Making A Living

In the 1980s Marsha Sinetar wrote a very popular book called, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. She proposed that if you really engaged in work that you love, you'd eventually find yourself getting paid for it. While it would be lovely if that were true a hundred percent of the time, I'd venture a guess that the real percentage is closer to the other end of the continuum. I think in many cases that the odds of making a living solely by doing what you love are somewhat longer. For example, I don't hear often enough that poets are thriving by selling scads of their verse. Most of them are teaching creative writing, writing software, selling appliances, or writing ad copy for a living so that they can afford to write their poetry in their off hours. The same would go, not only for most artistic and literary pursuits, but also for many folks who are offering viable goods and services. If you're not sustaining yourself with your passionate pursuit, you have to make up for it somewhere else. And thus, another Day Job is born.

The good news is that there are always exceptions, but the exceptions seem to have a slightly more complex working formula than Love=money. I think the ones who tend to the success side of the tracks are the ones who employ formulas that go like this:

Love+Create+Produce+Plan+Promote+Persist+Adapt+Repeat=Money.

To be successful in any venture except games of chance requires more that just doing what you love. Doing what you love is just the beginning. If you're going to make a living at it, you're going to have to acquire some other skills, and you might also have to completely reconfigure your basic ideas of work and how you're compensated for it. I'd offer a few suggestions for that reconfiguration here:

• If you can, make sure to reserve your most productive time and energy for your passionate pursuit. Don't wait until after the family goes to bed to do your great work(unless you can actually make it happen then), give your peak hours to the work you love.
• Structure your support tasks so that they get done regularly, but they don't consume all of your available time. Make one half day each week your administrative time, and use it wisely. Get all of your tasks done then and be diligent about saving those tasks until then instead of interrupting your creative flow.
• Improve your planning skills and processes. Contrary to popular belief, good planning is a skill that can be learned. It's not something that anyone is born with, everyone who is good at it has practiced to be that competent. At the very least I'd encourage you to have a short period of time at the beginning of each work week to write down a vision for the week ahead and a prioritized list of measurable goals to go along with it. Keep it simple, but write it all down. Take advantage of some of the amazing books, videos and software that has been written about planning and productivity. Every moment you put into creating a plan will pay you back in hours saved by the focus you gain.
• Look for multiple ways to create income, especially passive income. Most people who are following their passion have had to cultivate diverse income streams to make a living. While I encourage you to make your passionate pursuit the main source of your income, I'd also encourage you to be open to other possible streams as well. For many creative artists, teaching their specialty can be a viable sideline. Private music and art teachers can command lucrative hourly rates, especially if they offer group classes. If you're competent at an activity, you probably can offer some kind of service related to that competence. Coaching, teaching, mentoring, counseling are all possible streams of income for a specialist. The only caution here is that it's easy sometimes to shift into spending all of your peak time in this secondary stream. Having a schedule full of students can take a lot of time and energy to manage as well as teach, so again, give yourself a workable structure to allow yourself the time you need for your own creativity. Passive income sources are those that don't require more than minimal time and energy to manage, yet they still provide a return. Regularly invest a portion of your income in interest bearing accounts. Create an online shop through services like CafePress or Zazzle that will give you a commission for items you sell on their websites. Write and sell ebooks on your area of expertise. The key is to have more than one predictable stream of income flowing in.
• Learn all you can about entrepreneurship. Like planning, entrepreneurial skills are able to be studied, practiced and learned. There are thousands of books, videos, workshops, seminars, coaches, programs and more on the art of entrepreneurship. At the very least learn everything that you can about starting a business, even if it's a non profit or a seemingly unrelated service. There are some basic categories of knowledge to learn here: planning, organizational structuring, managing resources, delivery systems, financial planning and reporting, sales and marketing, project management, etc. The more you learn about successfully starting a venture, the more opportunity you'll create for yourself. Most cities have an organization called the Service Corp of Retired Executives(SCORE/ACE). These are skilled and experienced retired businesspeople who volunteer their time to help fledgling entrepreneurs to get started on the right foot. This is a good place to begin. At the very least I'd encourage you to identify and work with a mentor who you respect and admire that can point you in the direction of your own success.
• If you have to have a day job, shoot for a position that is complementary to your passionate pursuit, but don't settle for doing something for someone else that you could be doing for yourself. For example, if you'd sell used cars to make money when you could be selling your own paintings, why not buck up and sell your own work? But if you want to be a teacher and you're getting your certification taken care of, substitute teaching is an excellent way to get classroom experience and make contacts for your future career. I also recommend that you find a day job that offers you as much autonomy, flexibility and related experience as possible. Sometimes work at home situations can allow you to set your own schedule, pace and flow. If your employer's requirements make you compromise your own pursuits, it's probably not going to be a beneficial relationship for you to be a part of in the long run.
• Make your own work your top priority. It will never, ever be anyone else's priority, so if you don't, no one else will. 

