from either love or fear. To begin facing my fears, I become aware of them - (what are some of my fears?) anytime I feel uncomfortable about anything, i'm now aware there's a fear at the core of it.

--------------------i don't have to FIGURE anything out - my limiting fears, my purpose in life, etc to enjoy life, to follow my passions. Because I've found that when I'm in a state of relief, joy, having fun, and believing -- i'm discovering my purpose every step of the way.

so to me, a purpose isn't something you FIGURE out cognitively, rather its something you ALLOW yourself to discover while following your bliss

____________________________-___________
So then back to your initial belief - As I understand it, our purpose is what brings us inner joy. And I do believe that everyone here on earth who you see following a "purpose" or becoming something admirable, is simply following what he or she enjoys at heart and is passionate about. And notice how many different passions there are!

Hope this helps (you can tell that something I'm deeply passionate about is unleashing the potential of others and myself - simply bringing relief to my friends to just TRUST in the proess of life as it unfolds and focus on ENJOYING the now has worked so far. still much to learn)

Re: Life purpose

Dorset web design — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:19:16 -0000

I believe that everybody is born to serve a purpose on this Earth. My question is: how do you find out your life's purpose? I have no direction and have been lost and bored with myself for years. I would really like to find out what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. If I were to die now I would have nothing to show for it! I need a higher calling. How do I find it?

Re: Life purpose

DP — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:38:44 -0000

what a great answer, thanks for this Nev.
D

Re: Life purpose

DP — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:34:05 -0000

I absolutely love that story - I actually shared it at TxV's Fall 2008 inductions... I never knew who it was by. Thank you for that.

your blog speaks of questions i've been pondering as well...
What's neat is everyone has a unique way of answering the question - and what I want to describe as life's purpose is to me exactly what you described, just with different words.

I'm in an interesting time now - have busted my butt since I can remember towards things I want, and some things I was told I needed to do... like get straight A's, or get a job. And between balancing things, I believe I've royally failed - over and over again, month after month, week after week, ending in dissatisfaction and usually depression. of course there are good days, but when you're in the habit of being burnt out or burning out... your burnt out lol

I've been told life's purpose is to enjoy it, to seek relief, to just be in the moment, worryless, fearless, completely allowing myself to be all that life has cause me to want and be in this very moment. (it is interesting how the english language has so many tenses of time.. past, present, future - when the Native Americans have mostly here and now.)

After TRYING to apply this idea of the purpose of life to CURRENT ambitions - it only worked temporarily, and then old habits took over and the feeling burnt out came again and again.

from this, I deduced - my life's purpose is what brings ME joy - and to wrap everything else around that. My greatest joy is lifting people's spirits up through music, teaching, jokes, encouragement, or even a simple 'you're awesome' - and when I think of getting a business degree so that I can simply do that to all of my future employees daily, suddenly studying for accounting becomes more of a joy than it was.

So now, for me, my purpose is to ponder on what I want and follow that - just as you said above - and just see where it takes me. Setting goals helps guide me, but its journey towards it, not the actual achieving it, that is the purpose - so I've been told.
--"so much deliciousness in the wanting." when i'm believing I can have what I'm wanting - it feels good... and that's my goal now, to just enjoy the wanting of everything i've ever wanted - my dreams, my current ambitions, and some of them UT girls. ;) etc....

i dont' know why i'm writing this - it is very odd that I even found this post - I went from txv's twitter to yours, to melissa's, back to your's, then your think27, and randomly to tumblr, and then to here - as if the word and meaning of purpose has drawn me like a magnet.

Lastly - I love Warren Buffet's basic strategy for success --> jump on the opportunities as they come. His mindset is incredible "The fundamentals are in place to take us higher" - "we run Berkshire as if there is no better creditor"

it is certainly fun to dream of being the next Warren Buffet or Herb Kelleher - why not? I'm learning quickly there's no harm in wanting and dreaming - and things are in place for life to get much better.

D

Re: Dell Phone?

francisdisqus2 — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:12:36 -0000

This could make or break for the guys in Dell, It is hard to match up their phone against the well known iPhone. But if they put in some key features that iPhone doesn't have then it could potentially be a top contender.

Re: Porter Novelli Austin, rocks

Miami SEO Company — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:59:00 -0000

If only I live at Austin, I might grab this opportunity.. but too bad I'm far from TX, anyway.. good luck on your search.

Re: Life purpose

johnerik — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:10:31 -0000

Adding this comment to my Notebook. ;)

Seriously, Trey well said. Thanks man.

Re: Green Day: Bullet in a Bible DVD

shad sluiter — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:21:07 -0000

It seems that making noise for the sake of getting heard even at the expense of the government is a bad way to become well-known. Wouldn't it be better to provide something more positive even if it is positive criticism. Hating your president is a message that has no purpose other than to make one'self angry at the world.

