When Passion Meets Purpose

In revealing your authentic self and knowing what God has in store for you, He gently guides you through life slowly opening and closing doors of opportunity which allows you to gain just the right experience and meet just the right people.

Through this journey of discovery you encounter mini missions and if you are successful with your missions, and gain the skills, knowledge and experience that you need to continue – then your next destination along your revelation of self would be your revelation of purpose.

 Part of your destiny fuels your existence, stirs your passions, and provides peace to your soul. God has us all here for a reason. Are you curious to know what a difference God can make in your life when your passion is connected to His purpose for your life?

Dream Job Series on the Examiner

Starting your own business has been a popular concept for several entrepreneurial minded consumers who have either been impacted by this recession or come to the realization that there has got to be a more fulfilling life for them. Working for yourself, establishing your own hours and, most importantly, creating a business that reflects who you are and how you can make a difference in someone else’s life are usually some of the more common reasons why people seek out a new and more meaningful employment opportunity.

Career Assessments: Do they work?

Selecting a career that fulfills you, motivates you, and challenges you just enough to maintain a continuous level of excitement is not impossible.

Career assessment are developed to guide you in revealing your authentic self while also directing you to career options that reflect your personality, skills and interest.

When adding an expert to the mix, such as a career coach or career consultant, their expertise can aid you in discovering your purpose.

Watch this video on career assessments, and feel free to contact me, Dr. Cris if I can assist you further.

Enjoy

Three of the Best Books for Professional and Personal Growth

Sometimes finding your next great read will have a lot to do with how much you desire to grow both personally and professionally. The three books noted below provides a great start to how you can begin to transform your life.

Enjoy,

Dr. Cris

The Purpose Driven Life

This book was not what I expected but I was pleased with the results. Author Rick Warren explains that when we decide to connect with God, then we begin to connect to our purpose and our passions. For our purpose is centered on His will for our lives, but we must first let go and learn to appreciate that God does haves a special plan for each of us and we can receive the best possible life based on His intention. It is then that we will blossom into the person that we are destined to be. 

Our purpose driven life is our awakening to surrendering. Our acknowledgment that our best life is a reflection of not only Gods’ will but also our passion. So if we allow ourselves to trust Him and serve Him then we also place ourselves in a position to serve others which is one of the five principles that Warren focuses on in this book. 

If you think that something is missing from your life, and perhaps a change is in order, I would strongly suggest this read. The Purpose Driven Life will make you reevaluate your life, what you value and your motives. Hopefully it will transform you. 

The 4-Hour Work week

“Can a person really work less than 50 or 60 hours a week?” was my first question when I picked up this book. So the possibility of working less than five made me immediately desire to learn more. What Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, is celebrating and trying to get across to all of us, is that life is worth living, not working away. And there are easy-to-learn strategies to get you to the comfortable life that you desire. Some of the main points that Ferriss suggests are…

• Creating a mobile lifestyle so that you can enjoy your life while facilitating your workload
• Outsourcing your workload through a virtual assistant – one of my personal favorites
• Creating automatic cash flow opportunities so that you are getting paid without punching a time-clock
• Eliminating 50% of your work in 48 hours

I’ll admit that initially the concept sounds too good to be true; however, once you decide that you are fed up with the rat race and desire more from your life then you may consider doing something about it, and this book is a great place to start.  

The Vision Board

It may be difficult to accomplish your dreams if you can’t see them. Once they are in front of you constantly, your dreams can begin to take shape and unfold from the visions, pictorial images, and text that represent your mantra into a creative representation of the life that you desire to live.  

Author Joyce Schwarz shares a detailed step-by-step process to capture your dreams and turn them into reality. The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life provides a how-to guide to understanding the power, the creativity, and the genius associated with creating a tangible representation of what you truly desire out of life. 

After Schwarz describes the basic process of creating your vision board, she then focuses on the importance of activating it, through the use of affirmations, visualization, and Feng Shui. Without connecting these three important components to your vision board, you have basically created an art project that lacks active energy and the power to take you to the next level. 

How to Prepare for the Best Job Interview You Ever Had

Preparing for a job interview can be challenging, exciting or even scary.  Some of your best interviews can occur when you do your homework and know that being prepared can make the difference between getting a job or continuing your job search.    

Check out this video on how you can prepare for the best job interview you ever had. 

Enjoy,

Dr. Cris

What College Major Should I Choose?

