Six Tips to Help You Navigate Your Professional Destiny

A ship in harbour is safe,
but that is not
what ships are built for.
—William Shed

Following your Professional Destiny is like a ship setting sail on an open sea. It’s a great adventure. To reach your destination requires preparation, guts and a strong commitment. You must be willing to journey into the open sea, beyond the safe harbor of your current surroundings. This requires moving past comfort and complacency. Confident that you are the captain of your ship, you can determine and adjust your course even when outside forces affect your journey. You have a compass, your inner guidance, to direct you. If there’s a storm raging and drama all around you, it may be momentarily drowned out and you’ll likely be tossed around—but that is temporary. With your ship in good working order and your crew (or people who support you) in place you’ll weather the storm and arrive at an exciting new destination. Here are six tips to help you on your way to finding your Professional Destiny:

Prepare yourself for the journey. Like a true professional, you need to practice your gift every day. To do this you must be fit, rested and have your physical and mental capacities about you.

Trim down to the essentials. Make sure your mind and body are fit for the task in front of you. You must have the stamina, strength and essentials that you need—but only the things you need. Leave all the extra weight behind.

Get focused and determined. Growth is a journey, and on any journey you will encounter unforeseen obstacles. Your ability to overcome these barriers will determine whether you succeed. It takes complete dedication, a whatever-it-takes mindset.

Overcome the fear of moving into unknown territory. You might have to struggle when you venture into something new. Worst of all, you don’t know what’s out there. Your mind tells you maybe it’s better to stay right where you are in the known and comfortable. Abandoning your vision seems like the safer, more logical choice, but it comes at a tremendous and incalculable price.

Be responsible. Realize that you are the driver of your life and you have the ability to respond to each situation. Take ownership. Steer the ship. You cannot take a hands-off approach and expect to become a master of your gift.

Dare to be remarkable. If you pattern yourself after others, you will be like others and consequently will be… ordinary. The people who show an absolute conviction to make it, who pick themselves up when they fall, who fully invest their effort, time and energy, are the ones who accomplish extraordinary results.

Do not expect the journey to be short. It never is. You can have the destination in mind, but the journey will take you in directions you never imagined going. Looking back you will see that these were places you needed to go. They were experiences you needed to have, or lessons you needed to master, to prepare you for your destiny—the career you were born for. When considering whether to set sail into new waters, remember a ship isn’t built to stay in the harbor—and neither are we.

1 Comment March 1, 2010

How To Combine Your Two Most Powerful Assets

People with high levels of mastery…
cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition,
or head and heart, any more than they would choose
to walk on one leg or see with one eye.
—Peter Senge

When it comes to pursuing our Professional Destiny, many of us learn at a young age to tune out our intuition and choose the safe and secure route. In other words, we make a decision from the head, not the heart. But, does this path ultimately bring us success and fulfillment? Chances are—an overwhelming “no!” A choice made purely from the head is a choice that saps our creativity and motivation. We operate on autopilot and are simply not our best. On the other hand, a choice made from both the head AND heart is a choice that inspires and energizes us—and leads us to great breakthroughs. The following is an excerpt from Professional Destiny about the struggle between head vs. heart and the ultimate power of combining the two:

“The duel between reason and intuition, or head and heart, is a constant and powerful force in our lives.

Head—also known as our mind. It is the home of our rational thought and logic. Our drive for survival.

Heart—also known as the soul, spirit or essence. It is the home of our intuition (some also call it our “gut”). It is the home of our higher self and represents who we really are at the core.

HEAD VS. HEART

Achieving stature and safety in life serves to satisfy and comfort the mind. At some point, if we are committed to a path of purpose, we will experience an insurgency of the soul—an insistent demand that we live more consciously and meaningfully. Our job is to stay focused on this deeper message, so that we can call it forth reliably and use its guidance to steer ourselves in a more satisfying direction.

The moment we stop learning is the moment we begin to stagnate. We go to sleep and our life becomes empty with an unsettling combination of anxiety and boredom.

