Even in the best of times, life can be bumpy. Challenges are a part of life, and the better equipped you are to overcome them, the greater your potential.

One factor that adds rocket fuel to your ability to blast past problems is to really want to reach what's on the other side of them. When you care more about what you are trying to do than you do about the unpleasantness that the challenge brings up, you're motivated to find a way past it.

In a recent blog post, Jon Gorden puts it this way. “Your purpose must be greater than your challenges.”

The M in M.A.P. Maker stands for meaning. In the sense I talk about it here, meaning comes from working towards making an impact on something beyond yourself that has a significant positive charge for you. It comes from working towards making the kind of difference that inspires you.

One of benefits of having that sense of meaning in the picture is exactly what Jon describes. It becomes greater than your challenges. When you're working towards an outcome that inspires you, it's easier to resist identifying with the challenge, and you put your energy more naturally into moving past it.

Plus, it's a lot easier to experience the bumps and bruises in pursuit of something you really care about than in pursuit of something you don't.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

I'm always fascinated when I go to the doctor and they tap my knee to test my reflexes. The doc gives a tap with the little rubber mallet and up bounces my leg like it has a life of its own.

Some people's tendency to say no reminds me a little bit of that reflex reaction. They automatically shoot down their dreams, cut down ideas, and stonewall possibilities, all with those two little letters. No.

"No, that won't work. No, I can't because... No, no, no!"

Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to saying no. Saying no has it's place. A suggestion like, "Hey, lets walk across this busy eight-lane freeway instead of using the overpass," for example, is a prime candidate for a well-placed no. 

But too often, people say no out of habit. They shut down the possibilities when, if they stop to really think about it, they just might be able to find a way to say yes. 

A few days ago, I wrote a post about the power of saying yes. But to consciously focus on saying yes, you first have to notice when you're saying no. And when no becomes a reflex, you often don't even notice it.

Try this: For the next week, try going on a "no fast." Pay attention to when you say no. You might even want to carry a little notebook along with you and jot a note down when you notice it.

Each time you find yourself reflexively saying no, stop and ask yourself, "How can I say yes? Is there a piece of this that makes sense for me? Is there part of this idea I can embrace? Is there an alternative approach I can take that will allow me to do this?"

If you try it, I would love to hear how it goes. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

As I've said many times before, I think finding passion is one of the best investments in your career you can make. It energizes you, makes you more confident, and fuels your persistence. 

The flipside of that is that wedging yourself into a box that doesn't fit who you are (which is what most people do in their careers) can drain your energy, leave you feeling off balance, and make you reluctant to show up to work tomorrow, let alone stick with it for the long term.

There's one more thing that happens when you don't pursue a path that aligns with what lights you up. You cheat the world of the impact that you are uniquely qualified to make.

I'm not sure that I buy that each of us has one specific thing that is "why we're here." What I do believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that each of us are uniquely qualified to put the gifts we have and the juice that using them gives us to use in a positive way. We each have a set of skills and knowledge and energizers that can be put to optimal use.

Think of it as optimizing how you show up in the world. There are a number of variables at play - your skills, your knowledge, your innate abilities, and what energizes you. Your task is to put those variables together in the best possible way for both you and the world around you.

When you take a shoe-horn approach to your career, you are inherently sub-optimizing the way you show up. Why? Because you have chosen a path that doesn't fit. It doesn't allow the full scope of who you are and the potential you have to show up. There's no room for flow. And that means the impact you can have in the world is restricted. 

Take a look at your own career. Do you feel the flow, or do you need a shoe-horn to pry yourself into work every morning? Are you cheating the world of the gifts you have to offer?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

You know those machines they use for drawing lotto numbers, with numbered ping pong balls bouncing around inside? Sometimes my brain feels like that. Dozens of little brain pong balls bouncing around and demanding my attention.

Needless to say, focus can be a challenge. So I was especially interested in this article on the brain science behind why it can be hard to focus, and what to do about it.

