Wasn’t that a GREAT video? You DID watch it didn’t you? OK, if you don’t have time right now, promise me you’ll bookmark this page and come back later – it’s THAT good! Plus, it will give you some additional insights to this post that a million words could never describe.
Alright then, as long as you already watched the video or bookmarked it, you’re ready to move on to the main event.
Are you in the right business?
You don’t have to change your job (unless you really are in the wrong place)… instead, do what I did back in 1997. I changed my job description and I can’t begin to tell you what a change that has made in my life!
You see, I never consciously chose my career. When I was a kid I didn’t say, “When I grow up, I want to be a music teacher”. I did pretty much what I saw other people around me doing. I got up; ran the daily routine; went to bed. The next day I repeated the process.
CHOICES?
It never occurred to me when I was growing up that there were choices! Life sort of just happened… well, didn’t it?
However, when it came time to graduate from high school, I found out that I had to make some kind of decision about what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I honestly had no clue!
So with the help of the guidance department it was determined that since my main talent (ok, my ONLY talent) at the time was in music, I would pursue a career in that field. I was advised to go for a degree in teaching because, “You could ALWAYS fall back on that!” And that’s how I became a ‘music’ teacher.
I can count at least five times that I actually attempted to change careers since I began teaching in 1972. Those were the MAJOR attempts. I’m not going to count the hundreds of times I wanted to pack it all in, because everyone has to deal with those kind of days.
Reluctantly, I would come back to teaching music. It seemed to be my only talent. And I never saw myself as having any choice! Heck, to this day I’m still not that passionate about music. I don’t even listen to the radio at home!
You want to see passion?
Talk to me about my family!
Or cats!
Or my computer!
Or my favorite sports teams!
Or…
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT!
For years, I’ve been soaking up self-help, psychology and philosophy material like a dry, thirsty sponge. And in my ‘music’ classes I found myself telling the students more about how a particular challenge related to their personal lives. The more personal I got, the more passionate I became about my work.
Then one day in 1997 I consciously made a choice! I was no longer a ‘music’ teacher. From that day, I became a teacher of life skills. I even took on the name “ITeachLifeSkills” as my online moniker when visiting forums and chat groups. I tell people now that I could be flipping hamburgers at McDonalds and I would still be teaching life skills. That’s really who I am. That’s what I do!
To me, there is no greater satisfaction in the world than to have one of my former music students come up to me and say, “I remember what you said about such-and-such and this is how it helped me.” And during that entire conversation, not ONE WORD is spoken about ‘music’!
Even now I get a tremendous rush from the many replies I receive from people who see and hear my work from around the internet.
Music is just something I was good at as a kid. Personal development is my true passion. Now I simply use my natural talents in music as a platform to teach the more important things in life.
If you are like me and fell into a career because of a certain set of skills, you don’t have to throw those talents away. Don’t change your job… just change your job description!
As mentioned above, I’ve been a student of life skills and personal development since the mid-1970′s. One of my favorite reads is an old classic, “The Science of Getting Rich” written by Wallace Wattles back in 1910. It is every bit as relevant today (perhaps even more so in these rapidly changing and financially turbulent times) than it was the year it was first published. If you are currently in a career transition (like me), then you’ll be most interested in reading what this book has to say.
My experience tells me that Mr. Wattles is right on when he tells us to “It is probable that your actions, at least for some time to come, will be the same ones you have been performing for some time past, but you are to begin now to perform these actions in the certain way, which will surely make you rich… No one is so misplaced that he cannot find the right place… ACT in your present business.” from The Science of Getting Rich, Chapter 11, Acting in the Certain Way
It’s not so much what you do as who you are. As a starting point for the rest of your life you are always in the right place now.
Here’s an awesome example from my own wife, Maggie. When we first got together back at the end of 2005, neither one of us was emotionally ready to take on the world. I was newly separated and going through a divorce while Maggie was just coming off a second abusive relationship.
However, during our courtship I would tell Maggie how amazing she was; that she had ‘gifts’ for working with people. At first, she thought I was just telling her those things because our relationship was new and I was merely trying to win her over. Funny thing, though – she started noticing the people at work talking the same way, especially her superiors. They recognized that she had something ‘extra’ that somehow previously didn’t come through.
It was fun to watch her career develop over the next three years as doors seemed to magically open literally revealing a ‘yellow-brick road’. In that relatively short period of time, she went from a little-respected receptionist to a highly valuable member of the administration team. In December of 2008, while the world was being buried with stories of cutbacks, downsizing and layoffs, my beautiful lady came home with the announcement that she had just received a $12,000/ annual raise!
Now you might say that I had some influence in boosting her career, and compared to her previous relationships, you would absolutely be right. As you saw in the opening video of this post, a little validation goes a long way. (You did watch the ‘Validation’ video, didn’t you?) While the other guys were focusing on the things she couldn’t do – perhaps as a cover-up their own low self-esteem – I simply reminded Maggie about all the things she COULD do! This is why it is IMPERATIVE to closely guard the company you keep. All I did was allow Maggie to be her shining self.
I’m so proud of Maggie. She is a perfect example of what Wallace Wattles was saying, “No one is so misplaced that he cannot find the right place… ACT in your present business.”
What can you do today – right now, right where you are – to begin acting in a ‘certain way’ which will surely make you rich?
I hope this post has given you at least few ideas and more importantly, a lot of inspiration. Until the next time, no matter what your emotions, Love That Feeling!
I love that video, and what impressed me the most was how they used the “validation” double meaning all the way through, but never once hit us over the head with it. Just left it lying out in plain sight and trusted us to get it on our own.
A very good lesson in how to build up others.