Seven Calculated Choices to Make Your Career Leap Like a Geyser

By: Karla Brandau, CSP

"Life leaps like a geyser for those willing to drill through the rock of inertia." -- Alexis Carrel

When I was 10 years old, our family vacation was to Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. I remember watching in awe as the Old Faithful geyser of its own free will and choice erupted out of what appeared from a distance to be solid rock, sending hot water and steam high in the air.

This experience made it possible for me to visualize the above quote by Alexis Carrel, "Life leaps like a geyser for those willing to drill through the rock of inertia." Inertia is that quality keeping us at rest, or at the same level of achievement you had last month. To go from rest to action, to go from lethargic to energetic, to go from procrastination to productive work, requires an external force. Just like Old Faithful, the desire for more success and achievement can erupt inside of you. When it does, take the time to reevaluate, reexamine, rethink, and reorganize - all activities geared to help you drill through the rock of inertia and heat tepid attempts at success into the sizzling, boiling actions that will send your career dancing like a geyser, erupting by its own free will and choice. These seven calculated choices will help you drill through the rock of inertia to the success you have always wanted. Be bold and choose to:

1. Reevaluate and reexamine your purpose. By reevaluating and reexamining your life will you receive the gut feelings, the inspirations, and the revelations to take you to the next level you long for in your soul.

2. Believe in your abilities. You are not human if you have not had the desire to do, then immediately had distinct feelings of inadequacy. For some strange reason, we doubt ourselves before we believe in our abilities. As your true potential is unknown, keep discovering who you are by unwavering belief in yourself.

3. Plan, visualize, imagine, and "picturize" your future. The majority of individuals want success but expect it to come through the hoping and wishing process. However, the attainment of your personal dreams with great triumphs over the rock bed of inertia do not happen without detailed planning.

With detailed visualization, your subconscious mind becomes an efficient partner in your quest for such a property. For instance, instead of thinking, "I want a new home" visualize an estate with a 6,000 square foot house and a view from the top of a mountain that can't be duplicated anywhere in the world.

4. Use ink, the missing link. After your visualization process, you may wonder why you are not on target. Your visualization process no doubt had you reaching the goal in record time. You may have omitted the "inking" part or the writing component of the planning process. By "inking" the goal, you embed permanent pictures in your subconscious mind for you to access any time you choose, permitting you to renew your passion and energy.

5. Move into motion. Individuals often miss opportunities because opportunity is disguised as work.work that requires exertion and perspiration. American Industrialist and founder of Getty Oil, J. Paul Getty said, "Rise early. Work late. Strike oil." You can't read that statement without envisioning hard work and the rewards of persistent toil.

6. Be resolute and determined. As you work through the year, you will hit snags, have setbacks, miss promotions, lose sales, etc. Your personal resolve is more important than any New Year's resolution. Resolve is the personal power to follow through on the goals you committed to mentally and emotionally, to continue to pursue the purpose and objectives you visualized and "picturized" when the New Year dawned. It is the personal power to stay the course in spite of opposition or resistance.

7. Do it daily! As a teenager, I remember reading that the key to self-mastery was to do something you didn't want to do every day. If you counted going to bed at night, then I could check this off daily. In achieving any worthy objective, there must be consistency in the amount of hard work you put in; an hour here and a day there just isn't going to do it. Even a week of sustained effort doesn't bring results. You need months and years of daily, sustained sweat equity.

One of my greatest irritants is to have worked hard on a project that didn't bring me the results I visualized. It is very painful to me have spent precious time on tasks that have no effect on my success. If you have felt the same sense of despair, then follow closely these seven calculated choices which will focus you on what is of the utmost importance to you both personally and professionally. As you make these calculated choices on a daily basis, you will drill through the rock of inertia and life will leap like a geyser for your success!