In Episode 35 of The Mindful Creator, I chat with Jared Janes – a Social Entrepreneur and founder & CEO of Altruist – about cultivating purpose in not only creativity and career, but in just about anything that you do in life.

In our discussion, Jared and I dig deeper into the process of cultivating purpose vs. seeking it, the expectations we harbor on what it takes to find meaning in our work and life, and the challenge of cultivating purpose in a creative pursuit when you have a full-time gig.






Link Love

The Real Secret: Creating the life you want – Jared Janes on Medium


Jared on Twitter

In This Episode



* Jared shares the story behind his career in design and marketing and what led him to build Altruist.

* Jared talks about the process of building Altruist.

* Jared talks about the challenge of balancing a FT gig as a Marketing Manager with a FT side hustle, and how he’s navigated purpose and personal fulfillment while balancing everything else in his life.

* Simple methods and processes that can help anyone struggling to cultivate purpose in a more traditional work environment (most especially when the work you’re doing isn’t always necessarily bringing you a ton of joy).

* Why the “us vs. them” mentality that is typical in a strictly transactional business environments is a terrible long-term biz model (or relationship model for that matter).

* Why our perspective of purpose tends to be a littled skewed on extremes of a very black and white spectrum – e.g. either you’re working for the man or working for yourself.

* Why purpose doesn’t have to be measured in leaps and bounds vs. small steps.

* The constant tension between striving for goals and the ability to enjoy what we already have.

* The false narrative of satisfaction from simply gaining what you want.

* Jared: “If we could just throw out that idea that we’re just going to arrive someday, it’s a lot easier to be satisfied with what we have and be satisfied with the journey.”

* The difficulty into trying to bring intention and presence into harmony.

* Jared and Brett talk about the daily processes that help them navigate showing up to their work (with Jared talking specifically about how he navigates two very different focuses).

* Why it’s important to learn through the dips and peaks in energy where you should focus more willpower.

* Cultivation vs. expecting purpose to be hiding under a rock and being open to your creative/entrepreneurial adventure’s nonlinear nature.

* Jared talks about his decision not to pursue funding.

* Why motivation is not all about the science and structure of showing up.

* Jared talks about becoming self aware of which aspects of his FT job have been most valuable in helping him with the process of building Altruist.

* On perspective and outcomes and why cultivating purpose requires a shift in how you view all aspects of your life.

* The opportunity on the other side of resilience and patience.

* Jared on the idea that a purposeful, fulfilling life doesn’t just show up.

* Alignment vs. goals and how that impacts the process of seeking purpose in your work.

* Jared: “The key is to always be pushing myself slightly beyond m...