Tag: self help
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d celebrate with a different type of blog post. It’s about being grateful. I discovered many years ago that being grateful is a magical force. It’s a gift to the person you’re grateful to and it has the unexpected benefit of being a huge gift to YOU!
If you think about it, it’s impossible to feel lousy and grateful at the same time! If you want to come out of a negative space—if you are feeling drained, or you’ve been in an upsetting situation—you can quickly change your outlook and how the rest of the day unfolds by thinking of all the wonderful things in your life (down to the tiniest detail) and saying thanks. Get serious about it and see for yourself if it isn’t true. Spend the first few minutes of your day giving thanks for the nice things that happened (a sincere smile in the grocery store, an unexpected surprise or a thoughful gesture) and see how your mood and outlook changes. And when they change, you’re ready to take on remarkable things.
As I mention in my book, Professional Destiny, your head is the home of rational thought and logic. Your heart is the home of intuition and your true essence. Both are essential, but in the day-to-day grind, it’s often easier to stay in your head. Gratitude and thanks are a path straight to your heart. They take you out of the mentality of right and wrong, good and bad, and an unsatisfying place of judgment. They put you in a more positive space and magnetize you to the great things in life—the things you want. When you give thanks, you attract more.
So as you prepare to celebrate on this day of Thanksgiving—spend an extra few moments to recognize even the smallest blessings—and see how good you feel.
November 26, 2009
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.”
September 14, 2009
Finding your purpose and practicing it in your profession is an immensely gratifying and productive experience. But, how do you know if you are living your Professional Destiny? Here are nine indicators that will tell you:
The following passage is an excerpt from Professional Destiny.
You are engaged. When you’re doing what you love, you become passionate about your work and lose track of time. You feel alive, energetic and creative. There is simply not enough time in the day to do what you can’t wait to do.
You feel on track. Things come naturally. Work seems easy, though it may not for others—because you’re exercising your gift. Your level of satisfaction is your true guidance system.
You feel honest. You’re being yourself. You’re pursuing a path that is in line with your values and interests, and you’re living in true authenticity with yourself.
You become lighter. Being true to your values allows you to shed a huge burden—the burden of maintaining a facade. You instantly experience a sense of relief as the weight is lifted.
You are committed. You clearly set your vision and do what you say you will. You may not know how you are going to get there or when, but you know that you will.
You operate with compassion. Your sense of individual freedom gives you a new sense of community. Your interactions become genuinely rewarding and you create true connections with others.
You make a contribution. What you are doing is meaningful and, while you may be well compensated, your driving force is contribution above money.
You are fulfilled. When you fully express your gifts, talents and creativity, you feel a deep-seated sense of satisfaction. Being on the path to reaching your full potential just feels great.
You make a difference. Your work positively impacts others in a most meaningful way. You’re confident that you’re leaving a legacy, and you’re gratified by that knowledge.
August 3, 2009
“Those who recognize their calling early in life and build on it are the lucky ones. Those who gain enough strength or independence to seek a more satisfying path in later life are also lucky. And though they may not feel so fortunate at the time, those compelled to seek change due to sheer discomfort [or change in circumstance] are lucky as well—because despite their own hesitation, events have pushed them in the direction of their true purpose.” – Excerpt from Professional Destiny
In this economy, many are losing their jobs — but for some it may become one of those “best thing that ever happened to us” moments. Although it may not feel like it at the time, being let go could be just the push we need to make a change to finding a profession that is far more satisfying and rewarding. It is a time to reflect on what it is we really love to do and find a career that fully utilizes our natural gifts. So many of us have been in unfulfilling jobs and by viewing a setback as a new potential opportunity, we can use this moment as a “course correction” to reintroduce joy and creativity into our profession. We can move from a “job” (something we do primarily to get a paycheck) to our life’s work (a mighty undertaking that challenges us, taps into our creative energy and awakens our spirit). In the long run, a “setback” can lead us to the career we were born for and make us far more engaged, productive and fulfilled.
Anyone can make a change at any time, whether by choice or not. The current economy is causing many people to take a fresh look at what they are doing. Losing a job might be a tough pill to swallow, but perhaps just the medicine we need to explore what it is we really want to do. This may be the perfect time to rethink our goals, as well as the gifts we were born with, so that we can leave behind something that is less than fulfilling to pursue a new career that energizes us and makes us feel alive. And, if we recognize the opportunity, chances are we will look back and realize that the thing we so feared, was actually one of the best things to ever happen to us.
July 21, 2009
I received an excellent question as a comment on an earlier blog post about the difference between the a job vs. your life’s work. This contributor asked me to further define the terms, job, profession, work and career. It is true that they are often used interchangeably and mean different things to different people. So, it can be confusing. I’ll start by how the dictionary defines them:
Job
1) a post of employment; full-time or part-time position, 2) anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility.
Work
1) employment, as in some form of industry, esp. as a means of earning one’s livelihood
Profession
1) a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science; 2) any vocation or business.
Career
1) an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one’s lifework
In my book, Professional Destiny, I expand these definitions to reflect the level of satisfaction we feel in what we do. The terms job and work (with a small “w”) are what we do for the primary motivation of earning a living. They can feel like an obligation, a duty or a responsibility. Oftentimes they are too small for our spirit.
I introduce the terms “Life’s Work” (with a capital W) and the “Career You Were Born For” to reflect Work that completely taps into our creative energy and reawakens our spirit. When we are so engaged, we feel energized, challenged and productive. We feel that we are making a difference to someone or something—and that feels good. Once we start doing this Work, the urgency is bigger than us and we feel that there is simply not enough time in the day to do what we can’t wait to do. And, while we may be well compensated, our driving force is purpose and contribution above money. When we are engaged in this way, we are pursuing our Professional Destiny.
For more detailed information on discovering and living your Professional Destiny, you may order the book at: http://tiny.cc/prodestiny
July 15, 2009
edition
