"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
- Howard Thurman
- Howard Thurman
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| Living on the Edge - Cracking under pressure Source: http://www.juan-vela-art.com/GALLERY-3.html |
She writes:
Here's the good news; it's never too late to start living your life on
purpose. Below is a list of questions you need to answer about
yourself. Take the time to write out your responses. You can use a
word processor if you must, but I like to write these kinds of
exercises longhand because it engages more of my brain, and invokes
more of my intuitive mind.
1. When you were a child, how did you answer when anyone asked you,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" How realistic was your
answer? Is that something you could see yourself doing today? As
children, we were very intuitive. Perhaps becoming an astronaut or
fire fighter is no longer in your value system, but what does that
desire tell you about what you could be doing?
2. What special skills or talents do you have? Do you have a knack
for taking things apart and putting them back together? Are you
amazingly able to connect with people no matter what their background?
What are you just naturally good at? What have you been told you're
good at? Write down everything that comes to mind and leave room for
writing more as you think of them later.
3. There was a time, it could have been a long time ago, or recently,
when you did something that made you feel like you were on top of the
world. What was it? What were you doing?
4. What do you like to do? What do you do in your spare time? What
do you choose to read about? What are your hobbies?
5. There is something that you do, that, when you're doing it,
you completely lose track of time. Hours feel like minutes.
What is it? What are you doing?
6. What do you have a passion for? Is there a business near you that
could utilize that passion? Do you already have the skills necessary
to work there? Do you need to get more education? You might have a
passion for and a burning commitment to several things. That's fine.
What are they? How do they correlate?
7. How much money do you need/want to make? This is important because
it will help you determine at what level you need to pursue your
passion. Where I live, you would not make enough money as a yoga
instructor to support a family. Therefore, you would need to think
bigger - owning your own gym, where you are the yoga instructor, but
the money comes from the business of selling memberships with access
to a wide variety of equipment and space.
8. What does the market need right now? How can you use your special
talents to meet that need? Don't skip past this question. If you
need to do some research, do it. This is important not because you
will fail if you ignore it, but because attempting something that's
going to be hard to sell will discourage you. It will take you longer
to find where you fit in. More importantly, there is some way you can
make your passion fit what today's market needs and that's the
ultimate joy - not only are you doing what you love, but your
customers, whoever they are, are in love with what you have to offer.
9. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Oliver Wendell
Homes said, "All limitations are self-imposed." There really is no
such thing as failure in business; there are only results. If your
first idea doesn't work, you'll try another one. The great thing
about working in an area you are passionate about is that everything
you do builds on the next step.
This exercise is meant to spark creative thought and inspiration. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped guide my thoughts and plans for this awesome leap!
*These are some questions I found on a quirky blog that were helpful to me. (I exited my browser at work (yes I blog on my "quitting my job" blog at work lol) and could not for the life of me find that page again...so if you know who posted this I would love to give her credit!)
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