It turns out that focusing is less about maintaining attention and more about managing distractions. Putting the brakes on when those distractions pop up, as it were. Unfortunately, the area of our brain responsible for that braking action isn't especially adept at it. As the writer, David Rock (author of the new book, Your Brain at Work), notes:

Our braking system is part of the most fragile, temperamental and energy-hungry region of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. Because of this, your braking system only works at its best every now and then. If cars were built like this you'd never survive your first drive down to the store.

When you put those brakes on can play an important role. The earlier, the better.

It turns out that, like the old saying goes, timing is everything. Once you take an action, an energetic loop commences that makes it harder to stop that action. Many activities have built-in rewards, in the form of increased arousal that holds your attention. Once you open your email program and see the messages from people you know, it's so much harder to stop yourself from reading them. Most motor or mental acts also generate their own momentum.

So what does that mean to your efforts to stay focused and productive? Here's what Rock suggests:

And here's a big take away from all this. Manage what you focus on. Pay attention to your attention, and stop yourself from getting on the wrong train of thought early, before it takes over. This is the oppositive of being mindless: it's being mindful.

The best way to do that is to practice being aware of your own thoughts, by activating your observer function.

Put another way, the more aware you are of what's going on in your mind, the more potential you have to guide where those brain pong balls go, and which ones you choose to act on. 

How about you? What helps you focus? 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Have you ever found yourself looking at something you would really like to do and responded with, "Yes but...?" Yes, that's a great idea but... I'd really love to but... The variations are endless, and every time you say it, you strangle your potential.

I want to encourage you to banish that combination of words from your vocabulary forever. 

In her brilliant book, Improv Wisdom, Patricia Ryan Madsen offers an alternative to, "yeah but." The alternative is "yes and."

The book takes a look at how the principles of theatrical improv can apply to our lives. One of those principles is the Rule of Yes. As she describes it:

The spirit of improvising is embodied in the notion of "yes and." Agreement begins the process; what comes next is to add something or develop the offer in a positive direction.

How often do we block our potential with yeah-buts? Yeah but is a dead end. It stops the show and brings things to a grinding halt.

When we say yes and to life, we open up to the possibilities. Rather than look for reasons to go no further, we look for ways to move things forward in a positive way. We actively try to find the potential of the moment, regardless of the circumstance. 

So for example instead of, "Yeah, it would be great to pursue a career I love, but I can't because...," you might say, "Yes, I have these obstacles, and these are some steps I might be able to take to explore a way around them."

Try this: Next time you hear yourself saying some variation on yeah but, stop and replace it with yes and. Ask yourself, how can I say yes? How can I stop blocking? What will move me forward?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I think passion is one of the best investments in your career you can make.

When you’re on fire about what you do, it fuels your success, increases your confidence, and feeds your persistence. It also shines brightly to the people around you.

On Wednesday the 4th at noon Pacific, I'm doing a free teleclass. In it, I will share a nuts-and-bolts approach to tapping into the power of passion.

The work you do has the potential to be an incredible source of energy and inspiration. If you want to tap into the high-voltage energy that comes from a career that is an extension of who you really are - not just the mask that so many people wear in their jobs - this teleclass is for you!

Want to join in? You can find more information & registration details here.

I hope to "see" you there!

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

One of the things that lights me up about my work is the cumulative potential for positive change that comes when people start asking, "What difference do I want to make in my career? What kind of positive impact energizes me?" (See my quick take on pursuing meaning in your career.)

I love it because it comes from a decision that almost all of us have to make: "What do I do to make a living?"

That cumulative potential doesn't just exist in the work world though. There's even more positive potential in how we choose to show up in the world - the choices we make, the actions we take, and the way we interact with others. It's mind boggling when you think about how it could all add up.

So when I ran across this trailer for Charter for Compassion, I said, "Yes!"

Please take 2 1/2 minutes to watch the video, and help spread the word.

[Hat tip to David Zinger for calling attention to it]

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

There's little risk that she'll slide into self-seriousness when every day she is called gleefully back into the game. It's a shame more of us don't have that kind of reminder.

One of the troubles with the grown-up world is that it's jam packed with, well, grown-ups. People who have long since fallen into an ever-deepening self-seriousity. They forget what a rollicking good time looks like. It's been years since they have let themselves play. Even longer since they have let themselves giggle. 

