The Purpose Lifestyle

If you traditionally have had low standardized test scores, that doesn’t mean you don’t work hard or you have a bad attitude; it means that you were given the wrong map. In life, as in standardized testing, if we interpret the wrong map to be true, we will never get to the right destination. 

We all know that the map is not the territory… You were given the wrong map

Our main goal in this book is to use stories, interviews, examples, and study techniques to encourage the reader to ‘see’ standardized testing differently. By using these two simple strategies we call the 2 Laws of Standardized Testing, you will begin to look at the entire test differently. 

Law 1: “What is the question really asking?”, means look at each question carefully to understand the ‘real question,’ which is often within a sentence with multiple questions. 

Law 2: “ What tool does the author of the test want me to use?”, means understand your audience and their goal to find an objective method to see if you understand a set of predetermined tools like: formulas, definitions, language rules, how to make a logical argument, or poke holes in selection or statement. 

That's it. It's not a test of your intelligence or even how many different ways you can cleverly figure out a math problem…it is a tool test.

The purpose of this book is to make sales honest, organic, and natural like the flow of water. In this past decade since publishing my books “Finding Your Purpose in 15 Minutes,” and “Starting Your Business from the Unemployment Line,” I have been fortunate to help thousands of people launch their purposeful business or non-profit and begin to do their calling. Too many of the thousands have jumped out of the blocks with faith and energy to only give up when came to the challenge of “making sales”. This book is for them and hopefully will articulate a process of Seed, Time, and Harvest that will make sales as easy as gardening and for those of us who can’t garden at least as easy a chia-pet. Cha Cha Cha Chia! This is book is also for new Purpose University Mobile App graduates who have just launched their business or non-profit and want to think deeply about growing their institution. If you haven't downloaded the Purpose University app and launched your startup. Do it today. Lets get it!

Change is difficult for all of us, but we know that the love of family is lasting and enduring. Take a trip with Jada and her family as they overcome loneliness and fear to positively embrace diversity and change. Illustrations by Moriah Levebre 

Story and Concept by Derrick Drakeford, Ph.D.

This book is for the new proposal writer who is interested in learning more about how to win proposals. This book provides a 40,000 foot generalist view of proposal writing from two of seasoned professionals with over 50 years of experience. Here we simplify the proposal writing process to provide five overarching concepts for effective grant and bid proposals.We believe true scholarship involves the ability for intellectuals to make the complex simple and the haphazard coordinated. It is in this spirit that this book uses mnemonic devices, alliteration, humor and whatever methods needed to effective communicate highly technical work.

This book is an effort to cultivate a mindset of inclusion and empower leaders to re-create this mindset through story-listening. In Chapter 1, we set the stage by discussing the art of story-listening and examining the research method of autoethnography. In Chapters 2 through 8, we practice story-listening by reading the diverse stories of courageous co-contributors. In Chapters 9 through 11, we examine three academic articles which utilize life-stories to introduce; a) the new construct of 'dross education,’ b) a grounded theory on the process of finding one’s calling in life, and c) a historical look at social entrepreneurship at HBCUs, and a prescription for liberal arts schools to create inclusion by cultivating social entrepreneurs who wrap entities around their positively constructed identities. In Chapter 12, “I Failed” I briefly walk the reader through one of my private failures on race to model self-reflection. In Chapters 13 through 22, we provide leaders and teachers practical inclusion training activities. In summation, our book provides narratives, counter-narratives, academic research, and activities to better understand the Art of Story-Listening in theory and practice. The selected voices are former students, colleagues, and professors who share their stories and lessons on inclusion. It is our hope that this book helps your everyday practice in the craft of mindfulness and the art of story-listening.