Rediscover Your Passion

The road to success begins with passion. You are looking for the job of your dreams, not the "it's the only job I could get" work most are willing to settle for to pay the bills. Passion never disappears - it may ebb or subside, but it never goes away. It is usually found in statements that begin, "I wanted to be a...," "I've always regretted…," or "I always thought I'd make a great...." If you can complete any of these sentences you're on your way to landing the job of your dreams and earning the salary you desire!

It is amazing how many people will spend years toiling away at a job they dislike just to "pay the bills." In most cases they only took the job as a temporary way to make some money and feed their family. Little do they know that they are selling themselves short.

Going to work everyday hating what you do is a terrible state of existence, but there is a way out. It all begins with identifying possibilities - realizing that you have the capability to do anything that anyone else has ever done. Why do we insist upon limiting ourselves, stifling our creativity, worrying about what other people will think about our decisions? This is your life, it's time to go out and start living it!

If you do not limit your possibilities with arbitrary constrictions, and accept anything as possible, the whole world opens up and unlimited opportunities are revealed. But not only must you see the possibilities, you must believe that you can achieve anything you set your heart on. If you don't believe in yourself, then why should anyone else?

Once you decide to take control of your life and emotions, and refuse to settle for less than you want out of life, dreams are changed from illusion to reality. You have the ability to make as much money as you want. There are jobs that exist, or that can be created, that will fulfill you, and you can take steps to get there. But you must never settle for anything less than exactly the life that you want.

The first step to getting your dream job and the salary to go with it is to pinpoint your passion, which may require a bit of creative thinking. Pinpointing your passion is a lot more than just defining a job you think you would like to do. It's about figuring out what you love to do and turning it into a career.

One of the most effective techniques for generating new and creative thoughts is a process called mind mapping. Mind mapping as described by Tony Buzan in The Mind Map Book is a way to flowchart your thoughts. It takes the first grain of a thought and expands on it until all possibilities are identified. It helps you to quickly generate new ideas and encourages creative thinking through association of thoughts. It is free form thinking with each new idea generating another related idea, and so on and so forth. This process will be used throughout this book as a means of brainstorming new ideas quickly and efficiently.

Once you have used the mind mapping process to generate new and creative ideas it is time to get specific. It's not enough to have a vague idea about what you want to do with your life. Many people continually say "I would like to make more money" but they never define exactly how much they would like to make. They say "I would like a better job" but they never define exactly what that better job is. The research on this subject has been conclusive, people who have a clear set of goals are much more successful than those who don't.

Here are the initial steps that are absolutely essential for your success:

1) Look deep within yourself and find your dream. What do you love doing more than anything else? What did you want to do when you were a kid? What makes you happy in life?

2) Specifically identify the kind of position that will fulfill your dream

3) Determine exactly how much money you want to make

4) Define what sacrifices you are willing to make

It is important to understand that the items on this list are directly related to your passion and are not related to need or other people's opinions or any perceived limitations. Every successful person in history began by following their dream and their passion, and the rest virtually takes care of itself.

You know you have found your passion when several things happen:

1) You find yourself incredibly excited by the thought of pursuing it

2) Thinking about it makes you happy and brings a smile to your face

3) Time seems to "fly" when you are thinking about it or doing related activities

Once you have determined your passion you must allow it to grow and give it a chance to survive. So many people never give their dreams a chance. They say, "I could never have that," or "...be that," or "...do that," because that's what they've been taught. Forget what anyone else ever told you that you should do, or what you cannot do, and simply follow your passion. When you are passionate about something you will happily put in the effort it takes to be successful.

However you can't just sit there with your passion, you must take action! You must decide right now to commit yourself fully to your passion or it will never be actualized. You must make a plan and take definite steps to make your passion a reality. This book will show you how!

People will tell you that pursuing your dream will require a lot of hard work. That is partially correct. You will certainly face challenges and hurdles and pursuing your passion will require effort, but this effort won't be "hard" work. You are probably already aware that doing something you enjoy is always easier than doing something you don't enjoy. People will also tell you that it will require a lot of sacrifice, and again that would be partially correct. You may have to choose at times between your long term goal - your passion - and a short term pleasure; but it is not really a sacrifice to choose the bigger payoff.

Mahatma Gandhi is an example of a man who was willing to give up everything to pursue freedom for the peoples of India. He endured much physical and emotional pain in pursuit of his dream for the citizens of his country. Some of us would believe he was willing to give up too much. But Gandhi did not see his life as one of suffering, because pursuing his dream was worth any sacrifice.

Gandhi wrote, "Suffering, cheerfully endured, ceases to be suffering and is transmuted into an ineffable joy." If you have found your true passion, identified your big dream, the actions needed to achieve them will never be seen as a sacrifice or as suffering. Instead, you will be living a life of joy.

Become Unstoppable

Once you have identified your real life's passion, it is time to stoke the fire. To pursue a passion requires a belief in yourself that cannot be extinguished by people or circumstances. You must be willing to face challenges and difficulties. You must have a burning heart with passion, and an icy resolve that cannot be melted by negative words or criticism.