Kim & Jason Kotecki call that sad state Adultitis, and they're on a mission to help all of us rediscover the childlike joy that life has to offer. Their latest Adultitis antidote is their new book, There's An Adult In My Soup.

I've been a fan of Kim & Jason's work ever since we first bumped into one another in the blogosphere years ago. I love what they're doing, and I love the outcome of bringing more of that childlike joy into our lives. 

If you feel like you have might have a case of Adultitis (or want to make sure you don't), buy the book. And while you're waiting for it to come, you can start in on The Escape Plan, their free 40-day plan to help you break free of its grip.

Far from being frivolous and silly, overcoming Adultitis can open the door to a potential that we squash when we suppress the flow of childlike fun. It loosens us up, helps us be more creative, and makes it easier to roll with whatever life brings.

Well that, and life is just a whole lot more fun when you can shamelessly stomp in puddles without worrying who might be watching. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

There is nothing like a dream to create the future. Utopia today, flesh and blood tomorrow.

~ Victor Hugo

If you want to ensure that your life is dull, flat and uninspiring, just repeat this little mantra over and over: "My dreams are out of reach. My dreams are impossible."

A silly idea, you might think. Nobody would consciously try to deflate the potential of their dreams like that. And yet that is precisely what so many people do unconsciously. They look at their dreams and assess them as impossible, or unrealistic, or pie-in-the-sky. And they do it over and over again.

Imagine a world where everyone took that approach. Nothing new would happen. No ideas would ever be developed. Life would be flavorless and dull. We would all be stuck in an endless grey loop of what has always been. 

Here's the thing. Dreams are inherently out of reach. That's where they belong! If they weren't, we would simply call them the next logical step. And yet, the fact that they aren't readily accessible is often used as irrefutable proof that they're impossible.

That's flawed logic. There's a big difference between out of reach and impossible. Unfortunately, many people see them as the exact same thing.That's no surprise, really, since often the only difference between out of reach and impossible is what happens in the space between our ears. 

What is impossible today is impossible tomorrow. It doesn't change. But what is out of reach today might be a little closer to within reach tomorrow, and even closer next month. Think of a ship sailing toward the horizon. How much farther can it see once it reaches the original horizon? What is within reach is always expanding.

Dreams expand your potential. They give you something to grow into. They give you a sense of direction that matters. They also take time, and effort, and persistence.

The question to ask about your dreams isn't, "Can I easily achieve it?" It's, "Can I take a step in that direction?" And then, "Can I take another one?"

Achieving the big dream is almost less important than what happens when you commit to moving towards it. Committing to that direction and taking those steps opens doors, creates connections, and yields results you would never have imagined when you were sitting in the status quo. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

"That won't work because ______. I wish I could, but I can't because ______. That's not realistic because _____."

Do any of these sound familiar? Do you find phrases like this popping up automatically any time you look at pursuing your dreams? If so, you might just be addicted to obstacles. And paradoxically enough, that might just be your biggest obstacle.

That knee-jerk application of "I can't because" is one of the most common roadblocks I see in my work. Occasionally it's really true, but often it is simply fear speaking. Sometimes it's not even fear. It's just long-ingrained habit. 

If you want to, you will always be able to find at least a dozen really good, compelling reasons why you can't do something. Guaranteed.

But here's the thing so could every other person who successfully pursued a dream. Obstacles are part of the landscape. It's not whether or not you encounter roadblocks that determines your success. It's what you do with them.

When you focus exclusively on the things getting in your way, they swell up like those compressed sponge shapes that expand to many times their size when you drop them in water. They expand to take up your entire field of view.

On the other hand, if you use them as a point of departure for figuring out how to get around them, they shrink back down to their more appropriate size.

I'm not suggesting that all you have to do is wave a magic wand and shake a little positive thinking dust and all your obstacles will become magically manageable. Some obstacles really are big, and take hard work and creativity to find your way around. But that's a far cry from being impossible.

Try this: Think about a dream you would love to pursue. Now sit down and take inventory of the obstacles standing in your way. This is the chance for your inner pessimist to run wild. 

