I am very excited about the new series Master Class on the Oprah Winfrey Network.  It is my favorite type of show to watch – inspiring, informative, and an insiders peek into learning from people who are authentically successful while making a difference.  I particularly enjoyed the recent episode with Diane Sawyer.   This woman is just plain inspiring and the sincerity with which she leads her life is what makes her great at what she does.  Because she is so authentic she can walk into the world’s most challenging circumstances and exude confidence and genuine curiosity. I can remember a few years ago when I was at Spamalot in New York City (Sawyer’s husband Mike Nichols directed the show) and lo and behold there was Diane just hanging out at the back of the theater.  You could literally feel her powerful presence yet she seemed content to just blend into the background with the rest of the crowd.

During the Master Class episode, Diane shared lessons from her father.  His simple, yet powerful  rules for being successful in your life’s chosen work.

1) Do Something You Love (and Would Do Anyway)

Some call this the do what you love and the money will follow principle but it is bigger than that.  If you choose to do something you love, especially if it is something you would do anyway (even if  no one were paying you) you will never work a day in your life.  This criteria will give you the fortitude and persistence to stay strong and pursue your desires during the good times and the more challenging times.  You will also naturally be more successful because we’ve all encountered people who are doing something they hate or could care less about and it is a joyless experience to do business with or work alongside them.

2) Do it in the Most Adventurous Place

I really liked this criteria.  Not for Diane’s story she has done her thing at the far reaches of the globe in some of the most beautiful and some of the most dangerous places on our planet.  Now that is certainly adventure.  However, we each define adventure differently.  So don’t feel like you have to go be an accountant in Bhutan if you want adventure.  I consider adventurous to be a state of mind.  You can make any place you are interesting and more adventure-filled.  So I would translate this into being – do what you love in the most exciting and captivating place for you.

3) Help Other People

While you’re doing what you’re doing…help other people.  Serving other people is a path to satisfaction and success.  It brings meaning to what you do.  Without meaning and an element of service, money is useless (and frankly will tend to elude you).  Helping other people can look like a humanitarian effort on a big scale or simply helping your fellow co-worker and associates. In all cases there is a ripple effect that has a positive impact greater than you can ever know.

What I loved most about these simple lessons is their truth is as strong today as it was decades ago when her father shared them with her in rural Kentucky.  It has nothing to do with the “20 hottest careers”, the economy, or any industry.  It transcends it all and frankly that is truly what makes for career success, satisfaction, and a meaningful life.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a large audience of individuals in the midst of career transition.  These folks ranged from people who desperately needed a job because they had been out of work for a long time to people pro-actively seeking to reinvent their professional and personal lives.  One theme that ran throughout all their stories was that they were being told by “experts” that they have to be someone they are not if they want to be successful.  These tidbits of so-called well-meaning advice looked like:

• If you’ve always done “x”, it isn’t possible to change careers and do “y”.
• You’re too old/too young to earn that much money.
• You have to be whomever they want you to be if you think you’re going to work for/with them.

When I hear these sorts of things, it gets my panties in a twist.  Why?  Because while there could be some useful information hidden in the “advice”; they way it is delivered doesn’t serve people in any way, shape, or form.  What positive outcome could possible grow from telling people that they don’t really matter as individuals, they just need to suck it up and fit the mold of whomever is hiring?

I spent decades trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and “fit in” where I was never meant to “fit in”.  I asked all kinds of mentors and experts for advice and tried to be someone I was not.  Do you know what?  All these fabricated actions never led to one iota of success. Then I dropped the façade and stood confidently in my truth, then and only then was I able to achieve success on the inside and out.

Granted, sometimes this was met with resistance from others who wanted me to be someone I was not.  I had one ineffective and insecure manager literally ask me to leave my personality at the door.  Yet it was because of, not in spite of this, that I realized that success is impossible if you compromise your own integrity.

Because I’ve had these experiences and moved through them to the other side,  I’m on a personal crusade to guide others to believe and then experience the truth that you don’t have to sacrifice your authentic self to succeed in the world.  There is another way. In fact it is the only way you can create true and lasting success.

