Living Your MORE

Have you found your perfect career fit? If not I would like to offer you three MOREsels, or clues on how to find your perfect fit!  Power Words Passions  Credibility  When you find your perfect career fit, all that you’ve struggled to achieve, or the success that was once out of your reach, all the excuses and walls of opposition come tumbling down – when you are Living Your MORE - your perfect fit.  Living Your MORE takes away any and all excuses we have to not being powerful, not being passionate, not being credible, and not being good enough.   It just does!   Because MORE is where you are your best. 

How many warning signs do you have to receive before you realize you’re going the wrong way? Wouldthree major warning signs within a week convince you that you're going the wrong way. My guest today, Louis Vitiello took back control of his life, and his weight, after experiencing these three signs.  His doctor told him, at the age of 25, that he had 10 years to live The hospitalization of a friend The death of his mentor What are the warning signs you’ve been ignoring? They are right there in front of you – flashing, telling you that you're going the wrong way. Are you in the right place? Are you where you want to be?   Is your life MORE than you dreamed or hope for? If not, why are you staying in a place that is less than you want?  For most of us, it's not knowing where to start.  

"This feeling of absolute joy exists even though my struggles still persist."   Are you able to say that? Do you believe that joy is possible - no matter what the circumstance?  If you're a skeptic - that's okay. My guest this week, Luke Williams, has responded to skeptics throughout his career.  He longed to follow in his father's footsteps with a career in sales. But to do so, Luke had to overcome others perceptions of not being: Good enough Educated enough Smart enough

Have you ever wanted to give up?  Especially those days when the weight of the world is so heavy and it feels that it is all on your shoulders.  When you're so busy struggling with our struggles - what can you do?   Don't give up, give it to God! Because my guest Terry Campbell reminded me, "Even though we are limited, HE is limitless."  

Do you love your work so much that you've exhausted yourself from overworking? Are you working so hard that you have nothing left over for yourself, your family or even those that you're called to serve?  It might be the time to make the tough decision to either Love it, or Leave it.  Beware and be aware by not making this decision you might be taking a step onto the bridge to burnout. And the world needs you to burn brightly, not burnout!

"I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger" is what my head started to sing while I was listening to my conversation with Mary Crimmins.  The lyrics to a song appropriately titled "Ooh La La" song by one of my fav's Rod Stewart.  Why that song?  Because when I was in my 30's my recipe for success was: Place career above all else   Work until you can't work anymore Hope that your husband and kids will understand There's always tomorrow To have Mary's wisdom in my 30's I would have given up my 1980's shoulder pads and big hair to have her depth of self knowledge. Sadly in my thirties, even with three kids, I was not aware of what was happening with my mind, body or spirit.  Thankfully, this blog is not about comparing!  Mary generously shared both her pain and her progress, her wit and her wisdom, her before and after - MOREsels that will last me a lifetime.  

Are you waiting for the perfect ending, the perfect timing or for you to become perfect before you start Living Your MORE.   My guest today, Lee McCracken, author of A Prayer and a Pink Pedicure, struggled to release her story to the world, until a friend asked that fateful question "Are you waiting for a perfect ending?"   Lee has spot on advise through her story and how she chose joy and gratitude rather than, grumbling and a "why me" attitude.  Listen in to learn how to discern perfect timing, and how to release our message, our gifts, our healing to the world.    

What would be your response if you "heard" these words? "You are to eradicate cancer." My guest, my True Purpose coach and friend, Chris Taylor, heard those words right after hearing that she was diagnosed with cancer.  Was this sent as message of hope, to help her heal? Or was this her mind playing tricks on her to soften the blow of cancer? Or was Chris being called to do something outstanding - called to do something MORE? Chris learned through her struggle with cancer that "if you want something different, you have to do something different" and so she did.   Listen and learn what yes to that message did to Chris' life, and the lives of those that she coaches. 

Impactful career conversation with Rosemary Benson who shares her struggle from dissatisfied and stressed out teacher to soul satisfying new career as an audio book narrator and publisher. Rosemary Benson will generously describe her journey to MORE. How her new job, her MORE career, took all her struggles, all her dreams, all her gifts, talents and experiences into a divinely designed dream job that is MORE than she ever thought possible.   Rosemary offers great insights, advise and confirmation that MORE is possible for all of us.  http://www.livingyourmore.com/career-test/

