Telling a new tale—and following my kind of fun—led me to work I love and feeling more alive.
So, when I was about ten, I started getting the feeling that I was born to do something great. My mistake was that I kept thinking about what I could do instead of pursuing what excited me most.
I was living as a Michigander in Kenya when all of that thinking was going on, and by the time the mid-80s rolled around I decided that working on a cure for AIDS would be “doing greatness.” And trust me, I tried hard to make that happen: I went to MIT, Hopkins and joined an HIV lab, PhD in hand.
But 16 months later, I quit, and years of sad jobs followed after that.
By claiming over and over that I was wasting my life in my jobs, I made myself ill, stopped working to resuscitate and reinvent myself and lost my condo in the process. BUT, the good news was that I came to see that if my stories could plunge me into crisis, I could tell new ones to get myself out.
Feeling like a failure while facing foreclosure, I started telling myself the tale, “I’m building an entrepreneurial empire,” based on nothing but a wish. But the more I told myself that story and did things that I found fun—without trying to be “productive”—the more I remembered that I loved to tell stories and various ventures based on storytelling started forming in my mind.
Today, I no longer feel the need to grow an empire to feel better about myself, but I’m growing my footprint all the same by using storytelling to build a business around fostering caring communities—villages—for and by neighbors in the United States, which includes nurturing some passion projects.
The beauty of the work I do now is that every single job that I claimed was wasting my life turned out to have given me perfect preparation and a perspective that allows me to set myself apart.
I know the pain of feeling confused and like you’ve botched your career. But I also know that it ain’t over ’til it’s over, and that we can to go from feeling like all hope is lost in our work to work we love. And here’s another thing I know: Breakthroughs don’t happen when we’re wadded up in worry.
If your work has you down, lighten your mood as best as you can. The more at peace you feel and do things that are fun, the more you can access inner guidance—like curiosity, inspiration, intuition and/or vision—that can lead you toward a life that feels better. My first book (get it for free) might also help.
Instead of pushing harder, I preach feeling better—like through resting, playing, going outside and daydreaming—to access higher intelligence.
That sound good to you?
If so, get The Prosperity Papers Recap for a monthly roundup of my stories to help you feel more alive by doing work you love and to stay up on all my work with ONE subscription.
HARAMBEE!
HARAMBEE! (Ha-rahm-bay) is Swahili for “Let’s ALL band together” to prosper!