Life of purpose

Chances are, you've been advised to " follow your passion " or "do what you love" at one point in your life. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban says to ignore that conventional career advice. In fact, "'follow your passion' is easily the worst advice you could ever give or get," the "Shark Tank" star wrote on his blog in 2012. Your passions "aren't worth a nickel," he continues. "Think about all those passions that you considered making a career out of or building a company around. How many were/are there? … Why were you not able to make a career or business out of any of those passions? "Or, if you have been able to have some success, what was the key to the success? Was it the passion or the effort you put into your job or company?" Rather than following your passion, follow your effort, says Cuban: "Look at where you apply your time. ... You may or may not realize it yet, but how you use or d...

From forgetfulness to weight gain to poor performance at work, a lack of sleep comes with a number of harmful side effects. In 2016, one-third of American adults weren't getting a sufficient amount of sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Insufficient sleep can also cause a range of issues including increased risk for diseases, learning impairment, lowered GPAs and job performance, increased anxiety , damaged skin and more. To lower your risk of these effects and improve your health , the solution is simple: sleep, for about seven hours each night . Still not convinced? Here are 16 things a lack of sleep can do to you, according to science.

I may not be the world’s most romantic person, but I am definitely realistic. And in the realm of business, a healthy dose of realism is helpful, especially when the majority of businesses fail. This means that I have to spend a lot of time countering the idea that you should follow your passion into business. Here are four reasons why you should not let your passion lead you into business ownership. 1. You’ll do less of what you love to do. If you love to bake, you should open a bakery! If you love kids, you should open a nursery school! Everyone thinks that if you love to do something, by opening a business, you’ll get to do more of it. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that when you open a business, you have to run the business. In doing so, you have to do and oversee many functions from marketing to accounting to handling employees to dealing with customer service and more. So, the hard truth is, at the end of the day, you actually spend less time doing w...

 I focus on doing a few things well: spend it with people I adore, reflect back on the year and see clearly the key lessons I need to learn from it, and finally, relish what’s appeared in my life and be grateful for it. Towards that end, I’m deeply thankful for not only the achievements and happy experiences, but also the terribly hard pitfalls that tripped me up and pushed me to my knees, as these ultimately cleared the pathway to what I really enjoy doing in my life and work. Transforming from a very unhappy 18-year corporate career to a highly fulfilling life as a career coach, writer and business owner, and also figuring out how to make money pursuing my deepest passions, I’ve learned that it can be very hard to see things clearly for yourself – and take empowered action — when you’re lost in the muck and the mud. Of all the questions I receive from folks desperately longing to change careers, the one that stumps them the most is this: "Kathy, how do I figure out what my...

Somebody once told me the definition of hell: “On your last day on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.” — Anonymous Sometimes, to become successful and get closer to the person we can become, we don’t need to add more things — we need to give up on some of them. There are certain things that are universal, which will make you successful if you give up on them, even though each one of us could have a different definition of success. You can give up on some of them today, while it might take a bit longer to give up on others. 1. Give Up On The Unhealthy Lifestyle “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”  — Jim Rohn If you want to achieve anything in life, everything starts here. First you have to take care of your health, and there are only two things you need to keep in mind: [a] Healthy Diet  and Physical Activity Small steps, but you will thank yourself one day. 2. Give Up The Short-term Mindset “You only liv...

  The way you begin your day often determines the quality of the day. For this reason, throughout my adult Christian life, I’ve tried to spend some time focused on the God I love and trust. It truly does make a difference. I often encounter people, however, who want to begin a daily quiet time, but they aren’t sure how. They’ve perhaps tried before, but it didn’t last. It really isn’t as complicated as we often make it out to be. The main thing is simply to do something, but in case you are one of those still wanting to but not sure how, let me offer a few suggestions. Here are 5 easy steps to begin a daily quiet time: Find the right place Pick a place where you’ll be everyday for your quiet time. Obviously, if you travel frequently this is more difficult, but the more routine you can make this the better. It should be as free of distractions as possible. This place will soon become very comfortable to you. I realize too, you may feel your life is too busy. I get it – I’ve li...

When I was young, like most teenagers, I could be brash and blunt with little wisdom to guide my words. One particular night, I was out with a group of friends (guys and girls) when a female friend and I started to make fun of each other. The verbal jousting quickly got competitive, even heated. Finally I said something regrettably cutting, hurtful, and humiliating towards her. What I said is unimportant, but immediately after saying it, I wanted to grab it all back. The worst part about it was that before I said it, I thought about it, calculated its impact, and even then, I still said it. I cared more about winning than I did about her at that moment. Thinking about her running out of the room crying still makes my stomach sink. Words have a powerful impact, particularly in relationships. In marriage, the impact is even deeper because of the level of intimacy. Words are released at close range by the person in life whose opinion matters most. In the midst of a disagreement, we ...