This week is the anniversary of something very important for you. Let me explain…
I had been working a very simple, yet very focused plan for more than six months. Numerous early mornings and countless late nights invested to set up systems, do research, and write like crazy had culminated in a single moment. It was time. March 17, 2010.
14 years earlier, almost to the day, I had delivered my first ever sales training class for a room of financial services agents and realized I loved how it felt. The preparation collided with the live interaction and something came alive in me! I was home. That environment opened me up to a piece of me I seldom acknowledged and never believed was a legitimate possibility for me.
After my fifth presentation one of the vice-presidents of that company asked me to mentor a group of eight producers that ranged from the top to the bottom of his organization. In three months that overall group increased their output and income tremendously and one of them left the company.
When the VP asked to meet with me I was afraid he would be upset about the one that left. Instead, he thanked me for making his team stronger and hired me to mentor him!
Starting with that relationship and the subsequent referrals from it, I began accumulating experiences and knowledge that changed everything about my life… eventually.
Through the entirety of those 14 years I never viewed it as a career path. Frankly, it was too easy and too much fun. Somewhere in my mind I thought, “If it’s this easy for me, it must be easy for everyone.”
Finding out what made people tick and helping them discover ways to live bigger and bolder came naturally. I had no problem with sensitive subjects and touchy conversations, but big deal…where’s the value in that? Besides, a career like that is risky…
So for 14 years I dabbled in the area that lit me on fire and put the majority of my time and energy into corporate positions I enjoyed, but didn’t have my heart in. My reward for playing small was that my level of satisfaction and success mirrored my commitment.
Through a series of events in 2008 and 2009, I finally found myself listening to things God had been saying for years. “Quit ignoring your gifts and trust me.”
“Gifts?! Trust!? I don’t understand… What gifts do I have and where do I need to trust?”
The gifts were the things that were obvious to everyone but me. The things I thought were too easy to be valuable and too risky to turn into a career. Ooooooh…that’s what He meant by “trust.”
Six months later I found myself turning my knick name into a company name and launching The Mindset Maven. Two years ago this week. Happy anniversary!
Why is that important for you? Very simply because your life may not be any different than mine. Whether it has a career path or business of your own attached to it, there is something you are holding back. Something you love and is so easy that you assume it is easy for all of us… It’s not.
The fact that something is easy for you is often an indicator that you are squarely in the middle of your gifting. Because it is easy for you, others will value you for it. My example is a small one compared to so many others who have done the same, but they all have a common theme.
Accepting that a gift exists and trusting God that there is place for that gift to be used.
So what is it for you? Where have you suspected, but never acknowledged that you are gifted?
Is there a gift you’ve acknowledged but don’t believe it is useful?
And the ultimate question… Are you willing to trust the One that knit that gift in you with how to use it? Your own anniversary of committing to your gift is waiting.
# # #
PJ McClure helps aspiring entrepreneurs to multi-million dollar business owners destroy roadblocks and seize opportunities to achieve their ideal vision of success. He is an award-winning speaker and the best-selling author of Flip the SWITCH: How to Turn On and Turn Up Your Mindset and Unlock Your Life: How to go beyond Time-Management to the Life of Your Dreams. You can download a copy of Flip the SWITCH for Free by clicking here.
{ 0 comments… add one now }