Want a successful career? Love more.
Happy new year! Hope this post finds you capturing your thoughts on the dream job you’d like to create in 2017. If not, then listen to my podcast on visioning and get started now.
I like to walk the talk and in my own vision for 2017 I wrote that love is the path to success, and not just for me but for everyone. Then earlier this month, an underdog Clemson University team (who hadn’t won a championship in 35 yrs) beat a University of Alabama team whom all the sports analysts thought unbeatable. The winning difference? When asked, the Clemson coach said, “I told them the difference in this game would be love.” He said he told them to love each other and that he didn’t know how they were going to win but he knew they were going to win by loving each other. (See the coach’s interview in the video below.)
If you watched the game, you saw the power of love to bring a team together, to enable spectacular catches and to help everyone stay calm with only seconds left on the clock. It’s a lesson we often hear that “love conquers all” and in this case we got to see a real, practical example of that power.
Another real, practical place where love can make the difference between winning and losing is in our careers. When people contact me for career advice, they’re often in a place where they’re not feeling the love. Some feel their talents aren’t recognized or appreciated or sought after. Others don’t feel passion for what they do and still others aren’t able to to work smarter and spend quality time with their families. If you feel like these folks and as if you’ve lost some of your “mojo” (passion) as it relates to work; it’s time to add more love to your career.
Make Love the Difference In Your Career Success:
- Start by loving your “crazy” career ideas and allow yourself full expression. What do I mean? Often times when people are stuck in their careers it’s because they’re not allowing themselves to do what they’d love to do. They’re keeping themselves bottled-up and that block keeps them from moving forward productively.
- Love others who’ve done what you want to do. If you’re jealous of the life and career someone else has created, tell them. Don’t tell them you’re jealous. Tell them how much you admire them for what they’ve done. Then asked them how they did it. These types of informational interviews are an important Research step in taking your “crazy” career ideas and making them a viable, real career. I do them all the time.
- Share your passion. The next time someone asks you how you’re doing, share with them all the things that are working in your job or in your life. Focus on the positives. Why? They’ll hear you better. I recently started taking a flora and fauna class in the FL Keys where I live for 9 months of the year. The instructor was so passionate about the topic that he lost all track of time and our first class went overtime by an hour. I wasn’t complaining though. I got more for my money and I was inspired watching someone share his genius in service to others. You are sharing your genius everyday even if it’s only in small ways. Tell people about it.
Take these steps and give yourself some career love. The career you’ve imagined is yours for the making and the right career or job is waiting right now to love you back. I send you my love for a wonderful new year and new career.
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” – Patanjali
I love Dabo. pic.twitter.com/xiugApY5YH
— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) January 10, 2017