What would it be like for you if you could:

• Experience the satisfaction and achievement that comes from knowing what you do every day is in harmony with who you are at the deepest level?
• Feel fully confident in who you are and what you are here to offer?
• Express your essence and talents in a way that serves others and by doing so you are able to receive great rewards, financial and otherwise?

Life Alchemy™ is about embracing the person you most want to be in this world and then expressing that through everything you do.  It becomes the foundation from which you serve the world, earn your living, and choose how to spend your time.

Does this mean that you never have to change, adjust, or grow in order to be successful?  Absolutely not. In fact willingness to do so is a requirement if you want to experience something different than what you are already experiencing.

If you think about it, at the core, your life, career, and business and the success, meaning, and results you derive from it will always come from you.  It’s not “out there” somewhere swirling around waiting to randomly land on your doorstop if you’re “lucky”.  It begins with and ultimately flows to and through you.

No one else can ever be an expert on who you most want to be, but you.

Life Alchemy™ Coaching Step:

1. Take stock of where you are right now in your career and business.  Notice if you’re experience the results you want or feeling like you’re coming up short.
2. Make a list of all the expert advice you’ve been given over time.  Simply list it in bullet form on a piece of paper.  Don’t judge any of this advice as good or bad, just list it down.
3. Next to each item on the list – make a note of whether this advice is serving you (meaning you can directly see how being, doing, acting in this way is bringing you positive results), holding you back, or perhaps you’re not sure so just mark those with a “?”
4. Identify – in which areas do you see the biggest need for a change for the better?  Circle those items.

If you’re ready to break through the myth of having to be someone you’re not in order to succeed or want help identifying what that best next step is for you in your career and business, you’re in luck. While only you can be an expert on you, sometimes you need a guide to help you get clear and take action. I specialize in helping people do just that.  Contact me if you’re ready to meet and move forward to succeed on your own terms.

Photo Credit

This year at BlogHer ’10 in New York City, Yahoo! Shine was one of the exhibitors.  As part of their You. Reinvented. series I had the opportunity to sit down and be interviewed about my own career reinvention story and the work that I do as a Life Alchemy™ Success Coach. Since I help others reinvent their lives and careers (often starting their own businesses in many instances) I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share my expertise.  Here I am!

Let me know what you think… and share your own reinvention stories and reinvention desires in the comments.

Harold Whitman wrote:

“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.”

Do you know what makes you come alive?  Or,  like so many of us have you lost sight of that “zing”, that burst of energy that is truly you as you’ve marched through the demands of daily living over and over and over…?

Here’s the thing, if you’re feeling:

• Numbed out to your feelings (or wanting to numb them out)
• Devoid of any hobbies
• Overwhelmed or too exhausted to engage in activities you love to do

Then you need to come alive…and soon.

I’ve always been a very engaged person with lots of different interests.  Yet there were definitely times, years on end in fact, when I was so dissatisfied with my career, spent each day in a toxic job, and felt it was easier to give up on the things I loved doing.

Read the rest of: What Makes You Come Alive?

Ever wonder what a career reinvention looks like?  Think coincidences are just stuff that happens?  Well… join me as I interview my colleague Stefanie Frank who, in 2005, left her job practicing law (after more than 11 years of full time litigation practice in the construction field) to start her own business. Her first business floundered because she was not passionate about it.

But something seemingly unrelated to business happened around this time that would change things forever: Stefanie discovered the sport of triathlon.

Finishing two half ironman distance races in one year (a goal that initially seemed impossible) transformed the way Stefanie sees herself in the world and restored the self confidence that had eroded away over years of working way too much and lacking passion for what she was doing.

You can imagine…given my passion for sports and my own adventures of hiking, biking, kayaking, canyoneering, and who knows what comes next… that I just LOVE her story.  You are going to love it too whether you love or loathe sports because it is about learning more about WHO you are and how that acts as a catalyst for your whole life.

