This week, I’ve had about six really meaningful conversations with folks about passionate life work versus working for money.  It really is too bad that we even need money.  It’s such a BIG distraction. People want to go in one direction but they end up going in the other because of money.  Or, they go down the path they feel most passionate about and then have to switch gears because they run out of money.  I met a lady this week in that exact position.  She clearly needed Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, which I’ve mentioned here before.  What would we do if we didn’t have to think about money at all?  I often ask my clients to write a press release about themself as if they had won the lottery.  Why? Because I think it’s a freeing exercise that helps facilitate clarity about what we’re really proud of and what we really want.  Equally important is that you can then tailor your life to go in that direction even though you haven’t hit the jackpot.  You may be able to implement some small changes in your everyday life that impact a big change for you.  I’ve been thinking about all this everyday and then I read Seth Godin’s blog this morning.

In his bestselling book, The Dip, Seth Godin, Internet Marketing Extraordinaire writes about leadership and perseverance.  Seth tells us that great leaders are the ones who can push through the hard times to get to the finish line.  Specifically, The Dip indicates that most of us can achieve a moderate level of success.  Next, things level off again and then we experience a little dip in performance because it gets much harder to get to the next level.  Maybe we get bored, maybe the highs of accomplishment wear off.  It sometimes feels easier to regroup and change direction than to continue pushing boulders uphill.  I like Seth’s concepts.  They fit nicely with the “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” mantra.  The Dip is especially relevant for working women and entrepreneurs because there are so many tests along the way that it’s normal to have days where you want to give up on pursuing what’s most important to you.  You have to be committed and you have to keep reminding yourself that The Dip and other bad days are all part of the learning process to get to the next level.  Easy stuff is boring anyway!