Did you watch the NCAA men’s basketball championship game last night?  As you know from reading yesterday’s post, I was solidly in the Butler camp.  They lost 61 – 59 to Duke, but they can hold their heads high.   It was one of the best NCAA championship games I’ve ever seen.

Many people thought Butler coach Brad Stevens was a little nuts for giving up a good, well paying job with Eli Lilly to sign on as a volunteer assistant coach at Butler.  Yet there he was last night, coaching in college basketball’s biggest game, and coming within two points of winning it.  He figured out his purpose in life, followed his passion and he is a career success in the field he chose.

Brad Steven’s success reminds me of Alexandra Levit’s column in the most recent Wall Street Journal Sunday call “Go Your Own Way.”  Ms. Levit made a great point about the problems that come up when you don’t clarify your personal definition on success…

First, you must determine if you are indeed stuck in a career because of what others think.  Did you, for instance, become a physician because your parents had that dream for you since you were born?  Did you go to business school and pursue finance because you want to have more money than your neighbors?  People who give more weight to external beliefs than their own often lack confidence.
 

She quotes cartoonist, Hugh McLeod, who she says, “has built a career on ignoring everybody.”  Mr. McLeod says, “Avoid people who are constantly negative about your career choice, even if they are your best friends.  Instead, seek out people who inspire you and share your point of view.”

Brad Stevens had to ignore the advice I’m sure he got from his friends at Eli Lilly.  Instead, he sought out like minded people, basketball junkies, who thought his decision was pretty cool.  As a career success coach, I advise my clients to not only clarify their purpose in life, but also to surround themselves with positive people who will support them in their quest for career success.  Mr. McLeod, the cartoonist, suggests the same. 

There will always be nay sayers in your life.  People who tell you that they have only your best interests at heart who advise you to stay safe, stick to what you’re doing – especially if it comes with a good pay check — even if you’re miserable.  The first words out of my mother’s mouth when I told her that I had resigned from a good job with a very large company to start my own career success coach business were, “Oh my God, no!” 

My mother loved me, but she was worried I would fail in business on my own.  Truth be told, I was too.  But my passion for my purpose was greater than my fear.  I created a support system by finding a new set of friends; independent professionals like me.  These folks thought it was great that I had the courage to go out on my own.  Remember though, years before I made the jump from a corporate employee to a small businessman, I had decided that my life’s purpose was to work independently helping people achieve the career success they want and deserve.  Brad Stevens always knew in his heart of hearts that he was meant to be a basketball coach.  I always knew in my heart of hearts that I was meant to be an independent career success coach.

Natalie Costanza-Chavez writes a spiritually oriented column in the Denver Post called “Grace Notes.”  On Sunday her column was titled “Your Dreams Don’t Die.”  She told the story of a man who described his unfilled dreams to her…

Finally he said to me – and I remember how he turned up his palms at that moment, the tips of his fingers rounded to make his empty hands like a cup.  “Who am I to try such a thing?  How dare I?”  For a moment I thought I’d cry.  My response to him: “How dare you not?”

Ms. Costanza-Chavez, a poet and spiritual writer, Ms. Levit, a Wall Street Journal columnist, and me a career success coach, are kindred spirits.  We all believe that there is something great in all of us.  We all believe that you have to be courageous enough to find it, and commit to it.  We all believe that you cannot truly be a life and career success until you clarify your purpose and direction in life, and then pursue it passionately.

Ms. Costanza-Chavez does a great job of explaining how your clarity of purpose and direction will guide you as you go on your way to career success…

When you are ready, you will feel something inside you move slightly, even though you are standing perfectly still.  And then you will know it’s time to step lightly toward the door.  What waits there is an old friend by now.  What waits there is familiar and yours.  You reach for it, take you arm around its shoulders and draw it nearer.

Wow!  I got goose bumps just typing those words.  That’s the power of clarity of purpose and direction.  Ask, Natalie Costanza-Chavez, Alexandra Levit or me.  Better yet, ask Brad Stevens.  Even though his team lost last night, he is a winner in the career success game.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people clarify their purpose and direction in life.  They listen to the voice inside them that tells them what they are destined to do.  They don’t let the views of well meaning others decide who they are and what they are meant to do.  They risk security to gain fulfillment.  Last night, Brad Stevens coached in the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game.  He dared to follow his heart and his passion.  Even thought he lost to Duke, the young men on the Butler basketball team are better for it.  Basketball fans are better for it.  We’re all better for it.  He is a role model to all of us.  Are you going your own way?  If so, great.  If not, why not?  Take it from a career success coach.  Success begins with a clear sense of purpose and direction.  Your purpose and direction will give you the confidence to create the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my take on going your own way, and not letting your dreams die.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  And, don’t forget that the NCAA women’s basketball championship game is on ESPN tonight.  It should be a great one – UConn vs. Stanford.  UConn hasn’t lost all year.  They won their semi final game by 20.  Stanford has lost once – to UConn.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

March Madness ends tonight – even if it is April 5.  I saw in the paper that a little over 1,400 of the 4.8 million people who submitted completed brackets to ESPN picked Butler and Duke to be in the final game.  That’s 0.03%.  I had it half right.  I picked Duke to beat Kansas in the championship game – and I’m not even a Duke fan.  I’ve been unhappy with Duke ever since they denied admission to a young woman I think of as a niece – who went on to Princeton and is doing very well for herself.

Tonight is a David vs. Goliath game.  If you’re not a basketball fan, Butler is David; and Duke is Goliath.  If you’ve read the Bible you know how that first match up ended.  I’m not predicting that Butler will win; especially since they have to deal with Duke’s 7’1” 260 pound Goliath, Brian Zoubeck and a whole bunch of little guys who can really shoot the basketball. 

But it would be nice to see Butler — an independent, coeducational liberal arts and sciences university founded in 1855 – win.  The butler website says, “Named “Best in the Midwest” by U.S. News & World Report, Butler University emphasizes a liberal arts-infused education that develops engaged citizens committed to making a positive difference in the world.”  And their basketball team is pretty good too.

I always root for the guys in the dark uniforms in the NCAA tournament.  They’re the ones who are the lower seed.  Butler was in dark blue on Saturday and they’ll be wearing dark blue again tonight.  I like this team.  I like their young coach, Brad Stevens.  He loves basketball.  As a career success coach, I always advise my clients that the first step in becoming is career success is to clarify your purpose in life. 

Brad Stevens was born to be a basketball coach.   He figured that out early in life.  When he was 5 years old, he spent each morning watching videotapes of basketball games before attending afternoon kindergarten.  His mother bought him a basketball hoop for his eighth birthday.   He says…

“It’s so much fun to dream in your driveway. I had an old wooden backboard in my driveway. That’s where my friends and I hung out. It was a lot of fun to grow up in that era.”

I love the idea of dreaming in the driveway.

Brad Stevens  played Division III basketball at Depauw University and was beginning a successful career at Eli Lilly when he quit to become a volunteer basketball coach at Butler.  His two mentors, Thad Motta and Todd Lickliter moved on to head coaching jobs at bigger schools.     And so at age 30, Brad Stevens became the Butler head coach.  In three years, his teams have won 89 games and lost only 14.  Tonight they play for a national championship.

Brad Stevens is a living example of clarity of purpose and direction.  He loved basketball as a child.  He loved it as a player in college.  He loved it so much as an adult, he quit a good job with a good company to become a volunteer coach.  He knew that basketball was his purpose in life; and he went for it.  As a career success coach I applaud that.

I have often said that if you asked me when I was 25 what I hoped to be doing when I was 60, I would have said, “Running a one person, coaching, speaking and consulting business from my home.  Guess what, ever since I turned 38 in 1988 I’ve been running a one person, coaching, speaking and consulting business from my home.  My purpose in life is to help others succeed in their lives and careers.  Being a career success coach allows me to do just that.

What is your purpose in life?  What is your passion?  Are you working on it, or are you letting what you could become slip through your fingers because you’re settling for what you are?  I hope you’re actively working on it.  Don’t go to the grave with your song unsung.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people clarify a purpose and direction for their lives – and then they pursue it with passion.  Tonight, Butler plays Duke for the NCAA men’s basketball championship in a true David vs. Goliath matchup.  Butler coach Brad Stevens found his passion for basketball early on.  When he was five years old he used to watch videotapes of basketball games in the mornings before he went to kindergarten.  He quit a well paying job with Eli Lilly to become an unpaid assistant coach at Butler.  He was named Head Coach three years ago.  Tonight, his team plays for the national championship.  This is an amazing story.  However, it illustrates the power of clarity of purpose.  What’s your purpose in life?  What are you doing to pursue it?  Watch the game tonight, and you’ll see two coaches whose passion for basketball and teaching young men is a testament to their personal clarity of purpose and direction. 

