The most powerful career question of them all?

Do You Want to Be Your Boss? (or How to Know When It’s Time to Quit…)

 ”Every man must know when it’s time to move on.”

-Unknown

How do you know when it’s time to quit?

More than anything, when I talk to readers, clients and friends about their careers, the biggest challenge they face is figuring out when you know it’s time to leave.

For many, it’s so hard to know when to jump or if you should at all. So much so, they get paralyzed. 

Do you ever wonder if the work you’re doing, the career you have, the way you spend 75% of every day, is worth your time? Ever curious if there’s something else that would fire you up a bit more?

Well I think I have the answer.

Let’s start with a personal story.

Four years ago my wife quit her career in corporate PR to pursue her passion for yoga, fitness and nutrition. She went off and got certified to teach yoga, do personal training and started teaching folks about what to put into their bodies through her classes and blog (for the health nuts out there, you gotta check out here vegetarian/vegan cooking and recipe blog, Food-LifeBalance. I’m her dedicated taste tester and definitely not complaining  ).

She also recently got a sweet gig helping a fellow Living Legend and fitness fanatic manage a chain of workout studios. Last night we went out to celebrate (Congrats Chelsea!). As we drove she remembered back to her couple years in the PR industry. She vividly recalled that she always knew she never wanted to have her boss’s life. It was nothing against her superiors (who were actually great people), but for whatever reason, she just never wanted to be in those shoes.

Fast forward a couple years, and one massive career shift later, she noticed that from day one teaching at her new fitness studio, she found herself admiring her boss and the role she had – inspired by the responsibility she was given, the way she got to help people and her genuine excitement for what she was doing.

Two years later my wife has just about that same role and it’s appearing to be everything she imagined. She admired the work her boss did & the life she lived, and it inspired her to operate on an entirely new level.

I can’t say the results surprise me (of course I’m a tad biased), but this did get me thinking…

It turns out I have a sure fire way to figure out whether you should stay or go.

Before you read any further, stop for a second. Look around you. Look at the people at your office or the ones on your calendar invites. Think about the person you report to. Do they inspire you? Do you want what they have?

Do you want to be your boss?

If the answer is no, it’s time to get out. Simple as that. If you’re at your desk right now and are peering into your boss’s office in disgust, seriously grab your fish bowl and coffee mug and get the F*/# out! I mean it. Start running and don’t look back.

Ok maybe you don’t have to immediately pull the fire alarm and run out the emergency exit, but at least notice the siren that should be ringing in your head right about now. Respect it.

It’s time to do something about it.

If the people you work for do not inspire you, excite you and make you want to do epic things, you are in the wrong place. If the people who are molding and teaching you, are not people you admire, you are wasting your time.

*note: If you’re an entrepreneur then sub out “boss” for “successful folks in your space” anywhere it comes up. This stuff applies to everyone. 

The longer you stay, the longer you’ll stay and the steeper the spiral becomes.

I hear from people all the time say “things will get better”, or “I’m going to stick around for the next promotion and then maybe take off”.

I have news for you. If things aren’t better now, the odds are they aren’t going to be better in a month or two. There is no saving up happiness and enjoyment.

Happiness not spent today, does not equal more happiness tomorrow. 

If you think you’ll be less stressed, less conflicted and less disenchanted at a higher level, you’re in for a nasty surprise.

And I can assure you if you’re boss isn’t someone you want to become, things are definitely not going to get any better.

A few years ago Robert Cialdini, the bestselling author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, taught me that we as humans are conditioned to stay consistent to prior decisions we’ve made. It’s why we promote the products we buy, even if it turns out we don’t totally love them. It’s also why we stay in jobs that straight up suck. This trait proves incredibly powerful when building something you believe in, but turns deadly when you start to do things that aren’t congruent with who we are.

Our reasons for staying in a soul crushing career often sound something like…

• “Well I’ve already put in 5 years”
• “If I left now, all the work I’ve put in for that promotion will be a waste”
• “I can’t leave my coworkers hanging”
• “I’m only 9 months away from being Partner”

Sure, those might even sound like decent excuses in your own head. But do you even freakin’ care about that promotion? Is that really what you want? Or is it just what everyone else thinks they want so by default you’ve started to want it too?

And do you think it will be any easier to leave once you become Partner? Let’s get serious. The day you reach that next rung, you are that much less likely to take the leap to do something meaningful that you know you should have done years prior.

There is never a good time to experience massive change. I don’t care what you’re doing.

But if the person giving you the orders at work or the person you’re modeling your business off of, is not someone you want to be, NOW is the only time to do something about it.

Stop climbing the ladder to nowhere.

If you’re in a situation with people you don’t admire, doing things that don’t matter, realize that every ounce of effort you put in from this day forward is a waste. A waste of energy and a waste of potential. Every project you complete and rung you climb is going towards nothing. It’s building something you don’t care about for people you don’t look up to.

Is that any way to spend your next 30+ years? If you do, you’ll likely get to the top and want to do a swan dive right into the concrete on the bottom floor, where you could have just walked away before you got so committed in the first place.

We spend so much time climbing the ladder that we forget to ask ourselves where the top is and why would I even want to be up there. Often times it’s difficult to understand what it would mean to actually be in this high up place you dream about.

The best proxy for this is to observe the person already there - Your boss or your boss’s boss.

Notice all the folks above you who are more “successful” than you. What do they do on their days off and in the evenings? Do they have hobbies and passions or are they too busy trying to get to the next level? How’s their family? Do they even have one? What about their friends? How do they treat the people around them? Are they healthy and fit, energetic and excited?

Most of us, in racing to the top of something, only count the things that are easy to measure. In a word, money. The vision of the money shines so damn bright that we don’t even notice the carnage that those we ‘admire’ created in order to experience it. It’s time to start taking note.

Surround yourself with the people living your dreams. 

Take another look around you. Who inspires you? Who’s job do you constantly wish you had? Who lives the type of life you’ve consistently dreamed of?

Notice the folks you admire. Understand why you admire them. Surround yourself with them. If you’re an employee, find a boss who doubles as a role model. There should be no other type. If you’re an entrepreneur find the mentors and models you truly respect.

It’s time to begin working towards something that’s meaningful.

As always, it starts with the people.

If you can’t get behind the people above you, it’s time to get out.

I’ll ask one more time, do you want to be your boss?

Time to get honest.

From live your Legend blog.

Agaba Nicholas

How You Get Belief

The will to do something is dramatically impacted by your belief that you actually can do something. No one is very motivated to attempt something they think they’re going to fail at.

And that speaks to the power of belief.



Having won a few championships and played a winless season as well, I can tell you the team that thinks they are beat is beaten. And an individual who believes they’re beat is beaten.



Now on the other side of the equation, a person who believes they are going to prevail usually does. The belief they have gives them motivation, inspiration, energy, determination and perseverance – even in the face of daunting obstacles.



So what gives people and teams that belief?



Sometimes it is just naivety. People don’t realize they’re not supposed to make it. Bill Clinton, James Carvelle and George Stephanopoulos were so green in national politics the didn’t realize the futility of their quest to reach the presidency. So they made it. I’ve been on teams that were too stupid to know we were supposed to lose, so we won.



Sometimes it’s confidence based on experience. If you have made earlier objectives, beaten a team before, or excelled on a world-class level – you build confidence at each step of the process, and that creates belief. I was on a softball team that won 27 games in a row, becoming champion in three straight tournaments. We just built confidence from the first win and kept growing it. We won because we expected to.

Sometimes belief is simply programmed into you. It could be in your formative years you are programmed by parents, school, religion or a cult that you are divinely blessed and are here to overcome. Depending on the source, this could be positive or very negative.