My wife, Monica Corrado again is one of the best examples of someone who has initiated several streams of income to make her work viable. Her company, Simply Being Well, LLC is a for profit corporation that features products and services that she has designed to help people regain their health through holistic nutrition. To fulfill this mission she offers cooking classes, individual consultations, published materials, public speaking engagements, and teacher training. Each of these streams is driven by her passion for inspiring people and for holistic nutrition. These diverse streams make her work sustainable.

The last encouragement I'll offer here in regard to making a living is that it rarely happens overnight. The people who are successful are also diligent and persistent. They learn from every decision they make and they are committed to making their vision a reality. They didn't wait for permission. They didn't suppose that it was up to anyone else but themselves. They didn't wait for a Hollywood producer to discover them at the Piggly Wiggly in Hattiesburg. They made one commitment at a time to the work that they loved, and they followed through with each commitment until they had what they wanted. Do what you love, then plan, promote, persist...whatever it takes until the money follows. It will look like magic to others, but you will know that the only magic was in the conviction, commitment and dedication that you put to the task.

Where There's A Way, There's a Will

I don't remember the first time that I ever heard the saying "where there's a will, there's a way". I'm pretty sure that I was probably very young, and since then I've heard it said so many times that it's little more than noise when it's spoken. I've always taken it to mean that if I want something badly enough I'll make it happen by whatever means necessary, within reasonable moral and legal limitations. But recently I've become aware of the power of turning that phrase around...where there's a way, there's a will. Instead of being an instrument of coercion, control and manipulation, this turn of a phrase allows the will to be the gauge of the correctness of a vision or plan.

As I've gotten older I've come to an ever greater place of trusting my intuitive hits. One of the ways those intuitive hits show up is in what I call the yes factor. The will is clear in the present moment. It's open and energized or it's not. If there's any hesitation, doubt, or "maybe" about the feeling I get in my gut about a decision, I elect to wait and see, or decline the offer altogether. But when the will is open and energized I've found that going with that inner impulse is a reliable guide to making my best decisions.

There are certain circumstances when I have a difficult time tuning into my will. Most often for me those are times when I am depressed or anxious. I've discovered personally that those are not the best times to be deciding anything, but I'm learning to refocus my attention during those times to envisioning and imagining better times. Often that simple adjustment can be enough to get me back on track. I find that my will is easiest to discern when I've had time to be quiet and reflect, and there are also times when a conversation with a trusted confidante can bring more clarity to my situation. The most difficult times to hear my own intuition is when my senses are on overload.

But getting back to the idea of the will being a meter of the correctness of an idea or plan, one of the factors I've adopted in making my own priorities is a simple scale of one to ten with the question being "on a scale of one to ten, how much do I WANT to?" I'm amazed that this little exercise delivers such accurate information. If I don't want to do something, is there an adjustment I could make to the idea I'm responding to that would make it more appealing? If the response to the question is a number less than 4, is there any reason to continue except for obligations like taxes and parental responsibility? I'm finding more overall happiness in being true to my own will, even though in doing so I have to override the old messages of "you should, you ought, and you'll be sorry if you don't".

Recently I found myself making a commitment to a project that I really had no desire to be a part of. My underlying reason for agreeing to participate was that I really should because I need to be meeting more people. But as I began to show up for the meetings related to project planning I started to have feelings of regret and even resentment that I'd gotten involved. I also found that my contribution to the process was actually detrimental and didn't reflect well on me. Had I listened to my will in the moment I agreed to participate, I would have already made the correct decision to decline. Saying yes in this instance ended up with some negative consequences that I could have avoided altogether had I really let my own will speak to me when presented with the initial idea.

In contrast to this, when I've been presented with an opportunity that aligns my gift and passion, opens and energizes my will, I've experienced almost an eerie sense of rightness about being included. There is an easy flow that happens and synchronicity abounds. Even if there are obstacles and challenges, there seems to be a corresponding spurts of creativity in response.

If you're experiencing a lack of motivation or energy for your work, is it possible that you are needing to change your path or plan? Are your gift and passion central to your work? For the next week see if you can take a moment before you make a decision to test the scale of one to ten and see how much you really 'want to' before you act. Go with the number and see what happens. And when you're creating your own path, learn to listen to the voice of your own intuition(9 times out of ten this ISN'T the voice in your head). Your intuition and will are intricately bound. If the vision is correct, your gut will let you know. If it's not and you go forward, there will be some unavoidable messes to clean up, but you can always take those opportunities to begin listening to your will, too. Mistakes are nothing more than detours.

Ask

One action that stands between you and the resources you need:

Learning to Listen To The Heart -- Honoring The Will

The will is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the self. From the earliest ages we're conditioned to bind, mistrust, contain, yield, avoid and ignore our own will. That aspect of ourselves that leads us from the inside, directing our steps and moving us to the place where we most need to be is routinely subjugated and viewed with suspicion. I'm sure the reasons for this are many, and rooted in the power structures of Agrarian and Industrial ages and their reliance on conformity in order to function. Hierarchical social structures like religions and corporations historically have hidden or shunned those who march to the beat of their own drum. And just as often, those marchers are the ones who usher in each new wave of possibility.