Once you start on your journey and follow your deepest yearning, you won’t be able to turn back and keep it quiet. Human beings are born learning and growing. Even if you keep yourself so busy and pretend not to hear it, you will feel a deep sense of dissatisfaction and experience disenchantment with your life. Your inner voice will always be there, even if buried, waiting for you to listen.”

We are given the gifts of rationality (head) and intuition (heart). The former helps us with survival in the physical world we live in, the latter allows us to have breakthroughs that are genuine, unique and fresh. In terms of discovering your Professional Destiny, finding harmony in the combination of head and heart is the most powerful mix.

3 Comments February 10, 2010

Eliminate the Naysayers

When you’re in the midst of change, or venturing into unknown territory, it can be a fragile time—you’re in transition. I call this the incubational stage and it can take a little time to build yourself up. At this stage, you’re at a crucial, sometimes vulnerable, point and it’s important to surround yourself with people who support your vision. Think of yourself as a little seedling that has just sprouted—you’re full of potential, but still fragile, so you need to protect yourself from being trampled before you’re fully established. The best way to do this is to surround yourself with support and avoid the naysayers!

Naysayers can be people close to you. As I write in Professional Destiny, “There are people who support you and help you to feel empowered, positive and on the right track. When you are with them you feel supported and energized. Then there are people who operate from a negative space, the naysayers, the ones who bring you down. You’ll know them by the feeling you have when you are with them—you feel deflated, like the wind was just taken out of your sails. You feel drained when you are around them. Try to clearly identify the people who have your highest good in mind and surround yourself with them.”

Naysayers can also be business contacts. A friend of mine told me, “I was disheartened when I first moved to Austin. Everyone said Austin was harder to make it as an independent contractor than Dallas. I was more expensive. For almost a year I had to say ‘no, no and no’ to lowball compensations offers. It was almost a year, before I said yes. People didn’t value my service and didn’t want to pay me what I’m worth. An advisor asked me ‘why do you even stay when this happens? Get up and leave. I wouldn’t have the success I have today, if I stuck around with the naysayers.’ So, I chose to love myself and value my work, and leave. Now it has paid off.”

It’s hard enough staying on top of the fear, uncertainty and doubt that takes root in our own minds, so we certainly don’t need anyone else feeding it. When you’re fostering an idea, it’s such an incubational time that it’s critically important to block out the naysayers. If you allow the naysayers in, every time you listen to what they’re saying, you hand your power over and dishonor your gift. And, if you’re going to dishonor your gift, the question is do you really want to do what you love? To do what you love, you have to put your big girl (or big boy) pants on and honor your potential. This also means clearing the negative voices in your head, listening to your heart and marrying the two. In my book, I call this the “Killer Combo.”  When you’re listening to your head AND your heart, you’re functioning as a more powerful force – you become so strong you deflect the naysayers and the negativity. Then you’re freed up to accomplish great things. Your heart gives your head the signal and you’re clear enough to do what you really love.

5 Comments November 3, 2009

How I Discovered the Career I Was Born For

The following is an article that I was invited to contribute to More.com about my reinvention from advertising executive into author of Professional Destiny.

Something was missing inside.

It was at that time that I began to yearn to move from a life of success to a life of significance.”

This moment on my porch in Boulder began my search for my “professional destiny.” Although I was successful by all outward measures, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something bigger I was meant to do. I had a purpose to fulfill and needed to find it. The search became my mission. It took several years (with a few detours along the way!) for me to transition from a marketing and advertising executive to an author, speaker and coach. But that poignant moment marked the beginning of a wonderful, challenging and fulfilling journey. It was my time of rediscovery and reinvention.

