Legendary storyteller Mark Twain told about a man who died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Immediately realizing that Saint Peter was a wise and knowledgeable individual, he inquired, “Saint Peter, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me who was the greatest general of all time?”

Saint Peter quickly responded, “Oh that’s a simple question. It’s that man right over there.”

“You must be mistaken,” responded the man, now very perplexed. “I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.”

“That’s right my friend,” assured Saint Peter. “He would have been the greatest general of all time, if he had been a general.”

Beware of giving yourself a similar “general court martial” by shortchanging your potential. All of us are created with the equal ability to become unequal. Those who stand out from the crowd like Pope John Paul XXIII or the Apostle Peter have learned that all development is self-development.

Remember, growth is an individual project and the crowd will eventually stand back to let a real winner shine through.

Think it’s not practical to begin following your passions due to the “cost of living?” Then let me start off by encouraging you to honestly “count up the costs” of not trying.

Recently, the field of teaching has come under fire as an underpaid income bracket not worth the trouble of pursuing. By studying the latest compensation data it becomes clear that this unfounded stereotype is simply not the case for almost anyone earning a paycheck.

The Cato Institute’s, a Washington D.C.-based public policy think tank, recently released best seller It’s Getting Better All The Time reports that the average hourly compensation for a full-time worker is about 20% higher today than it was in the so-called “good old days” of the 1950s. Furthermore, when you take into account the value of fringe benefits to workers, including employer-provided or mandated medical insurance, pensions, increased vacation time and holidays, as well as unemployment insurance, average worker compensation has risen by more than 50% since 1950. Non-cash income has also increased from 5% to 19% of worker compensation between 1950 and 1995.

These numbers apply to virtually every occupation across the board. Teachers, service workers, steel workers, secretaries, and factory workers, to name just a few, all fare substantially better than their counterparts did just a few short decades ago.

But beyond mere economic arguments, with any particular passion or career choice there is no need to get pigeonholed into one specific vocation. For example, regarding the specialty of teaching, there are numerous roles of employment that utilize the skills and talents of standard K-12 teachers that equate to even higher incomes.

The key component here is conducting the necessary research to acquire an understanding of what higher paying employment opportunities exist for those with an educational background or finding another specialty that involves teaching, such as a corporate trainer or the “Executive Learning Director” for a non-profit organization. Thus, those who want to teach and make a Fortune 500 executive salary can find a way to earn a living that fits their lifestyle and still get the fulfillment of doing the work they truly enjoy!

But even more costly than a less desirable paycheck, is letting the potential lack thereof block the pursuit of your passions in the first place. You’ll find best career advice in this story:

Three men were riding on horseback in the Colorado Rockies one moonlit night. As they made their way along the base of the mountain, a voice thundered down from the heavens, commanding them to stop and dismount.

After they immediately followed the instruction, the voice continued, “Go to the riverbed and pick up some pebbles. Put them in your backpacks, but do not look at them until morning.”

Upon completing their strange task, the men began to mount up only to hear the voice again, “This will be both the happiest and saddest day of your lives.” With that final thought engrained clearly into their minds, the men went on their way.

As the dawn of the new day began to brighten the eastern sky, the riders reached into their saddlebags. To their amazement, the pebbles had turned to gold. As they celebrated their new wealth, one of the men stopped and exclaimed, “Wait! Now I know what the voice meant when it said this would be both the happiest and saddest day of our lives. Yes, we have gold, but think how rich we would be had we picked up more pebbles.”

So often people go through life and at some point realize “there could have been more.” Because they failed to take advantage of the opportunities around them, they stripped themselves of unfound treasure.

If you want to find best career advice, here are some questions I would ask my clients: as you pursue your dream job or endeavor to find even more ways to love the job you already have, are you filling your saddlebag with every possibility and every opportunity that comes your way? Or are your unfounded fears of a limited income actually limiting your chances to fulfill your destiny?

Don’t wake up one morning to lament, “This is both the happiest and saddest day of my life.” Instead of pigeonholing your dreams, do whatever it takes to explore the realm of endless opportunities today.

“That flower is a formation. If you look deeply into the flower you see the sunshine. Without sunshine there would be no flower. There is a cloud in it, there are the minerals in the earth, the compost, the gardener, many elements have come together to make the flower manifest…

Yet all flowers become garbage. That is the meaning of impermanence: all flowers have to become garbage. If you practice Buddhist meditation, you find out about very interesting things–like about the garbage.

Although garbage stinks, although garbage is not pleasant to hold in your hand, if you know how to take care of the garbage, you will transform it back into flowers. You know gardeners don’t throw away garbage. They preserve the garbage and take care of the garbage, and in just a few months the garbage becomes compost. They can use that compost to grow lettuce, tomatoes, and flowers. We have to say that organic gardeners are capable of seeing flowers in garbage, seeing cucumbers in garbage.