So after a lifetime of learning not to listen to your own inner guide, it's not surprising that such action would lead to some of the most acute suffering that a human can bear. Fearing the smiting hand of some Almighty Someone keeps us living in fear, depression, shame, guilt, despair, rage and powerlessness. This goes on and on until there is an inevitable breaking point. Breakdown, illness, suicide, outburst, acting out, addiction, endlessly second guessing your own impulses and yielding to the whims and control of others are just a few of the manifestations of a will that is screaming for attention, and more importantly is working hard to get you to move into a different direction.

The will is the Heart's bidder. It wants to take you exactly where you want to go. But after years of ignoring it and believing that everyone else knows better, the will can be a very difficult voice to hear, let alone heed. A common misconception is that the will is subject to reason. The will has nothing to do with logic, and everything to do with emotion. It doesn't care if your list of pros is longer than your list of cons, it's just trying to take you to the place where you'll actually feel better. Not only is the will about emotion, it's mostly about motion. A body's got to move.

So how do you learn to listen to your will? First of all start taking your emotions seriously. Unless you're in some kind of space of wanting to do harm to yourself or others, you can start by paying attention to how you feel. Most of your body is below your neck. The only sensation you get in your head is a headache. The language of the will is the physical experience of emotion. We've talked about how your attention can be centered anywhere you choose. Move your attention to the place in your body where you feel ANYTHING. Are you depressed? Where does that feeling live? Go there. Are you raging? Where does that feeling live? Go there. Are you stuck? Where does that feeling live? Go there. Dive to the middle of the feeling, in the place in your body where it lives with all of your attention and stay put for a while. See what happens.

You'll notice that I didn't say act on the emotion. I'm actually saying to wait before you do anything other than heed the feeling. Giving your full attention to how you feel is just the first step. Your will isn't actually telling you to slam the door or tear the house down, or to put the gun to your head. That's something else, namely conditioned reaction. Your will is just using the emotion to get your attention. It's telling you that something needs to change, and it needs to change soon. It is the Heart's way of getting you to take action, moving you out of suffering and toward what you desire.

Oh yeah...desire...that's another voice of the will. One of the primary ways we bind the will is by ignoring our own desires. The Flesh is the Devil's gateway to hell. I'd like to announce and declare that this particular message is utter bullshit. Humans have desires. Period. Some of those desires are incredibly powerful. Our species actually depends on them for survival. The real gateway to hell is ignoring what you really want. And I'm not talking about wanting to do harmful, crazy things. Those are manifestations of a distorted will that have nothing to do with getting real needs met. But we've got to get honest with ourselves. Everyone needs to eat, shit, sleep, piss, fuck and drink. Everyone, except for that ascetic SOB who lives on air in the Himalayas, but he's got a diet of his own to attend to. Not only do we need the basics, just mentioned in the most guttural form, but we also have desires that reflect our spirit. We need community, we need culture, we need love, we desire connection, we desire solitude, we crave experience. Our desires are a part of every day, and the Heart takes them seriously, no matter what they are.

Another good early step in listening to your will is to start keeping track of what you really want. Make lists of whims that you feel, or things that you see that make you say 'yes'. Keep track of things in others that you really do envy. Instead of focusing on the sin, look at the silver lining of what it is that they have that you would enjoy having. Give yourself permission to really want things, and then give yourself the joy of actually having them.

The last voice of the will we need to learn to hear is the voice of intuition. Intuition is something other than an educated guess, and it's not really based on your past experience. It has nothing to do with any intellectual affirmation or declaration or belief. Your intuition is the activity of the energy in your gut, your solar plexus. It is an ally of your imagination and creativity. When you're actively creative, your intuition lets you know when you're really onto something. It's as if there's almost an automatic action that flows from the creativity itself. That's the intuition at work. Your intuition is always working in the present moment to lead you through your immediate circumstance. The hunches you feel are there to guide your steps. Ignore them at your peril. The intuition doesn't work with 'maybe' as an answer. That's the way the rational mind works, with conditions and guarantees. The intuition is either about leaping or staying put. It's your 'yes' or your 'no'.

Heart Driven Work demands that you start listening to your own will. Nothing else will do. No other voice needs to be heard so loudly. It may take a while for you to get comfortable with this. Take as long as you need, but start now. Begin to form new habits of taking stock of your emotions, desires and intuition as you go through your day. Stay present and look for the next step as your will shows the way.

Getting Back To Those Damn Aspects

We've taken a look at six aspects of work that are all necessary for potential to be realized. Those six aspects of work are called by different names in different circles. Corporate management and leadership literature often identifies them as Existence, Meaning, Mission, Power, Structure and Resources. Although the meanings are similar, I believe that particular language doesn't capture the spirit of work that is driven by the Heart. Nor does it flow exactly the same way. My experience of Heart Driven Work is that the aspects I call the Gift, the Imperative, the Path, the Will, the Embodiment and the Supply all flow from the core of your being out into the world, but not necessarily in a linear flow from one aspect to the other. I experience the flow of Heart Driven Work as more of a process of putting pieces together intuitively as they emerge, more like a jigsaw puzzle or mosaic.

