The Purpose Code: A Free Book Giveaway

Jordan Grumet (aka DocG) is a long-time thought leader in the financial independence and retire early (FIRE) community. His podcast, The Earn & Invest Podcast, is nearing its 600th episode. 

He’s interviewed just about every blogger, author, and intellectual authority in the personal finance and retirement space (check out my interview, #580). An article I wrote in October 2023, Defining your Post-Career Purpose, was inspired by a conversation with Jordan just a few weeks earlier at a financial conference. 

The Purpose Code is his second book and was released this week. I’m giving away hard copies to five lucky RBD email subscribers. See below for details on how to win a copy.

I’ve done a handful of these giveaways over the years. I usually get around 100 responses. So your chances of winning are about 1 in 20. 

You can also buy the book here.

About the Book

How to unlock meaning, maximize happiness, and leave a lasting legacy is the byline of this book, but that only partially describes what you’ll find within.

The overarching concept in the book is something Jordan calls Little P purpose. 

Little P purpose is the opposite of Big P purpose — let’s start there. 

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

It emphasizes exceptionalism and is rooted in the cultural ideal of being unique or better. Worse, it creates anxiety when reality doesn’t align with lofty aspirations.

Big P Purpose prioritizes grand achievements over personal passions or joy in the journey.

Little P purpose is a process-oriented approach to living that prioritizes joy and fulfillment in daily activities over external validation or grand achievements.

It thrives on an abundance mentality, allowing everyone to pursue meaning in ways unique to them, free from competition or resource constraints.

Unlike big P Purpose, it focuses on incremental progress and embraces change, making it impossible to fail and easy to pivot when priorities or passions shift.

By grounding us in the present, Little P purpose reduces end-of-life regrets, enabling us to find meaning and happiness in the journey rather than the destination.

Chapters end with “A Purpose Prescription”. These are “life audits” to lead the reader through decisions that can lead to life changes toward Little P purpose — a “how to” guide, per se. 

These audits include social media, work, home (possessions), personal narrative, time, community, generational, and regret.

He also provides a framework (“The Climb”) for developing your Little P purpose. The Five Commandments (the Rules of the Climb) are: 

• Your climb should never be goal-oriented
• Being on your climb must bring you joy
• You cannot fail your climb
• Climbs can incorporate incremental gain
• Monogamy is optional when it comes to purpose

The book is packed with stories from people Jordan has encountered in his daily life, mostly outside of his podcasting.

Jordan has a unique perspective on money and life as a hospice doctor. His patients are often living their last days.

One story about a set of twins — one sibling who was dying and grateful for a fulfilling life, and the other who still has a life ahead of him but considered himself a victim of a challenging upbringing (the same as his dying sister) with the odds always stacked against him — was a compelling reminder that happiness is a choice.

Personal Alignment

Throughout the book, Jordan shares his story. He was motivated to become a doctor upon his father’s early death when Jordan was only seven, despite a learning disability.

But after achieving his Dad’s goal of becoming a doctor, much of his career was unfulfilling. He was also eager to forge his own path instead of his Dad’s. 

His medical career led to burnout, prompting Jordan to practice subtraction, removing things from his life that no longer served him. Doing so led to maintaining his hospice work but letting go of all the non-patient work that drained his career satisfaction.

He also found the financial independence online community, and freeing his time through subtraction led to starting a blog and podcast and developing friendships and a community he couldn’t find through medicine. 

Much of this book is relatable to my situation. For almost 20 years, I was chasing a big, audacious goal to retire at age 55. This was, essentially, a numbers game. 

If I could earn, save, and invest enough money to enable career freedom, I’d hit my goal. 

But along the way, I found a Little P purpose in writing about personal finance and investing. I wrote new blog posts every single week for the first five years of this blog. During some of those weeks, I also wrote articles for U.S. News & World Report and my IPO website. 

All while raising three kids and commuting 90 minutes a day, five days a week, to a full-time IT career.

Blogging had no destination or financial goal; it was a creative outlet that led me to places I never expected: conferences, friendships, corporate partnerships, podcast appearances, YouTube, and my writing feature on dozens of websites. 

As Jordan says in the book, “Money is a tool, not a goal”. And that’s where I was misguided many years ago when I set my early retirement goal.

The journey is more important than the destination, a lesson I knew from my travels but failed to prioritize in my professional life until I was 47.

How to Win the Book

If you’re interested in winning a copy of the book, fill out the form below. Winners will be notified by email by Monday at noon, January 13th. Upon notification, I’ll ask for your mailing address and snail mail you a copy within a week or two.

The drawing will be random. However, a few response guidelines. 

• Only RBD email subscribers are eligible to win. You are welcome to subscribe after you submit your response (most of you are already subscribers).
• U.S. residents only, please. I won’t be shipping internationally. 
• One submission per household, please. 
• Optional but encouraged: Please submit one brief topic idea for a future article or video. Your responses influence my future content creation (but not the book drawing).
• Winners: Please respond promptly within three days. After three days, I may draw a new name. 

Ok? Here’s the submission form. Good luck!