If you see things like that, you will understand that the garbage is capable of becoming a flower, and the flower can become garbage. Thanks to the flowers there is garbage, because if you keep flowers for three weeks they become garbage, and thanks to the garbage there will be flowers.”

Thich Nhat Hanh is a poet, Zen master, and peacemaker. He was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Price. He is Author of more than thirty-five books.

The New Year is traditionally the time of year when we all set goals and motivate ourselves to achieve them. A lot of people want to find a job coach during this period. It is also the time of year when the best laid plans can go awry and the best intentions can get derailed. Why is this? We try to take on the world – we are going to lose weight, then get our dream job, dream house, dream spouse, and more! Don’t get me wrong, having these goals is great! Reach for the stars! Want it all!

Let’s make sure that you achieve those goals, though. How to do that? Break things down into achievable steps so you can see immediate results that will continue to inspire and motivate you and keep you on track. Whether you find a job coach or just need motivation, here are some tips:

• Begin with the end in mind. Pick the top 3 things that you want to accomplish in the coming year. Consider such areas as spirit, family, friends, work, health, prosperity and more.
• From those top 3 desired accomplishments, choose a goal to achieve in the next 3 months.
• In order to progress towards that goal, pick an action step related to your goal that you can achieve in the month of January.
• Set a smaller goal related to that action step that is easily completed during the first week of January and do it.

You’ve taken a year-long goal and broken it down to its smallest steps. That first step in the first week of January will create momentum that will enable you to continue to follow through. This process will keep you on track to achieve all your yearly goals.

For example, losing 50 lbs can seem somewhat daunting. But losing 10 lbs in 3 months is easier to grasp. Choosing to make healthier eating choices in January is easier still. Choosing to buy a low-fat cookbook and plan a meal from it is something you can do tonight! And it’ll help you to get on the path you want and stay on it until that large goal of 50 lbs is achieved.

Jackie Robinson made history when he became the first black baseball player to break into the major leagues by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. Branch Rickey, owner of the Dodgers at that time, told Robinson, “It’ll be tough. You’re going to take abuse you never dreamed of. But if you’re willing to try, I’ll back you all the way.”

And Rickey was right. Jackie was abused verbally (not to mention physically by runners coming into second base). Racial slurs from the crowd and members of his own team, as well as from opponents, were standard fare.

One day, Robinson was having it particularly tough. He had booted two ground balls, and the boos were cascading over the diamond. In full view of thousands of spectators, Pee Wee Reese, the team captain and Dodger shortstop, walked over and put his arm around Jackie right in the middle of the game.

“That may have saved my career,” Robinson reflected later. “Pee Wee made me feel that I belonged.”

Which employees at your job can you reach out and touch today so they feel like they are a part of the team?

A senator once took Will Rogers to the White House to meet President Coolidge. He warned the humorist that Coolidge never smiled. Rogers replied, “I’ll make him smile.” Inside the Oval Office, the senator introduced the two men. “Will Rogers,” he said, “I’d like you to meet President Coolidge.”

Deadpan, Rogers quipped, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch the name.” Coolidge smiled.

A sense of humor is a marvelous gift to have. It is one of the most important means we possess to face the difficulties of life. And sometimes life can be difficult.

I deal professionally with issues which are critical: relationships breaking apart, people losing jobs, people facing serious illness or agonizing with someone close who is suffering, addictions, grief, and heartache. Without a sense of humor about my own life, I don’t know if I could survive! I take what I do seriously, but I try not to take myself too seriously. I agree with the New York City cab driver who said, “It’s not the work that I enjoy so much, but the people I run into!”

Here is an experiment: look for and find as much joy as possible for one full day. Try to enjoy the people you run into, the work you do, your leisure time, and your relationships. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself — and take enough time to enjoy God. Try this experiment for one full day, and by evening you will bask in the glow of a rekindled spirit.

It just takes a day to find joy along the way.

“The Lord didn’t burden us with work, but rather blessed us with it.” This is a concept I heard recently that I have truly taken to heart. No matter how religious or spiritual we are, so many people see work as a burden, rather than the divine blessing, especially in today’s unpredictable economy, that it truly is.

Let’s face it, if setting our wages was entirely up to us, we would all write ourselves a blank check. But in the real world it isn’t that simple. If you constantly find yourself unthankful for your job, then I encourage you to review the following lesson of workplace supply and demand.

Regardless of what you do or whom you work for, whatever you produce or service you provide is a commodity that is sold. The selling price has to include the cost of the materials or equipment you use to get your job done, taxes and general operating expenses for your employer to remain in business. The rest is your wage.

If your particular job results in more of the profits, then naturally the higher your salary. On the other hand, if your job contributes less, then of course your take home pay will be substantially lower. The less you produce efficiently, the more it costs your employer to keep you around. The more the product costs the consumer, the fewer people will make a purchase. The fewer customers who buy it, the less demand there is for your work and the less job security you have.

