What Makes A Good Leader

Dr. Mike Murdock #The 31 Great Facts You Should Know About The Word Of ...

Dr. Mike Murdock #The 31 Great Facts You Should Know About The Word Of ...

Dr. Mike Murdock #The 31 Great Facts You Should Know About The Word Of ...

My Wage #Jessie B. Rittenhouse

Ten Empowering Passion Qualities

The Seven Money Skills The Wealthy People Are Good At

How To Maximize Encounters With Well-Known People

Seven Winning Pointers

How To Beat Back Loneliness

How To Stay Fueled Up

Strategies For Achieving Your Goals

Seven Secrets Of True Love

Seven Critical Areas To Master

Mother Teresa #How Life Should Be Approached #2of2

Rev John Hagee #Seven Secrets Of A Good Attitude To Adopt

Rev John Hagee #Seven Principles Of Prayer

Rev John Hagee #Seven Principles Of Perseverance

Seven Steps To Being A Good Media Resource

Ten Steps To Become An Excellent Consultant

John C. Maxwell #How To Take Ownership Of Your Dream

John C. Maxwell #How To Move Closer To Your Dream

How To Get Yourself Organised

I Will Be Master Of My Emotions

What Is Success?

Keys To Discovering Your Special Assignment

The Six Deadly Fear To Be Conquered

The Blame Game Of Life

#How To Defeat Depression

#The Blame Game Of Life

#Mother Teresa #How Life Should Be Approached #1of2

#How To Live A Significant Life

#How To Create Positive Attitudes About Change

#How To Decide Like A Winner

#How To Improve Your Success Rate When Confidence Is Low

#How To Take Charge And Take Control Of Leadership

Are you living an authentic life?

Have you ever asked yourself if you are living the life you were meant to live?

Have you ever asked yourself, as you pondered your life, is this all there is?
These are great questions to ask when you reach forty and beyond.

Who Needs an authentic life?

If you are satisfied with the status quo life that no longer challenges you or gives
you inspiration and passion, then you dont need an authentic life.

What is an authentic life?

This is another good question since we rarely teach children or adults how to live such a life.
You are living an authentic life if you feel you are in control and you are determining your own direction. Your work is a natural outlet for your creativity, your interests and your abilities.

Why is living an authentic life important?

We are living longer than ever before. One hundred years ago we wouldnt even be having this conversation since the average lifespan was barely mid-forties.
There are more opportunities then ever before to recreate our lives and our work.
When we work without purpose and without meaning, our lives grow empty and lifeless. Each day is just like the previous day and the cycle continues until we retire and die.
We live for tomorrow; just 2 more years, or 6 more years, or 10 more years at our miserable jobs until weve saved enough money to finally stop. Were not sure what we will do but we know it wont be anything like what we are doing now.
Then sadly, life gets in the way, and something happens to block our hopes and dreams of a more fulfilling life.

How can I live a more fulfilling life?

I developed the simple Ten P Process over four years ago to help people, especially those over forty, discover and do the work they love. During the last four years, through workshops, teaching, talks and private coaching, I have seen this model applied and used by many people on the way to a more authentic life.
I think its time now for you to follow the Ten P model and make the necessary changes in your own life.

Purpose

What is your life about? How will you make a difference in the world? What bothers you about the world or your neighborhood, and how can you contribute to solving it through your work?
What work could you do that would give you more daily energy and passion?
With Purpose, you will experience a greater sense of integrity and authenticity.
Is this enough incentive for you?

Prize

What is most important to you; what do you Prize?
Too often we are afraid to admit the answer, too afraid that we will be judged by our decisions rather than by who we are. Are you working today in a job that has nothing to do with what is most important to you?
If you love teaching, for example, and your days are spent balancing financial statements, only you can do anything about it.
Define what is most important to you and think through now what you will have to do to follow what is most important. Write down specific goals that align with what you Prize.
This can be a lonely exercise but the most important one you will ever do.