Re: Life purpose

larry — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:49:46 -0000

odd coincindence - i used the same quote 6 days ago on an internal blog
guess our minds intersected the same thought trail ;-)

Re: Life purpose

davidlano — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:40:50 -0000

John,

Excellent post. I think Passion and Play have a lot to do with our overall purpose. I like to look back on my childhood and remember what I considered play, then adapt that with my current passions.

It may seem kinda opposite of purpose at first, but I think both play/passion and purpose have a lot in common. Instinctively we (some people) think of purpose as some sort of hum drum responsibility to do something that may have a good overall goal, but isn't really all that attractive to the doer. I think it's quite the opposite.

Our play/passion will naturally result in our life purpose.

Re: Life purpose

Nev — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:43:43 -0000

Oh by the way...this is one of my favorite answers to the "why are we here" questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MmpUWEW6Is

Re: Life purpose

Nev — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:44:30 -0000

When asked about the purpose of life, Einstein thought for a moment and replied, "We are here to serve."

Re: Life purpose

treyp — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:32:17 -0000

Friends are family, too. :)

Asking what life's meaning or purpose 'is', as if it has a specific one, probably doesn't have an answer. It would be pretty supernatural if it did.

If you want happiness/fulfillment, I would suggest just enjoying your time here on earth. If you want to change the world, I'd agree with the monk. Try and be a good person. Spread the love. Figure out your passions (this may take a while). Pursue them in accordance with morality.

Wish I could say more but this one will take a while to think about. :)

Re: Life purpose

Will — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:36:11 -0000

Good quote, thanks for sharing, John.

Re: New Austin Startup - QikCom, Travis VanderZaden

slots — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:15:28 -0000

Interesting new company. Thanks for the information.

Re: Startup Bar Hunt open alpha 0.20

Radardetectors — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:30:26 -0000

Hey Josh, I am also seem to have missing a lot, going to bookmark this blog right away, will be visiting lot often now!

Re: New Austin Startup - QikCom, Travis VanderZaden

L.j. — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:34:23 -0000

Mr. John Metcalf, looked @ your Conjuncture bio and out of the 4 of you young men that have started this business enterprise may I say congratulations or "Mozel Tov ! ". The reason I've selected you to maybe share this with the rest of your co-workers next time you meet over a cup of coffee or perhaps a stronger after-work drink in celebration of your definite pending success . It did my heart good to discover your site and read about you after a night of studying with my rabbi on Shabbat evening (Saturday) . I have two son's about your ages and it's very interesting to hear what your doing for the community and I'm sure your labor and efforts will NOT go unrewarded...as long as you operate it as men of integrity and "reason together"...maybe some day when you see a old senior citizen among your meetings listening and smiling I'm sure you'll realize it might just be me. Shalom, my very inspiring entrepreneurs and may the YAHWEH of Avraham,Jacov, and Isaac richly bless your endeavors and give you guidance and shalom ! (peace)...L.j. Siebeneicher steward of " the EnCrafted Word " in Austin,Texas @ 10:37 p.m. on 1/24/09

Re: College Entrepreneurs Work, Live Together In Frat-Style Dorm

Roommate — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:37:19 -0000

Couldn’t be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Startup cities/Austin chat with @garyvee and @kevinrose

gochi — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:56:13 -0000

Videos tells the story what john is going to tell that is more important thing. Thanks john very good post.

Re: Facebook owns /me online and I hate it. What can we do?

gochi — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:49:57 -0000

Hi juan launch your all sub domains i will be part of your network too.

Thanks

Re: New Austin Startup - QikCom, Travis VanderZaden

spikefire — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:02:49 -0000

Nice. Welcome Travis!

Re: Facebook. Singles ads are outta control.

Franco — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:17:03 -0000

I blame the targeted ad system.

To get rid of the singles ads, I just changed my status.

The less info you give them, the more random and generic the ads.

Re: Austin Coworking space, future plans

Brad — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:08:47 -0000

Would love to join this when it's open.

Re: Coworking, Conjunctured, Startup District Q&A

lavannamartin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:04:38 -0000

I love Conjunctured. I am not techno-savy, or a "millenial". These guys were instrumental in helping a complete n00b start a blog.

john erik metcalf - Latest Comments

Re: Dell Phone?

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Dell Phone?

Re: Porter Novelli Austin, rocks

Re: Life purpose

Re: Green Day: Bullet in a Bible DVD

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: Life purpose

Re: New Austin Startup - QikCom, Travis VanderZaden

Re: Startup Bar Hunt **open alpha 0.20**

Re: New Austin Startup - QikCom, Travis VanderZaden

Re: College Entrepreneurs Work, Live Together In Frat-Style Dorm

Re: Startup cities/Austin chat with @garyvee and @kevinrose

Re: Facebook owns /me online and I hate it. What can we do?

Re: New Austin Startup - QikCom, Travis VanderZaden

Re: Facebook. Singles ads are outta control.

Re: Austin Coworking space, future plans

Re: Coworking, Conjunctured, Startup District Q&A

Re: Startup Bar Hunt open alpha 0.20