A great article from "The Onion" that is worth the share:

Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life • Mar 20, 2013 By David Ferguson


I have always been a big proponent of following your heart and doing exactly what you want to do. It sounds so simple, right? But there are people who spend years—decades, even—trying to find a true sense of purpose for themselves. My advice? Just find the thing you enjoy doing more than anything else, your one true passion, and do it for the rest of your life on nights and weekends when you’re exhausted and cranky and just want to go to bed.

It could be anything—music, writing, drawing, acting, teaching—it really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that once you know what you want to do, you dive in a full 10 percent and spend the other 90 torturing yourself because you know damn well that it’s far too late to make a drastic career change, and that you’re stuck on this mind-numbing path for the rest of your life.

Is there any other way to live?

I have written recently about the “off season” and how I look forward to moving my body differently during the winter months  - repairing both my body and mind from the grueling pace of training when I am in season. But even a “Derailleur” can learn a thing or two about what does and doesn’t work. And that includes how to repair a “bruised ego”.  Now, you haven’t been reading my blogs thinking I was perfect did you? Of course I am not. I make mistakes all the time. But I make all new ones and never the old ones over and over again. That was until last week. I did make one old mistake that I had made years earlier as a young 20-something eager to prove I could ignore my body’s messages of pain and push through it. Pain is different than discomfort. Remember that for this story.

What a great way to spend a Wednesday evening if you are in Burlington, Vermont tonight:

Business & Professional Women, Burlington Chapter
"Skills for Women Leader" Series: Just a reminder that the next Business & Professional Women meeting is Wed. 2/12 - 5:30-7:30pm at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington. We are pleased to host Certified Performance Coach, Amy Magyar as she walks us through the StrengthsFinder® Assessment - a tool for learning more about identifying our strengths and embracing our weaknesses. Visit www.burlingtonbpw.org for more details! All are welcome!

he StrengthsFinder® Assessment offers a clear picture, a new perspective, a sounding board, a sorting place, a safe space to let go and build back up, attention to a path, help finding a new path, focus, and attention to finally figuring out what’s really important and doing something about it. The program introduces 34 dominant "themes" with thousands of possible combinations, and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success.

Participants will learn to:
·       Identify and understand the source of their strengths.
·       Build a database of talent that they can access to target project roles for maximum efficiency and engagement.
·       A deep and rich common language of strengths and talents.
·       Increase productivity and efficiency by aligning an individual’s strengths and talents to particular team tasks.
·       Walk away with a specific plan to utilize unique strengths and increase their personal performance.
 
 Each participant is encouraged to take the online assessment before our time together using the link provided http://www.strengthstest.com/strengths-tests/strengthsfinder-20-access-code.html

Amy Magyar is a certified professional performance coach who provides strengths-based coaching to individuals, teams, and organizations. Employing well-researched and proven methods to support people as they identify their strengths, Amy’s passion is empowering others to capitalize on their natural giftedness.

My job as a Derailleur is to support you on your journey. Both your journey in-season and off-season. Your in-season journey may include becoming a stronger rider on hills. Your in-season journey may include mastering sneaking out of your house to get your ride in so you have “you time”. There is no judgment either way. There is an ebb and flow to your journey and that includes allowing yourself an off-season. For both your body AND mind. So what is your off-season journey made up of?

For those of us who call New England home, the off-season is a forced break from the treacherous, icy roads when we instead spend countless hours on our indoor trainer. Off-season for some in more “more temperate” climates may mean that their competition schedule is over and they are just “riding to ride” – mileage gets lower and training less intense. Or in the example of my friend in Florida, her off-season is in the dead of summer when temperatures and humidity force a counter-seasonal off-season for her. She claims her best rides are in the winter. So be it.

I admit it, I am a junkie. I crave a hit everyday. I can’t seem to live without it. My newest addiction is TED.com. There are worse things to be addicted to I guess, but it still feels like being under its powerful grip is like I am doing something wrong. TED.com’s tag line is “riveting talks by remarkable people.” And if hearing stories and ideas from remarkable people is an addiction, then count me as a happily addicted person who seeks no cure.

As a Derailleur, I hear stories on a daily basis from my clients. Stories of failures, stories of “stuckness” and stories of survival. And of course, after working with a client for a few months, those stories of “not enough” turn to stories of success. So it gets me thinking, “what story do you tell yourself everyday?” What do you replay in your head over and over again? Is it one of victimhood? Is it one of survival? Or is it one of hope? What would your TED talk be about if you were asked to get on stage and share your story?

As The Derailleur at Terry Bicycles, my job as your “Life’s Coach” is “to make it count”. What do you need to make count? What if I told you everything?

As a Performance Coach for my clients’ minds, I am reminded that placing a premium on a positive outcome – a personal best or a breakthrough of some sort is not uncommon during their goals for success during a race or an event. But what happens in your day-to-day journey on the bike (and in your life)? Do you intentionally set a goal to have a breakthrough or a PR each time you go out and ride? Probably not. Perhaps you are like me where the victory is in actually getting out and getting your ride in. Juggling family, their needs, your work and life itself, just getting out on the bike for a mile can be a major victory.

As The Derailleur at Terry Bicycles, my job is to be your “Life’s Coach”. As a Performance Coach for your mind, I am reminded time and time again about the social comparison theory that my clients allow to rattle around in their minds. The social comparison theory sounds like, “She is so much better than me at that…his life is perfect…why can’t I be more like them.” We compare ourselves to those who we feel are better, stronger or appear to have the perfect life. In other words, we compete.

While comparison and competition are good things when they offer us awareness around where we are in our journey, we too often use comparison and competition for the wrong reasons, especially around things we cannot change. For example, I am 5’4” in height, a fireplug in stature and have bone straight hair. I will never be 5’10”, or rail thin, and will never have Julia Roberts’ hair. But I admire the beauty in all of those characteristics as long as I remember to admire the beauty in having all of my qualities. I don’t want to compete with anyone anymore…then why do I race my bike weekend after weekend? What am I trying to prove? What am I seeking by competing?