Perspective

What is your view of yourself? Are you happy with your life, your choices, and your work?
What is your view of the world? Does your world inspire you and bring you energy?
What is your Perspective of others? Do other people interest you, arouse your curiosity?
Much of our activity in the world revolves around strictly monetary pursuits and land and political interests. I believe this is a result of people not taking the time to follow a more authentic life that honors themselves, others and the world they live in.
You can be different; it starts with you.

Possibilities

Have you given up on yourself or have you started to think of what is Possible for you and your work?
Its easy to let others influence your lifes direction because of what they think is impossible. Listen to your own language. Does it inspire you or depress you?
Dont settle for One day or I hope or Maybe if I could do what I really love
Start now to shape more Possibilities for yourself. For example, imagine a new Possibility for yourself and your work right now. Notice how this thought brings on a new thought and another and another.

Place

What is your Place or role in the world? Have you thought about this?
Have you just assumed that what you do today is the role you are destined to carry out for the rest of your life? We are all pre-conditioned by the environments, cultures, economic situations and the personalities we were born with. These are all hard to change.
It will take disciplined effort on your part to think through the roles you want to play in life. No one will do this for you even if you got good grades in school and awards at the office.

Position

What is your Position or attitude on a daily basis? How do you think about yourself, your work, your world and those around you? Do you wake up daily being grateful or jealous? Do you wake up angry at yourself, your work and those around you? Your daily position will either support you and nourish you, or prevent you from both enjoying the moment and moving towards what you want. What can you do now to change what is not working each day with regards to your attitude, especially towards your work? This will make all the difference to you!

Passion

Have you ever gone to sleep at night tossing and turning with the excitement of waking up in the morning because you cant wait to get started on your work?
This is Vocational Passion and it is one of the most exciting feelings in the world. You feel like you are spending your days doing what you love and your work creates meaning for you.
Make a list of all your passions. Now envision how you could spend your day using these same passions in your work.

Perfect Vocational Day

What would be Perfect for you and your work? Most of us settle for so much less.
We hope that if we work harder and faster, the boss will notice us and perhaps well get those four days off next winter or that bonus or maybe that promotion. With the promotion, we will get to work even harder and faster doing more of what we dont like.
Seems silly, doesnt it?
Spend some time thinking deeply about and writing down exactly what an average day might be like for you if it revolved around your passions for the rest of your life.

Present

What are you doing now to close the gap between living an authentic life and your life today? If you dont know where you are going, then perhaps any old road will do.
Write down what you want and compare it to where you are right now. If there is no gap between these two realities, there will be no tension and no problem.
Following this road will not be easy.
There will be emotional challenges. You may have to change some of your beliefs.
There will be relationship challenges. You may have to change some of your relationships.
There will be financial challenges. You may have to make some financial changes in how you spend your money.

Permission

Putting this all together starts with the right support network. Start surrounding yourself with people who encourage you, believe in you and who provide daily inspiration and ideas about what you want to do.
Look for defining moments in your life. Use these as the trigger to finally live an authentic life, starting with doing the work you love.
Give yourself Permission now to follow your heart.

Still not convinced?

The alternative for you is to simply retire (retire comes from the French word for retreat and hide) and prepare to die. Youll die slowly, of course, surrounded perhaps by other like-minded people in a golf club community playing bingo and discussing what you used to love to do.
By the way, the French also gave us the word career which means fast track.
Sadly, this is the way many people live their lives; running fast through their work only to discover they wasted years and years doing useless work only to retire and play bingo.
You can make a different choice now to start to live an authentic life.
This will be the hardest path you will ever follow. It will be lonely and provide lots of challenges.
It is also the only path towards your authentic life.

Craig Nathanson is the author of P Is For Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day and a coaching expert who works with people over forty. Craigs new E-book, Discover and live your passion 365 days a year is a workshop in a box designed to help busy adults go insane with their work. Craigs systematic approach, the trademark "Ten P" process, helps people break free and move toward the work they love. Visit Craigs online community at http://www.thevocationalcoach.com  where you can take a class, get more ideas through Craig Nathansons books and CDs, get some private coaching over the phone or read other stories of mid-life change and renewal.

