What if purpose isn’t something you discover, but something you activate?

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Jessica Rimmer: leadership strategist, CEO of Solomon Strategic Advisors, and author of The Purpose Formula. Jessica is known for her rare ability to take complex, theoretical ideas and translate them into practical, measurable strategies that transform leaders, teams, and entire organizations.

With a career rooted in executive leadership, organizational culture, and strategic planning, Jessica has helped entrepreneurs, CEOs, and high-performing teams navigate complexity with clarity and conviction. Her work is grounded in a guiding belief: when wisdom is applied with intention, meaningful change becomes inevitable.

Through her signature frameworks, including the Purpose Formula, Jessica equips leaders to step into deeper self-awareness, stronger collaboration, and purpose-driven impact. This conversation moves beyond leadership theory and into the heart of what it means to lead with authenticity, alignment, and courage.

Topics We Explore:

• How the Purpose Formula helps leaders gain clarity and direction
• Transforming abstract concepts into practical leadership strategies
• Building authentic, aligned organizational cultures
• Elevating teams from simple communication to true collaboration
• Leading with wisdom, self-awareness, and intentional mindset shifts

Connect with Dr. Jessica Rimmer: https://solomonsa.com/ 

Get a Copy of The Purpose Formula: Learn to be Fully Alive: https://a.co/d/aTiVHe1 

Learn More about The Viking Academy: https://www.vikingacademy.com

Episode Transcript:

Welcome back to the Viking Academy podcast. This week, if you're watching the video, you can see I'm not in my normal office space. I'm actually in Kelowna. I'm at one of my businesses that I own. And um I'm doing a remote uh podcast with Jessica Rimmer. Now, uh the reason why I didn't wait until I got home to do this is that I really wanted to make sure I got this podcast in with Jessica because I met her at Strategic Coach. Like I meet a ton of the guests that I have on the Viking Academy podcast.

She wrote a book called The Purpose Formula. And when I heard that in one of the workshops, I walked right up to her and I said, "I need you on the Viking Academy podcast. We have to have a conversation about this." She and she articulates things in such a clear way. Um, way better than I have actually on all these topics of finding your purpose, who are you and why you're here. So she talks about the book and how she darts the book and that what she does is she combines ancient wisdom with the current seeking of humanity right now which is similar to what I'm doing with the Viking Academy which is I'm taking the Viking spirit and and coupling it with the current um the current lost what's the word I'm looking for?

We're we're not really lost as a society but we've lost purpose. I think we really have. We got to need to go find ourselves and so let's go explore our mind, body, and spirit and figure out who we are. So, she goes through a 3D formula. I'm calling it the 3D. I don't think she actually called it that. Um where she goes through um how you can actually start figuring out what your purpose is in life. And the book that she has coming out, I can't wait to read it. The resources will be in the podcast and probably in the show notes.

Definitely get a copy of the book. Her goal is to get to a million purpose statements. I want to see if our Viking Academy readers can help her push to that goal. Okay, so there you go. Without further ado, let's get to the podcast. Let's go. Explore. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. So fun to be here. Um so you and I met at the wellspring of all beautiful things I think is called strategic coach and um and you um I we had met before we did that was our second workshop we had done together.

So we had had an opportunity to talk a little bit. I think we had a breakout with one another and we had a chance to talk. But the last session we had and the reason why I really want to get you on the podcast is I heard about the book that you just published called what? The purpose formula could not be in a more in alignment with the Viking Academy than that. I mean for me it's I really feel like the whole purpose of life is to figure out why you're here and what you're here to do.

Like that's the whole ethos of the Viking Academy. We just do it through the exploration of mind, body, and spirit. So we'll call it personal development wrapped in a Viking blanket, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of what we're doing. But the purpose formula before Okay. Before we get into the purpose formula and the book and and that's where I really want to go. Let's dive in a little bit into what you do actually in your business and then what led you to the book is kind of what I'm I wanna I want to get to that.

Love it. Okay. So uh like most entrepreneurs, I do a lot of things, but our primary focus is organizational development. So we really focus on creating teams and leaders that are 100% healthy and they're multiplying their skills, knowledge, and expertise. Okay, so that's kind of the crux. My business is called Solomon Strategic Advisors and our motto is wisdom for your way. So we really do believe, this is probably another way you and I are aligned. We believe in ancient wisdom for modern practice. of that. I love that stonewatch. Oh, okay.

So, yes. So, I've been I built Solomon about four years ago. I've been consulting seven years. My background is higher education. I've always been a purpose person. Like, um I've always felt a deep sense of purpose about my life. I I know my life matters. I want that for other people. I've never had a job I didn't enjoy. no matter what it was, you know, I just I'm always like working is fun and working matters. And so I I lead a group here. I'm in Oklahoma City, so middle of the United States, right?

Like way center. And um I lead I've been there. I've been there. Oh, yeah. Because Rock, you came to Rock in Prior. Yeah, I came to Rock. Oh, geez. My wife and I went down there and Rock Oklahoma was probably I'm going to say 17 years ago. We came down and se 16 17 years ago and there's all the 80s heavy metal bands at Rock Oklahoma. Oh, so yes, I know Oklahoma City. Okay. Well, you're like way out you're way out in the fields at Rock Oklahoma. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are like as urban as we get.

But um but I think Canada gets the fields, right? Like you guys understand that there's plenty of fields out. So, we're a little bit country, but we it's a great place to live. And um I lead a group here in Oklahoma City, and our it's called Forward, and we our focus is how do we embolden women in their faith and work. Now my business isn't focused on women but this group we have about 100 150 women that meet every month and we have a speaker and we are building this community of women who are for each other and we really care that about work right we your work matters your work matters to God so you know whatever someone believes about God this is what we're talking about in this group and out of this group I got invited to speak at a conference that was focused on the same topic, women in work, women faith in work.

And they asked me to talk on the topic of purpose. And so I was like, "Sure, I can do that." And uh I write this talk and I had people lining up to say, "This was so helpful." And I thought, "Well, maybe I should write that down." And that's the pathway that led to writing a book. So the the book is like it's parallel to my my company. I don't necessarily talk a lot about I talk a lot about purpose, but I'm not very overtly faith oriented. My business is just a business, right?