This story was originally published on More.com

I became fascinated by the idea that there’s an “ideal career” for everyone, but only a small percentage of us manage to find it. I came to realize that for many, true fulfillment only comes after some period of disappointment or disenchantment—and I had mine on the porch. I started questioning people to see if I could find any common traits among those who had a real passion for their work and discovered that the most highly motivated and fulfilled were those who were making use of their natural gifts. In effect, they were working in the career they were born for. For these people, work isn’t about money or title. It’s about satisfaction, empowerment, feeling energetic about their work, making an impact, fully exercising a talent and inspiring others.

The journey is not for the faint of heart. It may mean leaving a familiar sense of security and stability. It may mean leaving behind an impressive title or professional identity. Almost always, it means venturing into the unknown. But if your days become routine and you find yourself in a position that saps your spirit, the move to energizing, fulfilling work is well worth it. There is a difference. A job is something we do to earn a living, our “professional destiny” is a mighty undertaking that challenges us, taps into our creative energy and reawakens our spirit. Our passion and creativity are ignited. If we’re not feeling it today, perhaps it’s a call for reinvention!

4 Comments October 27, 2009

Career Dissonance

Trevor Romain telling his story

At my book signing in Austin last Thursday, Trevor Romain (bestselling children’s author, speaker and TV personality whose story is featured in my book) made a comment during his talk about moving from his career in advertising to becoming an author of children’s books. He said he had “grown tired of trying to sell things to people that they didn’t need” and decided to do something that made a difference.

This spurred a lively discussion afterward with a close friend who asked me, “What if your ‘professional destiny’ is in something like advertising?” What if you’re meant to be the world’s best creative director and you get great joy from that? Are you making a judgment that you need to leave everything behind and go change the world?

It’s a great question. But, the answer could be different for each one of us.

My premise in Professional Destiny is that we all have natural gifts—things we are uniquely good at and love to do—and that we are happiest when these gifts are expressed and shared. There is nothing like the feeling of tapping into our gifts every day and applying them to something that we feel is genuinely making a difference.

This brings me to the subject of “career dissonance.” If you are in a profession, feeling great joy and are in line with your values, that’s awesome—keep going—full steam ahead!! You could be a trash collector feeling that you’re cleaning the earth while supporting your family, a lawyer representing people who genuinely need help or in advertising, promoting something that you believe in—it really doesn’t matter. But, if you are in a profession and you feel dissonance between your gifts, values and what you are being asked to do—then change is needed.

Using advertising as an example: Let’s say you are very health-conscious and only eat natural, organic foods. You work in an agency, loving what you do, until suddenly you are assigned to the new fast-food account that your agency just won (like Wendy’s or Dairy Queen). At this point you encounter career dissonance. You have amazing creative gifts and you love to apply them, but you’re at odds with working on this account. An option for you might be to ask to be assigned somewhere else or, if that’s not possible, change agencies and work on an account that resonates with you. If you apply your magnificent talents to a company who sells products you believe in (like a local, organic market or Whole Foods), you can experience tremendous joy.

Bottom line: if you’re doing what you love and believe in, and getting to practice your gifts every day, then go for it—there is no career dissonance happening in your world!

1 Comment October 8, 2009

Out of a Job and Into Your Professional Destiny

The following is a post that I contributed to the Pink Magazine blog about how setbacks in this economy may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

For many, there comes a point in our life when we stop in our tracks and ask ourselves, “What is the meaning of the work we’re doing?” It might be because we’re feeling unchallenged, unfulfilled or unmotivated. Or it might be because external events—like losing a job—force us to rethink our options. Rather than look at such a circumstance as a challenge, you can see it as a golden opportunity to reintroduce joy and creativity into your professional life.

Years ago, I became fascinated by the idea that, for each and every one of us, there is a “career we were born for.” Only a small percentage of us manage to find it, and oftentimes our discovery only comes after some period of disappointment or disenchantment. I experienced this personally when I became increasingly dissatisfied with my 9-to-5 life as leader of an advertising agency. Looking around me, I saw dissatisfaction as an epidemic, and it prompted me to write the book, Professional Destiny.

