Payton Minzenmayer: The Value & Power of Purpose and Why We Need to Pay Attention

Introduction
Payton Minzenmayer is a pastor for a local church, a seasoned Bible teacher, a husband, a dad, and a seasoned speaker. He's passionate about helping Christians live good and beautiful lives because everyone benefits when Christians get better. Payton is the bestselling author of A Story on Purpose, in which he shares five key principles to help readers learn how to focus on the right things, win the war in their minds, and leverage fear to work for them. He also hosts online workshops and creates daily content to help Christians fall back in love with their Bible and make choices that help them live better lives. Today, he'll be speaking on the topic: "The Value and Power of Purpose and Why We Need to Pay Attention." Let's give a warm welcome to Payton Minzenmayer!

Payton's Speech
My name is Payton Minzenmayer, as introduced, and I am also a gospel minister at the Vero Beach Church of Christ. I've been actively studying, teaching, and preaching for 15 years. I know what you're thinking—that means I started around age five, but a gentleman never discloses his age. I have an undergraduate degree in Preaching and Ministry and a Master of Divinity from Oklahoma Christian University. I've spent the past three years studying human psychology and what makes people tick. I've been married for 10 years and have two little boys under the age of four—Lord be with me and with them. I am now a published author, which makes me even more prone to prefer the book over the movie. So, are you impressed yet?

Well, many times, I'm not. Despite all of it, I still feel like my life from day to day lacks purpose, which made me really curious about the topic of purpose. I know people—not like Beyoncé or George Lucas, but people like me and you and those who work in your business. As a pastor, I see behind the curtain in their lives as they reveal things many people don't get to hear or see.

I know people like a girl named Jess, whose depression started so subtly she didn't even see it coming. She'd been busy with various responsibilities at work, her kids starting school, and then her dad fell and broke his hip, making her his primary caretaker for a season. This took much of her time and attention. She stopped going to the gym, her reading before bedtime fell off, and so did her social activities. Weekends that once involved family activities turned into weekends of binge-watching TV and closed doors. Depression caused Jess's world to shrink, as it does for many people.

I bring up Jess's story because of a text message I received from her: "I'm doing terribly mentally, and getting out of bed each morning feels harder and harder. I feel so stuck." This is a conversation I've been having far too often lately. It's a conversation probably happening in your household, workplace, and friend group. It's why I wrote A Story on Purpose. It's important for Christian leaders to discuss how to lead people who feel like their lives are meaningless. We all want the good life, and as leaders, it's partly our job to help those we lead create a meaningful life.

Big Idea: Purpose is Built, Not Found
People go to great lengths to find their meaning and purpose, but your purpose is not hiding under a rock, waiting for you to find it. You don't find it by accident. The idea of finding your purpose is a Hollywood version of purpose—like Neo from The Matrix or Rey from Star Wars—where fate finds them, and they find their purpose. Life doesn't work that way. Instead, purpose is something you build, not something you find.

Jess experienced the onset of the depression spiral, a series of events that can turn the most satisfying life into one that is entirely unrecognizable. 18 million adults struggle with depression annually, which is one out of 10 people. Depression accounts for $23 billion lost in workdays annually. As Christians, the most important thing is that it is not what God designed for our life, and it is something that can often be avoided.

Much like Jess, we find ourselves drawn to short-term comforts that don't align with our long-term goals. Jess's story underscores what so many of us experience—a lack of purpose can shrink a person's world to wasted weekends and potentially a wasted life.

The 3D Glasses Exercise
Wearing your 3D glasses interrupts that pattern in your life. 3D glasses help us see things right in front of us that we couldn't see before. I'm going to hand out 3D glasses and a marker for each table. Open your 3D glasses and get your marker ready. You're going to write three words inside your 3D glasses: Direction, Discipline, and Development.

Direction helps you focus on the right things.
Discipline keeps you on the path where others veer off.
Development is what you gain on the journey.
Write the word "Direction" inside your glasses. If you don't know where you're going, you'll never know how to get there. Imagine going to Disney World without a map, GPS, or general direction. You wouldn't want to aimlessly roam. Time is precious; we want to reach our destination. Where are you headed in life? If you don't know, any road will get you there. You don't need the exact destination, just a general direction. One of the best ways to identify the direction you need to focus on is by paying attention to your pain points. Where do you have the most pain? Health, relationships, career?

I have a workbook called A Story on Purpose, which includes the "Target of Life," breaking life into quadrants like finances, health, friends, love, spirituality, and career. The bullseye identifies purpose and momentum, while the outskirts represent a lack of purpose and clarity. Ask yourself: What challenges, obstacles, or distractions keep you from hitting the bullseye? What discipline could you adopt to help you move toward your chosen direction?

Discipline
Write the word "Discipline" inside your glasses. Discipline means making choices that align with your goal, even when it's hard. Nothing gets better by accident. Improvement requires work. Big goals are accomplished through small tasks. Track the little things moving you to the finish line.

For example, if you want to write a book, do these three things every day:

Read at least 10 pages or 10 minutes.
Write for one hour.
Write down 5 to 10 new ideas.
Track your progress consistently, and you'll achieve your goal.

Development
Write the word "Development" inside your glasses. We are all on a journey, but only some of us are becoming better. As children, we absorb new information, but as we age, we grow sluggish in learning, especially about ourselves. The greatest thing you can do is learn more about you. Ask yourself: What are you curious about? What motivates you? Are you optimistic or realistic? How do you recharge your social battery? What are your biggest fears and regrets? These answers are the platform for development.

Great things are unique and unconventional. To achieve great things, we must go against herd mentality, embrace embarrassment, and be brave enough to be bad at something new. Major life decisions that scare you are often the things you need to do.

Conclusion
I wrote these principles because I know about paralyzing fear. It's what Jess feels, what many of us feel, and most likely what many people in your life feel. Fear is reasonable. Author Steven Pressfield says, "Fear tells us what we have to do." So, what are you most afraid of? What do you have to do?