Like I'm helping you be more effective at your outcomes that you're going for. But you and I both know that purpose-driven leadership is transformational. And so that's kind of the like the Venn diagram of overlap between the book and the work is how do we help leaders uh lead with a sense of purpose because when you have it very powerful when you don't have it powerful in a different direction. Yes. And and more uh shall we say fear-based. there's more fear-based when you're driving towards um a bigger brighter future that doesn't have an underlying purpose and oh there's so many roads I want to go down here with you okay so the the group that you're with is it is it a specific faith that you're all following like do you all have the same kind of is great question so we we always say like wherever you are in terms of faith you're welcome at our group but we want we don't want to trick anybody we are going to talk about Jesus us we are going to talk.

So that's our you know our perspective on the conversation but we always say you are welcome to be a part wherever you live uh you know in the faith conversation you are welcome to be a part of our group. Yeah. And and so that and this is Yeah. I love that because there's that that openness, right? And that's for me is with the Viking Academy, the idea of exploring your spirit like the mind, body, and spirit. So go explore your spirit. So go explore all the different aspects. And you know, I'm a I'm a recovering alcoholic.

So I've deep into the 12 steps and it's all about seeking a higher power. And also in step 11, sought through prayer and meditation. And it says, "Go and the world is a treasure trove." And so I've read all these different books, the Bag of Agida, the the the Culbran Bible, the the the the Hebrew Bible. Like I've gone after everything, right? And it for me it was like because it's open, it makes a big pathway for anybody to walk through. Do you know what I mean? And that's why I like that openness.

But once you have that, for me, once I had that connection to spirit and I know what I'm doing has purpose, all of a sudden I have passion. And now that for me, that's where you and I are like that that connection of that passion. It's like I want that passion there to be part of my life. And so I love how you've got that group and it's open to all, but you're still saying we're going to talk about Jesus. We're going to talk about the Bible. We're talk about God.

Great. But it's open to all. And so through that pathway, you had that conversation about purpose. You spoke about purpose and then all of a sudden people started asking you about it. And then how did you go about writing the book? Because I know I' I've written a book and it was a it was a birthing process. It was a lot of work. It is a birthing process. I think that's such a good way to think about it for anybody who might be listening thinking I kind of think I want to write a book.

It's like everybody wants the baby, but there's the there's the pregnancy, the carrying, the thing, the stuff that's inside of you that nobody else can see and nobody can mine out for you. Now, you could go through a ghost writing process. I didn't want to, right? Like I wanted to go through the process of figuring out like how do I say something that matters? And so I I had that sense I I would like to write a book. I have other things that I would like to write about, but I did some of that soul searching really praying of like what needs to be said and this was the message of all the things that I could have chosen.

This was the message. So once I knew what the message was, then I just had to commit to the process. So I did a a kind of hybrid publishing model where I had some I had a publisher guide me through the process, but we co-own, right? like the they get royalties, I get royalties off of selling. But I wrote the book uh partly because I think it matters. Like I I don't just care about being passionate. I care if other people are passionate. Like I I kind of see it as like an injustice on the planet if you don't get to know that your life matters.

Like there are so many people right now that don't believe that their life matters. They don't know that they have unique gifts to contribute to humanity. And I'm like, that just should not be. That should not be. So that's kind of like the impetus for why do I go all the way to writing a book? Partly it's like can I but also like the message matters for right now even though it's been said before. There isn't anything new under right. But but can I say it to the people who are listening to me?

Can I offer something? Books have changed my life, right? Like I love I love reading. I've been mentored by plenty of dead authors, you know? Can I say something that will change someone's life and wake them up, help them live with passion? That now I totally understand why you and I hit it off so well and we all completely aligned. I was actually literally having that conversation just a few like literally a few minutes ago. So my backdrop right now I'm in an office in Kelowna, BC. I'm actually at one of my businesses.

Normally the podcast is done downstairs in my studio and they have the Viking shield and the axe and all the fun stuff, but I'm I'm in I'm in more business mode right now. I was just having the conversation with one of my leaders here in the office and saying, you know, because I want to live my life with passion and purpose, I tend to project that upon other people and I want it for you because for me it's like it's not just for me, I want it for others. And so it's all in and and my understanding through my life is like when I'm serving others is when I get served like it's by giving that one receives, right? the St.

Francis of Assisi's prayer or love that prayer like it's just it's bang on and so but that's that but that's that purpose part like every single person every single thing on the planet has a purpose the only species on the planet that doesn't know why we're here right or or that get to go on the journey of discovering why no and and that is the that is the actual that is the adventure yes that is the adventure is the fact that we don't know why we're here, but you go and explore it.

So that's why I wrapped that that's what the Viking Academy is about. It's like embrace your inner Viking. Go explore your yourself and and experience the joy of self-discovery, right? So I in the book I talk about um participatory joy that we get the joy of participating in the journey. And so I think about it like uh do you have kids? Eric, you have kids? Yeah. Yeah, I got three. Yeah. Right. So, I have three kids and you know Christmas, I've always loved Christmas. Very magical. But when you have kids and you have Christmas, like there is an epic ability to be like, I'm going to get them something.

I know they're I'm going to wrap it up. I'm going to go I get to be a part of this thing that they get to discover and I already know they're going to like it. But the anticipation of the buildup and the opportunity to to discover and to guess like I get joy and they get joy. And I think that's like that's an experience of participatory joy. Like the joy is in the giving, but also on the kids side, like the joy is in the surprise of it all. And so I think, you know, if we think about God, like why did God set it up so that we have to go on a journey?

We don't just wake up and go, well, I'm a dog. My job is to, you know, be excited when my people are excited regardless of how they treat me. My job is to bring joy, right? Like that's the job of dogs or protect or whatever kind of dog you are. I have an Aussie doodle. So her job is to just wake up and be excited. The end. Like she doesn't have anything beyond that. But we go on a journey. We're the only species that goes on a journey. Well, why is that divine negligence?

Is that God withholding something from us? Or is that God giving us the opportunity to be surprised and excited by the gift he put inside of us that leads us towards this experience of purpose? And I think the latter you do, too. I'm we're completely in alignment on that. I love how you I love how you've phrased that participatory joy. It is because you're you participate in the joy. They get the joy and the surprise and getting the gift. But you by giving you so we all it it all winds up together.

