Excerpt from the Book

Chapter One: Getting the Most From This Book

This book is designed to be a guide to help you discover your own path in life. In my experience, many books about doing what you are meant to do have been very general and more of an overview for finding your own path. They have stopped short of providing some structure to get from Point A to Point B on your path. The transformation cannot take place without some work on your part. This book shows you how to do the work required to get on the path that is right for you. It requires active participation rather than passive reading.

The chapters that follow will require you to roll up your sleeves and really get in touch with your own heart's desire; that is, with what makes you happy and most fulfilled. They will also help you gain greater clarity into your own personality, what your natural gifts and abilities are and how these talents can be joined to help bring your life more into sync with who you are and what you want your life to be. It is about realigning your true self with your personal goals so that you can live your life to your fullest potential and share all of your special gifts and talents with the world in the most fulfilling way possible.

Keep a Life Path Journal
It is very helpful to keep a self-discovery journal as you go through this process. Sometimes you may feel like you are not making progress. To counteract that feeling your journal will help you document your successes on a daily, weekly and monthly schedule. You should date your entries so that you can see the progress you make toward your goals. A journal will also help keep you on track with target time frames and goals as you execute your plan. It will help you keep your goals at the forefront of your thought process as you check in with yourself and measure your progress. You may have additional insights that come to you as you reflect on each aspect of your journey, and your journal is an ideal way to capture these. Finally, a journal can be a good sounding board to vent, express frustration, think through your plan, make changes and celebrate your successful milestones. It is for your eyes only and can be a great friend as you begin the journey of living on your life's path.

If you like the freedom of capturing your thoughts and ideas on blank pages rather than the format in this book, then by all means use a blank journal to write in while you read this book. A journal can allow for unstructured creativity in a more open format to elaborate further on your ideas. Regardless of whether you write down your thoughts and ideas in this book, or in a separate creativity journal, the most important aspect of this process is capturing your thoughts on paper so that you can refer back to them time and again as you shape your goals. The exercises are a type of rough draft for clarifying your thoughts and ideas and writing them down on paper. You must complete the exercises if you really want to maximize your time investment in this book and in yourself.

Completing the Exercises
There are a number of exercises outlined in this book, and all of them are strongly recommended. They are designed to help you achieve the personal transformation you are seeking. These exercises will require some introspection on your part, some quiet moments to reflect on how you came to be, where you are now and the direction you want to steer your ship. There is going to be work involved, but the payoff will be worthwhile. If you only read the book and do not do any of the exercises, there will still be valuable information to be gleaned, but you would be selling yourself short and would only receive a fraction of the benefits this book has to offer.

As you read this book you need to set aside time to complete these exercises. This book contains exercise sections that you can view as a type of self-discovery or creativity journal for capturing your thoughts and ideas. I encourage you to complete each section of exercises at the same time you are reading its corresponding chapter or section. If you do the exercises while all of the information is fresh in your mind, then you will truly get the maximum benefit of the exercises for that section. No one can do these exercises for you. No one has the power to change your life and chart your own course of destiny that you do. If you are ready to make some changes and take charge of your life so that it is more aligned with your heart's calling and your deepest desires, then it is going to require some effort on your part.

Let's Get Started
This book will provide guidance, suggestions and a format for developing your own life's path, but you must pick up your pen and chart your own destiny. If you do not feel that this is a good time for this journey of self-discovery, then I would pose the following questions to you: "When will it ever be a good time?" and "When will you ever have the time for yourself if you do not carve out the time and make it a priority?" Think of how different your life might be today had you started down your true life path five years ago. Think of how different your life might be next year or in five years if you start today. There is no time like the present, and the time will pass anyway, whether you are working toward your goals or not.

Since you were drawn to this book in the first place, my hope is that you are now ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work on you. If that is not where you are right now, then I hope that reading the chapters will create in you a desire to answer the higher calling to discover your own path. If you are not sure you are ready yet, just get started and go at your own pace with what feels comfortable to you. You may be stimulated enough to get started with your process if something you read strikes a chord deep within you.

If, however, you are ready to experience a life-changing event that results in a personal transformation to live your life in complete alignment with the path that is right for you, then let's begin!

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