If you know yourself well, you’ve discovered your likes and dislikes. Continue to do what you enjoy and you will discover an island within yourself. It is at this point that your dreams will be closer than you realize. For most people, it’s a challenging journey to delve deep inside our belief systems. Discovery comes from hard work and exploring your own essence.

How do you discover and find your passionate work? Each of us has an island within. Your personal island is found by listening to your heart. Play in this space by speaking, acting and living from a place of truth. Michael Jordan found it in sports. Margaret Mead found it in primitive societies. When you find where you feel one with the world, you will know what is right for you.

Recently, I was silently lying in bed and going to sleep, when I heard a subtle reminder for me to go and visit a 91 year old friend I hold close and dear. Instead of taking action first thing the next day to honor this quiet whisper, I added her name to my to-do list, with the intention to go and visit her later in the month. Moments, hours, days and weeks went by as I continued my busy work and personal life, without taking any steps to contact or to visit my dear friend. The subliminal message that had seemed so important that night seemed to lose its urgency as I got involved in the rigors of my daily work. Unfortunately, a few days after I thought about visiting her, she passed away, and I lost the opportunity forever.

This has become a powerful lesson for me – to honor the gentle whisper that speaks so loudly. Now, I honor it every time I hear it by taking action. Don’t wait as I did!

We often hear that we should trust our instinct, but it is difficult to distinguish between a call to action and a random thought. If you find yourself thinking about someone you care about, this is usually a call to action. The reason is that you are here in this world to touch others. Don’t lose your vision of what you are here to contribute. This is a call to give your gift. Don’t allow the distractions of life to hinder you from giving your greatest gift by touching others. We get these messages on a regular basis and we need to take time to act on them. Whom should you contact today in order to honor your instinct and give your gift?

When you stop to rest, when you step off the fast track and allow yourself to slow down, your inner voice has a chance to finally be heard. What does that voice tell you? What insights whisper upon your ear? How do you feel about that? Why? Mahatma Gandhi said, “What is Truth? A difficult question; but I have solved it for myself by saying that it is what the (voice within) tells you…”

1. Stop and rest

When we stop and get calm, we can find the truth. If you cannot rest, it’s because you are running too fast. Stop and enter the realm of serenity.

2. Guided visualization with a facilitator

Close your eyes and see your vision. This is your future.

3. Meditation: walking and sitting

Meditation calms the mind, rests the body and renews the spirit. It is one of the best ways to increase your intuition and clarify your desires.

4. Commune with nature

Trees, sunshine and all of nature’s beauty gives off energy that rejuvenates and penetrates us deeply. Touch this magical environment and experience. A new level of insight and freshness comes from being with nature.

5. Go slowly

Take things in stride. Avoid those activities that require you to hurry or move quickly. The great treasure that lies within ourselves can only be located by slowing down. Treasured insights come from slowing down and concentration.

6. Talk to a friend

A friend can awaken the spark inside your brain that taps into the creative right side. This is where your imagination and the dream realm becomes one.

7. Perspective self-talk

Speak aloud to yourself in a nurturing environment. Get to know the self that praises just how far you have come and recognizes the triumphs that are yet to be. This inside realm will give you a clear perspective on the wonderful life ahead.

8. Be in touch with your bodily senses.

Allow yourself to lie down and feel what is going on around your body. This will heighten your awareness of not only your body, but what is around and inside of you.

9. Spend time alone

Alone time allows you the space to go within. Create a retreat (a special place away from distractions) that nurtures your inner self.

10. Listen to music

Inspirational and heartfelt music has the power to heal and touch you deeply. Music stimulates the creative side of you.

11. Touch your heart

Your heart is where dreams sleep. A lot of people have difficulty moving from the mind into the heart. Decide with your heart and use your mind to reach your dreams.

I recently had a newsletter subscriber email me with an interesting question. He wrote, “I realize it takes confidence when finding the right job for me. But, what’s your definition of unshakable confidence and how can one obtain it?”

Before I gave him a response, I challenged him to answer the following two questions for himself:

• What is unshakable confidence?
• How do you obtain unshakable confidence?

Think about these two questions. I recommend spending some time today or this week and answer these questions. You’ll learn more about yourself and how you can have unshakable confidence be apart of your daily life.

Here are my thoughts on unshakable confidence.