That’s my take on Brad Steven and clarity of purpose and direction in life.  What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

I have a great partnership with the folks at the Walk the Talk Company.  They have published three of my books, and will be releasing a fourth, Common Sense Ideas for Building a Dream Team in July.   I am on the WTT email list.  Yesterday they sent a great quote.  It’s a point I often make as a career success coach…

“Coming to terms with the parts of a change that you cannot control is critical to being successful.”

As a career success coach, I often tell my clients that the stuff that happens to you isn’t what’s important.  What is important is what you do with the stuff that happens.  Reacting positively to the negative people and events in your life is an important key to career success.  Accepting the parts of a change that you can’t control is one way to react positively to the events in your life.

It’s time for March Madness.  The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are getting going.  Have you filled out your bracket?  President Obama even got into the action.  I saw his Final Four picks on television the other day.  As usual, my Penn State Nittany Lions didn’t make the tournament field.  They are in the NIT for the second year in a row.  But that won’t stop me from watching a lot of exciting tournament basketball over the next few weeks.

Billy Donovan is the Head Basketball Coach at the University of Florida. He has been the coach there for 13 years. His teams won the NCAA championship in 2006 and 2007.  They are in the tournament again this year.  Unfortunately for Florida fans, they lost a heartbreaker in double overtime yesterday, so Coach Donovan will have to begin the rebuilding process for next year.

Even though his team lost in the first round this year, Billy Donovan is one of the premier college basketball coaches. However, it wasn’t always so. He had a losing record in his first two seasons at Florida.  He wondered if he made the correct decision in making the change to become the Florida basketball coach.  “I remember my first couple of years here… trying to build something. It was really hard. We had two straight losing seasons. Losing is never fun,” he said. During the tough times, Billy Donovan took motivation where he could get it:

“You know those Successories, little motivational things — inspiration, drive, all those things?  There were like six or eight framed Successories things in my office just for support.”

Successories is a company that sells motivational products – framed posters, cards, awards, plaques, books. You name it, they have it. If you fly, I’m sure you’ve seen their ads in the Sky Mall catalog.

However, this post isn’t about Successories. It’s not even about Billy Donovan. It’s about a very simple but often overlooked common sense point about career success: chose to respond positively to the negative things that can and will happen to you as a result of a change, surround yourself with positive things and people and learn from them.

I know that framed motivational posters may seem a little corny. However, they worked for Billy Donovan. They got him through the tough times he encountered after he made the change to coach the University of Florida Gators. 

These corny motivational posters have worked for me too. I hung a framed quote from Paul Meyer in my office the first day I opened my career success coach business.  It says, “Whatever you can vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act on… must inevitably come to pass.”  This quote has served me well as I built my business and wrote my books. It is my guiding light as I am learning how to use the internet to disseminate my thoughts more widely.

Positive people are even more important than positive things when you’re dealing with difficult change. Billy Donovan says that University of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley gave him the support he needed during his first two losing seasons that helped him get where he is today. Cathy, my wife, is my biggest supporter and cheerleader. I also have a network of people who support me – some by providing the services I need to run my business, some through their friendship. I wouldn’t have had the success I’ve had over the past 20 years if it weren’t for these people. I’ve learned from all of them.

Here are some ideas that have helped me cope with the crazy changes life has thrown my way:

Be open – to new people, ideas, and perspectives. What you know to be true today may not be true tomorrow. If you’re not paying attention, your truths can drag you down. Keep asking yourself, “Why do I believe this to be true?”  You might be surprised and find that your reasons are no longer valid. Find friend or a career success coach who will challenge your thinking, not just go along with what you say.

Recognize your personal biases. We all have filters. The more you can recognize yours, the easier it will be for you to determine when they are getting in the way of learning something new. You can’t eliminate your biases, but you can compensate for them.

Be humble. You can learn from anyone. There is a lot of wisdom in this world that you will find in some unusual places. The key is to admit to yourself that you don’t have all the answers. The more you understand how much you don’t know, the easier it will be for you to take advantage of the knowledge and wisdom that enters your life every day.

The common sense point in all of this is simple. Successful commit to taking personal responsibility for their career success.  You take personal responsibility when you choose to react positively to changes that you cannot control. Take it from a career success coach – respond positively to the negative people, events and changes in your life.  Surround yourself with positive people and learn from them as you go through life’s changes.  Find a mentor.  Listen to what he or she has to say.  More important, do what he or she suggests.  We all learn best by doing.  So do what your mentor suggests and you’ll better able to deal with change positively – and become the career success you want and deserve to be.

That’s my take on change and the importance of positive people and things.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute and leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud