He asks, and I'm paraphrasing, What would you do if there were no way you could fail? If you were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world? Create two timelines-- Six months and 12 months-- and list up to five things you dream of having, being and doing. And he advises "Be sure not to judge or fool yourself. If you really want a ferrari, don't put down solving world hunger out of guilt.
I got to this point in the book, and stopped. And I thought. I put the book down and came up with a few ideas about OpEdNews. Then some ideas about my other business, futurehealth then about my personal life, my family, then things that are more dreams than nearterm realities. I worked at getting more specific. By the time I was finished, I had eight pages of notes. Now, I must confess, I've begun the process. Last year, I gave up a business-- running conferences-- that I'd done for 15 years-- and which grossed over $100,000 a year, with minimal expenses. Of course, the new path has been to pursue building OpEdNEws.com. It was a very scary decision and I did not let go altogether of some of the other things I was doing, but I made up my mind to drastically change the way I did them too.
Ferris He explores the idea of making a jump in your career to something very different. With the economy tanking, many people face a situation where their career no longer offers the hope or even the income it once did. One friend of mine, who's made a very good living with his jewelry store, is facing a perfect storm of bad news. People now buy technology as gifts, the price of gold has skyrocketed to the point of unaffordability. and the economy's downturn has moved people far away from buying unnecessary items, like jewelry. Yet my dear old friend, at 57, is terrified, or paralyzed, when it comes to thinking of alternate options.
Ferris addresses this. Actually, the fear of changing jobs, of taking risks, is very common.
He takes you through a series of steps:
1- Define your nightmare, the absolute worst that could happen if you did what you are considering. What doubt, fears, and "what-ifs" pop up as you consider the big changes you can-- or need-- to make?....
2-What steps could you take to repair the damage or get things bak on the upswing, even if temporarily? Chances are it's easier than you imagine. ....
3-What are the outcomes or benefits, both temporary and permanent, of more probably scenarios?
4-If you were fired from your job today, what would you do to get things under financial control. ...If you quit your job to test other options, how could you later get back on the same career track if you absolutely had to?
5- What are you putting off out of fear? Usually, what we most fear doing is what we most need to do.
6- What is it costing you-- financially, emotionally and physically-- to postpone action?
7- What are you waiting for?
Ferris devotes a lot of the book to innovative ways to spend less of your time doing rote, repetitive things, and how to delegate work. He observes that you can often live for less in exotic vacation-type places than it costs to live at home.
I'm enjoying the book because it is helping me to ask some good questions and getting me to re-evaluate my choices, my habits and my ways of working. Just the list I put together last night made it worth the investment.
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