What is the purpose of a State of the Union speech?

For me, a proud and productive American citizen, a life coach, and a writer who shares my gift because I believe it is my obligation to do so, it is about hearing our leader’s vision laid out and subsequently figuring out my evolving role in the national and global community.

Right off the bat, President Obama set that very tone.

“There’s a reason the tragedy in Tucson gave us pause,” he said. “Amid all the noise and passions and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater – something more consequential than party or political preference.”

We are part of something greater. Something bigger. I have learned, and love being reminded, that if we get this concept, we can go from feeling isolated to buoyed by possibility. It is something actress Patricia Heaton describes in the latest issue of O, The Oprah Magazine in an “aha! moment.” Frustrated that she was failing because an acting career wasn’t panning out, she signed up for a volunteer trip through her church – a four-day project at an orphanage in a Mexican border town.

“When I returned home, I felt relaxed and whole, like my spirit had gotten a massage,” Heaton says in the article. “I realized that a life spent serving others would be just as fulfilling as acting.”

We all know how that turned out and it was all because she broadened her scope. The President gave us these kinds of examples to amplify his vision of innovation and lifting ourselves up to be what we are capable of being.

“What we can do – what America does better than anyone – is spark the creativity and imagination of our people,” Obama said. “We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers, of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It’s how we make a living.”

Some will call it cliché, write this off as platitude. I call it a much-needed pep talk for many Americans wondering what to do next. As I have learned over and over in life coaching, those poised for change sometimes just need a little nudge.

A woman in her 50s who has been laid off could get discouraged by the odds stacked against her in the workforce because of her age, or she could go the route of Kathy Proctor, a guest at the State of the Union speech. Obama told her story of working toward a degree in biotechnology after being employed in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old.

“ … [B]ecause she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too,” Obama said. “As Kathy said, ‘I hope it tells them to never give up.’”

Proctor had intent greater than herself.

I like that so much of the speech was about letting average citizens inspire average citizens. We all know there will be partisan fights and red tape and wrangling going on in Washington, D.C. and there’s little we can do about it when it’s not Election Day. So why not hear moving stories of people just like us that can inspire us into action in our own lives? Won’t that uplift the country?

Some of us will get jobs because our government makes it possible for more construction or more hiring in a particular field, but many of us will earn a living because we’ve pushed ourselves out of a comfort zone and reconfigured what we thought our lives should look like.

In talking about the promise of renewable energy, the President pointed to Robert and Gary Allen, brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company.

“After September 11th, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon,” he said. “But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert’s words, ‘We reinvented ourselves.’”

Reinvention. How inspiring is that story?

Let alone the one that brought us back to the heartening memory of the Chilean miners’ rescue. Obama told of small business owner Brandon Fisher’s company in Pennsylvania, called Center Rock, which specializes in a new drilling technology. When he heard the news about what was unfolding in Chile, a plan was conceived and his company got to work making the necessary drilling equipment to execute it. Then they labored around the clock to make the rescue happen. When the camera fixed on Fisher, he was glowing.

“Later, one of his employees said of the rescue, ‘We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things,’” Obama said.

Ah, big things.

If a fraction of Americans came away from that speech and decided they need to take things up a notch in their own lives, it will have served its purpose. That collective will is how we’ll better the state of our union.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.