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I have seen so many clients the past few months as well as talked with numerous colleagues, both of whom were complaining about feeling disconnected from their life purpose. "The passion is just gone, " one successful writer moaned. "I'm out of ideas," lamented a corporate consultant, "I've done it all before." "I know I have another chapter to my business but I can't figure it out yet," complained an entrepreneur. All three people have signs of burnout, but are also ready to grow.

We have this myth in our culture that we should have our lives "together" at all times. It doesn't allow for the pain of change, creative experimentation, dead ends, or personal development. We often feel discouraged or even depressed when we don't know what's next, but know we can't keep doing what we are doing any longer. As we live and work for more years, it makes sense that we will desire numerous transitions. In addition, today's marketplace demands that we keep up with our customers and clients and their needs and desires for different and better services and products.
As we evolve and our life cycle and priorities shift, we desire more chapters or changes in our career path. Passion and purpose are fueled by what excites and intrigues us at the moment and that shifts as we travel our personal path.

To help you to rediscover your passion and purpose, try the following strategies:
1) Note down what interests you on a daily basis
2) Look for the patterns and themes over a two week period
3) Talk to people who share those same interests and see if you can determine whether or not this is a hobby or a potential vocational track for you
4) Experiment with something at the top of your interest list--take a class, try it on your own, or read about it
5) Zero in on how to incorporate this interest into your current career or what steps you would need to take to start a business or just indulge this interest as a personal pursuit
Have fun with this process!

Special Coaching Offer I have space for a few new coaching clients and have a discount offer of 3 sessions for $550.00--a $50.00 savings. So if you are ready to activiate your creativity, discover fulfilling work, restore inner balance, and/or grow your business, email me with your agenda at Gail@creativesuccess.com and we will help you to figure out What's Next for You!

Tour Guide

My colleague, Cynthia Morris, has created a practical and very informative e-guide for anyone who has dreamed of getting paid to travel the world. Cynthia's guide is called Go For it! Leading Tours for Fun or Profit and shows you step-by-step how to design, market, and lead tours abroad or in your own neck of the woods. Cynthia has led successful creativity tours in France and shares money and headache- saving tips to make it easy to launch your own tours. She includes all these great charts and lists and specific examples of planning that are invaluable. I highly recommend this guide and you can pick it up at http://www.originalimpulse.com/ebook- goforit.shtml.


Stuck at Mid-Career?

Marcia Worthing and Charles Buck have written a gem of a new book called Escape the Mid-Career Doldrums: What To Do Next When You are Bored, Burned Out, Retired, or Fired(Wiley). This book offers professional guidance for helping you to think up solutions, ideas, and practical tools for taking control of your career and doing something that you really love. As I talked about in my article, the process of rediscovery can be a great opportunity to grow in some exciting new directions. http://tinyurl.com/34wnvm

Creatively yours,
Gail McMeekin
http://www.creativesuccess.com Copyright, 2008. CreativeSuccess, LLC.