Sometimes we borrow belief from others. If someone you respect tells you that you’re capable of accomplishing something — that will sometimes put you over the top in the belief account. (Which is why I write this blog for you guys every day!)



Finally, sometimes belief simply comes from a leap of faith. You marshal together ten, 20 or 30 seconds of courage, and you tap into that adrenaline to just go for it, results be damned. You sell yourself on the belief and burn your ship. You take away the retreat possibilities, which forces you to be courageous, and you find belief from the fires of your courage.



Thoughts? What about you? What are the best ways you harness belief for yourself? Please share your thoughts with the community.

BY RG.

Nicholas Agaba

Here are the 51 reasons why I meditate:

Waking meditation makes me feel really good.  There are so many benefits to meditation that I’ve made it a regular part of my morning ritual.  I started meditating last year around September and I’ve been at it ever since.  I highly recommend the regular practice of meditation.

Here are the 51 reasons why I meditate:

1. It takes less energy than thinking
2. You basically don’t have to do anything
3. You revitalizes your senses and being
4. There is nothing you have to do
5. There is nowhere to go
6. It gets you out of your head
7. …and into your body
8. It calms your nerves
9. Refreshes your soul
10. Helps you ‘notice’ your intuition
11. Helps you become aware of the real feelings in your body
12. It doesn’t take a lot of time
13. You can start with 2-5 minutes daily
14. You can meditate at home
15. …in your car
16. …at the office
17. …in your bedroom
18. …on a park bench
19. …on a patch of grass
20. …or even on your toilet
21. You can pretty much meditate anywhere
22. You don’t need any special tools or gadgets
23. …or really anything at all
24. You just need your presence
25. You don’t need to worry about what you’ll wear
26. …or what you look like
27. …or what people will even say
28. It’s meditation and it’s ok.
29. The regular practice of meditation reduces stress
30. …helps you get a good night sleep
31. …increases your ability to focus
32. …and helps you make better decisions
33. Meditation brings you into the present moment
34. It gives you peace of mind
35. Clears your mind
36. Meditation gives you insight and “aha’s”
37. The act of meditation can help you solve problems
38. Enhance your creativity
39. Become in-tune with your self-expression
40. Make you more aware of your waking thoughts
41. Meditation is easy to learn
42. You can start at any time of day
43. It could be first thing in the morning
44. …or even late at night
45. Meditation helps you clear stored emotions
46. It helps you clear limiting beliefs and blocks
47. Meditation is a great releasing technique
48. Meditation can put you into flow
49. It can help you enjoy and appreciate the moment
50. Meditation is free!
51. You can meditate in a group or all alone

Do you meditate? Why or why not?

Does What You’re Doing Actually Matter? (+ free workbook)

“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.”

~Hardy D. Jackson
Think of how you spent your day today. What did you do for the majority of it?

How about the week?

Seriously think about it. Now answer one simple question…

Does any of it matter?

Are you spending your time in a way that matters? Both to you and others?

Do you care about your work? Is it based on a cause you stand behind? Is the world better as a result? Are you better as a result?

Do you even know why you’re doing what you’re doing?

Sadly over 80% of people aren’t happy with their work and even more don’t have a clue as to why their doing it. Is that any way to spend the majority of your time on earth?

Everything Starts with Why

When I was on the Summit Series boat a few weeks ago I met Simon Sinek author of the kick-ass book Start with Why. I had recently seen his epic TED Talk: How Great Leaders Inspire Action (actually watched it for the third time yesterday) where he first planted the importance of why in my brain. Thoughts have been running wild ever since. (I give Simon full credit for this post. Thanks for waking me up my man!)

Most people know what they’re doing and some even know how they’re doing it but very few know why.

The problem is that the Why is the only part that inspires people. It’s your purpose, your belief, your (or your company’s) reason for being. Whether you want to end world suffering or just trim your waistline by getting yourself to stick to one spoonful of peanut butter instead of five, without a why you are nowhere.

Unfortunately since those with a why happen to be the exception, most the world is lost. They’re sleepwalking.