Identifying the appropriate college major that reflects a student’s passion and ultimately their career purpose can sometimes be challenging. The interest that they had in high school can sometimes shift directions upon entering into college. And the attempt that many colleges make to create a well- rounded student by promoting the opportunity to take classes in various general courses exposes students to perhaps a new found interest or it may confuse their decision making process regarding the appropriate college major.  

As a result, college students find themselves often changing majors, sometimes more than once. Or taking a break from school to find themselves, and try to refocus on what they really want out of life. There are even situations where students taking a break from college may become comfortable with a lifestyle that does not include school and they become complacent and decide not to return to college at all. 

 

The retention rate for college students across our nation is disappointing. Although colleges and universities are cognizant of this dilemma, most institutions find that they are powerless against the fact that some students are truly unaware of and not able to accurately identify their college major. And the students who seem to be impacted the most are freshmen. 

 

Approximately 30% of freshmen across our nation each year drop out of college; some of these students do return to school but not all of them return to the original college or continue with their original college major. As a result students’ will spend on average five to six years completing what is typically a four year bachelor’s degree. Not only do students take more time to obtain their degree, but the extra one or two years in college can add up, costing them more money than they would have spent if they had selected a college major that truly reflected their passion and purpose as a freshman and stuck with it.      

As an advocate of higher education, a career consultant, and a college professor, I have seen this situation occur far too often. College students become discouraged with the direction that they should take and without the proper guidance or direction, they simply give up on obtaining the college degree that they had hoped for. I was one of those students who changed majors more than once and I can sympathize with what our freshmen are faced with today. However, giving up is not the solution; there are ways to tackle this problem.

Solutions

Sometimes a break from college may be needed in order for students to gain a better or more informed perspective on their college major choice.  Some students may even want to take a semester or quarter off to volunteer through an organization such as Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.com) or the Student Volunteer Network (http://www.svnusa.org/svn/register.asp) where they can focus less on themselves temporarily and more on others who could use their assistance and kindness. Students could also consider gaining industry experience by opting for an internship to provide them with great professional experience and also enlighten them on the specific tasks and responsibilities of a career that they are interested in. This first hand experience could make or break their career choice. But the best part of gaining this experience is learning what works or doesn’t work for them as a possible future career.

At some college campuses, guidance counselors are available to assist students in finding their college major. Some college campuses even have a career advising department devoted to addressing these concerns. Both guidance counselors and career advising departments usually offer career assessments that students can take to narrow down possible careers and their specific college major. Finally, career coaches or consultants are ideal for assisting students. They usually provide an in-depth and personal approach to assisting students one on one with their career or college major needs. Their expertise and experience can be beneficial to students who simply need to identify their passion. 

Whatever option college students take to address the selection of an accurate college major, the take away from this problem is simple: do something, don’t give up. When it comes to obtaining a higher education the knowledge and experience that one gains during their college years is priceless.

Beyond Your Vocational Wilderness: Answering Your Call and Knowing the Truth About Your Purpose

We all have been blessed with unique gifts and talents that sometimes may not be used at our current place of employment. If this is the case then somewhere deep inside of us there remains a feeling of dissatisfaction, lack of fulfillment, an emptiness that can’t quite be filled by money or possessions.

We have been created to fulfill a certain destiny, we have been created to fulfill a certain purpose, a specific call on our lives and when that calling has not been responded to then there is a void that is left unfulfilled. And we are left wandering aimlessly in what I like to refer to as a “vocational wildness.”

Your vocational wilderness is the prime spot where NONE of your needs are met, you are never satisfied, you can’t quite understand why you spend so much time staring out of the window if you have a window to stare out of. Your job tasks are so simplistic and you’re not challenged. Perhaps you are employed at a job where you feel as though you’re on a merry-go-round, completing the same assignment, over and over again. Are you in the wilderness? 

The best and only solution to digging through the maze of your vocational wildness is to answer your call. To some, the call on your life may be confusing; you may even be in denial to some extent.  Wondering why this is even a concern, why you are experiencing an emptiness. Especially since so many of you make six figures or in some cases much more than that. But you still experience emptiness. In that respect, you should do a bit of soul searching. Take a moment to look within. If you have all the possessions and you’re still not happy, if you are putting in several hours at your job (your vocational wilderness), then what is it that could make a difference?   