Yeah. It all winds up. And this is a wonderful thing like I my experience now has shown me that when I'm consciously seeking a higher power, seeking the will of the creator, seeking my reason for being here, what am I here to do? what do you want me to do today? And it's like the joy of that discovery when all of a sudden I've now and that's why I love strategic coach. Like I love strategic coach. I think it's the world's greatest philosophy program wrapped in a business blanket. Okay, that's the way I see it because it's a Dan is a philosopher and the idea like everything all the concepts he teaches are universal truths shall we say and phil philosophical thinking on in which feathers into spirituality right is that unique ability what is your unique ability figure out what that is and when you figure out what your unique ability is now you know what your unique value contribution is and that's what you're here to do and that was the gift that was given to you which and I don't know If you've listened to any of the previous podcasts, the one with Chad Jenkins is just it's off the hook.

It's fantastic. He's also in strategic coach. I don't think you've met him before. Um he's in the free zone. And he talks about the fact that what we are here to do was with us when we were little kids. And it's finding re reconnecting with that child, being childlike, not childish, but childlike. and reconnecting to that joy that you had when you were when you were like six or five or six or seven, right? That before it got conditioned with layers of conditioning and this is the person I need to be, but that's the person you were meant to be before people told you what you were allowed to be, right?

Like, yeah, you're going back to that like dreams, right? What were the dreams? Why did you want to be a firefighter? Why did you want to be a superhero or a princess? Like obviously those aren't real jobs, but like there's something about thematically, the essence of them that is in you, right? It's the dream. And so it's figuring out what are those dreams, early desires manifested. What are what are they what are they trying to say about the future you? And you know, it doesn't mean I want to go to the Olympics, but I'm not physically capable of, you know, being a gymnast.

Okay, but there was something about that. Maybe it was winning. Maybe it was achievement. Maybe it was there was something about that that was thematically true for you that was an early desire manifested in your dreams. Just had a huge aha moment. When I was a kid, when I was a kid, I loved Superman cuz he could fly, right? And actually, my wife got me a big poster of Superman and I have it downstairs and he's flying. And it's like because that's what I've always wanted to do was fly in my way.

I wanted to fly, right? Which was a metaphorical. Thank you for that. That was a Wow, that I I just kind of figured that one out. That's You're good. You're good. Okay, talk to me about the book and the structure of book. Let's go Let's go into the book more because I'm now I'm really intrigued. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, I always say don't sleep on the preface because I wrote the preface last. So, I wrote the book and then I was like, "Oh, you know what? I need to say one more thing, but it needs to be the first thing, not the last thing." So, the preface is basically your job.

Your purpose isn't your identity and it's not your job. Like your identity is secure. you matter and you are worthy and you your life is meaningful and who you are is it's secure and solid regardless of what you do for other people in service to humanity. So I think that that matters because I think sometimes we're trying to siphon off energy from purpose like I am the vice president right like I am right and it's you know you're you're a person and that matters regardless of ability or contribution you matter so human dignity and then it's not your job like your purpose is above your job it's how you do what you do it's not what you do and so I think that I think that's important to state now you can get a a lot of meaning and purpose from your job because of that interconnected nature of how purpose works.

Purpose is what happens on the other side of you. It's the benefit people get when you live out your purpose. So that's that like the weaving together. Your your life is meant to be woven together into the fabric of humanity. And you need to live out your purpose because you are benefiting other people. But you can do that in the Starbucks drive-thru. You can do that to the Target checkout guy. You can do that as a dad. You c you can live out your purpose in every circle of influence, not just at your job.

Yes. Love that because it's it's not because a lot of this, oh, what's your purpose? Go make your mark in the world. Be this great, you know, be the next messiah, but whatever. Like, impact the whole universe and be this. it it's that's the ego-driven proposition, right? That you're out here that you're here for a special reason that you're out to, you know, change the world. Well, no, all of us are not here to change the world. But I I liken it to we are here to change our world. Oh, that's that's my point.

So, there's a beautiful quote by Roomie and it says, I used to be clever and I wanted to change the world and now I am wise and I am changing myself. Right? And it's by the it's by you know by self- forgetting one finds coming back to the the St. Francis of the CC's prayer is is realizing that you have a picture a puzzle a puzzle like a full you got a full puzzle right it's the full puzzle piece the the picture doesn't come until every single piece is in its spot and so there's has you're a puzzle piece and you're just figuring out where your puzzle piece fits right and because it it it's by virtue of the actual fact that you are here on the planet if you're listening to this podcast.

You have a purpose and you're actually fulfilling it by just being here. Right. Right. The joy comes in when you recognize the fact that you're here for a purpose and then it elevates. For me, it then it kind of gets a shot of there's like this energy, this surge, this shall we call it the spirit comes into you and all of a sudden now you're like, "Oh, I am here for a purpose. Wow." And then you're like, and I think there's more there. I feel like there's more. What else am I inspire?

And that's that's when we're inspired. We're in spirit, right? So there's the spirit of God coming through us, right? And it's inspiring you to go do something. So, but I love the fact that you start it with, hey, you're not don't think you have to, you know, if you're not changing the world, you're not living your purpose. You're actually being your purpose by just being here. Like just by re by reading the book. Yeah. Right. Like we have to surrender the vision for impact to God, right? Like you have to go like listen the the size the magnitude that is not my responsibility, right?

The surrendering to surrendering it because this is where for me I'm I'm in a constant battle with my ego. Okay, that's that's the alcoholic recovery part. Like an overinflated ego is what causes the alcoholism. So I'm always in check with the ego and that's why surrendering to a higher power is the path to recovery. So I'm in a constant state of is this my ego or is this my purpose right constant check on that. But my experience is that uh a type personality. You seem like an A typer as well.

I'm like this run against run against run against run against and then finally I'm like okay just let go. And as soon as I let go then it all works. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And isn't that the grace of God to like him us in, right? To go, "Hey, calm down." Yeah. I have a plan. You You You are a part of the plan. You don't have to make the plan happen. Right. Right. So So I think that that's understanding your purpose. So I'll tell you the elements of the purpose for Yes.

Yeah. Let's go back. Understanding your purpose. I think it allows you to know what's yours and what's not yours. Especially if you're a type where you're like, I need to solve everything, right? Like I kind of wake up like that. Everything's my responsibility and I need to solve it. And so no, no, I need to solve what's mine. I need to solve for the things that are prepared ahead of me for me to do. So if I know my purpose, I can go, "Ah, I have to sing that note." You know, I have to play that puzzle piece because that's my that's my role to play here.

And I can I can let other people play their role. I don't have to play every role. I don't have to sing every note. It's just this one note because that's that's the one that I'm uniquely gifted and designed to do. Yes. And then I just I just had a an an aha moment here. Um, which is why I love these interviews and I love these podcasts cuz I get so much out of them by having these great conversations is that just having a shall we call it a faith or belief in purpose instantaneously puts you into belief in a higher power that's there's an order to the universe and that there's a God.

So, shall we say, do you know what I mean? The minute you go, there's a purpose for my being that instantaneously connects you to an understanding and a belief in God. Yeah, I think that that's I certainly couldn't figure out a different way to write the book. Like I talk a lot about psychology and sociology. I mean, I I'm very nerdy. I'm very academic. That's my background. But but I couldn't figure out another way to write the book that was just pure form science because it was like I don't know like you're designed with a purpose and if you're designed there's a designer and right so that I couldn't figure out another way I mean it's very like my my way of operating my modus operandi is that there is there is a god and he wants to know you and he has a beautiful reason for sending you to this place in time in history.

And so what if you figured that out and you played that part not because you have to, but because you get to. What if life is a gift and not a slog? That doesn't make the slog go away. It means that we have a different lens on the slog. Yeah. When you change the way that you look at the world, the world that you look at changes. Famous Wayne Dyer quote, right? When you realize that this the obstacle is the way, right? Ryan Ryan Holiday is Yeah, it's Ryan Holiday, one of his books.

It it that is part of the journey. And then all of a sudden, I' I've gone through this multiple times and I continue to is like when I'm suffering, it's like no, this isn't happening for you. This is happening not happening to you. It's happening for you because there's something that you need to hear. This was one thing that I was going to ask you. I've been noticing a lot lately. There's a lot of people in the harder heavier businesses like so we call accountant, lawyer, blah blah blah blah. But they're all starting to break through and wanting to do more light work, right? like say for myself chartered accountant now becoming the Viking Academy talking about spirituality and purpose and life and I've talked to a bunch of other friends doing the same thing.

Um, but what what I've noticed just recently, and I'm just curious if you've seen this, that there's been a lot of um people starting to see that opening up into that, but there's a lot of people are getting physically sick around. Like there's a lot of physical sickness happening right now. And I always kind of go, hm, I wonder what's what that what does that mean? Do you know what I mean? Like it's like, what is going on? Yeah. I have not thought a lot about the physical. I think a lot about the metaphysical and I'm seeing a lot of the similar breakthrough.

So I'll tell you my own personal when I was kind of like you know discerning through is this the right topic I'm like ah how does this fit like I don't talk like this in my business you know I'm like you know I it's been pretty separate not not that people don't know who I am because that's very obvious but that's not been the way that I've operated in my business and I was really wrestling so the book took two years to write so two years ago it's a different world and then the book releases this year and this year is massive openness to spiritual conversations like I've never seen in my entire life.

Now, I've always been paying attention. I've been paying attention to the spirit world and the metaphysical. Not to get very woo woo, but like I've been paying attention to that my entire life. Like what's going on here? You know what? I'll leave it at that to again not let people too inside the woo woo that's in my head but like I've been watching and this year is different. It is different. There's movement and so go into the woo woo. No, go into the woo woo. Like I'm like literally I've been like for myself I've been visited by interdimensional beings over the last year and a bit.

Like I've had very correct direct conversations and connections with all sorts of spirit and I've been seeing all sorts of things manifesting and starting to change like there's a big shift happening. So if we just you know think uh kingdom of light kingdom of dark right if we just kind of put it in two categories both both of those are operating in the unseen realm. There's there's holy and light and positive and um you know there's good and then there's dark and evil and and both types of spirits are evoked currently.

Yes. And so purpose and a conversation on purpose is fundamentally going come this way. Come towards the towards the kingdom of light. Come towards this like you were made for more. You were made for something good and you don't have to even addiction. So you you mentioned addiction. Addiction is there. You're not there's nothing wrong with you. There is a kingdom of darkness pulling you to distraction and addiction. All of us our phones, social media, there's nothing particularly wrong with social media, but there is a pull. There's an undercurrent towards you know what go to sleep.

You know what? Just just satiate yourself to cope and to exist. And that's, you know, that's the like acceptable me message of kind of the darker forces in the spiritual realm. But the the message of the light spiritual forces is be alive. Yes. Be alive. Be fully alive. And those two messages are in conflict with one another. And both of them are in blast right now and people are responding. Yes. Yes. It's like that they're amplified right now. The veil is come back, right? We we have lived with a certain veil.

Like we're too smart for the metaphysical. That's not real. It's like the the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution, all of that. Like like we got too smart for the metaphysical realm. Whereas like po like early modernity, we still believed in the spirit realm. And I think like the the shelf life of that stuff isn't real is kind of expiring in the experiences of people and people are like, you know what, like more stuff that's not doing it for me. More dopamine that's not doing it for me. Like for the people who are waking up, there's got to be something more.

And like that veil that has traditionally been accepted as true, it's getting torn back and people are like, "Oh, no. There's stuff back there. There's stuff behind the veil." Yes. Yeah. I've experienced it like and I'm I'm seeing it. But I love how you I love how you you framed it like that. That was Yeah, I totally get that. That that meant that that was a beautiful way of expressing what's going on. Um, so I because I've been seeing it all over in different places. Yeah, that I like that. I I like that.

I like that framing. Okay, so let's get back into the book. Okay, let's get back into the book. Okay, but this is the fun part about the podcast, but we have no idea where it's going. It's going to go all over the place. Let's get back into the book. I want to understand the structure of the book um and the messaging inside it. So, let's go back after the preface. Sorry. Yeah, it's all good. No, this is great. Don't sleep. And then, so it really starts just like normal. What is purpose?