In looking at books that have been written about work, business, management, leadership and self development, you'll usually find that each book presents one or two aspects of work as the "key" to "success, fulfillment, productivity, efficiency, achievement, _____________________(enter your particular buzzword here)", but in practice a reader will often find that addressing the one or two aspects doesn't quite deliver the goods in terms of actually making your dreams and visions a reality. So you'll find titles like "Is Your Genius at Work?", "Passion At Work", "Getting Things Done", "Living With Vision", "Unlimited Power", "Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow", and each title will address part of the picture, but it will leave holes in the big picture that can be debilitating when you're trying to get something done (I'm not using these examples to disparage the books or authors in any way, In fact I'd recommend reading all of them as a complete study so that you can actually address all aspects of work adequately).

Another common occurrence that I see in my own experience and that of clients is that we usually tend to focus most particularly on those aspects of work that reflect our strengths. As an example, I can easily spend days upon end imagining ways that I could meet a need. Imperative and Path work are the aspects that seem to come most easily to me. But focusing only on those aspects doesn't end up with my work becoming a reality. Most often it results in the endless generation of fruitless ideas. If I'm really going to meet the need that calls out my gift, I'm going to have to create a way to deliver the goods. Will, Embodiment and Supply happen to be less developed strengths for me, which means that I very often get stuck in the imagining, goal setting and planning stage and rarely see my projects through to completion, which also results in resources being wasted and not replenished.

Heart Driven Work addresses all aspects of work as they need to be addressed. Returning to your core when you find that you are stuck often will reveal to you a next step that will get you moving again. There is a certain kind of surrender that is required when working from the heart. It's not a passive waiting for the right time or circumstance as much as it is a trusting that you'll know exactly what to do next and that knowing is reliable. How do you return to your core? That's what this is all about. There are many ways, but you will most likely have to discover your own. I've found that mindfulness meditation is the easiest way for me to get centered. Some folks do yoga, pray, take a walk, work out, dance, play music, sing...virtually any repetitive activity can be a centering process. The Jesuit priests have a beautiful practice of cycling their focus inward and outward throughout the day, spending equal times in cultivating their inner world as well as outer. Every outward action flows from and to an inward reflection.

Visions and Plans, Blindness and Fumbling

One of my biggest frustrations in making an idea come to life is the inevitable learning curve between the vision, the path, and the working finished product. For me this usually means that I'll be incredibly optimistic about how easy a project will be, only to find out in the actual embodiment of the concept that there were a few dozen blind spots and some rather notable holes in my planning. And this was after I spent a considerable amount of time in the planning stage.

My blind spots almost always have to do with my unerring belief that I will be able to figure out the technology I need to use in a timely and easy manner. Never quite unfolds that way, at least not the first(second, and usually third) time. When I learned how to use computer recording equipment for the first time it took almost six months to finally finish the first track I ever produced. In one of the forums that I participated in back then I adopted the user name SteepLearningCurve, which accurately captured my unnatural aptitude for technology. Granted, after the first successful recording I became fluent in using the machinery even to the point of being able to teach others how it worked, and producing some recordings for people, but those first six months were filled with wonder, anguish, curiosity, rage, and nearly despair.

Now I find myself in a similar place with another project, this time producing a tutorial video for a website. The software looks eerily similar to the recording software I've already learned to use, but I find that I'm in the same learning cycle that I've been in so many times before. Adding a new layer of technology into the mix sets me back at square one and I'm working my way through. I've followed the directions, watched the tutorials on YouTube, started and scrapped a few dozen times and two months after I thought I could deliver a finished product I'm still learning the silly software. Any arbitrary deadline I've set for myself is long past and I'm starting to look a little ragged.

The first resource in the embodiment aspect of work is perseverance. I still believe in my initial vision and in my own ability to learn. I'm not going to throw in the towel because quite frankly this isn't rocket science. But it's interesting that my limitations and the limitations of the software aren't a natural complement to each other. Nor is my inability to think linearly a helpful trait in this kind of learning. I have to kind of feel my way around until something actually works. But the other thing I need to keep in mind is that no amount of planning could ever prepare me for this. I can allow more time I suppose, but I can't ever be sure exactly how long it's going to take me to get to a working model. I just have to know that there will likely be some false starts, misfires, glitches and holes in the blueprint that will have to be filled in as I reach them.

Embodying your creativity is messy. It's fraught with rough edges and deep holes. But each iteration brings you closer to your goal. You learn from every wrong turn, mistake, failed attempt, equipment malfunction and call the whole process prototyping so that you can feel just a little bit better about your fragile little self. But somehow one day the engine fires and you're actually making your concept a reality. The room fills with wonder, excitement and maybe a little reverence and you marvel that at last success has befallen you. And you know full well that next time it's going to be a little bit easier...or not.