Once you have that list in hand, use it as a starting point. Pick one obstacle and say, "If I had to overcome this obstacle, how could I?"

Practice coming up with solutions. Get creative. Make it a habit to explore possible solutions any time a potential obstacle comes up. Start training your brain to leave that addiction to obstacles behind and discover the freedom of focusing on solutions.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

There's a common perception that creativity is always a natural flow. That when we catch the creative wave, all time disappears and our muse takes over. And for some people that's true. I once met a woman who said, "When I write, it's like reading a book. I have to keep writing and writing because I want to see how it's going to turn out."

I wish that were true for me. Oh sure, occasionally the words just fly out of my brain and I step back at the end of the ride and go, "Whoa! Dude!" But for the most part it takes discipline and focus and no small amount of teeth-gritting to make it all the way to the end of a page. 

So I related to Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) as she explained her creative process in this TED Talk. She said, "I'm a mule. The way I have to work is I have to get up at the same time every day and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly."

She also talked about how she had adopted the ancient Greek and Roman view of creativity as divine spirit that visits us rather than something coming from within us. The Greeks called it a daemon. The Romans called it a genius. I think of it as a muse.

It occurred to me that when she shows up and does the mulish work, it creates the space for that daemon/genius/muse to show up and do its work. Without her mulishness, that creative spirit would be unemployed.

This idea doesn't apply just to writing, or even just to any of the creative arts. It applies any time you show up and reach for a dream, a vision that is outside the mundane realm of everyday expectations.

How about you? What mulish work do you need to do so that your muse can show up?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Beginnings are always messy.

~ John Galsworthy (Winner of the 1932 Nobel prize for literature)

If you have a dream you have yet to take action on, there's only one place to start, and that's at the beginning. The trouble with beginnings is that they often feel like going down a bone-jarring back-country road when what we really want is to be flying down the autobahn at mach speed.

We strike out towards our goal, only to find out there's a lot we don't know. We feel like a newborn foal wobbling around on spindly legs when we're more accustomed to feeling like a thoroughbred racing down the track.

Sometimes those first steps we take work, sometimes they're shaky, and sometimes they just go splat and we have to go back to the drawing board.

Face it. Beginnings are messy. And for most of us, that's an uncomfortable place to be.

Here's a revolutionary idea - when you try something new, don't fight it! Accept the messiness. Embrace it even. Don't make it personal. Beginnings are messy for everyone!

Create a new story around it. Rather than seeing it as a threat to your ego that likes to have everything under control and mastered, look at it as a big sandbox where you get to play, discover, and play some more based on what you learn. 

You can organize and prepare to your heart's content (a great procrastination tool!), but as soon as you start taking actual steps, you'll discover that it's just not neat and tidy. Messiness is an inherent part of starting at the beginning.

Given that, doesn't it make sense to change your story so you can benefit from the richness of that messiness, rather than let it tense you up and slow you down?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

There are around 155,000,000 people currently going to work every day in the US alone. What if a big chunk of those people started incorporating one simple question into their career decisions:

What kind of difference do I want to make?

Let's take a reasonably conservative portion, say, 10%. Imagine the ripple effect from 15,000,000 people all asking that question and - more importantly - acting on it! And doing that day-after-day and year-after-year.

That whole idea is a big piece of what lights me up about my work. I'm fond of saying, "I want to change the world - I just don't want to do all the work." It's my tongue-in-cheek way of talking about a part of my work that both energizes and inspires me: being a catalyst for others' positive change efforts. [More of my thoughts on the personal benefits of making a difference here.]

That's why I'm psyched about Tim Sanders' new book, Saving the World at Work. In it, Sanders makes a case for a new paradigm that is unfolding in the business world, one he calls the Responsibility Revolution. He writes:

The Responsibility Revolution has arrived. It demands that companies make a difference to society - not just indirectly, but directly, through their products, through their manufacturing methods and operational systems, through their environmental efforts and community outreach.

In short, people are starting to demand that companies be a force for good, not just a mechanism for creating financial profit.