What is unshakable confidence?

Being clear on what you want. Having no doubt about what you want. Unshakable means that you are so clear and confident about your direction and where you want to go or what you want to do that you seem unshakable.

Think about someone you know who has unshakable confidence (perhaps a character in the movies or a person you have known in your life). This is a person who comes across as cool and confident. He or she comes from a place of strength, clarity, conviction, and an absence of doubt. Fear or confusion is not apart of their mindset. If it is, it doesn’t limit them in anyway!

How do you obtain unshakable confidence?

Gain greater clarity about who you are. Increase your self awareness. The greater your ability to know yourself, the easier it is to know what you want and have unshakable confidence. It’s the doubt about who we are that causes timid or hesitant behavior. Get support from others (peers, support group, coach, counselor) who can help you believe in yourself, what you want, and how to get it. This can help with your conviction of your ideas and the realization of them.

This is what I do for my clients. When they finish the coaching process, they have unshakable confidence in who they are and what they want.

The subscriber emailed me (after I responded to him with the above comments) and said the following:

About unshakable confidence:

…the times when you really believe you are right about something or believe you can accomplish something even when no one around you believes you can do it. You believe and never doubt yourself and your abilities and totally focus on being able to do it even when others try to talk you down and even let go believe God will let things happen and he will help you out also and wants you to succeed. So the ability to believe and not doubt yourself even when others might or situations in life are totally against you.

How do you achieve unshakable confidence?

By believing in God, I know things will work out positively in my world and environment, believing in my self, not being afraid to take a stand when I need to. Having character. I always think to myself I need to do this or get myself into this to build unshakable confidence. No program in the world can build that. I have cultivate that and harness it from within. I wish I could go through a special class and just have it. But it comes from the self.

He also said:

Yes, I have wanted to build this muscle up more and more. I continuously thirst for ways to build it up. I sometimes think taking a risk a day can do it…being confident with people and in life and actions. I also think decisive action is very important.

“Be True to Thine Own Self”

We all have skills in our respective professions that we have honed over time. Hopefully, these same skills make us good at what we do and at the very least we get rewarded and recognized for them financially.

Now comes the downside. When we get so good at doing something only for the money we run an even greater risk of getting trapped in a comfort zone that does not mesh with our greatest passions because what we are good at is not necessarily what we are meant to be doing.

For those of you considering career changes mid life, the best way to break out of this limiting scenario is admit to yourself that:

• Yes, I am tired of doing what I am good at or just because its practical or because its an obligation to meet the needs for my standard of living.
• I am tired of living only a 1/2 life.
• I want to do whatever it takes to live a full life where I feel completely engaged and fulfilled by the work I do.

Fortunately, there are plenty of real life examples to show us the way. Perhaps the best one comes from a former resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. After completing his term as the 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge issued his famous “I do not choose to run statement.” Immediately reporters bombarded him with questions seeking further details concerning his “questionable decision.”

“Exactly, why don’t you want to be President again,” one extremely persistent journalist grilled? The normally “Cool Calvin” undoubtedly frustrated with the unending probes looked the reporter straight in the eye and responded, “Because there’s no room for advancement.”

Although this summation is both humorous and true, we can make a serious application to our own lives by never allowing the comfort of past achievements to outweigh the reality of the present. Coolidge didn’t allow the grandeur of his office to shade his perspective of other valuable accomplishments yet to come. He avoided postponing his future by realizing that being President was the ultimate in American politics but life existed outside of that realm.

Other significant historical examples of individuals who stepped out of their skill comfort zone to become an even greater success include, renowned physician, respected philosopher brilliant scholar, prolific author, accomplished organist and crusader for world peace Albert Schweitzer who on a visit to Africa was touched by the astounding need for medical help. Changing career gears yet again, his purpose became a one-man lifetime crusade to improve the health conditions and quality life for everyone on the African continent. Schweitzer’s commitment to following his passion won him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.

Then there was Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs who endured many sleepless nights working out a plan to recognize soldiers who unlike himself never made it back alive. Even though his wife thought he was crazy and his supervisor at work laughed at him out of a job, Scruggs remained true to his vision and commitment to purpose. Today, the Vietnam Memorial engraved with the names of well over 50,000 Americans who lost their lives in that conflict is the most visited monument in our nation’s capitol, providing long overdue healing for countless others who suffered as a result of a war that should have never happened.

Dwight Hall, in his newsletter Have A Good Day, tells the story of a little boy returning home from his first day of school. The teacher had asked the students to bring copies of their birth certificates to help ensure the school kept accurate records. Struggling with the rather “large” word certificate, the boy came up with his own description. Bounding into the house with his important message, he promptly informed his mother, “Tomorrow I have to take my excuse for being born.”

Hall goes on to say, “That’s an interesting way to put it – an excuse for living. Everyone should have one. What’s your excuse? Anyone’s life can be noble, free and useful; or it can be slovenly, vile and wasted. It all depends upon our choices. We can reach for the highest goals or we can aim at nothing and hit it.” Enough said.

Towards the end of George Bernard Shaw’s life, a reporter challenged him to play the “What If” game.

“Mr. Shaw,” he began, “you have been around some of the most famous people in the world. You are on a first name basis with royalty, world-renowned authors, artists, teachers and dignitaries from every part of this continent. If you had your life to live over and could be anybody you’ve ever known,” the reporter asked, “who would you want to be?

“I would choose,” replied Shaw “to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been but never was.” An attitude like this will help you find the right job for you!

What would have been your answer? Who is it you want to be? What is it you want your life become? If you had your life to live over what would be different? Just as Gandhi needed to lead his country to freedom, Mother Teresa needed to ease the pain of the sick and dying and Picasso needed to paint, we all need to discover or rediscover our true calling in life. However, pursuing your potential is not found in attempting to be like someone else or achieving what others have done, but by tapping into the untapped reservoir within yourself.

Playing the “What If” game can help you find the right job for you. One of the best strategies to win the game is to take an honest assessment of the unthinkable:

1. Imagine your life has just ended.
2. List some areas you wish you had taken time for one last time.
3. Ask yourself what golden moments or accomplishments in your personal or working life would make you smile in reflection?

Completing this powerful exercise gives you the answers and energy to change your life before it’s too late by becoming focused on why you are here or your purpose for living. Remember, you are one of a kind and when you leave this world, you won’t have any other opportunities to make an impact.

“A rose only becomes beautiful and blesses others when it opens up and blooms,” says Dale Galloway. “Its greatest tragedy is to stay in a tight-closed bud, never fulfilling its potential.”

When you began to view yourself as an endangered species with only a limited number of hours and resources at your disposal, answering the question of why you did not become the fully active, realized person that only you had the potential of reaching, becomes unthinkable.

This week, I wanted to share with you a recent experience I had that illustrated a vital point about how your attitude towards work can work wonders towards bringing you happiness in your work.

I was dining at a local Chinese restaurant and was eating my meal and doing some work when I began to notice one of the waiters. He had a big smile on his face at all times. He was saying Hi to everyone and going out of his way to be pleasant and happy. I watched him put together take-out orders, speak with the manager and talk on the phone as well as wait on people.

At all times, no matter what task he was doing or whether or not he was in view of the general public or not, he was smiling and practically bouncing around with happiness. He undertook every task with passion and did it fully and completely to the best of his ability. You could feel the effect his attitude had on the entire restaurant. All the customers were happy and in better moods as a direct result of his overflowing happiness.

Curious as to why he was doing this and what motivated him to act this way, I called him over and spoke with him. I told him I had observed him and how he was always smiling and asked him why. He responded with a smile: – – – – – I am of service. I am supposed to smile.

Whether or not he actually liked the job never came up. It was his job to be of service and to smile and make people happy and he took that responsibility very seriously. But, he was smiling not only for the customer but for himself. I’m sure that his work didn’t really feel like work but felt more like play because his attitude was so incredibly positive towards it. Did he find the right job? Yes, he did.

He also made a difference in people’s lives. How many people might have come into that restaurant that night tired, sad, angry, frustrated, etc.? And his simple act of smiling all the time turned their feelings to happiness. One man, one genuine smile, made a difference. He took his attitude towards work very seriously (or perhaps that is better phrased as very lightly) and it was able to bring himself and others happiness through his work.

If you want to find the right job for you, I challenge you this week to look at how your dream job might only be a smile away. How can your attitude be changed in one simple way that will make your job seem more like play and may even be able to affect other people in positive ways?