As most of you know, I jumped off the security consulting train about 18 months ago now and decided to career transition into something I truly loved to do. My girlfriend would say that it would be talking and asking questions. What can I say? I do not believe that curiosity killed the cat. The cat died of natural causes. Without a healthy sense of curiosity (asking questions) we would not try to understand things. And for me, if I cannot understand things, then how can I learn from them so I don't make the same mistake again. Even if the answer to the question is that there is not plausible reason, at least I gave my mind a workout.
Anyway, this blog is not about asking questions. Although that was what started first... a question. The question in this case being what I would like to do with myself for the next part of my life? So this blog is about following your dreams. One of my favourite fables on the subject is 'The Alchemist' by Paolo Coelho. A wonderful book about staying focused on your dream. Now I figured out my passion a few years ago. It is to make people happy. I am not sure how the 14 years in the Army fitted into the making people happy framework. Then there was the 5 years doing security consulting. I guess in the consulting game I made people happy because I gave them all the answers and quite often did their work for them! That is bound to make someone happy!
So what is my dream? To help people find more joy in their lives. And I have chosen as the vehicle to do that - being a Life Coach. Using knowledge, insights, models and energy work (plus the odd shove!) to help people overcome limitations and move forward with more conscious awareness. And I am loving it! But there has been one initial hitch. I have only just started out, so the money is not pouring in yet. In fact the money I have earned in the last 12 months is about 1/8 of what I earned doing the respective consulting. And as I have been brought up in a world where salary is often linked to a persons (self) worth, I often catch myself looking back over my shoulder towards the consulting world.
The problem with this is that you never fully commit to what you are doing - like building up my Life Coaching Empire!!! And I also believe that the universe sends you little tests along the way to see how committed you are to pursuing your dreams (something that is definitely alluded to in The Alchemist). So recently, through the generosity of great friends of mine, I was offered a couple of potential opportunities back in the international security consulting game. But I know that this is not how you find happiness, excitement and joy in your life. You don't get those by going back to what you know, and doing something that does not really excite you at your deepest level. You don't grow or experience life at its fullest by putting your dreams on the shelf.
By following your dreams you actually grow. By focusing on what is in front of you and not what is in the rear vision mirror you get even greater results. And by not spreading your focus and energy too thinly you succeed in becoming great at something. And wouldn't it be good to become great at doing the thing that you enjoy most?!!
So it is a wonderful exercise to learn what your passion is. It is a great journey to then pursue your passion. And an even greater growth experience to keep going when the task gets tough or you have some setbacks or you get lost for a bit. As Tony Robbins says, it is not what you achieve in the end, it is who you become along the way.
So be who you would like to become?
And keep it real!
Cheers,
Carl
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