Consumers, employees, and investors are changing business. They expect the companies with which they do business to join them in taking responsibility for the planet on which we all live, and for giving back to the larger world.

That paradigm shift is opening the door for people to seriously ask the question "what difference do I want to make" and act on it. Sanders describes the focus of the book:

The premise of Saving the World at Work is simple. I want to recruit you, and train you, for the Responsibility Revolution. I want to help you feel good about your company and grow more good within it. I want to help you feel more fulfilled by your job, by helping your company to see the value of giving back to the larger world.

Heady stuff!

Sanders describes what he calls saver soldiers, "a highly motivated individual who leverages work as a platform to help save the world."

After exploring the trends and forces at work in the Responsibility Revolution, Sanders outlines The Six Laws of the Saver Soldier, which he distilled from conversations with many dozens of people successfully using work as a platform for positive change.

The book originally came out just as the financial world imploded last fall. Needless to say, with people up to their eyeballs in fear, it didn't get the attention it deserved. So Sanders decided to embark on a "relaunch campaign."

Want to help spread the word? Read more about it here. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Do you want to stay energized and inspired in your career? If you do, at some point you're going to need to jump headlong into the unknown and the new (in fact, you'll probably need to do it over and over again).

Without the ability to move into new territory, you'll be stuck repeating the same tired cycle over and over again.Exploring unknown territory is a vital part of the equation of staying fully charged.

The trouble for many people is not so much that they don't want to embrace the new. It's that they don't want to make the mistakes that inevitably come along with it. Their minds play a recurring story about what mistakes mean, and it's always negative.

"See? I'm no good at this. I don't have what it takes. I'm a screw-up. I can't do anything right." There are a bazillion variations on that theme, but they all have two things in common. They are all negative reinforcement, and none of them are especially grounded in reality.

In the excellent book Self-Esteem, the authors talk about different ways that we can reframe how we view mistakes. One of those is to view mistakes as invaluable teachers. They write:

Mistakes are a function of growth and changing awareness. They are an absolute prerequisite for any learning process...

There is no way you can learn any task or skill without errors. This process is called successive approximation: getting closer and closer to successful performance through feedback provided by mistakes. Every error tells you what you need to correct, every error brings you incrementally nearer to the behavioral sequence that works best for completion of the task...

...Mistakes are information about what works and what doesn't. They have nothing to do with your worth or intelligence. They are merely steps to a goal. 

Next time you are tempted to beat up on yourself for a mistake you made, reframe it. Ask yourself, "How has this moved me closer to my goal? What have I learned here? Where is the insight this mistake is offering?"

Follow that up with, "Now how can I apply that insight?" Your goal is to use your mistakes as a catalyst for forward motion, rather than a roadblock that shuts you down cold.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

If time be of all things most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again.

- Benjamin Franklin

We live in a culture that values productivity and abhors wasting time. It's that old Protestant work ethic. We create systems to help us make the most of our waking hours. We admonish ourselves to be always industrious and never idle.

But looking at time from a productivity standpoint, while valid, is also an incomplete picture. The value of how we spend our time is more than just the sum total of widgets we can crank out. It's also about what we experience, and how we use our unique gifts and abilities.

It's not just about quantity; it's also about quality. 

Here are some questions you might ask as you ponder whether you are making the most of the few precious ticks of the clock you have on this planet, or whether you are squandering it.

• How well does what I'm doing align with who I am?
• How well does what I'm doing align with what I'm here to do? 
• Does my work feel natural, or does it feel like a constant strain to force myself to fit?
  
• Do I feel like I'm making a difference that I care about?
  
• Am I getting to use the skills and abilities I love to use?
• Does what I'm doing leave me feeling positive?
• When I think of the way I feel about my work, is that a feeling a would wish for a loved one?
  
• Does the way my work makes me feel create a positive ripple effect in my life, or a negative one?

I have nothing against the productivity picture of how we use our time. It helps us make the most of whatever it is we're doing.

But when the sole measuring stick is quantity, and quality gets left out of the picture, we risk being incredibly effective at doing something that neither energizes nor inspires us and wastes what we have to offer. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst