Purpose code: free book

Jordan Grumet (aka DocG) is a long-time thought leader in the Financial Independence and Retire Early (FIRE) community. his podcast, Earn & Invest Podcastapproaching its 600th episode.

He has interviewed nearly every blogger, author, and intellectual authority in the personal finance and retirement space (see my interview, #580). An article I wrote in October 2023, Defining Your Post-Career Purpose, was inspired by a conversation I had with Jordan at a finance conference a few weeks ago.

Purpose code is his second book, released this week. I am Give away a hard copy to five lucky RBD email subscribers. See below for details on how to win a copy.

I’ve done a few giveaways like this over the years. I usually get about 100 responses. So your chance of winning is about 1 in 20.

You can also Buy the book here.

About this book

How to Unlock Meaning, MaximiZe happiness, leaving an eternal legacy is the book’s byline, but that only partially describes what you’ll find inside.

The overall concept in the book is what Jordan said Little P Purpose.

Little P’s purpose is exactly the opposite Big P Purpose – Let’s start here.

Big P Purpose refers to “big, audacious goals” or ambitions that are overly focused on achieving significant, results-oriented results that are often tied to external validation or social standards of success.

It emphasizes exceptionalism, rooted in cultural ideals of being unique or better. Worse, it creates anxiety when reality doesn’t align with high aspirations.

Big P goals prioritize great achievement over personal passion or joy along the journey.

Little P goals are a process-oriented lifestyle that prioritizes joy and fulfillment in daily activities over external recognition or great achievements.

It thrives on an abundance mindset that empowers everyone to pursue meaning in their own unique way, without competition or resource constraints.

Different from the purpose of big P, It focuses on incremental progress and embraces change, making failure impossible and easy to adjust when priorities or passions change.

By grounding us in the present moment, Little P aims to reduce regret at the end of life, allowing us to find meaning and happiness in the journey rather than the destination.

Each chapter ends with a “Purpose Prescription.” These are “life audits” that guide readers through decisions that can lead to life changes toward Little P’s goals—essentially a “how to” guide.

These reviews include social media, work, family (property), personal narrative, time, community, generations, and regret.

He also provides a framework (“the climb”) to develop your small P goals. this five commandmentss (climbing rules) are:

• Your climbing should never be goal-oriented
• Climbing will definitely bring you happiness
• Your climb cannot fail
• Climbs can contain incremental buffs
• For purposes of that, monogamy is optional

The book is filled with stories about people Jordan encounters in his daily life, mostly outside of his podcast.

As a hospice physician, Jordan has a unique perspective on money and life. His patients were often living their final days.

A story about twins – one sibling is dying and grateful for a full life, the other sibling still has a good life but sees himself as a victim of a challenging upbringing (and his dying (like his sister), the odds are always stacked against him – a compelling reminder that happiness is a choice.

personal adjustments

Throughout the book, Jordan shares his story. His father died when Jordan was seven, and despite his learning disabilities, he aspired to become a doctor.

But after achieving his father’s goal of becoming a doctor, much of his career was unsatisfactory. He also longs to forge his own path rather than follow his father’s.

His medical career led to burnout, prompting Jordan to start practicing Subtractionremove things from his life that no longer serve him. Doing so maintained his hospice work but gave up all the non-patient work that drained his career satisfaction.

He also found an online community of financial independence and freed up his time through subtraction to start a blog and a podcast, and developed friendships and a community he couldn’t find through medicine.

Much of the book relates to my situation. For nearly 20 years, I have been chasing a big, audacious goal to retire at age 55.

If I can earn, save, and invest enough money to achieve professional freedom, I have achieved my goal.

But along the way, I discovered my small purpose in writing about personal finance and investing. For the first five years of this blog, I wrote a new blog post every week. During those weeks, I also felt U.S. News & World Report and my IPO website.

Raising three children while commuting 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week, while working a full-time IT career.

The blog has no destination or financial goal; it’s a creative pipeline that has led me to places I never imagined: conferences, friendships, corporate partnerships, podcast appearances, YouTube, and my presence on dozens of websites writing topics.

As Jordan said in the book, “Money is a tool, not a goal.” This is where I got misled years ago when I set an early retirement goal.

The journey is more important than the destination, a lesson I learned from traveling but didn’t prioritize in my career until I was 47.

How to win this book

If you are interested in winning this book, please fill out the form below. Winners will be notified by email by noon on Monday, January 13th. Once notified, I will ask for your mailing address and mail you a copy within a week or two.

Drawing will be random. However, there are some guidelines for coping.

• Only RBD email subscribers are eligible to win. You are welcome to subscribe after submitting your reply (most of you are already subscribers).
• US residents only. I do not ship internationally.
• Please submit one copy per household.
• Optional but encouraged: Please submit a brief topic idea for a future article or video. Your reply affects my future content creation (But not book drawing).
• Winners: Please respond promptly within three days. In three days, I might draw a new name.

OK? This is the submission form. Good luck!

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Craig Stephens

Craig is a former IT professional who gave up a 19-year career to become a full-time financial writer. He has been a DIY investor since 1995 and started Retire Before Dad in 2013 as a creative outlet to share his portfolio. Craig studied finance at Michigan State University and lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children. Read more.