The world is full of people with big dreams and passions that are never fulfilled. You cannot allow yourself to become one of these people. You must cultivate an unstoppable attitude right now, in the beginning.

People will try to dissuade you from following your passions. Some will do it out of caring - they don't want you to fail and get hurt. Others simply don't want to be left behind when you become successful. Regardless of their reasons you must refuse to take their words to heart. You must have faith in yourself and your ability to achieve anything. I am sure you have heard the story of the little engine that could. You must become that little engine, always think you can, THINK YOU CAN.

You will face challenges and obstacles. You may face a series of 10 interviews to get the job you want. You may need to go back to school. You may get tired. But always keep the end goal in mind. Keep your passion in front of you. There is one universal rule, if you persist you will succeed, and if you give up you will fail. By definition this is true - you have only failed when you give up trying.

Some people say "that sounds great, but I have to feed my family." Yes, that is true, and you may have to do other work in addition to pursuing your passion in the beginning. But you cannot allow yourself to get stuck in a position you don't want. Never lose sight of the goal - to make your passion your career. Work towards it everyday. If you make that a priority, believe in yourself, and continually move forward you will eventually succeed - and when you do, you and your family will live a life of abundance.

Don't wait until you achieve your goal to start seeing it as a reality. You must start seeing the achievement of your dreams as real, not as imagined thoughts. Picture yourself doing exactly what you want. See yourself as successful.

Remember, what you think about expands. If you think about negative things like "I don't have enough money" or "I hate my job" or "I don't like this" then that is exactly what you will get more of. The reason for this is because thoughts are the precursors to action. Every action you take begins with a thought. So if you are focused on what you don't like you will act in ways that bring more of that into your life. Only focus on exactly what you want. In this case you want the job of your dreams, so focus on it every day and you will find yourself consistently moving towards the fulfillment of that dream.

To be successful you absolutely must become unstoppable. To be unstoppable means to persist and move forward regardless of what circumstance you find yourself in. It means NEVER, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES, will you give up the pursuit of your passions. Many people give up when success is just around the corner - don't let this happen to you.

In order to become unstoppable you must:

1) Have faith in yourself that you will achieve your goal Practice visualizing your dream as already being reality

2) Refuse to fear the unknown

3) Be persistent and refuse to accept defeat

4) Always stay focused on the end goal and do not waver

Exercises

Following are some exercises to help you identify your passion. Do the exercises and refer back to what you write throughout the rest of this book. These are the first steps towards getting the job and salary you want.

Exercise 1: Do a mind map exercise to unlock your deep dreams and desires. Take a piece of paper and write in the middle "What is my passion?" Now put a circle around it. Draw at least 5 lines branching out from that idea, and on each line write an idea that you associate with the idea "What is my passion?" Now draw lines from each of those ideas and write down everything you associate with them - words, memories, people, places, things - anything that might help to create a picture of the life you wish to lead. Let the ideas flow freely. Don't restrict, edit, or censor yourself. Let associations be added unhindered. You cannot make any mistakes here, just keep writing! When you have filled up the entire page, you will see that you have a picture of what you value in life.

Exercise 2: Write down exactly what your passion is as briefly and concisely as possible. Look over the mind map created in exercise 1. Some of the ideas should stand out more than others. When you find your passion you will know it. It will excite you. It will make you feel happy. If nothing stands out at this point, go back to exercise 1 and keep mind mapping until you find something you can really be passionate about.

Exercise 3: Now, do another mind map exercise. This time the goal is to figure out what jobs are consistent with your dream. In the middle of the page write "Dream Job" and put a circle around it. As in exercise 1, start branching out from this idea. As you do this exercise, keep referring back to your dream statement in exercise 2. The jobs you write should be consistent with your life dream.

Exercise 4: Write down how much money you want to make. Write down an exact amount.

Exercise 5: Write down your dream as if it is already fulfilled. Write the statement in a way that makes it clear you see yourself as succeeding. Have it next to your bed and let it be the first thing you read when you wake up and the last you say before going to bed. The goal here is to reprogram yourself for success. This statement should be as emotionally charged as possible. It should get you excited.

Exercise 6: Now write down everything that is in your way of pursuing your dream and getting exactly what you want. Include those items that indicate a lack of self-confidence or self-doubt. You can include people who may discourage you from going after your dream, people who are not positive influences, perceived limitations or lacks of talent, education, etc. Anything that is a challenge should be listed. Now, on a separate piece of paper, write a statement that affirms the opposite of each item you wrote in the first list. For example, if you wrote down "I don't have the talent to be X" on the new piece of paper write something like "I have the ability to develop any skill and talent I set my mind to developing." The statement should nullify the original statement, and MUST be positive. The goal here is to eliminate all obstacles. Once you are finished with the new list of positive affirmations, post it beside your bed and read it every morning and night as well. Rip up or burn the original list of perceived obstacles, they have no control over you now!