During my research, I questioned people to see if I could find common traits among those who displayed a real passion for their work. I discovered that the most highly motivated and fulfilled really did have something in common—their profession allowed them to make full use of their natural gifts. For these people, work isn’t about money or title—it’s about satisfaction, empowerment, feeling energetic about what they do, making an impact, fully exercising a talent and inspiring others.

As I wrote in Professional Destiny: “A job is something we do to earn a living. Oftentimes it is too small for our spirit. Our life’s work is a mighty undertaking that challenges us, taps into our creative energy and reawakens our spirit. It is our work with a capital W. Once we start on the path, the urgency of this work is bigger than us. Our passion and creativity are ignited.”

Given the current economy, this may be the perfect time to assess the gifts you were born with and rethink your goals. You may well see an opportunity to pursue a different career, one that will make you feel energized and alive. A time of uncertainty can become our time of greatest opportunity. This is when new doors and new possibilities are open, and we have that added incentive to venture out and try something new. You can emerge from this on a path headed for true happiness and satisfaction for the rest of your professional life. Seize the moment and get clear on what you really want to do—you’ll likely look back at it as one of the most satisfying decisions you’ve ever made.

2 Comments September 25, 2009

Seeds of Change

This is the story of Marcie Finney—a former ad designer turned entrepreneur of “Seeds for Goodness,” a fast-growing, eco-fashion brand that creates stylish, earth-friendly jewelry and adornments. It’s an inspiring Professional Destiny story of her choice to thrive, and make a difference.

“My entrepreneurial spirit started eight years ago. I had been working in an advertising agency, but knew it was time for me to go out on my own as a freelance designer.  I loved my client interactions and wasn’t getting enough if it in the agency, so I struck out on my own.  I do love design and it’s a gift. In particular, I love seeing an idea come to life. Yet, I always knew I’d do some-thing else, but I didn’t quite know what.

A clue was that when I was young, my friend and I teamed up in school and made necklaces. I even sold enough pieces to buy a pair of rollerblades! I always loved to make my own funky pieces, but that’s as far as it went.

Over and over again, people told me that they loved my usage of color. All of my work is colorful. In fact, if you don’t like color, you’re not going to come to me. I like vibrancy! My gift in the design sense is that I’m meant to bring color into whatever form I create.

Every year I take a trip to reflect. It’s a quiet time for me to ask myself:  ‘What do I want? Where am I going?’ It’s necessary for me to pause and just get quiet. I went to Cabo and during that time, felt my life was going to shift. I knew it, but didn’t know what it was shifting to.

Unlike most people, I always wear my jewelry when I practice yoga. After Cabo, for two months straight, people would comment on a piece I was wearing.  It was every day, everywhere I went—at yoga, at grocery stores, you name it. They’d say:  ‘can I buy your jewelry online? Will you sell me the piece you’re wearing?’ I asked myself – ‘do I need to do anything with this?’

A month later my friend Tony called me and asked me what I was doing besides design. He told me ‘you need to pursue it, it’ll be huge… bigger than you think.’

Some of the best things come when you least expect it. I was going about my day and I suddenly got an intuitive message loud and clear. It was ‘you need to work with seeds.’ I didn’t really know what it meant, but I started to do research about seeds and I was blown away. The colors, the texture were unbelievable – and so me! The trumpets started playing!

I said ‘I’ll do it’ and the universal doors flew open. It’s been a little over a year journey now. Aveda became interested in my line and has become a large client.  There are several retail locations where my jewelry is placed in Austin, and it’s expanding into Dallas. I can see the momentum – everything I stock in a store will sell out. I feel like it has a life of its own, and it’s a lot of work, but totally fulfilling.

Most exciting is that the name for my line literally came to me—“Seeds for Goodness.” I chose that name because in this world, we can get hardened—we may not recognize the goodness in our lives. I wanted to remind people. All good things start from something small and it was perfect that I was working with seeds. You have to nurture them; you have to let them grow. You can’t just walk away. You need to expect the goodness that lies inherent in the seed to grow. This is a greater symbol of who we are. We all are these amazing seeds that have so much potential within us, and we need to nurture that potential. For example, if we’re doing something we don’t really love—if we’re doing something just to exist—we’re not to thriving. Seeds are meant to thrive. So are we.”