As you can see prices, wages and, ultimately, job security are largely a question of efficient production and employee attitude–all of which are solely your responsibility.

Imagine if you were to meet Pope John Paul, the Daili Lama, Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, Mother Teresa or any other religious or non-religious hero you might have. As you bask in the experience you feel blessed by simply having them acknowledge you and touch you with their presence. Depending on how “blessed” you feel as the result of the encounter you will feel somewhat changed and energized by becoming “fully alive” in them knowing you and “blessing” you.

Imagine if this same state of “Nirvana” could be “miraculously” applied to your job, making work a blessing rather than a burden or something you have to do every day. Sound impossible?

When clients come to me feeling overwhelmed or out of control, looking for career change help, I encourage them to stop, take a breath and make a list of at least five blessings/positives in their lives that have come as a result of their work. Then, take a moment to reflect on those things and to cherish them. In most cases, focusing on the positive aspects of your job instead of dwelling on the negatives will calm your mind as you realize that the blessings greatly outnumber your burdens- allowing you to return to your daily workplace routine refreshed and renewed.

If all else fails, remember the parable of the oyster and the eagle. When God made the oyster, he guaranteed him absolute economic and social security. First he built the oyster a house with a sturdy shell to protect him from his enemies. When hungry, the oyster simply cracks open his shell and the food rushes in.

However, when God made the eagle, he decreed, “The blue sky is your limit. Go build your own home and hunt your own prey.” And the eagle went out and built his house on the highest mountain peak where storms threaten his survival every day. For food, this majestic creature often flies through miles of rain, wind and snow.

As a result, the eagle, not the oyster remains the enduring symbol of America.

Work is a blessing to be enjoyed and to be truly satisfied. Just like the eagle, you must face and complete your tasks in the spirit they are truly meant to be done! Every day you are not fulfilled by the work you do, you are missing out on a blessing that has been given to you. Allow yourself the permission and strength to come out of your shell and make the job you are searching for or already have the one you’ve always dreamed of.

Sometimes amidst the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

When clients come to me for career change services, I often remind them of Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, who was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from the experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!?”

“How in the world did you know that??” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute?” the man replied.

Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. He later said, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform…a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you, or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone didn’t know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?”

Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. I do this for my clients in my career change services. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory. He needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead.

As you go through this week, this month, this year…recognize people who pack your parachute!

There are very specific highs and lows that come with any new situation which follow the learning curve of adjusting to a new culture. The truth is, it doesn’t apply only to living overseas but is also very applicable to starting a new job. And yep, here I am again. Here’s the picture: For the first few months in a new career,

I’m reminded of a client, a lawyer, who was changing careers. He decided to become a freelance writer, what her considered his “dream job.” At first, he found it challenging, and had no concept that it might actually be beyond him. By the end of 3 months, he’d been in it long enough to know exactly how hard it is, how grossly unprepared he was, and how exhausting it is to change everything in his life. However, he hadn’t been in it long enough to have leapt the hurdle and gained the real experience it takes.

His first response: Bolt. It’s a basic fight or flight reaction to stress, but for some reason culture-shock stress creates only one of those responses – flight. You just want to get out of there. And the truth is, changing careers is a form of culture shock. During this attorney’s career transition, his old job suddenly sounded nice again. His old skills felt familiar and valuable. He still didn’t really speak the language of the new place. And since his new skills were still in their infant stages, his old ones also seem to be the core of his self-esteem. Suddenly, it all just seems too hard. He talked about being too old for this. What ever gave him the idea that this would be a step forward? Suddenly it became painfully clear to him that this was an obvious step backwards. Why didn’t his family warn him? Why didn’t his friends? Why did this company think he’d be able to do this? He fooled them all, and he was  paying the price.

Ok, so I suggested he step back, breathe and relax. As he was going through his attorney’s career transition, this is what I told him:

The first thing to do is to remember that this is the hardest thing anyone ever does. And the fact is, most people don’t have the guts to do it for precisely that reason. Just as people take pets and favorite belongings to new country, you need to take something with you to your new job that reminds you that you were great before. Take time to put up those photos of family. Hang your awards on the wall where you can see them. But mostly, take time for yourself. Do something each day that’s tangible to improve your new skills (the equivalent of learning a new word each day in a new language), and to remind yourself of your old skills. Go to the gym. If you’ve been riding your bike since you were 6, ride your bike. If you’ve been baking cookies since you were in high school, bake cookies. If playing with a chemistry set was something that you’ve always loved, go buy one. Do things that are EASY and TANGIBLE, with real results. It sounds silly, but it works. Pretty soon, you’ll realize that you’re at your 6-month high, your confidence has returned, and you’ve made it through the hardest point in your culture shock.