World Cup ski racer, former CEO of a successful medical supplies business and owner of Blue Ridge Estate Vineyard & Winery in Saylorsburg, Randy Detrick gives you the feeling that he hasn’t let a minute of his life go to waste. His motivational and inspirational messages can be heard on his Living On Purpose! podcast—here’s a taste.
A Real One
For the past three years, Detrick has been selling out his novel “Underground Experience” event at Blue Ridge, pairing wine not with nibbles but with food for thought. The uplifting presentation takes attendees on an emotional roller coaster to a soft landing, using a shared afternoon to make the message sink in. This inspired a podcast with the same heady impact.
Inspirational quotes are all around us, but what Detrick adds to his words of wisdom is humility. “I am transparent,” he says. “I let people see right through me, my worries, anxieties.” You won’t find an untouchable expert here. Detrick knows that our shared humanity is what gives us strength to embrace our chance at a good life.
Adding Value
So what’s the purpose he’s living by? Detrick was introduced to the work of motivational figure John Maxwell by his mother (an inspirational figure in her own right) at the age of 12, and declared his mission to add value to others then and there. With this mindset, a struggling world is a world of opportunity.
“The darker it is around you,” Detrick says, “the brighter your light can shine.”
It can be hard to find a “why” for self-development when things are looking grim and a little hopeless, but with a purpose of helping others, the motivation to help yourself is baked in. “If you don’t have happiness and joy, you can’t give it. And as you light someone else’s candle, life gets brighter.”
It’s a feedback loop that keeps giving.
Stay EIGHT Years Old
The mission to add value to the world is helpfully vague because each of us has unique value to contribute. No one else has the same combination of dreams, interests and personality, and as kids, we’re encouraged to discover ours. “The world builds up the dreams of children,” Detrick says. “‘Are you going to be an astronaut, little man?’ But as we get older, insecurities are taken out on other people. Dreams are torn down.”
The goal of life is to stay (or rediscover) the eight-year-old who didn’t know the definition of pessimism. When you embrace that your purpose is unique to you, your only true measuring stick is your own performance. “When you compare yourself to others, the measuring stick is changing constantly,” Detrick says. “You never know whether you’re getting better.”
You might as well compare a chainsaw to a hammer.
Fear and the Cloudy Existence
Setting goals and discovering purpose seems like it leaves us open to the risk of failure. If we don’t set goals, we can never fail, right? This belief keeps people comfortable in a life playing it safe. But our fascination with sports, movies and even dating proves that we really crave the heightened emotion of the unexpected.
Detrick asks, “What’s one thing you’ve accomplished by playing it safe?”
As we give up on our passion and potential, those languishing dreams pile up as deep regrets. “Most people regret not doing something more than doing something,” Detrick says. “It’s an ugly sentence, but a lot of people live and die and never know why.”
No one can tell the future, so why wait and wonder while it washes over you? Let the events of the coming months and years be at least relevant to your deepest purpose.
Make it Public
Once you’re ready to become owner and ally to your purpose, Detrick suggests you share your goals. Write down what you want to do, create an action plan and tell everyone what you’re doing with your life.
“Whenever you see them, they’ll ask, ‘How are you making out with those goals?’” Detrick says. “It becomes a feedback loop. Everywhere we look we see ourselves reflected back.”
Although we all share this world and the commonalities of the human experience, we’re also the creators of our own reality through the stories we tell ourselves and others about what’s happening.
“Mom would say,” Detrick recalls, “when something bad happens to you, think of it as something good, a gift to build character.”
That’s just a small example of how to tell stories of empowerment and positivity, defining a world in which you’re more devoted than discouraged.
“You’ve heard people say they’re late on their bills,” Detrick says, “but you never hear them say they’re late on their dreams.”
Don’t your dreams deserve at least the importance of the Xfinity bill?
thelivingonpurposepodcast.podbean.com
Published as "Ask the Expert" in the February 2022 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