You know, how does purpose work? Why does it matter? Why does it matter right now? So, I kind of unpack the moment, right? The moment that we're living in. People are very sad. They're very sick. They're very uh and the question of does my life matter really is an age-old question. Like people have been asking this question. Philosophers have been asking this question for thousands of years. Does my life like this is the question of life. What is the meaning of life? Does my life matter? So I really though position that question in this moment in time what's happening because we think the answer is no because we think the answer is my life doesn't matter we're getting sadder we're getting sicker we're very anxious and so given that what happens when purpose is present and so I unpack the benefits to you know mental emotional physical health purpose matters in a very objectively measurable way so then if it meas if It matters for us to live with purpose.

How? So that's really the purpose formula is kind of the center of the book. Like I I talk about it as design, desires, and disappointments. Your purpose is found when you understand your design. Who are you? What's your personality? What are your gifts? What are your physical abilities? And I I really talk about that as you really are, if you learn to understand your design, you can see that it is all flaw all features, no flaws. You were made how you were intended to be made and we're all different on on purpose that is that that matters, you know, like you have different different things about you, your unique ability.

Back to strategic coach, right? That there are design features about you that if you will understand them, you can appreciate them. So, I'm as you picked up very type A, very opinionated. I, you know, can kind of like I think fast, I decide fast. That's a great feature if you're a guy born in a different culture. You know, if you're a female born in my culture, I'm kind of a lot. Like, I mean, just, you know, I'm kind of a lot. And so, I've always grown up with this sense of like, what's wrong with me?

But as I explored this question of design, I began to rather than like, hey God, why'd you make me like that? I began to take the tone into curiosity rather than accusation and like curious and exploring. Yes. I wonder why. I wonder what that's there for. I wonder why I am so quick to find um the challenges or the problems in situations and what if that wasn't annoying but what if that was there on purpose and it's supposed to be a good thing. Now, we all have to learn to modulate, right?

Like unchecked any of our personalities can be like, whoa, what are you doing? Or or, you know, go faster, be be less passive. So, all of our design, we have to learn to modulate it, but we but we have to learn to appreciate it and understand it and know what what is that there for. So, design is that first piece of the formula. And I it's very reflective. The book has questions at the end of every chapter. That's like if you want to understand this about yourself like answer these questions.

So um I didn't realize that the questions were going to like stop people in their tracks. You know people read books differently. I have learned some people think that they there's a right way to read a book like I have to read this and I have to answer all the questions or I'm doing it wrong. And I learned that talking to my sister. I was like hey did you finish the book? And she was like no you asked so many questions I can't get through them. And I was like, "Oh, well, don't answer them." Like, just read the book and come back and answer them later if that's stopping you up.

And I it didn't occur to me that people would get like stopped up with the questions, but um I think it's a I think it's a two times reader. I think you got to read it through and then come back and reflect it through because I did you don't necessarily always know. And then there's that message that I had of like you know there are designed flaws I something's wrong with me and so learning to like shift your mind into that curiosity rather than accusation I think is a journey of walking through the book if you have negative self-talk that's for me um having to look back on in hindsight's 2020 of course right but looking back on all the stuff that I did when I was drinking and my alcoholism and all the rest of that and I was thinking that was wrong with me.

I was wrong. I was bad. I was a not lovable and all the other things that go along with it. But today I'm like, "Oh no, no, that was all on purpose." Like I had to go through that because I needed to experience that. So I experienced all these horrible things. So now what I do is I now help the next person because I can relate to the next suffering alcoholic. I can relate to the next suffering person. So this whole thing of it's a flaw. It's not a flaw. It's actually a design feature for you to actually experience because it's for a purpose for something down the line.

But that doesn't mean that you become complacent. Say, "Oh well, God wants me to be a drinking drug alcoholic." Do you know what I mean? Like you need, right? So it is like back to the the light versus the dark, right? Like Yeah. It is fundamentally leading towards that like what is good here because it is not pleasant to be married to, friends with, working for someone who only critiques you like that. If I'm left unchecked, my personality can be like the critique monster and you can never meet my expectations.

That's horrible. So that's a beatdown. If you are, if I'm your mom, if I'm your boss, and all I do is tell you what I see that needs to be fixed. And yet, we do that to ourselves. I've often said that to some people. I said, "You know what? If you if anybody else treated you the way you treat you, I'd beat them up." Yeah. Because you're being so mean to yourself. Right. We We're Yeah, that self-reflection. Um, cool. So, there's design. Design. So the the next piece is desires. So design desires.

Desires is just what do you really want? And I think you know strategic coach really asks that question too, right? like what is that big dream in your heart? And and what you want might be um might seem trivial, but as you begin pulling that thread of what you want, what did you dream about being when you were a kid, before other people told you, you know, before other people put their expectations on you, what what did you dream about? And so desires is really like there are people who are like super nerdy about math.

And I'm like, I bet that's for a reason. There are people that are like hyper um excited about spreadsheets and I'm like I bet that's for a reason, right? So like those desires what gets you jazzed up out of your mind like that stuff about you it's trying to send you a message about how how you are to show up and what you are to pursue. You know, our brains back, our brains, I think the dopamine cycle is evidence, biological evidence that God cares if we want stuff, right? Like that that the goal isn't to kill all your desires and become hyper stoic, but it's actually to understand your desires in in so much as they help lead you toward that ability to serve the planet.

I love that because you've Yeah. Because the satiation of desire is not the full purpose of light, but it does give you a defining rod in terms of what you do desire. And there's that that that balance there. And I love how you've kind of said it. Is it pulling you to the dark or is it pulling you to the light? Like for me when you know I would say that the the the alcoholism and the drug addiction and all that stuff was like oh it made me feel good so that's my desire.

Well like yeah but where is it taking you where's the where's the road end? The road ends over here in the negative side right and I like I like that um that you framed it. It's like it's not about quelling and just becoming like emotionless. Do you know what I mean? Like some people think like oh to be boot on the mountaintop is just just to have no desires completely unattached to anything and having no feelings whatsoever and that's how you reach bliss right well okay but what about the rest of us right what about the rest of us and I love the fact that you like and that's the thing that again unique ability says when you're working in your unique ability it feeds you more energy than you put into it.