Gift, Talent or Skill?

As the echoes of our passing fade, all there is to say

Is, "You know I loved you all in my particular way"

Tie Me At The Crossroads, Bruce Cockburn

When I work with people to identify their gift there is often a bit of confusion about what a gift really is. I make a distinction between gifts, talents and skills. A skill is any action that you can learn and master through repetition. Most of us learn many skills through our lifetime of experience. If you think about it, most of your day is filled with things that you had to learn how to do at one time or another, and they've become a part of your routine. They stay in your routine as long as they're useful, and you don't have to give them much thought once they're learned. These are skills.

A talent is a competency that you have a particular aptitude for. We often isolate talent as strictly a creative pursuit like art or music, but a person can be talented in any area. Like skills, talents do require practice, but some folks just seem more naturally apt than others. I practiced hard to be an athlete, but no amount of practice made me as strong or as fast or as strategically smart as other members of the team. But they couldn't listen to a record and learn a song by ear, so it all worked out ok. We each have certain talents that we can choose to develop or not. They can certainly enrich our lives, but we're still not looking at the gift.

Your gift is an aspect of your being that expresses itself in action that is deeply meaningful and fulfilling. It comes so naturally to you that you might not even realize that there is anything special about it. But you'll find that people seem to gravitate to you for that gift. This is also the action that gives you a greater sense of purpose in your life, a confirmation that your presence here really does matter. I also don't look at your gift as something that you've been given so much as something that you have to give, not that such a distinction matters in the least.

In Heart Driven Work the gift is the starting place. You have something that the world needs, and your talent and skill may just be the vehicles for your gift to flow through. When you start to take inventory of the talents and skills that you have, you just might see the gift peeking...or blazing through. This is your primary source of power. It's yours and yours alone, but it is for your world. It's meant to be shared...given...used. It's also an amazing source of love, joy, strength, energy and life. As you allow yourself to make this the center of your work, expect there to be a shift in your experience. I can't say for sure what it will be, but I can say for sure that any way that you allow your gift to enrich and impact others lives will also enrich and impact your own.

If you're not completely aware of your own gift, I'd love to have a conversation with you. It's probably more obvious and maybe even "normal" than you might think, but to everyone in your world it is extraordinary. Let's chat...

C-c-c-c-courage

“To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage.” 

Georgia O'Keeffe

I'd rather not talk about fear too much on these posts. The more attention you give to fear, the more likely you are to create the situation you fear. Not that that's much more than a nuisance in the greater perspective, but it's still a pain in the ass. Rather than talk about fear let's turn our attention to courage. We've set courage aside as something that only a hero would possess, but the truth is that it is available to everyone, and in fact I'd venture to guess that if you really understand what it means you'll see that you probably activate your own courage every day.

Courage is very simply acting from your heart. This can show up in infinite ways, but courage is letting your own love, passion, compassion, concern, care, beauty, fire, vigor, integrity and other qualities of spirit and emotion find their way into the world. The firefighter never knows exactly who they'll be saving by running into the burning building, but they're compelled to go. The artist has no idea who will be moved in which way by their work, but they push it out of themselves and let it have it's own way. Anyone who owns and acts upon their own creative genius is acting from this place.

It's a popular notion these days to talk about breaking out of your "comfort zone". I'd rather point you toward breaking into your courage zone. When you look into your own core and see what's there, it's very likely you won't ever need a comfort zone again. When your gift is understood and allowed to emerge in whatever creative way you imagine, you won't need to give fear a second thought. You'll run into the burning building and do what you have to do, or you'll tag the fence next to the Metro tracks for all the world to see, or you'll learn to cook in more nourishing and life giving ways so that your family's health will thrive. You'll create what's yours to create and it will change the world.

If you're afraid to try, and you heed that fear, you've already failed. If you try and fail, you've only learned one way that won't work. If you go deep within yourself and realize that there is a gift there that has a very real need in the world that's calling it out, failure doesn't exist as a possibility. The Heart knows in the most very real sense that you have nothing to lose by putting your gift out there. This is the work you "can't not do".

Supply

"Reach out your hand if your cup be empty

If your cup is full, may it be again

Let it be known there is a fountain

That was not made by the hands of men"

Ripple, lyrics by Robert Hunter

All work requires resources. The resource aspect of work is often the one that signals that there may be a snag in the system. Many projects don't get off the ground at all because the necessary material, human and financial supply is not accessible or available. In addition, focusing on scarcity as a problem often obscures vision from resources that are readily available.

Heart driven work shifts core beliefs away from scarcity and lack toward abundance and availability. The heart is a powerful attractor. This state opens up inner channels that we didn't even know we had that will supply our work and generate new resources on top of what we already have. Heart awareness also manages resources in ways that allow for renewability and regeneration. It also tends to bring supply in at the correct time, and doesn't require supply to be guarded or hoarded. In fact, more often than not heart driven work leads to the sharing of resources.

