Word-paint your self-portrait for an energized life

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My Passion Catalyst work is about helping people manage the Gain to Drain Ratio in their lives - bringing more of what gives them energy into the picture and jettisoning what drains them. It's all based on my definition of passion: The energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do.

With that in mind, I loved what Howard Behar (former President of Starbucks International and Starbucks North America, and author of the book, "It's Not About the Coffee") had to say when I interviewed him for the most recent M.A.P. Maker Podcast. Behar's description of bringing more of you into what you do is "one-hat living." 

One-hat living is being totally in synch with who you are as a human being...what are your values? What matters to you? How do you want to live your life?

And you’ve got to write those things down, because if you don’t, then it’s just talk. And they’re not written in stone just because you write them down, but it’s kind of like painting a picture of yourself in words.

When you put all these words together and they paint a picture of yourself, then you should be looking for things to do, places to work, wherever you’re going to live your life, your significant other in your life, that fit with that.

Because that’s how you’re going to have a happy, productive life. If you’re constantly in conflict with your values and how you live your life, where they don’t match with each other, it’s a recipe for disaster in life. You will see problems, and you will have problems, and you will be unhappy.

I love the idea of painting a word-picture of yourself. If you don't have the clarity about who you really are - not just a vague sense of "I know it when I see it," but a really solid understanding of what makes you tick - it's next to impossible to consciously bring more of that into the picture.

You can start painting your own word-picture right now by asking yourself some questions...

• What do I already know I want in my career?
• What do I love doing? Why? (Don't limit yourself to career-related activities - you're interested in the underlying reasons why you love it, not the activity itself.)
• What do I care about?
• When am I at my best?

The more you know about yourself, the more you fuel you have for creating an energizing, inspiring future.

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