Yes. And those are and there's that there's that right those are soul sparks. Those are the that energetic feedback you lube that's telling you dopamine is a pursuit chemical. You get the dopamine. It's like uh it's not I eat the burrito, I get the dopamine. It's I get the dopamine so I'll go get the burrito. Like it's a pursuit chemical. It actually tells you towards a thing. Now when we when we wire ourselves right we addict ourselves to something that leads us the wrong direction we then have to go through a rewiring process to retach our pathways to pursue health.

So there is you know there can be an an important rewiring process but in our in our default settings there was no malformation right? So, so defaultly there were things that you were wired up to want. And so if if our pathways are healthy, if we can get our pathways healthy, that dopamine cycle is actually there to tell us what to pursue. That energetic like soul spark of like I need more of that. I need to do more helping people. I love serving. I want to do more things that allow me to just serve in the background.

I love leading. I want to do more things. Like that experience of like, oh my gosh, I'm good at that and I like it and I want to do more of it. Like that is that's a divine channeling of that soul sparking. Your desires are there. Your default settings of desires are there to say this is good. Go get more of that. You know, this is this is uh interesting because like my So I've got a 25, 23 and a 13-year-old. So, with a 13-year-old, this one is like I'm like, I love find out what you really love to do and go do that.

When I was brought up in school, it was like, no, you had to be great at everything. And he had to get top grades on everything. And I worked like my butt off to get all these top grades and then, you know, working on my should we call it my my um my weaknesses. then you have mediocre weaknesses instead of focusing on your strengths which is this again which is why I love the unique ability approach is like here's why you were made if it's sparking that interest if you're inspired in spirit then it's telling you what to do that the other story that I love hearing um and Jordan Peterson talks about this a lot he talks about the burning bush said when all of a sudden Moses walks up and he sees the burning bush and he goes whoa it caught his attention and made him hey what what what is that and he goes and then he went and pursued it.

And when he pursued it, he found out it was the voice of God. And that that was the whole story. It was it's a it's showing us that following that which inspires you, that desire that you have. That's part of the It's almost like someone also said this, that life is like an escape room and you're trying to find the way out. It's like a little clue. I It's more I don't know if I particularly like that analogy, but it's like finding these little It's like a treasure treasure hunt. Like all of a sudden you're like, "Oh, this is kind of cool." And like, "Oh, there's something over there that caught my eye.

Let's Let's go figure that out." Right. Yep. Yep. I love that. Okay, so we got design, we got desires, disappointments. Disappointments. Okay, so this is the stuff that we thought would break us and take us off course. And it can be the stuff we've done. You know, I like to say that we learn some stuff through the school of stupid. It's the stupid choices I've made. And then sometimes it's the stuff that's done to us. Like, you know, my parents got a divorce when I was little and it wrecked me or, you know, my I people who've experienced abuse.

I There are things that that feel like they're going to break us. Sometimes it's just injustice in the world that we're like, "Oh my gosh, it cannot be that there is human trafficking, right?" like that that kind of like disappointment like this is not how life should be. This is not how my life should be. When that stuff is healed, right? We've come back this way. It digs a level of compassion, like wells of compassion that might not have been there otherwise. This is the stuff where it's like, man, I I walked a path here.

This is the addiction, right? I walked a path here and while I don't know if I would want to walk that path again personally, I definitely want to help people who are or help people avoid the heartache that I experienced in that disappointment. And so I think that that's the one that that sometimes we don't think it is a part of our purpose, but sometimes that is the greatest propeller of purpose. It's the greatest informer of purpose because it's the stuff that we're like, I lived this. I experienced this. It should not be.

And by golly, at least in my world, I am going to figure out how to make a difference in that. own deep conversations with another entrepreneur about this issue around this thing because we do dive deeper into the and because you're in like what you're the third the third workshop right so you're I just finished year one so I'm about to start yes right you're so you're starting year two okay so as we got into like further down the line we get into a lot of these kind of reflective reflective thinking tools about what happened in the past and the negative things that happened.

And what we find and what I found in one of these workshops was all the negative things that happened in my life were like the gold mines. They were all gold mines. And I got into this conversation with John Worington. Him and I got in this kind of deep philosophical conversation about it. And I said, "John, I can't believe it." I said, "Every single negative thing that happened to me in my life is actually the gold. It's the gold. Like it's the stuff that is actually the best. Pain was the touchtone of all growth." He goes, "No." He goes, "Yeah, okay, Eric." He goes, "Is that true universally or is that only true to you because that's the way you have now reframed it and relooked at it?" Do you know what I'm saying?

Like, yes. And so, one of the things I talk about in the book, and it's kind of because it's a big conversation, at least in the social media algorithm, in my face, um, trauma. We talk a lot about trauma and the difference between trauma that stays trauma and trauma that turns into resilience is learning. So can I take this thing that almost broke me and can I can I can I complete the cycle? So learning is the completion of a trauma cycle. Now does that mean that we should pursue trauma?

Absolutely not. That's insane. However, I'll pass on that one. Thank you. pass. I won't be enrolling in that course. Thank you so much. But life is full of things that press us. And so, can I take the pressing and go all the way through the lesson so that I can become stronger? So, I talk about kintsugi, the Japanese art form of kintsugi when I talk about disappointments. So, kugi is this um this art form in Japan, created in Japan, where you actually mix lacquer with fine metal. So, platinum, gold, silver, and it's a it's an act of repairing pottery where the cracks and the broken pieces are actually infused with this golden lacquer, this silver lacquer.

Beautiful. The broken places become a display of splendor. They become the beautiful places. So when I think about disappointments healed, I think about kintsugi. Kintsugi is golden repair. Kintsugi, golden repair. And so when our broken things are healed, it's not only something that we shouldn't hide. It becomes the thing that makes us more beautiful than we were before. And you can't restore pottery by gluing it back together. You can look at it that way, but you can't use it, right? But when you go through a kugi process, not only is it beautiful, better, it's better than it was before, it's stronger than it was before, and it's usable again.

So, it doesn't become a museum piece. It becomes the display piece like, I want to use this. My friends are coming over. I'm going to use this bowl because it actually is a conversation point that rallies us all together. And that's when I think about disappointments in terms of purpose. and resilience and strength. It's not that people who've gone through hard things would choose it again. It's that they have completed the cycle of learning such that that disappointment, that scarring has become in their lives, a display of splendor where that golden joinery is actually the feature, not the flaw.