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it

How often do you ask people what they do? How often do you tell others what you do? It’s something society has drilled into us (and it drives me crazy). We’re missing the why without even knowing it.

I have news. No one cares what you’re doing. No one even cares how you do it. I don’t care how mind blowing it is.

They only care why you’re doing it. Once you connect with your why, you give them a belief they can adopt – but not until that emotional connection is created. Then the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ become wonderful ways to justify the why. People buy on emotion and justify by logic. They buy on why.

Side note: For the purpose of this article ‘buy’ can mean any type of influence and is not limited to purchasing a product – be it adopting your view, joining your cause or even voting for you. It’s about getting someone on your side.

Facts, figures and stats don’t sell.

They don’t inspire. Especially since any competitor in most any space surely has similar numbers to tout. They’re table stakes. What does sell is your vision of how you can affect the world. That is the only place passion can be found. Passion isn’t buried in some mind-numbing competitive analysis. It’s in the vision, the belief, the why.

Take two of the more powerful brands: Apple and Patagonia

Apple makes tech gadgets. There are countless companies doing the same thing, but we buy from Apple because Apple believes in challenging the status quo, in being different and making life fun.
Patagonia makes outdoor clothing. So do 50 other companies. But I buy from them because Patagonia believes in igniting the human spirit, in saving the environment and seeking adventure.
I am proud to be behind these causes. I want to be behind them. I get others behind them. And as a result I probably pay a 30-40% premium to do so. And I love it.

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

My Why here is simple

I have a fundamental belief that if I can get those around me doing work they love, we can literally change the world. We can end the majority of bad moods, misconduct and frustration, and if enough people get on board, we can cause a revolution. I believe deep in my soul that if everyone lived and worked their passion and woke up excited, the world would be a fundamentally different place.

That is what keeps me up late at night and waking before my alarm.

Embody your reason for being

My belief has become so fundamental to me that I’ve realized I need a business and brand that fully embodies it. One that screams daily adventure, constant experimentation and learning about yourself to find your purpose and live it. I have been working on this new brand for months now (thanks to a lot of your help and feedback) and it’s finally almost ready. I hope to launch it in just a few weeks.

Don’t worry, the content and focus of my work and writing won’t change-it’s just time to have a business, name and brand that firmly back my why.

For me this will mark the new beginning of my quest to help the world understand their passions and use them to do work they love. It’s one that never ends and I intend to be on it for the full ride.

We are not meant to do things the way they’ve always been done. We are meant to find and follow our own paths. This leads to greatness.

Our days are meant to be enjoyed. The only unsuccessful day is one spent unhappy. We deserve to spend our time on things that actually matter to us. I assure you that if we accomplish this, they will matter a hell of a lot more to the world than whatever we were working on before.

You are all here because you share my belief and wanted to be a part of the tribe. I’m grateful you’ve joined the action. As of last week we hit over 4,000 of us on the same mission! New believers join everyday. If you know someone who should be a part of the tribe but isn’t, please send them a link to this article. If you haven’t joined yet, I hope you will.

Sorry for the tangent, but I’ve been dying fill you in on the latest!

A Why is the only reason meaningful things get done

If you don’t have a why for what you’re doing, then sit down and find one. The below free workbook will help.

If you can’t find one then drop what you’re doing and do something you give a sh*t about.

Because without a why, not only will you not inspire anyone else, but more importantly, you will never inspire yourself. You are the first person you must get on board. Nothing important ever gets done without a powerful enough reason. Running a marathon or leading a revolution – it all starts with why.

Understand your Why

What is your belief of how the world should be? What is your reason for being? It doesn’t have to be some grand earth-shattering belief. It just has to matter to you. If you care enough, trust me, others will care too.

Most of us who aren’t already living it, have an idea of what it is (or at least what it’s not), you just may have been suppressing it to be more ‘realistic’ (btw, realistic never got anyone anywhere).