A good place to start in working with supply from a heart perspective is in taking a thorough inventory of what you already have, starting with your gift. The gift is one resource that can never be taken away from you. Add to that every talent, skill, experience, relationship, family, community, bank account, education, wisdom...any asset that you possess needs to be included. Most people that I know will have a pretty long list of things that most often are taken for granted.

Next, go through your inventory and reflect back on where each resource came from in your experience. Was it from practice, study, previous work, a gift from a friend, something you inherited, something you read about or saw in a movie? Identify the sources of your resources. Much of the time the resources you already have came from your social circles. Your family, friends, tribes, community...One of the things to think about if you are in a place of lack or scarcity is how isolated you are. Have you cut yourself off from the people around you. Are you spending an inordinate amount of time alone. Does anyone know where you are right now or what you're going through?

If you don't have enough of something the heart can begin to turn this around. What we each have to learn in this is to trust that what we need is available and will be accessible in the moment we need it. We can also begin to imagine ourselves with everything we need, in detail so that the heart will have clarity to work with. We can also reconnect with our people, reveal our intentions to them and ask for what we need. There are ways to get anything, and the heart is masterful at revealing those ways.

Embodiment

The aspect of work where an idea, concept, or goal is realized or manifested is called embodiment. This aspect of work has to do with structure, organization, community, delivery, transaction, efficiency. In heart driven work we also see a high value placed on ecology, flow, high quality and balance in the embodiment aspect. We create systems to manifest, deliver and support the work. The energy of the will activates embodiment processes and begins to draw the resources together to create a desired outcome.

The painter transfers their inner vision to the canvas one stroke at a time. The writer puts pen to paper and brings an inner world to life on the page. Manufacturers go into the prototype stage, building models and testing them, innovating along the way. Initially embodiment can be a messy proposition. In fact in the beginning it can be near chaotic. As the embodiment begins to take shape and we gain the perspective of our own observation and feedback from others, order emerges from the chaos and step by step we work toward a fully functioning or finished result.

In addition to the creation of the work itself, we create systems to support and deliver our work into the world. Administrative functions, marketing plans, accounting systems, time management, workspace, workflow, physical and emotional health are all considerations in the embodiment of our work. I tend to shoot for simplicity and ease in this area, seeking direct ways to create, support and deliver my work. Each piece of the embodiment aspect of work requires an energy expenditure. I've placed more of a priority for myself on spending my energy creatively, so I consciously look to make my organization and transaction systems as simple as they can be.

A couple of things to keep in mind about the embodiment of your work. First, the itinerary and the journey never match exactly. No matter how well you envision or plan, there will always be aspects of the realization that you didn't initially imagine. This isn't failure, it's opportunity. There is room to improve and innovate and redesign until you reach a place where your work shows up even better than imagined. In every stage of prototyping you'll see pieces you might want to leave out and other pieces you want to add. Patience is helpful in this stage.

While deadlines sometimes help people get moving toward an end, often they can be a source of stress and pressure that negatively effect your output. What I've found is that deadlines are helpful to me in fulfilling the administrative aspects of what I do, but they usually aren't so helpful in the creative phase. What's more helpful to me in the creative phase is moving back and forth from path to will to embodiment and back. The will is the mechanism that will actually get the work done, and it has its own timeframe. Deadlines usually don't mean much to the will. I also prefer to develop delivery systems after I've finished the creation phase of the work, but in real life ALL of the aspects of work are happening simultaneously. It's not as much an A+B=C proposition as it is a mosaic or jigsaw puzzle. The heart works from and into a holistic arena, placing pieces exactly where they need to be at exactly the time they need to be placed.

Your Will

The next aspect of heart driven work that we'll discuss is your will. In organizational language we might speak of the will in terms of power or influence. At the individual level we can understand the will as a mechanism for building, storing and moving energy. The will is possibly the most misperceived and misused aspect of the being. We mistakenly perceive that the seat of the will is the logical, rational mind or the brain, when in fact the will is centered in the body in the area of the solar plexus. Those folks who say 'go with your gut', or 'I just had a gut feeling' are talking about the will. A couple of characteristics of the will are that it operates constantly in the present. It's not concerned with the past or the future. It also tends to be either open or closed. It doesn't operate with maybes. 'Let your yes be yes and your no be no' is a statement that accurately depicts the will.

Not only is the will misperceived, it's habitually overridden by shame driven beliefs and actions like seeking approval, fitting in, belonging, avoiding failure, commitment, and rejection, among others. There are some symptoms of an overridden or bound will that are often not seen as such. Depression, rage, cynicism, criticism and other "shadow" behaviors are frequently outward indicators that a bound will is attempting to move. We'll talk more in depth about the personae and shadow in another article. For now understand that the will is integral to the embodiment of your gift. It is the aspect of your being that is energized by your imperative and path to and moves you into action.