Yeah. And so and within that framework, shall we say, is the difference between the person who, and this is what John, I think, was getting to me. He goes, "Well, yeah, Eric, you did the art of Kugi. You actually you you you made it stronger, better, more beautiful, all those wonderful things you said." Someone else gets that and they stick in it and they stay in it and they never heal it. But my question, my comment to him that was a little more meta was but all the negative that happened was for us like it was part of the overall design.

Do you know what I mean? Like it there was to complete the cycle. So rough edges will still cut people if I don't heal them. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It does. I'm not saying that it isn't going to suck and it you don't have but there's two pe peop le go through the same experience. One does the healing part at the end and then realizes the gold that they find at the end of the suffering and the other one doesn't. They stay in the suffering but the whole suffering was put into place for a purpose.

Like and this is where like you know God is everything or God is nothing. It's like okay well all of the negative things that have happened in my life were happening for me for me to learn from. And soon as I reframe that and that's when I did that thinking to I was like oh my gosh. So the next negative thing that comes towards me and I start feeling that instead of feeling a victim mentality I'm going to lean into it and say thank you. Thank you you know creator. Um I'm looking forward to seeing what you're showing me and what I'm needing to learn out of this. like what do I need to extract out of this experience now?

Right? And it's actually changing the way I'm experiencing negative behavior going forward or negative negative disappointments going forward. Sorry, that's what I meant by. So I think where people may get stuck and where we could maybe like round the corner there a little bit is people get stuck when they feel like negatives are predetermined like oh someone you know someone outside of me God or someone else is forcing this negative thing on me and that's your point about like changing the narrative or changing the way that you see it. Um I think you can go negatives are going to come.

They are inevitable and yes, I get to choose how I respond to them. So it's not it's not that like God or somebody else is trying to you know harm me or that I that I have to view that harm as good. It's like it that is called life. That is called living in a broken world where the these two forces behind the veil are at war and we are we are in war, right? And so then how how do I deal with the consequences of war and and be be strong on the other side of it?

So I think that there's an element of it where it's like if I can accept the inevitability of disappointment in life, but I don't have to accept the I don't have to accept the option of weakness and brokenness. I can embrace the option of healing. like there's my free will. Yeah. The the the phrase that sums everything up into that is pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Okay. So, we've got design, desires, disappointments. Yeah. So, I the whole book is reflecting through those things.

And then after that, I said, "Hey, if you just really don't know, here's Jesus's purpose. Here's why he came to the planet. You could borrow that one, you know, if you want to like just kind of like choose the kingdom of light. Here's, you know, he's like gonna help poor people and bring good news to people and encourage the hearts of people and bind up brokenness, right? Like this is this is why Jesus came to the planet. You you can emulate that in the meantime while you're not sure what your particular purpose is.

I also tackle the like, yeah, well, aren't we kind of all sort of here for the same reason? like isn't generic purpose like good enough? And I'm like no, no, you have a particular purpose. And so I do uh urge in the text to like find your particular purpose, but in the meantime, if you need to borrow a really good like kingdom of light person's purpose, like here's one to borrow. And then I told stories of purpose. So then I give three examples of people living on purpose. a friend of mine who has really overcome um addiction is doing really good like dignity based work in policing.

A friend of mine who's doing really like uplifting work in our city um like empowering women. And then I told a third story that is escaping my mind for some reason that's very sad. And then um at the end I give people kind of like a how to write a purpose form a purpose statement uh section. So like challenge, the final edge of the book is a challenge to live on purpose. And here are 15 ways that a purpose statement could sound and and so try them on. Try it out.

And I'm collecting 1 million purpose statements, right? I want 1 million people living on purpose. I announced that just as soon as I got back from strategic coach. So, we're like little by little creating these like um just cultivating people living on purpose, collecting these purpose statements. So, how we get to a million is not clear to me yet, but we're on a pathway. And so, that like section at the end of writing your purpose statement, then now my request is like send it in. Email it to purpose.com. Um or you know you can DM us on any of our social platforms and we'll stick it into our counter that um we're building to count up to a million people living on purpose.

That's beautiful. That is so cool. One part of that I I just wanted to dive back into. So when you and I love the fact that you very analytical, psychological, sociological, you've got all those pieces like I've got a psychology degree as well. So I'm very like I like to do the math and then like you said nerd out on it. And you said you were you were trying to find a way to write the book without going and ex fully expressing your faith. So then when you you went into that part of the book and you've explained all that to there and then you went I'm jumping into the deep end of the pool and I'm going to talk about Jesus and you just did it.

And was that the scary jump for you to just go into that or it's like what what part of it was the the leap for you? I think there's two. I think deciding like okay there's not another way to talk about this because I mean I really did it was like you're made with a purpose Genesis you know like I mean I start with like Genesis and um it's very theological and that's very true to like it's almost like you really know how I think if you read this book. You you know the inside of Jessica Rimmer if you read this book.

People who know me are like I could hear your voice, right? I could hear your voice as I read it. And I'm like okay. So I it was one deciding that it was going to be overtly faith. The other one was like telling my own story. So I had a few friends walking through the process with me reading the book. And my friend David was like, "You have to put more of yourself here, here, and here." And I was like, "Oh my gosh." And I had listened. There's an author I follow and she said, "You know, until it hurts you, you haven't gone far enough." And I got to that bleeding edge where I was like, "This is a little embarrassing.

Like, here's what you need to know about my own story and about my journey, my own journey with mental health, my own journey with like being suicidal." And I I tell it not hyper raw because I'm not unless we're having coffee, like I'm not going to be hyper raw with you. Like that's not an authentic expression of my real life self. I will tell you anything you ask me. I'm I'm extraordinarily open and honest and transparent, but I'm also like just a pretty professional person by by nature of how I'm wired.

So, I don't like tell you gory details, but I tell you enough where you're like, "Ah, man, that sounds hard." And that even though now on this side of it, it's like, "Yeah, duh. That's the right way to go." But like putting it out there for people who for the most part view me as like all together. She's got it all together. Yeah. Yeah. Um that was the part that I was like, "Okay, I said what I said. I'm just, you know, I'm not going to look at it anymore." And had you but now you looking back, you realize you're like, "No, this is what I needed to say because it helped so many people." And then and how feeling has it been for you back to being able to be yourself?