If you don’t know then I’m almost sure you have people close to you who have suggested something: “Oh you would make a great coach or speaker or writer or teacher”.

Listen to them and listen to yourself. Then start investigating. That’s the stuff that matters. Not what some job role or area of study says you should be. What do they know about you anyway? Not much. Few people do. That’s why you owe it to yourself to start searching.

Live with passion

When I approached Simon on the boat, I thanked him for his work and told him about our growing crusade here with my writing and coaching. He looked at me with the deepest conviction and congruency, right into my soul, pointed his finger so it was about 2 inches from my chest and said “Listen. The work you’re doing matters. What you and I are doing is changing the world. It literally has the chance to create world peace in a way even the United Nations couldn’t dream of.” He then gave me a small coin, something he called a ‘token of inspiration’, thanked me and we went our separate ways.

He embodied his why so much that it left me shaking with energy. He had given me an even greater responsibility to spread my cause, my belief, my why.

There are big things ahead guys. For you, for me, for all of us. But they’re only going to happen if we sack up and do something about it.

I’ll go first as long as you promise to follow suit.

I can’t wait to show you the refocused vision for ReadingForYourSuccess. I have a feeling you’re going to like it!

So…Does what you’re doing really matter?

Tell us your Why in the comments. Go on, make us believers!
http://liveyourlegend.net

The Top 26 Reasons People Keep Doing Work They Hate (& 5 ways to kill the excuses)

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.”

-Mark Twain

Let’s talk about why people keep doing work they hate.

By now I’m sure you know the terrifying stat: Over 80% of people don’t enjoy their work and nearly 75% don’t know their passion. 

These two numbers kill me. But thanks to our work here at Live Your Legend, it’s getting better by the day (congrats to so many of you who’ve made massive change – it’s not easy, but I bet it was worth it)!

But for the rest of the world, it’s crazy to think that so many people are willing continue to act in a way that doesn’t make them happy.

And trust me, by now I feel like I’ve seen it all…yet I continue to be surprised.

What 8 years and thousands of comments, clients and readers have told me…

In the past 4 months, nearly 500 people have gone through the Live Off Your Passion course. That alone blows my mind.

On top of that, since I started doing this stuff eight years ago, I’ve had the chance to literally hear from thousands upon thousands of people – many of them in terrible pain due to the work they keep doing that they can’t stand. And thankfully from many others, who used to hate their work, but have since successfully made the transition.

The awesome thing is that when you have upwards of 50,000 passionate people interact with your work on a monthly basis (that’s all of you guys!), you can actually collect some meaningful data. That starts to get pretty powerful.

So why don’t more people do something about their situation?

The wild thing is most people have the same stories.

I’ve heard every reason under the sun for why their situation is different. Why they are unable to break the chains and do something that actually excites them. The great majority come back to the same few reasons.

I wanted to share them with you to see if perhaps similar things are holding you back.

After all, the first step is identifying the problem. Next step is doing something about it.

Side note: Believe me, I know making the transition can be unbelievably challenging. I never mean to discredit that. But there are still examples everywhere of people in worse situations that you, who still manage to find their way. I know because I hear about them almost daily. You just have to keep an eye and ear out. 

With that said…

Do any of these sound familiar?

1. I don’t know what I’m passionate about.

2. I don’t know how to make money from my passion.

3. The people around me will think I’m crazy.

4. I don’t have anyone to go to for advice, support or encouragement.

5. Work is just a part of life. It’s not something meant to be enjoyed.

6. It’s not possible to do what you love and make a living from it.

7. I can’t find the courage to start.

8. What if I fail?

9. Nobody around me enjoys their job.

10. I have a family, mortgage and obligations to be responsible for.

11. My passion is not the kind of thing you can make money from; it’s just a
little hobby.

12. I’m not qualified enough. There are plenty of experts in my field with more
experience than me.

13. Between my current job, my family, trying to stay healthy and all the other
things I have to do, I don’t have any time to work on my passion.

