Chase Your Passion, Not Your Pension

     Most of our adult lives are spent working. Taking into account commuting time, overtime, thinking about our jobs, and worrying about deadlines or problems we spend more of our waking hours in an office or factory, behind a desk, in a meeting, or on the road than we do at home. But too many find their jobs laborious and repetitive, an irritating but necessary interruption between weekends. They would rather get home than get ahead.
      A job is something you do for money. A career is something you do based on an inner desire and motivation. You want to do it, you love doing it, you're excited when you do it. You do it because it is in harmony with your core values and goals.
      People who are paid exactly what they are worth (or more) often find themselves replaced, declared obsolete, and re-engineered out of the organization. Overpaid people are overdrawn in their knowledge bank account. People who are underpaid for the amount and quality of the service they provide are always in demand and always ahead of the money in their knowledge and contribution. So money and opportunity are always chasing them.
      Keep the level of your yearning and learning ahead of your earning. Be inspired to learn as much as you can, to know as much as you can, to gain skills when you can, to find a cause that benefits humankind - and you'll be sought after for your quality of service and dedication to excellence. This motivation will make you oblivious to quitting time and to the length of your workday. You'll awake every morning feeling the passion of pursuit, not just the pursuit of a paycheck. Those who do more than they're paid for are always sought for their services. Their name and work outlive them, and they always command the highest price. Chase your passion, not your pension!

Your Attitude Is Everything

          Attitude is the way you view your life - your experiences, your environment, your opportunities, your problems, your choices and your responses. Attitude is the direction in which you lean on all ideas and issues. It's either failure‑reinforcing or success‑reinforcing.
          Losers see thunderstorms. Winners look for rainbows. Losers see the peril of icy streets. Winners put on their ice skates. Losers put down. Winners lift up. Losers let life happen to them. Winners make life happen for themselves and others. Winning and losing is all about attitude.
          Attitudes begin as harmless thoughts. Then, with practice, they become layered by habit into unbreakable cables to shackle or strengthen our lives. We're scarcely aware they exist. Like comfortable beds, they are easy to fall into but difficult to get out of, once settled in. First we make our attitudes, then our attitudes make us. Attitude is the servant of all the great individuals who have ever lived and, of course, the servant of all the failures as well.
          There is little difference between common people and those who are uncommonly successful. The little difference is in their attitude. The big difference is whether the attitude is positive or negative.
          Your attitude is either the lock on or key to the door of fulfillment. How important is your attitude? In truth, "Attitude is Everything."
          We are not responsible for what happens out there, what others do or think. We are responsible only for how we choose to think and behave. That's our attitude. It is a precious, personal possession.