Sunday Therapy

At some point in our life, we’ve asked ourselves the question “What’s my purpose? What do I want to do with my life?” Heck, my dear friend and SXSW partner in crime Melissa Pierce is making a documentary about it. I was reading Sassy, Savvy Mom’s post, What I Am and What I Am Not. Don Shapiro commented, saying he was very interested in the life experiences of all the women who’d commented there. I discovered that Don is writing a book in which he asks the question:Have you ever followed an inner voice, feeling or sign to make a choice with surprising results? Ever do that when you didn’t have all the facts?Don continues with:No one can tell you what you should be doing with your life. You are the expert on you. The trick is getting beyond all the logic and analysis which needs to be done so you can finally hear your inner voice. You will know when your choice just feels right at all levels. Great career choices come down to doing what you are passionate about and have a talent for. The passion drives you and the talent insures you can do it well.Here are some simple steps that can help you wade through your options and give your inner wisdom the information it needs to guide you.1. Passion. What would you do even if you weren’t paid to do it? Make a list of all those things. Sometimes, it isn’t any one thing on the list but the pattern of seeing many things on the list that can open your eyes.2. Talent. List all the things you are really, really good at. In your life, you already accomplished many things, almost all of them translate into task that can be used to make money. You already have a Ph.D. in making things work in the real world! It’s important that you choose something you have a lot of talent at. Otherwise you could pick something you love but you might not be very good at it.3. What are you bad at or hate doing? Yes, you need to make this list too. No career is perfect. You are going to have to do some things you are not good at and some things you dislike. Make sure those represent less than 20% of all the task and time involved in your career choice. Try to get it down to 10%. Otherwise you are likely to lose motivation over time and not accomplish as much as you wanted to.Ultimately, the best choice for you won’t come from your analysis of these lists. They start your mental and spiritual juices flowing. The real answer will be worked out behind the scenes in your unconscious (and from above).Don’t rush this. Don’t force it. Be patient and wait for a sign, an inner voice or a feeling that suddenly feels right at a very deep level. Confusion, frustration, cloudiness, uncertainty, anxiety and all the rest will just vanish to be replaced by a calm, peaceful, radiant knowing. You will feel it down to the core of your being. Now go for it!How many of us are following our passions? Are we in situations that are not ideal? Are we missing the opportunities of a lifetime because we are afraid to leave our comfort zones?To my industry: Are you designer with amazing ideas but you haven’t ventured outside of your box because your afraid of ridicule or failure? Well, don’t be, be brave and go make your statement. I promise you’ll surprise yourself.

Don needs to collect a 1000 stories for his book Life Is A Fork In The Road. If you’re interested in sharing yours, you may email him at donshapiro@lifeisaforkintheroad.com.Learn more about books like this FashionablyMarketing.Me