14. I can’t find a job that allows me to leverage my natural strengths.

15. It’s too risky. In this economy I need to keep any job security I can find.

16. I have too many passions and interests. There’s no way I could choose just
one. And if I did, what if I realize it’s the wrong choice in six or 12 months?

17. I can’t find the initiative.

18. I have a terrible time following through.

19. I’ve never heard of someone who’s been able to make a living off my
specific passion.

20. There’s too much competition.

21. I’m too old and waited too long. I wish I had thought about this 25 years
ago.

22. I spent eight years studying something in university that I can’t stand
doing now. But it would be way too much of a waste to switch.

23. I have to be really savvy with the Internet and I don’t know a lot of the
modern tools and technology.

24. I’m not creative enough.

25. Finding and keeping a job is hard enough, let alone finding one I love
doing.

26. I don’t know anyone who actually makes a living doing what they love.

I’ll ask again – Do any of these sound familiar?

Take another minute and look back through them. Mark the ones you know you’ve played in your head over and over.

Why do you believe this?

Do you really have enough data and experience to believe there isn’t another way?

I doubt it.

Just look around you – Look around our community at Live Your Legend. Look around at the successes in most industries.

The right stories are everywhere if you want to see them.

And I have news for you. Every one of the above ‘reasons’ is nothing more than an excuse.

It’s an assumption that needs to be tested and proven wrong.

We do that, and we can start to move mountains.

Here are five things you can do right now to turn those excuses on their head:

1. Find someone who’s already doing it – make friends with them or read everything you can about their life.
2. Learn what you’re good at – take the Strengths Finder 2.0 test or just ask a few people close to you what they see as your gifts.
3. Get lost in a passion – if you don’t know yours, then just take a day off with nothing on the calendar and see where it takes you.
4. Lower the hurdle - Make a list of the things that actually make you happy (and the things most people assume will) – you’ll find you probably don’t need as much money or as many things as you think.
5. Help someone with something – and charge them for it! We are all experts at something.

And for bonus points: Call in sick (or take a personal day) one day next week and spend a few minutes doing one of the above. If you haven’t done it yet, then you’ve waited too long.

Living Off Your Passion is a Right

It was hearing these 26 sentences (and many more), play like a high-pitched broken record from readers, friends, clients and nearly every person I seemed to meet, that finally caused me to create the Live Off Your Passion Course. People desperately need a guide and tools to take them from a list of reason they shouldn’t, to every reason why they MUST – and the step-by-step process to go with it.

That’s why I spent hundreds of hours compiling statistics, interviews and case studies from around the would. It’s why I wrote hundreds of pages of content and interactive workbooks. It’s also why I tracked down 14 different top-notch Experts and Living Legends to cover all the most important areas and stumbling points of actually doing work that matters.

Live Off Your Passion was designed to test every one of the above. It covers them all and more.

It’s been four months since first releasing it to the world and nearly 500 people have killed the above excuses as a result.

I could not be happier. And I know we’re just getting started.

If you need more in-depth guidance with this stuff, I strongly suggest you look over the course materials. Part of the reason I stopped taking new coaching clients was to pour all my energy into deep resources that could be helpful to more of our community at once. That’s why I created Live Off Your Passion. With the Discover Your Passion (and make money from it) Guarantee, there really is nothing to lose. As it should be.

If you’re curious, more course details can be found here.

Remember, everything was impossible until someone did it.

Excuses are not fact. They are not set in stone. They’re anything but.

They are a figment of our imagination.

Just thoughts – nothing more.

But they are the most dangerous thoughts in the world. 

Believing them can kill a dream in a heartbeat.

But disproving them is what changes the world.

Living a life of purpose and passion is just that, a way of life. Those who wake up excited aren’t just the lucky ones, they condition themselves to experience and deserve it.

So I’ll ask you one more time…

Which of the above 26 have you been telling yourself?

FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT.

Nicholas Agaba