Reaching Your Full Potential in Life and Career

Through my professional experience, I began to see my own patterns in what I brought to each of the positions that I've held in my work career.

What I started to notice was that I saw things differently than most people, and that continued to show up. So throughout my working career, I started to realize that people really valued how I saw things, how I saw situations, and how I saw problems, and they really liked the unique solutions that I developed and how it changed the complexity of our working environment.

I started to really see that there was a value in being able to share how I saw things, and the more I used it, the more people sought me out to get my perspective on ideas and about situations and problems they were experiencing.

I became the go-to solutions person.

I believe that we all have an Unmistakable Identity, and it's basically that comment that someone would say, "Oh, that's so you!"

And you know exactly what they're talking about.

As an example, my sisters tease me all the time about being the queen because I happen to like beautiful things that are gilded gold. So now when they see anything that's gilded gold, they promptly tell me that they found something appropriate for me.

I happen to like beautiful things, and I enjoy gold. Some people would say it might be an inside joke. It's like if you know someone, you know what their likes and dislikes are.

When we're talking about Unmistakable Identity, it has to do with the special qualities, those distinguishing traits that are recognizable (that shine in you) that others perceive might be your strengths, your courage, your compassion, your nurturing abilities. Either your brilliance or your stubbornness. All the qualities that make up who we are.

The main ideas behind DreamFunding are these:

l. Money is not the goal--your dreams are the goal. So, we start with your dreams and then work forward from them to deal with your financial strategies.

2. You can, and should, I feel, put your money where your love is--into your passions, into your loved ones, and into living a life of joy.

3. You are greater and more wondrous than you know. Believe in yourself and your dream. This is all that your dream asks of you--but this is everything!

With DreamFunding, which is the Life Planning that I do, there are Six P's -- discover your Passions, give yourself Permission to pursue them, figure out the Price Tags and Priorities, followed by Planning and finally, Prosperity.

It all kind of started when I was 13 years old, and I had an epiphany. My sister went off to college that year, and all of a sudden I realized that I would have to leave home and go out in the world on my own, too -- first to the university and then to work and support myself. Yet, I always had ambitions, not only to work at something I liked, but to enjoy my life every day, day to day, to enjoy both the simple pleasures like a chat with a friend, along with the more costly things like "in" clothes, travel, etc.

So early on, I started making lists of things that were important to me -- my dreams. I knew I wanted to write for a living, so I could keep learning new things. I also knew I wanted to explore the world. These were my Passions.

OK, Laura here -- I think there are many ways to get to your LifeMark contribution. And the path that each one of us takes to get there is going to be unique as snowflakes are unique. No two snowflakes are alike; no two paths are the same.

So I found my way was that I had a deep inner quest to understand why I function so differently than most of my colleagues. And that took me down a path to research myself.

I found that my unique way of functioning basically was the gift I was given to bring to the world. As I began to articulate that, other people wanted to know more. Hence, my starting to share and explore with others what I found in my research, and it turned into a methodology, as a way for me to help other people.

OK, Carol here -- My personal experience shows me that believing in my dreams has made a lot of them happen. Being resourceful has gotten more of my dreams funded, such as taking my speaking talents and financial expertise and now, traveling aboard cruise ships around the world -- I'm actually on a cruise ship in the Indian Ocean now. Isn't technology wonderful? -- talking with passengers about their dreamfunding, no matter their age or stage in life. Doing this inspirational lecutring has taken me on voyages to 35 countries on six continents in the past four years. Exploring other cultures is one of my Passions, and believing I could have this dream has enabled me to do so.

I think we discover our interests very early in life. I loved to read, and I loved to talk with people. I was always curious about what other people enjoyed doing, and I would ask all my relatives these kinds of questions. I found I liked "interviewing" people,and that they seemed to trust me with honest answers. So that ability to engage people, and my love of writing, led me first to a career in journalism, as a news report for television, and then into being a financial advisor.

I would say coming to the money world came from several reasons: My father always talked openly with my mother and my sister and me about money. We could ask a lot of questions. We got, first, and allowance, and then a checking account at age 15, so early on, I had to learn how to work with money.

Also, I had trouble learning to budget when I was young. I always ended up with more month than I had money, until my dad sat me down monthly, for his "fireside money chats," and we went over my budget, and then how I actually spent the money.

I figured if I had these problems, I imagined other people did, too. So, I've always liked teaching others what I have learned about money--in simple, direct ways, and to motivate them to see the benefits of financial responsibility.

Carol

OK, Laura here -- I was consulted for years with corporations, media production companies, nonprofit organizations and art institutes. During that time, I learned a lot about myself in the context of working and could see where my value as a consultant came from. It was when I moved to New Mexico that I switched to working with individuals instead of corporations.