Craig lives in San Anselmo, California. You can reach him at 415-457-0550 or atcraig@thevocationalcoach.com 

How to Build Self Esteem the Right Way

Building self esteem is done one of two ways. Unfortunately most of us do it the wrong way. John was referred to me by his psychologist for relaxation and motivation. John was seeing the psychologist for building self esteem and self image and at the age of 28 felt that he was losing ground. This feeling of "losing out" contributed to his level of anxiety which made him tense and irritable. John's psychologist's devised a program for building self esteem. He had John focus on acquiring technical training to develop a skill. Of all possible skills, John choose to become a technician in a metal shop and enrolled in a program. Even though everything he was shown in class made sense, when it came to test time, his level of anxiety interfered with his ability to obtain respectable, much less passing grades. He was in jeopardy of failing when he was referred to me. The psychologist's approach was the typical, "accomplish something, acquire something," and you'll be building self esteem. Yes, it's the approach used nearly 100% of all programs for overcoming low self esteem that I've seen. You are supposed to be able to overcome low self esteem by getting better at something. Unfortunately, this is a "catch 22" approach--a set-up for failure. I'm not saying that everyone who uses this approach fails to accomplish the goal of acquiring a skill or educational level, but this approach does not build self worth or self esteem. It's a set up for failure. Building self esteem is a myth with this approach. Look around. Most of your friends, family, and acquaintances have been building self esteem based on their accomplishments and acquisitions. Unfortunately, the person who overcomes low self esteem and builds it largely:     on his fortune, often commits suicide when his portfolio is lost in the stock market crash.     on the love of his wife may become depressed and acquires life-threatening cancer within 2 years of her passing and then dies himself even though he was in fine health prior to her passing.     on his position in life often becomes depressed and acquires a life threatening disease within 2 years of his retirement and dies.     on his social contacts and accomplishments may develop anxiety panic attack when he moves to another part of the country.     on his physical skills becomes has a greater chance of getting seriously depressed and likewise may acquire a life threatening disease when he has an incapacitating accident or is replaced by younger, stronger athlete. And we can go on and on. For each person building self esteem based on an accomplishment, an ability, physical appearance, and so on,  he/she feels good about himself/herself for as long as his/her skills, abilities, and accomplishments remain in tact. Yet when their skills, relationships, accomplishments and so on change, they lose themselves in the process. Is this self-worth? No, it's "things' worth," not self-worth. In the face of all adversity and loss, the person who has truly been building self esteem does not lose himself, but by knowing his true value, is able to adapt and change to all life circumstances. Back to John: It was indeed a challenge getting John out of his failure path. More so because the psychologist set him up for failure--the psychologist actually set the path for him to stay stuck with low self esteem. Eventually he got up the hill and over the crest. He learned to overcome his low self esteem, not by graduating machine shop school (although he did), but by learning to deal successfully with life's challenges and to like himself in the face of disappointment. Building self esteem the right way is from self involves asking questions. What is missing here? Why with so many programs for building self esteem is it still a crisis? It is clearly insane to teach one to obtain self esteem from his/her accomplishments. It's also to realize that:  Comparing ourselves to anyone else is to kill self esteem  Some of our best laid plans will simply fall through.  We are emotional beings and rather than be ruled by our emotions we can acknowledge them and move through them.  We each are a child of the universe deserving of feeling good about ourselves regardless of what we do or don't do.  We only feel less about ourselves because of what we've learned to believe.  Love of our physical, emotional, and spiritual self is deserved and until we can love ourselves, it's unlikely that another can love us.  Egotistical people really don't love themselves. Building self esteem from self so that you even like yourself on a bad hair day (when your fail to accomplish the goal) produces real results. Richard Kuhns B.S. Ch. E., NGH certified operated a stress management clinic for 17 years, educator and seminar leader for various corporations, and is the author behind the best selling stress management hypnosis self help cds at http://www.DStressDoc.com and new treatment for anxiety panic attack using wakened hypnosis at  http://www.PanicBusters.com