The schoolmaster, on the other hand, is remembered only as a nuisance.
Some famous pop singers can barely carry a tune. It’s their flair that propels them to the top of the charts. Recognizing your limitations can help you rise above them. Those very limitations are often only one aspect of your unique intelligence. Many active children, for instance, are diagnosed as hyperactive, but in reality they are just high energy people. The wildest colts make the best horses.
WHAT IS YOUR DESIRE?
So, what do you want? Contemplate the things that make you happy. After you run through your habitually recurrent list, consider the question again. What do you really want? What one word would you use to express the core of your desire? What makes life worthwhile for you?
We earn our living interviewing people and giving them feedback on the things that light them up. Surprisingly, no one ever brightened up on pursuing anything lofty, significant, or spiritual. Everyone wants to light up on noble endeavors, but our roots lie in something more basic. In our experience, most people come alive around action and the toys that move them to action
Peak experiences and spiritual insights are considered sacred. We believe that material things are sacred, too. When you buy something you want, your purchase feeds and clothes the entire network of people who designed, and built, and sold that product.
Playful action is both material and spiritual at the same time. People genuinely delight in sports and recreation. Humans were made to play. Just about everybody we have ever worked with lit up when performing or making people laugh.
The thing you enjoy above all others is what makes you interesting and desirable. When you discover your function, your mind and body reorganize around it. That's why engineers often look like engineers, and lawyers often look like lawyers. Athletes look athletic, artists look artistic, and musicians look, well, musical. What you do for a living determines largely how you view life and the kind of person you become. People who work in cubicles begin to think inside the box. Those who serve people become more sociable. By making the right career choice for your particular nature and style, you are choosing the path of growth and fulfillment.
Your career shapes your body, facial structure, health, social life, tastes, and just about everything else that relates to the quality of your overall experience. If you want to be healthy and trim, conduct a project around fitness. Your body and face will conform to your function.
What is the activity that when you are engaged in it, makes your whole life fall into place? Once you realize your function, you want to perform it. Structure business projects around that activity. The best investment of your time and money is on projects that will earn you money for doing what you love.
There is a popular myth that entrepreneurs are risk takers. The opposite is true. We are the least inclined to bet on anything we can’t control. The majority of people who invest in stocks will eventually lose their investment. If you gamble in Las Vegas, you will inevitably lose money. And while creating your own business projects is risky, at least you control the risks.
Bet on yourself and your talent. Invest in your education and development. Invest your time and money in activities that build an exciting career. When you are doing the things that release you, people will pay you to do it.
So explore yourself more deeply. It can take years to discover the many dimensions of your gifts. Be willing to admit what you actually are. Don’t fear your greatness. Even if it shocks your parents or society, you must face your true nature. When you see what you love doing, it will consume you. There is no greater feeling than knowing you are living your dream.
The best possible plan builds community along with financial success. It grows your web of friendships right along with your fortune. Discovering your craft means finding the kind of people you want around you in your later years. Great friendships ensure the respect and appreciation that keeps your heart warm all the days of your life.
Your existence is a matter of great importance to a few people who resonate with you. On a larger scale, your life matters to all of mankind. Remember that the mere possibility of finding healing plants in the rainforests makes those forests important. If we lose them, we lose essential matter that may solve problems we haven’t even experienced yet. Your life is equally important when considering the larger scheme of things. If you fail to actualize your potential, we all lose. The rest of us need your talents for handling problems we face today and those yet to come.
Mother Nature designed you to produce a thing of great value, something that brings a bit of understanding to the evolution of intelligence. Society cannot live fully without your contribution. We may get by, but without your light we are impoverished.
VALUES
The following seven chapters will outline the stages that precede the launching of a new venture. The preparation phase is not just a time of planning. It is also a time to discover your mission, set goals, and try out a series of learning projects to test how your ideas will hold up in the real world. These projects will provide vital experiences and give you feedback that will let you know when you are growing your project or business in the right direction. But before you begin these activities, you must look deeply into yourself to understand the reasons for choosing a particular course of action. These reasons reflect your values.
Figure 2 lists the specific growth patterns of developing a business. Starting from the bottom, the words on the chart correspond to the titles of the following chapters. Each chapter is devoted to a specific stage of business.
We will present the stages of business in a linear, sequential order. In reality they overlap. Each stage occurs within the others, just as each section of a holograph contains images of the entire structure.
Values are the reasons behind your actions. Knowing yourself means knowing what really matters to you. You are happy to the extent that you are true to your values. When you conform to your own inner truth, your mood is light and cheery. To the extent that you remain true to your values, you will avoid disappointment. Values give direction to your intellectual and emotional intelligence.
Most decisions are emotional decisions. Your feelings decide, then your mental processes kick in to give logical reasons for your decisions. When you aren’t clear about your values, unpredictable feelings run your life. When you outline clear, coherent values, you become decisive. Your actions are integrated with your nature.
Success is built on a foundation of clarity. So unless you have a clear perception of reality, your business will get bogged down in fantasy or pessimism. Values are the foundation of clear perception.
The next time you find yourself in a particularly lucid state of mind, ask yourself honestly what really matters to you. What is most important? What do you consider desirable? Value is often used to describe the tangible cost of something. But clarifying your values goes beyond cost and return on investment. Values are the measure of the relative meaningfulness of things more important than money alone.
What value do you assign to health? When you don’t have it, it is worth far more than fame and fortune. But is health more important than family? And where does freedom fit into your evaluation? People raised in a middle-class environment might aspire to wealth, only to find it incongruous with their self-image. A radical environmentalist may be unwilling to lead a corporation that wastes natural resources.
Some personal values shift with the wind, while others are deep and abiding. Some values apply to all people, while others are unique to each individual.