Her business, White Papers for Entrepreneurs, Stefanie serves both her clients and her own passion for writing by writing powerful and profitable White Papers (Free Reports) for her clients and by teaching clients to write and market for business in effective, engaging ways that get results.

You will LOVE her approach to writing… and if you escaped the Corporate Cubicle with the notion that a white paper is a four-letter word that means “fluff” or boilerplate, Stef’s model for writing will dispel that myth.

So listen in and be inspired…
Audio Length: 35 minutes

Harold Whitman wrote:

“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.”

Do you know what makes you come alive? Or, like so many of us have you lost sight of that “zing”, that burst of energy that is truly you as you’ve marched through the demands of daily living over and over and over…?

Here’s the thing, if you’re feeling:

• Numbed out to your feelings (or wanting to numb them out)
• Devoid of any hobbies
• Overwhelmed or too exhausted to engage in activities you love to do

Then you need to come alive…and soon.

Read more of  What Makes You Come Alive?

• Is there something you feel called to do but can’t figure out how to make it happen?
• Have you been working toward a goal but it feels like everyone and everything is throwing an obstacle in your face?
• Does it feel like what you want will never happen?

I know that feeling. In fact for several years while I was building my business part-time and working full-time for a corporation, I thought I’d literally die before I could reach my goal of leaving my day job or at least scaling it back to part-time. I tried numerous times, unsuccessfully to create a part-time arrangement or job-share. I felt defeated, at the mercy of others, and just plain sad.

Can you relate?

Then, just as I was at the end of my rope, I got deeply in touch with my feelings. I truly got in my gut what I most wanted to happen for my life. I made the decision that it will happen. It IS happening. I set a strong intention. I prayed. I surrendered. I let go of trying to figure it all out and worrying about how it was going to happen.

Then… it just happened.

Read more of Are You Willing to Surrender? and the amazing divinely inspired verse I wrote atop this cliff.

Last weekend I was in Tampa, Florida for the first of several in-person events as part of a year long EnergyRich® Elite Mastermind Group I joined (here’s a picture of me with Heather Dominick my dear coach and leader of this group). The group and the event was unbelievably spectacular and I felt it was a great time to write a bit about the benefits of working with someone (or a facilitated group) who can be a coach and mentor to you along your journey.

First let me share with you that I did not take joining this group lightly. It is the most significant investment of time and money I have made to a program in my life (and that’s saying something). To be fully truthful with you, it is a big stretch for me and every last excuse and story I tell myself about money joined me on my journey to a decision. After much head AND heart-centered reflection, I chose to be in charge of my choices rather than be at the whims of other people’s opinions or be a servant to my money (rather than having it serve me). It is only early February and I have already had breakthroughs and transformational growth and cannot wait to continue my journey with this group for the next 11 months.

Here are four specific ways having a coach can transform your life and your business/career. I know this because I have experienced it firsthand and I’ve heard it from my clients.

Big Thinking And Holding A Vision Of You At Your Highest Potential

We think they way we think because it is always the way we have thought. What we see as possible for ourselves is a combination of past experiences and what we witness in those who we surround ourselves with. For most people their future looks very much like their present circumstances +/- 10%. Why? Because that is all that you know, think is possible, or will give yourself permission to want. With a coach at your side you get to live in the realm of possibility of much, much more. That more can be anything you want it to be – common things are more money, more time, more meaning, more satisfaction. It can also be more of that intangible spark that makes your passion and purpose be expressed in the world in a way that only you can deliver. A coach will hold you in that highest vision even when you feel like crap or your outer results aren’t what you want to see (yet). This isn’t about denial or wishful thinking, but about making that powerful shift into the role of creating that vision you most want for your life personally and professionally. And if you don’t yet know what that vision, what “It” is, she can help you discover it, name it, and claim it.

Read more of 4 Ways You Benefit from Having a Coach…

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to present at a Network Now event on the 4 Pillars of Success for a Successful Career Transition.  Here’s a short 7 minute video of my presentation — this segment focuses on how important clarity is for you to breakthrough any limitations you sense about your next step in your career transition.