Think big.
Take responsibility for creating your life.
Stand for something.

I’d like to use the next few hundred words to inspire you to do the only thing with your time on Earth that makes any real sense:

Live the life you really want to live
and that only you can live.

It’s very sensible, when you think about it. But how many people you know actually do it? Actually take the time to figure out what their dreams are, their passions, their values, and then make a point of fulfilling them?

I’ve been writing and coaching for as long as I can remember, with a particular interest in the creative process. I have worked with an Ivy League professor, authors, a newspaper columnist, college students, business executives, and others from all walks of life. As people they were all different, yet they shared a few very particular things in common: They wanted to feel loved and accepted, to live a life that had meaning and was true to who they really were, and they wanted to have fun.

That’s the secret desire of humanity in a nutshell: love, meaning, authenticity, and fun.

Who would have thought it could be so simple? But here’s the deal: Whether you get that life or don’t get that life is not determined by outside forces or by fate. Believe it or not, it’s all in your hands. I’m not kidding. There’s this really big spirit in each of us that has a direct line to whatever the power source of all creation is. The trick is to embrace it, then set it loose on your life.

We’re each of us on a hero’s journey, as Joseph Campbell would put it, a date with our own personal destiny: Who am I? How did I get here? Why am I here? Where am I going? These are the deep questions that drive our personal narratives. We don’t realize that we’re entitled, by birthright, to a life of joy and fulfillment; it’s not something we have to earn.

Even those of us who have achieved the highest levels of professional and financial success, or fame—CEOs, celebrities, leaders of all kinds—can, and often do, end up feeling isolated, overwhelmed, unfulfilled, and out of balance, without knowing why, and leading the same “lives of quiet desperation” Thoreau wrote of as our seemingly less fortunate counterparts.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Things really can just as easily be one way as another. I promise you that the changes you can make, in your personal life and in your workplace, by living intentionally through that big spirit, instead of unconsciously in your own darkness, can be profound.

I tell my clients that my goal for them is to have a happy death. I don’t tell them that right away, because some people are a little squirrelly about death. But think about it. Who wants to be on their death bed, wracked with regret. I should have loved more and given more of myself. I should have had more fun. I should have followed my heart.

Each of us leaves our mark on the world.
What’s yours?

Not long ago, after many years of a type of success that often left me feeling empty, restless, and sometimes even miserable, I realized who I am and what I do: I help people connect to their big spirits, and I help big spirits connect to their greatness. I help them remember who they really are and why they’re here. It’s not easy to say that, as true as it may feel. It’s not easy to say:

“Hey, wait, I’m bigger than this.”

I want to tell you, here and now: You’re bigger than this. I’m sure of it. I’m sure you haven’t been thinking nearly big enough, in terms of what you’re capable of achieving, of creating, of giving, in service to yourself and to others.

I’m on a hero’s quest, always have been, always will be. But at least now I know it: I know that I’m here to change the world—and that I am changing the world. If you think you’re not, you’re kidding yourself. You’re just not doing it with purpose.

That’s all I can say for now. But remember: Think big. Take responsibility for creating your life. Stand for something.

And, yeah.
Even change the world.
One big spirit at a time.
Beginning with your own.

If you’d like to take the next step on your path and discover what your big spirit can do, drop me a line.