1 Comment September 14, 2009

Julie and Julia — Cooking Their Way to Their Professional Destiny

I just saw the movie Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep, who plays the famed chef Julia Child, and Amy Adams, who portrays the present-day author, Julie Powell. It’s a captivating movie in its own right, but it’s particularly appropriate for this discussion — because it’s the story of two people and their intersecting paths to careers they love.

The movie begins when Julia’s husband is stationed in Paris right after World War II. Julia, who moves with him, decides she must find something challenging to fill her days. When asked what she enjoys doing the most, she replies with a laugh, “I love to EAT!” What do you do with that?! Scene after scene she’s shown savoring French food and soon she enrolls in a prestigious French culinary school and learns to master French cooking. Her vision is to make gourmet French food accessible to Americans—and enjoy it all along the way!

This soon leads Julia to publish her cookbook, “Mastering The Art of French Cooking,” and star in the “French Chef” series on American Public Television. The rest is history!

Then, comes the story of Julie Powell… in 2002, she is a New York office worker frustrated by her job. Her dream is to become an author, but after an unsuccessful attempt at submitting her manuscript for publishing, she settles for an office job instead. Julie complains to her husband that she’s never successfully finished anything and has a mini-meltdown. They come up with a plan to give her something to look forward to, by combining one thing she loves—cooking—with the other thing she loves—writing. This gives her something to look forward to after day-after-day in the grind. Knowing that she wouldn’t finish without a deadline, Julie challenges herself to cook her way through all of the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s cookbook—within 365 days—and blog about it.

Julie’s blog started in a humble way—with no readers except, of course, her mother. Within the allotted year though, she picked up more and more readers and finally the attention of the NY Times. This led to offers to publish her book, and this very movie that is now in theatres.

The Julie/Julia story is a perfect example of self-awareness, conviction and following your bliss. For both women, their choices became life-changing experiences. Starting from humble beginnings, they each translated their passion for food into professions that brought them great joy… and success. Each chose to do what they loved. And, each ultimately ended up living their Professional Destiny.

1 Comment September 2, 2009

Once a Writer, Always a Writer

Ever knew what you loved to do as a child, but then lost track of it as an adult? Here’s a story of rediscovery. It’s a reminder that sometimes finding your professional passion may simply be a matter of remembering what you love and taking the leap of faith to do it. Today’s entry is the compelling story of Shelley Seale, one of the first nominations submitted as a Professional Destiny “Hero.” It’s a story of her  journey from childhood writer, to real estate broker, and back to writer—as a successfully published author.

 “I started my career in real estate, although I definitely had a passion for writing long before that. Because I was the first child for my parents and grandparents, everyone read to me. I loved hearing the words and stories. My earliest memory of writing was around age eight when I wrote dorky little books and published them. It was my hobby. My great grandmother lived in a nursing home and I would go to there and hear the most amazing stories. For example, one woman, probably in her eighties, had been a prima ballerina in the Moscow ballet. She told me about her fascinating life, and others would as well. I wrote each person’s story on a pad of paper, then would illustrate and bind it, and bring my newly published “book” to my new friend in the nursing home.

All this time, it never occurred to me that writing was a practical choice for a career. I couldn’t see myself making a living as a writer, so I never really considered it.

When I was in college, I started working in a real estate firm. One of the positions I wanted required me to have a real estate license, so I got one. I then launched into a career I would have for the next 15 years without a whole lot of thought. Looking back I would say that real estate chose me as a profession… I didn’t really choose it. I was making pretty decent money so I stayed in it.

I started writing articles about buying and selling homes for real-estate journals. People began to contact me and ask to re-use what I had written. For example, I wrote an article about how to ease the trauma for children in a move, and a mental-health-related website contacted me wanting to license the article for their publication. It was validating for me and it reawakened my love for writing.

