ICF FOR MEN random notes

Are you happy at work? If you look at what happened last week, expect MORE of that in the next 50 weeks. Don’t hope for anything to change unless you change.

Indeed, that has been the secret that Jim Rohn, the highly successful motivational speaker, discovered: “Success is something you attract by the person you BECOME.”

Unfortunately for most men, society is a gigantic, powerful yet invisible system that will do everything it can to KEEP YOU EXACTLY AS YOU ARE.

You are NOT allowed to change. You are NOT allowed to evolve. You are NOT allowed to discover any truth that will empower you.

So if you want to discover the truth about yourself, you will have to wage a war against society and everything it has taught you.

You will have to re-examine the beliefs and values that were inculcated in you since birth.

Unless you do that, you will never be free to think in ways that will empower you.

Most people think that they don’t have the power to change themselves. In fact, they know very little about themselves, even though they know a great deal about world events and what’s going on in other countries.

Modern society is all about breadth , not depth . As the Internet expands and media proliferate, people know more and more about the physical world, and less and less about who they truly are.

Because we don’t feel we have power, we don’t try anything new. We prefer comfort, we seek security. Then, one day, we realize that life has passed us by.

Instead of being the star of our lives, we have become mere spectators watching other people’s lives unfold on TV or the Internet.

“ Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” - Braveheart

I look at many men I know, and I realize they are stuck. They know that their working lives are not going anywhere, yet they don’t see any way out.

Yet, there IS a way out. However, one should heed the process of change (P.O.W.E.R.): Problem Origin Way out Empowerment Re-inventing ourselves

Problem : you have to acknowledge that you have a problem Origin : you have to see clearly the cause or origin of that problem

Way out : you have to see, sometimes with other people’s help, that there IS a way out Empowerment : you have to learn and acquire knowhow and skills

Re-inventing yourself : you have to re-invent your habits, your values, your habitual questions, your states, etc. in order to succeed in your new, ideal career.

The Ideal Career Framework (ICF) basically has 4 axes: - Passion - Talent - World’s Need - Meaning

Talent is “a superior ability enabling you to produce, with things, ideas or people, a paid result.”

There are a lot of so-called consultants out there who use the word “talent” without ever defining it. They talk about the war for talent, or the necessity to attract and keep talent, without EVER defining “talent”!

Just remember what talent is… Talent is “a superior ability enabling you to produce, with things, ideas or people, a paid result.”

If your talent doesn’t produce a result that a client will PAY you for, then it’s not a career you have. It’s a HOBBY!

However, especially when you start a new talent-based career, you don’t need to get paid a lot. Just get someone to pay you something in exchange for what you produce with your talent.

Just remember that you DO have a talent. It’s yours. It’s something we are all born with.

Everybody has at least ONE talent. Usually, your talent comes from your being good with ideas, things or people.

These three categories of talent refer to three very different worlds: the mental world the physical world the social world

My talent, for example, has to do with the mental world. I’m great with ideas, knowledge, learning, creativity, literature, words, diagrams, concepts, etc.

How about you? What are you good at? Are you good with ideas? With people? Or with things?

No matter what talent you have, just keep in mind the following…

This is YOUR life, and you can do with it ANYTHING you want. Nobody can stop you. Only YOU can stop YOU.

Like Chris Gardner (Will Smith) says to his son in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness : “You want something? Go and get it. Period. Don’t ever let anyone tell you can’t do it.”

To see more of this presentation, please look for slideshows in my Slideshare portfolio with “ICF for Men” in the cover page. For more information on consulting or coaching or public speaking on ICF, please contact me at [email_address] You can also subscribe for FREE (value of $800) to my success secrets blogzine at www.realtimesuccesssecrets.blogspot.com