My favorite way to describe the relationship between the path and the will is "Where there's a way, there's the will" In heart driven work we are interested in discerning the "next best step". The will is uniquely able to reveal this. Out of all the possible movements, the will is able to discern the one that is most appropriate in the present moment. Although reason and logic have their place in our lives, the will doesn't operate according to either. The will is a free agent and has little concern for what the mind thinks. It responds more to how the imagined reality feels. As you work more from heart awareness you'll begin to see that your vision is expanded to take in a more complete view of the whole of your work. Most often the will becomes energized when the gift, the imperative and the path are aligned. One clue that your will is open and charged is that you'll find it very easy to engage in the actual manifestation of your gift.

If you notice that your motivation for getting a project off the ground is low, that is an indicator that the will has not been energized, which in effect means that there is one or more of the previous aspects that isn't in alignment with the others. An example of this is in the story of one of my clients who was endlessly creative in the vision and planning phases of his work, but when it came to actually making the project happen he would invariably find himself stuck. The systems he designed to realize his vision always seemed to either fall short or devolve into chaos and he couldn't figure out why. In our work together we were able to discover that his core strengths were in the area of vision and planning, aka the path. But his tendency was to neglect the imperative aspect of his work. While he loved the creativity of imagining different ways of reaching a goal, he hadn't taken into consideration that he didn't have a clear sense of purpose in his work, so in effect he was running in place. His great imagination didn't have a desired impact in mind so his will was not engaged.

As he became more clear as to the desired impact of his work, all of a sudden he couldn't be stopped. He was able to create functional systems that allowed him to actually move projects toward completion. As we engage more deeply in this work these kinds of patterns will become more apparent to you. You'll see how one aspect of your work affects all the others and how they tend to flow into each other. While the linear, rational mind tends to focus on one aspect at a time, heart awareness expands the perception to include internal and external circumstances and every aspect of work as it is happening. As you move into this perceptive field, you'll be able to not only see how your will is affected by the other aspects, but you'll also become more adept at discerning and trusting your own will's direction. There will be much more to say about the will as this material unfolds.

Pathways

So far we've looked at two aspects of work, the gift and the imperative. Today we'll look at a third aspect, the path. To me this is the most creative aspect of work because it is all about using your imagination. In fact, in heart driven work being imaginative in this aspect is a central characteristic. This is the aspect of work where we start to think about where we'd like to go and how we're going to get there. To a corporate leader this is the vision and mission part of the game, so you hire consultants to help you write a vision/mission statement and a business plan. For the world traveler it's a map, a travel guide and an itinerary. Before we can engage in the actual doing of the work we need to take time to look at our project as a whole, set goals, make priorities and define steps. While some people feel that this is a place to be practical, I see that this could be a place to actually be whimsical. This is the aspect of work where you really begin to create your own world.

Most of the time when you see a coaching program advertised, they are selling their tried and true "strategy", "process", "step by step", "guaranteed system", which most often means that they are offering a path that they've created. While we can learn from each other and share ideas, no two individual paths are going to unfold in exactly the same way. No two people are exactly the same. Your gift and your imperative actually require you to imagine your own ways. In addition to that, we'll be talking about another aspect of work, the will, that adds another very personal criteria for which way you WANT to go. We'll get to that in the next article, but for now we need to be clear that pathwork is your opportunity to create your own way. It's never been traveled exactly the same way before.

There are tools for this aspect in every self help book, coaching program, leadership training, therapy session  and internet blog. Just take a look at all the blog articles that start with a number and the word "ways". 20 Ways to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, 42 Ways to Slice a Sausage, 1 Really Good Way to Toss a Salad...you get the picture(must be lunchtime). Here are some things that I've found helpful in finding a path:

• Suspend judgement. Don't quash anything when you're in an imaginative state. Those crazy ideas just might work.
• Write everything down. Writing is the first crystallization of an idea. It is the first way that a concept becomes embodied. Why this matters will become clear as we talk about a couple of upcoming aspects. 
• Think vividly and sensorily. Imagine and include every detail, especially those that engage the five senses.
• Allow yourself to imagine outcomes that feel optimal. Create paths that give you a feeling of excitement and inspiration.
• As Steven Covey said in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, begin with the end in mind. My favorite tool in creating pathways is the Backward Fairy Tale. Start with happily ever after and work your way back to where you are now...in technicolor!
• Imagine more than you can possibly accomplish in a lifetime. That way you'll have a greater chance to live longer.
• Imagine if your gift and imperative were realized in the most fulfilling and possible way. What would that look like? What is the best way to get to that realization?

As I said, this is the place where you have unlimited creativity. This is your chance to boldly go where no one has ever gone before. Let your imagination run wild. You have absolutely nothing to lose and at this stage you can't get anything wrong. Failure at this stage isn't even a possibility! Imagine in detail the story that will become your life. And remember that there are infinite possible ways for your gift to be expressed and your imperatives to be fulfilled.