The answer may not always be what you think, but it could be an earth shattering realization when you discover what the truth is that reflects your purpose. It sometimes may not always have to do with how much money you make, although the amount of money can certainly provide a more comfortable living for so many of us. It also may not have anything to do with the amount of hours that we work (the popular author Timothy Ferriss states that we can condense our passions to a 4-hour work week), but it will have something to do with one important aspect, your purpose. When you decide to take a moment to reflect on your gifts, your passion and simply answer your call.

Invest in Yourself

Whether you are one of the recent downsized employees who have lost a job due to this ongoing recession or if you are someone who is experiencing some level of frustration in their current job and is considering a career transition, the time is now to begin investing in yourself and your future. 

After spending a month or so feeling sorry for myself after the company that I once worked for radically restructured the organization, costing several middle managers their jobs including my own, I soon realized that the new home and new car that I had recently purchased were simply not going to pay for themselves and if I wanted to get out of that mess, it would take a lot of faith and a new direction.

Although I needed some time to regroup, I eventually was blessed to accept three different employment opportunities, although not all at the same time. The first two were in education and the other was in retail. However, it was during my experience in education that something clicked, and I became inspired to go back to school and obtain my doctorate to prepare for my next career as a college professor. 

For me, the timing and the situation presented itself and I took advantage of the opportunity. For you, it may not be a doctorate, but it can be something that can alter the rest of your life. All that you have to do now is determine what is it that brings you enough joy and fulfillment that you can use to make a difference, make an impact, and not only change your life, but possibly even impact someone else’s in the process.

Consider your current situation. If you are currently unemployed, then you probably have a little time on your hands. Take advantage of this time, and use it wisely to invest in yourself. Invest in the possibility that you have a purpose, you have a destiny and perhaps at this moment you have been given an opportunity to rediscover what makes you tick and what is it that would bring satisfaction back to your life. Don’t look at unemployment as the worst thing that could happen, consider it an opportunity to redirect your life towards the career that you always wanted by providing you with the time to prepare for it. 

When we invest in ourselves we can invest in the possibility of a lifetime career, one that you can’t be downsized from, one that you won’t hate going to, and one that reflects your authentic self, one that represents who you could be in a new business venture. Perhaps starting a new business is worth considering.  Now I realize that starting a new business may not be for everyone, but whatever the future holds for you, take advantage of this time to discover it.
 

Trust me when I say, I realize that not knowing where your next paycheck will come from is scary, I’ve been there and done that. But with faith and a new perspective it can make all the difference in the rest of your life.

We All Can’t Be Oprah, But We Can Transition into a Life Changing Career



Oprah Winfrey

No, we all can’t be Oprah, we all can’t start our "OWN" cable network, or be honored at Kennedy Center, or even run a successful billion dollar conglomerate. But what we can do is honor our purpose, and honor the meaning in which we have been graced to serve on this earth, which is exactly what Oprah is doing. She is successfully carrying out her purpose. 

For a moment, don’t consider your job, but consider what would fulfill you. Consider what would add meaning not only to your life, but what could possibly alter someone else’s life down to the core of their being. What is it that you can do to demonstrate your gifts, talents, and the grace that you have been blessed with and share that with someone who could permanently have the rest of their life changed by your act of kindness? 

When we awaken to the reality that life could be so much more fulfilling through careers which focus on providing services to others, uplifting others and truly impacting someone else’s life, we will discover a new meaning to what the words a "fulfilling career" truly mean.  It’s a sense of freedom, and a new form of gratification that workaholics desire to experience. 

Until we can transition into the Oprah that we want to become or at least seek a new career which reflects our purpose, there is one suggestion that I would like you to keep in mind. When given the opportunity to share your talents and gifts in a service oriented position where you could make a difference in someone’s life and you can be completely fulfilled, would you accept the position even if you had to keep your old job to make ends meet? My suggestion would be you should strongly consider it.

Although managing your time may be challenging initially, when you consider volunteering or working a few extra hours at a position that would pay you little monetarily; please keep in mind, that the fulfillment of your spirit is priceless. Someone once told me long ago; when you do what you love, consider doing it for free. If you keep that mindset, then the riches will follow.

We are embarking on a new year; consider it a new beginning, a new chapter that is unfolding. A new opportunity to envision yourself as a guest host on one of the new shows featured on the OWN network. If given the chance to transition to a new career as one of Oprah’s new guest host in a service oriented career, what would you do? How would you lift someone to the next level? No, we all can’t be Oprah, but yes you can be the person who broke free from the mundane, recognized their purpose, and honored yourself in the process.