Prosperity is an essential aspect to a complete and healthy Life.
People often think of prosperity as financial wealth. Here we say it's more than that. Having money is a critical part of a prosperous Life, but it is not the only ingredient. People, seeing that money does not equal prosperity, often attempt to be prosperous without money. Try being passionate and fulfilled while being worried about how to pay rent and you'll quickly see that this doesn't work either.
In search of prosperity, I see that most people take one of two paths:
1. Find a reliable and predictable career with a good salary and stick to it. (safety)
2. Pursue a dream or passion, at the risk of losing security. (adventure)
Let's take a look at each of these--
For many of us, this was the picture of success that we were taught and grew into: Work hard throughout school, find a solid and reliable career that pays well with good benefits etc. Those who have followed this path have most certainly reached a moderate to high level of success but tend to find themselves at some point mid-life saying, "What's the point of all this anyway? What am I doing it all for?"
Now for the people who have lived this model and love the career they landed in, experience passion and fulfillment on a daily basis, feel that they are contributing to something purposeful on the planet, and are proud of the work that they do, this conversation may not apply.
For the rest of us who are spending 40+ hours a week in a purposeless endeavor in exchange for $100,000/year (or even less sometimes), this is for you:
The Pros: The bills are paid, the family is taken care of, life is relatively predictable, rarely are there unexpected financial problems (although there are probably more than you hoped), and for the most part, you're able to plan and execute Life accordingly.
The Cons: You feel unfulfilled in what you do. Your work is boring at best, disheartening at worst. You probably work for people that you feel have less integrity than you do and possibly even less intelligence. What may be most frustrating is that you feel like a very large percentage of your life is dedicated to something that you have very little interest in and zero passion for. And what kills you about all of it is that you KNOW you have skills and talents that, if put to good use, could really make a difference for people, most of all for yourself. You pay the price of time. You trade large amounts of time for money and much of your Life is spent with what you don't Love, rather than what you do Love.
Those who choose a different path are the people that we call non-conformists--they made their own way, did their own thing, they are free-thinkers, pioneers. The people who fall into this class are often very creative people, intelligent people, visionary people. The problem that this group often runs into is that they Live by good ideas and good feelings.
Good ideas are only as useful as a person's ability to be consistent with that idea and consistency doesn't always feel good.
People who live for adventure and the rush of experience will be sure to have extraordinary experiences in their Life. If these people lack the ability to refine their adventurous nature into consistent and purposeful action, it is unlikely that they will have much else. This is why people who pursue art, music, and other creative endeavors as a career often do not succeed and why people who choose safe and predictable careers often regard those people as failures (even though deep inside they would love to Live with the kind of passion they see those people demonstrate).
Passion is the energetic drive that comes from doing something that you know is important and therefore, you are willing to be consistent with it and do whatever it takes regardless of how it feels.
Passion does not always equate to feeling good, although at times, it feels great!
Passion is cultivated through Purpose.
People who confuse good feelings with passion lack the consistency necessary to truly be successful. This is the reason that we find so many people who pursue their "passion" being unsuccessful. They confuse the good feeling around their work with their passion for it and they never create the mental and emotional fortitude that develops into true #commitment.
We find that most people are living with the idea that they must choose between a passionate life and a successful one. Hence people say, "Be realistic" and "Get a real job". In this paradigm, whether you chose path #1 or #2, you are left with a sense of sacrifice around it and a feeling that you have missed out on something worth having. In this thought system, whether you have $1 or $1,000,000, there is a sense of lack, scarcity, frustration with Life, and a feeling of unfairness.
Most people doubt their own power. This is why someone can content themselves with playing a guitar in some hole-in-the-wall bar and sleeping on their friend's couch. They doubt that their will is powerful enough to take their guitar and use it to become a true success. They doubt their capacity to create music in such a way that they will touch and move people at a deep level and that their music can make an impact that they will be generously compensated for.
That doubt becomes so great that they either hang up their guitar and go get a "real" job, or succumb to the life of a starving artist and accept that as their only reality. Even though we've seen people succeed--people that have gone from nothing to super-star status--we think that they are somehow special or lucky, and that it can't just happen to anyone.
This is the idea that all truly successful people have had to overcome.
People who are able to succeed in both finance and purpose have learned to live not only from This CAN happen for me, but also, This WILL happen for me. They learn to be so firm in this conviction that no amount of failure can deter them and at no point do they resign to any scope of possibility less than their absolute greatness.
There is nothing more powerful that a person's commitment driven by purpose.
To be truly powerful, the commitment must be all encompassing. 99% is not enough. It must be that I'm all in, 100%. I must know the importance of what I do and make nothing more important. My thoughts of safety cannot deter me. I must have no reservation, no way out, no back door. I must have the mental and emotional fortitude to look failure in the eyes and know that my purpose and passion are enough.
When there is nothing else to fall back on, my purpose must be enough to catch me.
Early in her career, Oprah Winfrey was set up as a prime-time news co-anchor. As a young black woman in a world run by older white men, this was a difficult position to be in. She was thrust into the spotlight with high expectations and when the show failed, she was blamed for it and she lost everything. This was considered to be one of the biggest failures of her life, one that, for most people, would have ruined them altogether.
She later took a job co-hosting a show called People are Talking with Richard Sher. To anyone else, this would have been considered a step down. But Oprah worked with what she had--her purpose and her commitment. The show was successful enough to run for five years, after which Oprah was recruited to host a morning talk show in Chicago. That show became a household name, and Oprah became an international sensation.
What Oprah had was a unique combination of empathy, determination, and the ability to keep moving forward when all else had fallen apart. Nothing extraordinary is made from safety.
Extraordinary comes from doing what most people will not, from risking what most people will not, and from believing in yourself in a way that most people cannot.
So we find that the formula for prosperity is:
Purpose and Belief + Consistent Effort + Time/Patience in the Face of Adversity
Learn to be unwavering in the face of all the ups and downs.
Train yourself to be unshaken by the #failures and frustrations of the journey.
Be firm in your belief in yourself and your value.
You will have prosperity.
Shane Kohler is an international
consciousness trainer, coach, teacher
and The Creator of
The Living Relationship Curriculum.
To get more information on this curriculum,
To request an introductory session
with Shane click HERE
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