Are you stuck in your career? Is the job you go to each day a hard place to go to? There's HOPE and lot's of it!  My career conversation with Thera Paetzold provided both help and hope! Because she shared with us that in the midst of her struggles, even through an overwhelming tragedy, she found career aspiration, inspiration and motivation, or she found the key that brought her to MORE.   From a tragic accident her mother had, Thera was able to find something positive in this unbelievable, life crushing event. Thera believes that all things happen for a reason and could see how her mom's struggle was in part responsible for Thera finding her MORE as an Occupational Therapist. From Thera’s story these are my two MOREsels:   MOREsel #1: What are you most aware of about your work?  Thera shared how she was aware that she did not feel like she belonged to the teacher’s group, either while she was in college, or even when she became a teacher. It's not that the teachers were excluding her. She just didn’t feel like one of them, even when one of them was her best friend.   Yet, Thera immediately felt part of the Occupational Therapists group. From the moment she entered the OT program, and every day since, whether walking into a hospital or helping her Mom - Thera knows she belongs. Thera's struggle to belong led her to her MORE career.   Can you relate to not belonging to your current career group? I can! After spending 18 years in Human Resources, I never felt part of the HR group. I felt part of my own team, but not part of the local and national HR organizations. Because of feeling that I didn't belong, I never became actively involved beyond attending a meeting or two. What's interesting to me, and of course hindsight is often times our best sight, I thought it was the group members' fault, not mine, that was causing me to feel like I didn't belong.  I was aware that the topics that my HR colleagues were discussing, interested in and enthusiastic about – well I just wasn’t, or wasn't most of the time.  I felt like an outsider and that was not a good feeling.  That was a career clue that I did not see, I wasn't aware that this was even a clue. I guess you could say that I was clueless about awareness, and even more clueless about the state of my career! It didn’t occur, or should I say, I was not aware that the HR professionals were not my people, and it was not anyone's fault. I just wanted MORE and I could not find it within Human Resources. The big mistake I made was not finding another group where I could belong.  If only I was aware that MORE was waiting for me. I just needed to be MORE aware.      MOREsel #2: Become aware of what you love to talk about? When do your ears perk up? When do you become fully engaged? What are the topics? No, I'm not talking about gossip! I'm talking about topics that you can't wait to share with others. What stories are the most compelling to you?  Thera wanted to talk about her mother. Not just the accident or how much she loves her, but what’s happening in her therapy, and how therapy helps her Mom not only stay alive, but thrive! Thera was interested in how Physical and Occupational Therapy could take someone whose life had been severely impacted by an illness or accident and give them back a quality life.   Can you say, as Thera said, "What can be better than that", to your current career? One of the most difficult conversations I ever listened to was Steve Job's recounting how he felt about his career. This comment I heard him make has haunted me for most of my career.  “I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”  Steve Jobs Why did it haunt me?Because for too many days, weeks, months, and years of my life I looked in the mirror and said NO. The worse part is that I was aware of the impact to my life by my NO answer. I was aware of the stress, dissatisfaction and toll on my soul, and every other aspect of my life.  So what did I do - not much. Why? Because my limited awareness believed that MORE was just for some lucky people, like Steve Jobs. I believed that only a select few got to feel that way about their job day in and day out. I was not aware that we are all suppose to feel that way! This is one of the top main reasons why I've launched the Living Your MORE podcast and blog - to stop the career madness and move as many people as possible to MORE.  Why? Because as Thera described she went from exhausted to excited, apathetic to enthusiastic, from not feeling successful to being confident in her success. And I realized that if MORE of us felt that way, what a world this would be!  Thoughts to Ponder: If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you're about to do today (work)?  Do you feel part of your work team, or like an outsider?  Could it be that these are not your people? Stay Connected and Join the Conversation Please share your aha or oh no moments from my conversation with Thera. What was that light bulb moment, or that realization that you might be stuck in your career just like Thera was in her teaching job?   Let’s keep this conversation going and offer words of encouragement to others in the midst of their struggle.  How do we do that?  Tweet it out, shout it out, because you need to share if you care with all your friends and followers.  Remember friends don't allow friends to be less when they are capable of being so much MORE.                

What is the fuel that keeps us moving forward, allows us to overcome obstacles, make sacrifices? What do we need to fuel us to do MORE, strive for MORE and accomplish MORE than we ever dreamed possible?  Dreams! Dreams are powerful tools that provide fuel for our future. Gisele DiNatale dreamed of being a teacher from a time she was in second grade. That dream lasted through high school and college right up until Gisele stepped into the classroom and realized this was not it!  Gisele allowed her intuition and opportunities that came her way to define and discover her MORE.  Gisele proves that even through challenges, detours and tragedy that your career can be all that you dreamed it could be, and maybe even MORE.