Is Your Career Your Calling or Just a 9 to 5?
Do you remember your parents asking you what you want to be when you grow up? By the time I was in the 9th grade, my mother started asking me that same question until I graduated from high school. At that time I wasn't 100% sure what career path I would take, but I had several ideas. Your calling is that passion that you have deep inside ? the career that defines your purpose in life. Someone once told me if you find a job that you love you'll never have to work a day in your life. Some of us work in careers for so long that we are numb on the inside and outside. We go from appointment to appointment and our days are so mundane. We hardly get any enjoyment out of what we do because it is just another 9 to 5. Have you recently said, 'I could do this job with my eyes closed?' People who choose a career, instead of their calling, wake up disappointed that they have to go to work. They hate facing another day. If you find your calling and pursue it, life will become an adventure and not just another 9 to 5. Ponder over these statements:
In conclusion, take a few moments to ponder over what is going on in your life today and figure out if it compensates towards your calling. Listen to your mind, body and soul. Don't worry about what others will think or even if they will agree to whatever calling you move towards. Live your life as if tomorrow is your last day on Earth. Enjoy today because tomorrow isn't definite. About The Author This article was written by Yasmeen Abdur-Rahman, Lifestyle Entrepreneur Coach and owner of The Brownstone Workshop located in Cary, NC. If you would like to copy this article, please include the author's credentials. If you are interested in a full, detailed description of lifestyle entrepreneur coaching? services, kindly go to http://www.thebrownstoneworkshop.bigstep.com or mailto:yasmeen033@aol.com or call Yasmeen at 919-319-6271.
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If you don't yet have an Opportunity File, I encourage you to set one up. It's positively addicting!I thought it might be fun to just pull a couple of examples from the top of my Opportunity file and share them with you. Since they're on top, that means I've come across them in just the last week or so. Collecting is all the rage these days. As I looked more closely at my top of the pile examples, I realized that in one way or another, they all have something to do with collecting. Read on and you'll see what I mean.First there's antique Christmas decorations collector, Gerald Nixon (aka Mr. Pink? I'll explain in a moment). Gerald had so many antique Christmas decorations in his personal collection that he finally had to open a shop just so he could move about his apartment. Today he has over 10,000 ornaments as well as light reflectors, aluminum trees, rotating color wheels, rotating musical tree stands, vintage holiday cards, and wrapping paper. Okay, why is he called Mr. Pink? Well, it seems the guy owns a very fuzzy pink Santa suit that he happily dons every weekend in December. You can imagine how many tourists ask to have their picture taken with him! You can visit Gerald at his shop in Manhattan at 223 16th Street or online at MrPinkInc.com. If you hurry, you may even catch him in his furry pink suit!And speaking of winter? after his grandfather died and left him his old wooden skis, Mark Miller began collecting vintage skis. Soon neighbors in his small hometown in New Hampshire started dropping off their old skis. Then Mark began buying skis at auctions. Before long, he had over 100 pairs!In 1994, he decided to turn his hobby into a business and moved himself and his collection to Park City, Utah, where he became a ski instructor. Today Mark has the largest collection of antique winter sports equipment in the world. Two warehouses hold his collection of 3,000 pairs of skis, 2,000 pairs of snowshoes, 500 vintage sleds, and 400 pairs of wooden skates.Increasingly, Mark's collection comes from Europe where he managed to track down 500 pairs of American snow shoes used by the Army's 10th Mountain Division in World War II. The shoes were just sitting in an old barn in Turkey. Mark does all the refinishing work himself before selling his vintage finds through his web site at AntiqueSkis.com and through home décor shops in four western states. The next opportunity I found in an article in FSB magazine about hot franchises. I'm not usually very interested in franchises. I've got nothing against them mind you? it's just hard for me to picture someone who wakes up in the morning excited about opening their own Subway or Jiffy Lube shop. 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