Joseph R. Kan

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From Seeking Personal Purpose in Life to
Improving Self Awareness

• Joseph R. Kan
• Professor Emeritus Dean Emeritus,
• University of Alaska Fairbanks
• Visiting Professor, STE Lab,
• Nagoya University
• http//www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffjrk/Purpose.htm

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The purpose of giving this talk is to share my
personal experience with young people, who are
open minded, regardless of age. I hope it will
be found useful somehow. Warning! My talk may
contain a few unsolicited advice. I know
unsolicited help or advice can be annoying. If
you wish to leave, now is the time to do so.
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When to start searching? Purpose in life
is a personal mission statement. I wish I
had started earlier, to have it in writing
before 30. I made two big decisions in recent
years I decided to put my research on hold,
to serve as Dean of the UAF Graduate School
when I turned 55. What for ..? I
decided to retire at 65 to pursue other
interests to learn to play violin and to
resume my research in space physics.
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Purpose in life a personal mission
statement For example, one may choose
to be rich, powerful, and famous
to be a warm and kind person to
serve people towards a common goal. A
combination of the above is possible if you
start working on it early in life.
Keeping in mind that to accomplish any one of
the above is a major achievement in life.
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To lead, one must follow. - Lao Tzu, 2500
years ago Every person is leading and
following at all times. Examples ------
Leading and following require complementary sets
of character traits attainable by a balanced
personal intellectual-emotional
development. Intellectual intelligence can be
improved by education. Emotional
intelligence can be improved by.?
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Leader serves his followers followers serve
their leader. ------ It is all about serving
one another -----
Leadership quality includes Creativity
----------------- dream what could be Vision
------------- formulate dreams into goals
Integrity ---------------------- earn peoples
trust Compassion --------------- warm peoples
heart Wisdom ----------------------- do the
right thing Persistence ----------------------
get the job done
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Followership quality includes Team spirit
------------------ helping each other Humility
----------------------- modesty at heart
Respect ------------------------ equality in
action Loyalty ------------- sense of duty and
devotion Honesty ------------------------------
truthfulness Flexibility ----- ability to
change or be changed
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Pursuing a balanced intellectual-emotional
development
Intellectual Intelligence to think, analyze,
and synthesize
creatively Emotional Intelligence
to work with people, happily
and productively My
personal mission statement To pursue a
balanced intellectual-emotional development
and to work with anyone to accomplish common
goals. I started working on a map to guide
my personal growth which is updated at least
once a year. I found it useful to me.
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Meditation a mental exercise to attain inner
peace. One meditation exercise I practice is to
mentally observe your breathing. Feel the air
you are breathing in and breathing out. When
your mind drift off, bring it back to
concentrate on observing your breathing.
Meditate 10-20 minutes daily. Over years of
practice, meditation can gradually improve your
self-awareness, self-control and patience. Why
meditation works is not clear to me. My hunch is
that a peaceful mind has the power to understand
and change oneself which is the most difficult
thing I have tried so far!
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Lessons I learned and Write down a personal
mission statement before 30, and update it
once a year. Every person can be an
effective leader-follower, serving people to
achieve common goals. Construct a personal
map to see what areas you need to improve
the most to achieve a balanced
intellectural-emotional development. Meditate
daily for 20-30 minutes to improve
self-awareness, self-control and patience.