Would you trust a 15 year old to pick your career?

Well you did!

That’s a lot of pressure.  A misstep now could mean thirty years of mediocrity or frustration, thirty years of unfulfillment.  The underlying assumption, of course, is that what you do for a living is tantamount to your ‘life direction’.

As soon as you divorce the source of your paycheck from your ‘life direction’, THEN can you begin to make some serious changes. 

“But, I’m a failure” you might think to yourself.  “All I do is work as a bank teller.”  

1.  Success is NOT your job title.  Someone might consider President Bush a success.  Of course they might; he’s president.  You think P.Bush is happy?  Maybe.  But 65% of the country disapproves of his actions right now and thinks he is craptacular.  For the rest of his life, people including joe-citizen, the media, and historians will be judging his presidency.  For the next century, people will debate his policies and whether he boosted or blasted the U.S.

If attaining the highest office in the United States doesn’t automatically mean success, then no job beneath it will ensure it either.

2.  Importance does not equal success.  Am I urging people to take joy in mediocrity?  NO.  Mediocrity is “of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate; inferior” according to dictionary.com.

Now if you are truly living your live ‘adequately’ then, yes, you are mediocre.  However, if you are excelling in your life, living your life with excellence, then you are successful.  You may only be successful to 100 or 50 or 20 people, but still a success.

3.  Someone will ALWAYS be richer, happier, and more successful than you.  Stop running that kind of mental race because it will NEVER make you happy and will not lead to your success. 

There is no ‘top’ of the list since the list cannot be quantitative or linear.

What can you do?  Are you doing the best at your current job that you can possibly do?  Probably not. If you whine to yourself and think “oh but I’m not appreciated”, who cares? 

Why are you living for other people’s approval and validation of your skills?  As long as you are compensated accordingly and treated politely and with civility, then stop looking for a ‘pat on the back’.  In doing so, you are handing the ‘power’ over to someone else. 

You think you have to be high in the hierarchy to have power?  I have seen attorneys who are told by their secretaries what to do.  Power means confidence and poise, not a paycheck or office title.