It got so that I would rather write articles about real estate than actually show houses! When I started realizing that I enjoyed writing more than managing my business, I began to ask myself, “Why should I spend hours of my time doing what I’m not passionate about when I could do I AM passionate about?”

Writing was what inspired me, the other was just work… I considered it a chore. I knew I not only could write, but that I should. Otherwise it would be another 40 years of doing something I didn’t love. There are people out there who spend 40 or 50 years doing jobs they hate—I didn’t want to be one of them.

So I ramped up and began actively contacting publications. I first wrote about real estate because that’s what I knew, then started branching out. Soon I was writing about other topics such as owning a business, small business management and entrepreneurship—which were also things I knew. Then I expanded to write about other industries—technology, healthcare, travel, education. Over a period of several years I phased-in writing and phased-out real estate, until I finally flip-flopped careers. It took about five years.

I got involved with non-profits and wrote an article about Caroline Boudreaux for Austin Women’s magazine. This led me to India where the idea for my recent book, The Weight of Silence, was born.

What were the obstacles I faced? I could make twice as much money in real estate as I do now, but I would be doing something I only tolerated, not what I loved. To me it’s worth it.

The benefit I’ve realized is even greater. I’m no longer compartmentalizing my life. Before it felt like the work I did was partitioned from who I was as a person. For so many people it’s: here’s your job, here’s your family time, here’s your hobby – they are compartmentalized as if they have no relation to each other. Now my life is integrated. My work doesn’t feel like work, because it’s part of who I am, not simply what I do. I have more of a focus on things that matter.

My advice to others wanting to make this change is to stay dedicated and persevere. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a commitment to pursue your passion. At times it would have been a lot easier to stay in real estate but I wouldn’t have been as happy.”

Have your own story of a career change that tapped into your gifts and allowed you to do what you love? Send in a comment and share your experience with others.

2 Comments August 26, 2009

Professional Destiny "Heroes" — Let's Hear Your Stories!

One of the things I’m most excited about doing with this blog is sharing stories of people who have made the leap from an unfulfilling job into their life’s work. Work that makes them feel alive and makes a difference. Whatever jobs these people held, or what careers they discovered, there are valuable and inspirational lessons for all of us in how they came to discover their own gifts and make the move to a career that was deeply rewarding. 

Caroline Boudreaux (left) in front of an orphanage she is building

In my book, I include people such as Mark Misage (an aspiring engineer who felt ambivalent about his major and bucks tradition to become a nationally recognized high school physics teacher), Caroline Boudreaux (a successful TV account executive, who at 29 had everything except happiness, and then found herself transforming the lives of thousands of Indian orphans by starting the Miracle Foundation), and Trevor Romain (who fought the odds of dyslexia and being told he had no writing and drawing talent as a child, to become a bestselling author, speaker and illustrator of children’s books). Those who make bold moves like these are Professional Destiny Heroes.

Inspirational stories like this are all around us, so let’s expand the conversation and share the stories of others who have made this journey.  If you know someone, please nominate them today. It could be you, any “everyday” person or someone famous. Just leave a brief comment in this blog explaining what your Professional Destiny Hero has done. Please include contact information.  I will be writing a blog post featuring these heroes every week or so, along with my other topics, and I’d love to include the most inspirational stories.

Think about how you’d answer the following questions (for you or another person you’re nominating) and include as much colorful detail as you can:

• Do you consider yourself to be doing your life’s work? How is it different from a “job?” (See earlier blog post about the differences between a job and life’s work).
• Why did you choose this profession? Did it require a change?
• What obstacles (doubts, fears, setbacks) did you have to overcome?
• What signs/encouragement did you get to show you were on the right path?
• Do you feel that you are making a difference?
• What have you learned and what advice do you have for others?

That’s it. I hope this will be a fun, rich experience that will help to inspire and motivate others. I look forward to hearing from you!

Leave a Comment August 7, 2009