Believe in the Possibilities

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Most people in the job market need something else even more than they need a job. The same is generally true for people that are unhappy with their career paths. Contrary to what many of these people may believe, what they need in order to cure their misery is actually something far, far different from a mere job change.

Last night I was walking through the Forum Shops Mall in Caesars Palace and I could not help but notice something that is probably the same in malls all across America. There are young men around 15-18 who seem to beam with incredible enthusiasm in the malls. They just hang out in groups, smiling and looking quite happy. They hold their heads high and their posture is very good. They joke with each other and appear very confident in their behavior. This is a stereotypical group of young men, the likes of which I have been seeing in malls for quite some time.

There is something else you see in the malls too: You see men who have gotten on in years. By the time those young men are in their mid-20s, a lot of that energy and enthusiasm has disappeared from their faces completely. Instead, they look more serious. They no longer walk with the same posture, or same confidence. They do not appear to be as happy anymore, and you can just see from their faces that life is no longer as fun for them. When the same man gets to be in his 30s, his enthusiasm has probably drained even more. He may have begun to grow a pot belly. Some men wear golf shirts that are reminiscent of the few moments of fun that they may expose themselves to once in a while. By the time most men are in their 50s any trace of that beaming–that happy self expression and playfulness in their faces is almost gone completely. They appear to shuffle when they walk and they are missing that posture that is erect and meets the world with incredible enthusiasm. You see these men everywhere. The life force within them seems to be fading.

This is not true for all men, of course. Nor is it true for all women. But still, many people do lose zest for their careers and for life; it just disappears over the years as people work and experience various family, career and life changes–and challenges. Once it is gone, even if, say a person finds a new and better job, this zest will still be missing. Most men and women, once they start losing this zest in their late teens and early 20s, begin losing it more and more each year…it simply never comes back. This is a very predictable phenomenon that I have seen time and time again. The energy that once characterized a person simply vanishes.

Young men who are 15-18 will tell you of the incredible things they are going to do when they get older. They have all the confidence in the world and believe that whatever they want to do is possible. I remember once driving to Chicago O’Hare airport with a friend of mine when I was around 19 years old and in my first year of college. We were going to pick up my friend’s buddy, with whom my friend had attended a very competitive private school in New York City, called Collegiate. The friend was now attending Williams College (an incredibly difficult college to get into), and was flunking several of his classes because he was convinced he was going to be a famous white Jewish rap star. He was getting ready to drop out of college and pursue this rap career–even though he had never produced a rap album, hardly knew anything whatsoever about music, and the few novice recordings of his rap music that he had made sounded horrible. Yet he had the confidence to believe that he could do this. He was literally walking away from one of the most competitive colleges in the United States, and whatever future that might have led to, in order to pursue a rap career. At the time this seemed absolutely insane to me, but the more I think about it now, the more beautiful I think it was: How many men by the time they reach their 40s, for example, would have tried something like this?

Think about the white-shoe lawyer, working in a large law firm and maintaining his serious life each day. Do you think this serious lawyer would be willing to walk away from this serious life in order to do something that he really wants to do, like pursue a rap career? The odds of this seem miniscule to me. This young kid pursuing a rap career had that life force, that enthusiasm that is really only present in the young. Most of us have lost this by the time we are in our mid-20s.

Several times a month, various people ask me why I spend time writing about life and career issues each day. After all, what I do is run career companies that are engaged primarily in getting people jobs. If this is my job then why do I spend so much time each day writing articles and doing other things that do not appear related to my business? According to the people I speak with, it does not seem to make sense that someone dedicated to getting people jobs would be so interested in the state of mind of the people in the job market.

Why not spend this time improving the functionality of the websites that I run?

Why not spend this time having direct conversations with job seekers?

Why not spend this time working on trying to make money for the company?

The greatest gift I believe you or I can receive is inspiration. When we are inspired we can go out and accomplish anything.

A job is just a job, but if you are inspired you can create whatever opportunity you want in the world. Inspiration is what changes everything and it is what will change your life–even more so than a new job. A new job is a good thing; however, being inspired is far more powerful and can help you to forever change your life for the better. All it takes is one dose of inspiration and something that ticks within you to inspire you to change your life.

At some point a man starts to droop, the enthusiasm leaves his face, and he starts to believe that there are massive limitations on him in the world. You know this man, or woman; it may be someone with whom you are very close. It may even be you. Perhaps you no longer believe that this or that is possible and feel constrained and limited by your abilities. You might have begun to believe that whatever you attempt in the world will be met with resistance and that you will fail. You may take refuge in your home, or apartment and resign yourself to doing the same job over and over again, believing that you will never really experience the sort of life you want, and the sort of life you see others living. You may watch others living in fame and glory on television, and read about them in the papers. All along you can only watch life from the sidelines because you have come to believe you are not good enough, talented enough and more.

Did you ever stop to think that it might be in some people’s best interest for you to not be good enough? Perhaps your parents do not want to see you do better than they have done in life. Perhaps your spouse wants to see you remain at a certain level so they can control you. Perhaps your friends are afraid you will never stay friends with them if you do everything you are capable of. Therefore, you live your life and spend your career surrounded by people that help reinforce and perpetuate a view of yourself as someone resigned to a life of mediocrity, or even failure.

We go to schools and they teach us how to do many things; however, most do not inspire us about what is possible for us to accomplish by using the knowledge they have given us. Being inspired about what is possible is what can propel us to succeed in our lives and careers. When you are inspired you can do just about anything.

The reason I write each day is because I want to provide you with some inspiration to have and to create the sort of life you are entitled to, which you deserve. I would like to inspire you to make the absolute most out of yourself, and to do everything within your power to better yourself. I want you to be the best you possibly can be. But first you must realize that the power to do this lies within your own mind, and it is directly related to how inspired you allow yourself to be, and to what you believe is possible.

Libraries, book stores and other places are filled with countless tools meant to inspire you. Seek out sources of knowledge and inspiration that will inspire you as to what is possible in your career and in your life. Read and study inspirational texts and find a source of inspiration to help power you forward. You will only go as far in your life as you think you can. Most of us fail on this inside long, long before we fail on the outside. A man or woman can go through hell, but if this person knows on the inside that he or she is going to succeed and ultimately do amazingly well–then this person has nothing to worry about.

The road to the life you desire lies before you, you must simply pave it.

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