Like to actually creatively express who Jessica is? Like that's to me that's ultimate freedom is to be yourself and authenticity. Like I really do value integrity and authenticity very highly. And one of my early readers who had known me a long time but hadn't known me like that, she'd been a client. She said, "By the time you got to the end of the book and you tell your purpose," she goes, "Of course that's your purpose. I've seen you live it." And I was like, "Oh, that like there's not a better compliment than that.

I read your book. I found my purpose." Like that's what I'm looking for. Like that's why I told my story is like I had a woman her she's at the gym. She's an older woman, like 68 or something like that. And she came up to me on Monday and I had took my headphones out and she was like, I'm still reading your book, and I just want you to know like, thank you for writing it. I needed I needed to read this. You know, like it's that where I'm like, okay.

Like that kind of like you're going to approach me sweaty with my head, you know, my hair in a ponytail, like lifting weights. Like you knew that because I said it like that, I wasn't writing something from here, right? Was writing it from here to there. Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. And that's that's the contribution. That's the purpose that you were brought here for was to actually do the book. I had I had another again another strategic coach guy on. was Dr. Stelios Nikolakakis, Dr. Nick we call um and his book is soul sight and it's just it's beautiful and it was the same thing he was finally he was finally showing himself to the world and and and and that's what you're doing is you've actually shown yourself and I think it's probably one of the most scary things for any of us to do is to actually show people who we really are right because we have a mask on that says well this is who I'm pretending to be or this is the part I'm playing right now this is the version I think is acceptable to you.

That's the game that we're playing in any given. Yeah. Yeah. This is the version I think is acceptable to you. And so then to go, okay, uh that was the truth. Like that's the whole truth. There's nothing that I didn't say about how that worked for me. Right. That's that's awesome. So, and when did the book come out? May of this year. Oh my gosh. And we're gonna get a million purpose statements out of it. That's right. I hope. I mean, that's the that's the journey. That's No, that's the vision.

That's the vision. That is That's the vision. Yeah. Yeah. Um it's And here's a wonderful thing, too, that I've I've I've experienced over the last little while is I've been surrounding myself with healers. Okay. Healers. And so, I've started the Viking Academy healer wheel mastermind. And I've been meeting once a month with healers. And so they're all in the different like um one talks to angels, the other one is past life regression energy healers, right? And they've all come together saying, you know, um magic is going to be the new how.

Magic is the new how. And I've been thinking about that going because you said something about I need I want to get it the vision. So, I'm going to show one more thing and then we're going to tie back into yours. She said, "Why is joy and abundance? How is fear and scarcity? How am I going to do this?" As opposed to But when you're in the why, so you you said, "I want a million purpose statements. I have no idea how it's going to happen because you didn't fall down into the how, which is and and this is another part with Dan Sullivan.

It's who, not how. He always talks about the who, not how, but it's the why, not the how. So the why, your per your why, your purpose. I'm bringing this message out is so crystal clear. And who you are is screaming so loudly. I can't hear a word you're saying. That's one of the phrases I have on the Viking C. Because who you are, like that woman said, like this, of course you are. This is who you are. It's your why is so beautiful and loud and and and prominent. I'm not even concerned about the how.

Like the how is going to take care of itself magically. It's going to it's going to align itself. It's going to happen. But if you stay in the why and the purpose of it, which is the book, the purpose formula, like that's so cool. That's so cool. It's happening. Oh, there'll be a million for sure. Yeah. I'm excited and I I want that. And when it happens, it's for the good. It's for the good. Yes. You know, I mean, again, like, sure, can you decide that you want to be an evil mastermind and you want to tear down civilization?

Sure, you can. I I believe that people moving towards the good, right? That that's so much more powerful than people evil. Yeah. You know, that's so much more powerful. the the energy the energy vibration that comes from love is exponential versus evil and darkness. Yeah, that's it. And yeah, um where can people find your book? Where can they get a copy of your book? Where can I get a copy of your book? Amazon. You can get a copy on Amazon. I know people the evil corporation, but you can just search the purpose formula or Jessica Rimmer on Amazon and my name will pop up and there's the book hard cover or um or paperback.

And I I'm almost to where I can record an audio. So when I do it'll be on Audible, but we're not there yet. I have to sell a certain benchmark in order to get there. So that's awesome. Yeah. So we're on that journey, too. And you know, this is um you said something earlier about when someone read the book, they could hear your voice, right? This is why I'm so glad that we did the podcast first. So now when I go get the book and I read it, I'm going to hear your I'll I can I already tell that I'll be able to hear your voice talking to me as I'm reading the book.

Um because that happened with Dr. Nick, his book, Soul Sight. Um, when I was reading the book, I could hear his voice like I could hear him talking through every line because and then that's why I told him I said this is you. This is beautiful, right? And so I'm really looking forward to getting so I'm ordering the book. And the other thing I was going to say is that I'm inside the Viking. So the currently right now the Viking Academy is not monetized. It's got a it's got a membership and it's I do podcasts and I do some private Viking shots to whoever is in the Viking membership.

Inside the membership, I have what I call is the Viking Armory, which is a whole bunch of tools and resources. I'm going to put your book into the resources section and I'm gonna when I'm going to get it first and I'm going to read it and then I'm going to put it in there with a link so any everybody in the Viking Academy will see that the book is there and there's the link and the ability for them to go and do the exploration for themselves as well because this is sounds absolutely beautiful.

I love it. Thank you. Well, we are working on a a book club guide. So, if people want to go through with their book club and read it that there is a guide for discussion, we haven't got that done yet, but when I do, I'll send it over and you can put that in as a special resource for your group, too. That'd be awesome. This has been fantastic. H um I can't wait to get the book. Thank you. What you think and your purpose statement? I want to know what it is.

Do you have Oh, yeah. I gota get I gota send you my purpose statement. I will do that. I will do that. I will send you my and for all you listeners out there, read the book, send your purpose statement, and if not, join the Viking Academy and the resources will be in there as well. So, um, Jessica, thank you so much for being on the podcast. It's been awesome. Thank you for having me. It's so fun. Thanks for listening to the Viking Academy podcast. Make sure to leave us your honest feedback by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode.