Thursday AM July 22th, 2010

Motivational life coach Dawn McIntyre’s book The New 10 says women can increase self-confidence by embracing change, embracing rejection and expecting the best in everything. She says bouncing back after a career failure depends on attitude.

“Well, actually, there is no such thing as failure — that’s the first thing I have to say. If a business goes under, goes bankrupt or you lose your job, look at that as a sign to go within and really determine what it is you want to be doing. It’s more of an opportunity to do something that honors your value system, honors what makes you happy, what you’re passionate about. Then if you look at the loss as a gift, you open yourself up to ideas, inspirations and opportunities to do something that is more in alignment with who you really are.”

The ways of achieving balance are different for different people. McIntyre says women — and men, for that matter — should get back to basics to find the career that’s right for you. Maybe even to your childhood.

“And if you can remember, you know, in your first ten years what was it that you did for play that just brought you joy, what you’re passionate about. One of the exercises I have is if you ‘weren’t afraid, this is what I would do,’ and write a list of 100 things. And that will give you a lot of insight into things that you probably would be doing for yourself that you perhaps not doing for fear of failure, fear of success — there’s a lot of fears that come into play.”

McIntyre says the same rules apply for men. She says if you’re passionate about what you do, obstacles along the way won’t matter.

Ed Mayberry, KUHF News.