I came here to study with my spiritual teacher and became a spiritual minister. I began to recognize that the solo-preneurs I has working with at the time were coming to me with business issues, and the blocks seemed to lie in the fact that they kept trying to stick themselves into a business that didn't fit them.

That's when I started incorporating my methodology into the business component and started seeing the solo-preneurs take off.

OK, Carol here -- I had three main factors that led me to take the steps I have taken in my career and in my life. First, I grew up in a loving family, so I experienced the joy of loving and being loved -- a great way to grow up with confidence in life and in all its possibilities and with knowing that I had great support from loving parents and my older sister.

Second, my family talked openly about money and used money as a family resource to fund the dreams of all the generations -- the parents, my grandparents, my sister and me. So I learned about the money world early in life -- and the things one could do if we planned, saved, invested and spent money on people who matter -- our loved ones -- and ourselves. I was never afraid of money, but I did have lots of lessons to learn about how it worked -- and how I had to work to harvest and use it in practical and creative ways.

Well, knowing your LifeMark has many benefits, but I want to talk about six of the primary benefits that I continue to see played out when someone is working from their LifeMark perspective.

First is they are more self-confident, and in that confidence, they seem to take the responsibilities easier. They become more self-sufficient. They can generate the work they want. They can advocate specifically for jobs they want to participate in. And they live in a place where they continually feel self-reliant, knowing that they can take care of themselves.

My personal experience shows me that believing in my dreams has made a lot of them happen. Being resourceful has gotten more of my dreams funded, such as now taking my speaking talents and financial expertise and traveling on cruise ships around the worlld, talking to passsengers about their own dreamfunding. (Even as I write I am on a voyage in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southern Australia). I've gotten to visit six continents and 35 countries in the last 4 years. Exploring other cultures is one of my passions. I am thrilled to be learning all about these peoples around the world. I also find that being creative with my financial resources gives me enormous confidence about my ability to be both practical and a dreamer at the same time. I love inspiring others, my individual clients, and my audiences to believe that you, too, can fund your own dreams--and sooner than later. This model, I feel, is a better way of life than always having fears and worries about money--feeling constrained by financial limitation, and being insecure about one's ability to create the income we want to do the things we both need and want to do. There is a quote I like: "BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND ALL THAT YOU ARE. KNOW THAT THERE IS SOMETHING INSIDE YOU THAT IS GREATER THAN ANY OBSTACLE." Often we fail to believe in our own dream life, because we don't think we have the knowledge, or the tools to manifest our dreams--or manifest the finances to fund them. When you come to the seminar, you will learn some very practical tactics to overcome such paralyzing beliefs. You'll start to focus on what you CAN vtrsyr, rather than what you think you CANNOT do. Carol

First of all, if you are working in a career or job, whether you work for yourself or in someone else's company, you are, as motivator Brian Tracy says, your very own "personal services corporation." You present your skills to the world. You are responsible for marketing them, and you want to present your own unique talents in a way that creates enormous value for others and fulfillment for yourself. So, you must know what your contribution is--your LIfemark, as Laura calls it, and that contribution is how you will develop your livelihood. Second, in today's "flat world"--Thomas Friendman's term--you must constantly learn to compete globally--with technical experts all over the world--even for your job at home. You must find how to distinguish your talents from the great masses. Again, this is how you create value for others, and value is how you get paid. We'll talk about "multiple streams of income" and how you develop more revenue sources--with the knowledge you have already, and the knowledge you will derive through more training.
We'll disucss how to turn debt payments into wealth payments by paying yourself first--getting out of debt, and then getting into abumdance. We'll talk about who gets paid more in today's world and why.We'll see how you can easily advance your investments in your long-term security while still funding dreams today. You'll hear about the greatest financial issues you face today.And more!Carol

I'm a big believer in developing multiple streams of income. I'll talk about ways to do that.

I'll also talk about how to make debt payments into wealth payments. I'll make you think about who gets paid more today , and why.

I like the concept of being your own personal services corporation -- whether you are working for a corporation or working for yourself as a solo entrepreneur. See yourself as a package of talents and skills and passions, offering your services to people who will pay you for what you really want to do.

Edmund Hillary, a mountaineer and explorer, once said, "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

So to answer your question, why is it hard to know this about ourselves and act on it, becomes obvious when we're climbing the mountain. It's not until we're in the thick of things and really pushing ourselves to that summit that we get to see who we are. It's through the challenges and obstacles and fears and doubts when we start to focus on meaning behind the meaning is when we really get to see our true selves and act on our life from a more comprehensive place.

We'll explore more of this at the seminar, so I hope to see you there.