I have a PS for this article. I believe with all my heart that imagination is the one thing that is missing most in the ways we govern ourselves. Somehow we've come to settle for a system that doesn't shoot for the highest mark, but the lowest. It is tragic that in the US government in particular that there are no creative people in crucial decision making leadership positions. We have no vision for making anything better. We only have two polarized ideologies battling for power over a failing system, and a dwindling number of very rich people who skew the system in their favor. We can do better. What if we governed ourselves in a way that took the happiness of every citizen as the bottom line? What if laws and policies shot for the highest possible outcome instead of the lowest? What if holistic health care, purely organic food supply, lifelong gift centered education, sustainable business and collaborative foreign policy were the lowest possibilities we were willing to accept? I'd like to find out! 

Your Imperative

"You gotta serve somebody"

Bob Dylan

The second aspect of work we'll look at is the imperative. A very basic understanding of an imperative shows it to be a desire or need. In heart driven work the imperative is a circumstance, cause, purpose or need that calls your gift into action. Some people experience an imperative as a driving passion, others as a deep sense of caring or compassion, others as an urgent realization that a change of course is needed, still others as an inner impulse to create. There are as many ways to experience as there are people. I usually ask the question 'why does this matter?' Or, 'what will happen if I don't respond?' These questions often help me to clarify if an idea is really something I need to invest my time and energy in.

The imperative also serves as a strong connecting point for groups and collaborations. Having projects begin with a sharing of what the work is and why it matters can prevent a large number of chaotic conflicts when it comes to actually co-creating. Each group member needs to have a sense of why the work is important to them, and they also need to be able to hear and see how others perceive the imperative as well.

I also like to view an imperative as a desired impact on my world. For this program and my services there is one very strong compunction for me. I don't want people to suffer at work. I want people to engage in work that takes them to the heights of their potential and helps them realize their inherent worth. Life is too short for drudgery to be as common as it is. This isn't too say that hard work and sometimes getting your hands dirty isn't a necessity, but it does imply that we're creating a world where work is joyous and amazing.

My friend, Lynne Hull is an environmental artist. Lynne doesn't just create beautiful work, she creates beautiful work that preserves wildlife. She's a passionate advocate for endangered species, and she's outspoken in her urgency to confront the problem of climate change. The strength of Lynne's imperative is seen in how it moves people to see the problem in the place where it's impact is felt most deeply, where we can see that our collective action leads to the extinction of species after species. It's a powerful message.

My wife, Monica Corrado is a teaching chef and holistic nutritionist who is driven by her deep realization that most of the health problems we face today are directly related to food, how it's grown and how it's prepared. Her classes on traditional ways of preparing and preserving food are full of people who are realizing for themselves that by changing their diets they can change their health. Her primary passion is getting good food to children, so her primary audience is parents who want to feed their children in optimal ways. In six short years she's taught thousands of people what they can do to take back their power in the kitchen.

What I'd like to ask you is a simple question. What really matters most to you? Are you chasing dollars for their own sake or are you really interested in meeting a need? Heart driven work is about making a positive impact in your world. What is it that makes you want to get up and act?

Your Gift

The first aspect of heart driven work is a core resource that I call the gift. Your gift is distinct from your talents and skills, though  talents and skills may actually be manifestations of the gift. A talent is a natural aptitude that you have for a particular activity, and a skill is something that you can learn how to do through repetition. Your gift isn't an aptitude, nor is it learned. Your gift is more about who you are than what you do. It's an expression of your values, and most importantly it's your unique way of being creative in the world. I've heard the gift called many things. Genius, avocation, super power, core competency...all point to the same thing. The gift is often not seen as such because it comes so naturally that you may take it for granted. Your gift is unique to you and flows directly from the core of who you are. Here are some of the ways the gift is experienced:

• It's something that other people naturally seek out in you.
• It's something that takes very little effort on your part to share.
• In times that you are manifesting your gift, you may feel a sense of transcendence or timelessness.
• You may find yourself attracted to books, movies, people, situations and stories that energize your gift, thus energizing you.
• Sharing your gift is energizing instead of depleting.
• Sometimes even strangers will look to you for something that on some level they sense you can give.

These are just a few ways the gift might reveal itself to you. There are a number of books and workshops available that may help you discover this aspect of yourself. In his book, Is Your Genius At Work, Dick Richards encourages readers to name their genius. In his many years of teaching and coaching this work he's never had two people give their genius the same name. He encourages people to winnow the name of their genius down to two words, an active verb and a noun. As you go about naming your genius or gift, pay attention to how you feel about the name. Does it feel strong and resonant, or is it not quite a good fit for your experience? Play with the words until you land on the strongest, most resonant name.

Why is it important to know your gift? Quite simply, I believe your gift is the reason you're here. You were born into this world at this time to serve a purpose, and your gift is at the center of that purpose. We continue to create our experience of the world we live in, and those who ignore or fail to acknowledge their own gift know a kind of suffering that robs them of a life that is intrinsically very deeply rewarding and meaningful. From my own experience and that of people I've worked with and observed, the shift from living quietly in despair and living a life of freedom, meaning and joy comes down to one choice; are you going to fully engage your gift and fulfill your purpose, or are you going to settle for much less?

In my work with people the gift is the starting point, and in many of those cases it is the only necessary intervention on my part to help them see new possibilities and make decisions related to their direction.