Moving forward I am going to take (aka) :: john // sanders in a more personal direction. However, the same great how-to’s and job related information, videos, etc… can now be found on, Jobisms @ http://www.jobisms.com

I did this to offer you a better user experience. You will notice that every facet of the site has been upgraded with new graphics and functionality.

Also, there are some new additions like Jobisms News which can be found @ http://news.jobisms.com Here you can find the most updated Job Market & Economic News from around the web.

Additionally I will be launching Jobisms Radio in the next couple of weeks. Here you will find live streams from me and special guests who keep their ear to the job market. This is all real world grassroots level stuff so I am really excited to be able to offer you all of these great tools.

With all the support and feedback I have been getting from this blog, I felt that it was only fair that I offer you a better reading & interactive experience!

By the way, I’d love to hear your feedback after you check out the new site. Here are the links again:

Jobisms: http://www.jobisms.com

Jobisms News: http://news.jobisms.com

Dealing with difficult coworkers can be a full time job in itself.  I define difficult coworkers as people whose core personality either obstructs or all together prohibits productivity directly or indirectly.

Thankfully I have been blessed, because currently I don’t have to deal with difficult coworkers.

But it hasn’t always been easy street for me. Earlier in my career I had to quickly learn how to deal with difficult coworkers or else lose my sanity.

So today I am going to share the lessons I learned while I had to deal with difficult coworkers. And if you are dealing with one now, hopefully you can find solace in my hard earned lessons!

The first thing you want to know is how to identify a difficult personality immediately. This will help you set your strategy for the working relationship moving forward.

Difficult coworkers have two very distinct characteristics:

1. They will be very unpredictable. One day they will be super nice and another day they will act like they have never spoken to you.

2. They have a knack for making petty issues a cornerstone of any project you work on with them.

One thing we need to be clear about upfront is that people with quirky personalities don’t qualify as being difficult coworkers. We all have quirks and as long as they don’t obstruct productivity, they have to be dealt with a thick skin.

However, when dealing with a bona fide difficult coworker who puts pettiness before productivity, you have two options.

1. You solve the problem yourself.

2. You let someone else solve the problem for you.

When you solve it yourself, you will not be able to avoid some sort of confrontation. Sometimes this can work against you if you don’t use the proper process, which I will share with you. However this route is the most gratifying because it will empower you to easily deal with difficult coworkers in the future.

The other option is to escalate the issue and have your manager or HR Manager deal with the situation for you. The problem with this route is that it can have you labeled as someone who is unable to interact with people and diffuse issues. But this is the safest route that will ensure a predefined process is followed to mitigate the situation.

My focus today is going to be on how to deal with difficult coworkers yourself. Because escalating is a pretty straight forward process that is probably defined in your employee handbook.

However dealing with the situation yourself can be tricky. And if you are not careful, you can find yourself in more trouble than you originally bargained for.

That is why you always want to be nothing but cordial and professional. Anything less can and will be used against you.

So your approach has to be strategic, tactful and within professional guidelines.

This is why I love the game of Chess. A  lot of the thinking I do while playing in Chess, I do in real life. My view is that you can never think enough steps ahead and no matter how much you think you got it figured out, there is something you are not seeing.

So what is the best contingency plan to deal with difficult coworkers?

There are 3 major items you need to invest in all throughout your career that will act as your contingency plan in dealing with difficult coworkers at work:

1. Alliances

2. Documentation

3. Your Brand

The more quality professionals you align yourself with at work, the better your standing will be amongst your peers. This also acts as a major deterrent. If you are seen as someone who knows the heavy hitters at work, most difficult coworkers will leave you alone out of their own self interest.

You don’t make a very good target if you play golf with your company’s VP on the weekend.

However, for someone who is not social and generally reserved, then you can work around building alliances with strong documentation.

Whether you build alliances or not, you want to document everything that happens in your day to day routine and keep a copy for yourself. There is no telling when and where that documentation will save you from oblivion.

Anytime you are faced with a difficult situation where you had to backpedal and sort it out yourself, write an email to yourself. Furthermore, if possible, always try to communicate via email with difficult coworkers. You will be surprised how easy difficult coworkers are to deal with when you are communicating on record.

Finally, build your professional brand in way that people will never second guess a complain you make. Of course they will investigate both sides of the story, but if you are seen as a stand up citizen of the company, then your word will carry a lot of weight.

And if you back up your word with the right documentation and leverage the proper alliances, you will have an easy time resolving such difficult issues. You do this once or twice and I assure you that you will never be a target again.

If you are dealing with a difficult coworker today and you don’t have any of these items in place, then start with documenting everything that you are dealing with. Once you feel that you have enough evidence to support your claim, then escalate it.

The quality of your life is far too important to have to deal with people with negative intent at work.

Keep in mind that we are paid to produce results at work. Furthermore, we are obligated to promote a culture of productivity and professionalism. When that line is crossed by someone, they need to be shown a better way or the high way.

Because in the end, if they don’t learn their lesson with you, then they will just go off and hurt someone else and cost another company thousands of dollars in lost productivity.

But after a little research on the internet, I found what the U.S. Department of Labor has to say about the rules and rights for temporary immigrant workers who have H1B visas or other temporary work authorizations.

While I have been writing this article, I have found that understanding US Immigration Law and getting H1B jobs and H1B visas is a tough gig.

Imagine being in this economy trying to find a job knowing many companies are not hiring. And the ones who are hiring are not hiring professionals with H1B visas.

This can be a real buzz kill when all of your family is back home and you have little resources to rely on here in the states. But have no fear, because people are managing and some are doing very well!

And the better you know your rights, the easier it will be to navigate the employment landscape.

So how many foreign born workers are there in the US?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 29 million foreign born workers in the United States as of 2009. That is 15% of the overall workforce.

The unemployment rate for foreign born workers is .05% higher than their local counterparts. And the one’s who are employed make about 21% less in wages.

About 50% of the foreign born workforce is Hispanic and another 20% is Asian.

You can read the full report here: BLS Labor Force Characteristics

So now that you have an idea of how you fit in to the greater employment landscape in the U.S., what are your rights as a foreign born temporary worker?

Your Rights:

1. The employer must give the worker a copy of the LCA.

2. The employer must pay the worker at least the same wage rate as paid to other employees with similar experience and qualifications or the local prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of employment, whichever is higher.

3. The employer must pay for non-productive time caused by the employer or by the worker’s lack of a license or permit.

4. The employer must offer the worker fringe benefits on the same basis as its other employees.

5. The employer may not require the worker to pay a penalty for leaving employment prior to any agreed date.

5a. However, this restriction does not preclude the employer from seeking “liquidated damages” pursuant to relevant state law.

6. Provide working conditions for H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 workers that will not adversely affect the working conditions of workers similarly employed.

You can read your full rights here at the U.S. Department of Labor website. And here at the U.S. Travel website.

Keep in mind that your rights are protected under U.S. Immigration Law whether you are on an H1B Visa or any other work authorization. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly then you can file complaints at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Right now you are in the middle of an economic recovery that is in no hurry to get better. First let me help you understand why things are moving so slowing.

1. Managers feel that there is plenty of good talent on the market so they are slow to make decisions.

2. Many companies are realigning their existing workforce to increase retention, this impacts external hiring of people fresh out of school.

3. So many mid to senior level people were let go the past few years, that those are the same  positions getting refilled with mid to senior level people right now. Again leaving those of you who are fresh out of school in the cold!

4. Contract labor is what is hot right now and typically fresh grads aren’t picked up for high paying contract jobs that require immediate impact with no training.

5. How you market yourself to future employers is totally different than when you went into college.

I know these seem like major issues that can not be overcome.  However, for every challenge there is a moment of truth and learning!

And the truth that you have to learn in this new economy is that the better you market yourself, the less these factors matter!

The old way of marketing yourself with your GPA and the relevant classes  you took is still helpful. But what really needs to be shown is the value you bring day one.

Imagine if you invented a new flavor of soda, how would you get people to try some? You’d have to talk it up right? Things like. “it tastes so good that nothing will ever taste bad again after you drink it.” Or, “it has 100 less calories than the next yummiest soda.”

These are both value statements that make people buy. All soda is more or less the same. Can you really tell the difference between Cola So Yummy and the leading national cola brand? I can’t! I just know that the leading cola cans look better, they have talking polar bears and the ones that say, “Hecho in Mexico” use real cane sugar and not corn syrup.

It’s all marketing the value! That is why I want you to learn the term “value” like you know your name.

So instead of going into a job interview hoping to take any job that they will give you. Try to demonstrate how much you understand about the opportunity (after careful research of course) and then show them how you can deliver the end results they are looking for.

Do the same for your resume. Use as much quantitative data as  you possibly can in your resume. For example, if you had a summer internship last year and you stuffed envelopes, don’t write, “stuffed envelopes of various sizes for 6 months” as the description of your work.

You want to show how  you were the best envelope stuffer because your personal value system wouldn’t let you be anything less.  So instead you can write, “filled 400 – 500 envelopes daily with highly sensitive documents. Maintained a consistent work-flow and reduced the total hours required to fill 2 bins of envelopes by 27%. Each bin containing 1000 envelopes.”

You see how the second description sounds more dynamic. If I were going to hire an envelope stuffer, it would be the one behind door number two. Remember, there is always something compelling that people leave out of their job experiences. So take a look at how you have written out your resume and tighten it up with value driven phrases to describe the best of what you have accomplished.

This reduces the amount of time the recruiter has to take to interpret your resume for you.

By spelling out your experience using numbers and powerful words, you make a much better impression overall. The same goes for when you interview. Talk in quantitative facts and figures. This shows that you have a command of yourself and the work that you have done.  Plus, this approach let’s you dictate what you want your interviewer to think of you.

Don’t mind if what you have done does not really seem all that important, because if you are looking for entry level work… then managers are looking for “the potential to do well” more than the specifics of what you have done.  They know you will need training and some time to get up to speed, they just want to make sure that they are going to invest the time and money into someone who actually cares. Here are some of the top traits outside of your core trade skills that the managers are looking for:

1. People skills

2. Energy, passion & drive

3. Positive attitude

4. Initiative

5. Firm belief in yourself

6. Commitment to the task at hand

7. Ability to multi-task

8. Critical thinking skills

9. Basic interview etiquette

10. Motivation

Other things that will help you land a job fresh out of school are professional relationships. If you don’t have any right now don’t worry.  Start building them, especially if you are not working. I am sure you know how to use Facebook. Linkedin is not too different, it is just for the professional world. Create a profile on it and start contacting managers and recruiters.

By the way, it is totally OK to contact recruiters and managers via Linkedin to introduce yourself. Just don’t be a pest!

Also, if you have 2 years of experience or less, then you will want to focus on corporate recruiters. Most companies will not pay a fee to agency recruiters for someone fresh out of school.

Try to stay consistent with the volume of your job applications. Send out at least 10 a day and don’t expect anything significant in return for at least a month.

You will get calls here and there, but the real action comes after you have been busy submitting resumes and networking for at least 30 days. Once you have done that then you will start stacking up opportunities. That is when the real fun begins.

After you have tidied up your resume and practiced all of your value statements, click here to watch my video on, “How to Land a Job Interview”

If you have any additional questions, please send me an email via my blog. I will gladly help you out with some additional info. Also, due to the volume of emails I get, give me a couple of days to respond.

In the mean time, go out and Make It Happen!

In this weeks edition of Mind Your Own Monday, we are going to focus on answers. Ask yourself 5 questions with the intention of finding an answer for them in the next 7 days.

The criteria for creating the questions is that the answers have to inspire you, educate you on something very important to your future or be the catalyst to a dramatic positive change in your life.

By asking the questions, the subject will automatically enter your active conscious. Once that has happened, then the answers will come. Remember, “ask and you shall recieve”. So ask away my friend and let the answers flow in!

Check out my video to see more on this weeks edition of, “Mind Your Own Monday”

Here are my 5 questions that I will answer this week!

1) What steps can I take to increase readership to my blog by 40% in July?

2) What can I cut out of my schedule so that I can spend even more time with my daughter?

3) What new book can I buy that will inspire me?

4) What seminar can I attend this week that will teach me something new?

5) What images will I use for my Jobisms presentation to universities?

If anyone has any ideas on how I can answer these questions, I am always open to suggestions. I’d love it if you emailed me your questions and I will be glad to provide my support to you!

First thing you want to know is that all social networking sites are part of the Web 2.0 evolution of online applications. Back in 2004 Tim O’Rielly of O’Reilly Media was credited with first using the term, “Web 2.0″.

This term was used to describe the evolution of traditional websites from one way communication to two way communication to all out user driven content and interaction.

The strange thing about the concept of Web 2.0 is that in 2004 Tim Berners-Lee who is the inventor of the World Wide Web, said the following:

“I think Web 2.0 is, of course, a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.” (source: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/podcast/dwi/cm-int082206txt.html)

Fast forward to 2010, Mr. Berners-Lee now has a Linkedin profile: Click here to go to his Linkedin profile

Keep in mind, that Mr. Berners-Lee was trying to say that there is no difference between Web 1.0, 2.0 or even Web 1000.993 when we get there. To him it is all the same; a means for people to interact and connect.

Enter Linkedin. Socio-Professional Interactive Application Extraordinaire!

If you are a working professional, then you need to be on Linkedin. It is an incredible networking site and everyone that matters is on it. It is not a job site, although 80% of recruiters use it. And 90% of users are open to hearing about opportunities. Even still, it is not a job site. It is a social networking site for professionals.

The information you post on Linkedin can be used to find jobs, build relationships within your industry or just give people a place to find you on the web.

Check out this Linkedin demographic chart, it should give you an idea of what kind of people are on it:

Here are some key stats from this chart:

69% of Linkedin users earn $60k – to more than $100k

75% of Linkedin users hold a Bachelors degree or greater

68% of Linkedin users are 35 years old and older

What do these stats tell you? They tell me that the educated working professionals with money are on Linkedin exchange ideas and opportunities with one another.

Sounds like they kinds of people that I want to know and would like to introduce myself to. What you don’t want to be is that person who gets on Linkedin after they have lost their job. It does not work like that.

You have to build some sort of network equity before it can be of any use to you. So get started now before something better comes along, then you will be even more behind the times.

Also, don’t worry if you don’t have a bunch of connections at first, that is not the point of being on Linkedin. You want to build as many quality connections as you can. These are connections are people of influence within your industry.

Keep in mind that it will take time to build up your professional contact list, but once you have done it; the value of it can not be quantified.

A perfect example of a well utilized Linkedin account is of Nayeem Chowdhury, North American Recruiting Manager for one of the worlds largest conglomerates.  Click here to check out his Linkedin profile

While you are on his profile go ahead and send him an invite. Go ahead and send me an invite to, I will gladly accept: My Linkedin Profile

You will notice that Mr. Chowdhury is connected to 2,800+ professionals. But they are not a random 2,800, they are all high value contacts within the Oil & Gas industry. Through these contacts, Mr. Chowdhury is able  to establish his presence in the Oil & Gas industry. He is also able to follow people around as they change jobs, move to different cities, etc…

Some of you are thinking, “my email does that.” Sure, your email is a place for you to be contacted online, but no one is looking for your email address.  The people who have social profiles up are the ones who are being found online and get first dibs at the best opportunities.

Here is the bottom line, being on Linkedin will not break your career. But there are a lot of great connections and opportunities that you are missing out on. Since I have been on Linkedin, I have made numerous friends with quality backgrounds who I know will help me if I ever need the help and I will gladly help if they ever need it.

If want a great presence on Linkedin, but don’t know how to achieve it. Then shoot me a message and I will gladly answer any of your questions. And if you come back to my blog in a couple of days, I will have posted a, “How to Use Social Media to find Jobs Video.”

Till then, Make it Happen!

But now, you are sitting there wondering what to say next. Each millisecond seems like an eternity as your interviewer stares at you waiting for your response.

Never again! In this article, I am going to answer the top job interview questions that are designed to stump you during an interview. If you really think about it, job interview questions are for your own good. All the interviewer is trying to do is make sure sure that you are a good fit for the job.

So assuming that you really are a good fit for the job, let’s focus on the content and delivery of your responses!

Job Interview Question #1: Tell me about yourself.

This is not the time for you to talk about your favorite teacher in grade school. It is at this moment that you drop your “T-VIB” statement. Your T-VIB is your value proposition to your future employer. After all, T-VIB translates to The Value I Bring. Keep that in mind when composing your “about me” pitch. You want to ensure you highlight every relevant value that you bring to the table.

ex: “I am a person of strong character and work ethic. My focus is on productivity and innovation. Throughout my life I have been known as the person who gets things done. At my last job I was also known for my superior technical abilities. I have  a great family and a dog named Spike.”

Notice that the way this job interview question is answered, it highlights your strengths and ends on a humble note.  This way you don’t sound to full of yourself, but still very confident. Use this answer as your template in composing and structuring  your own T-VIB statement..

Job Interview Question #2: Why are you in the job market?

WARNING: This question is a set-up. The interviewer wants to see if you are going to bad mouth your current or previous employer or gripe about your old job. You want to stay away from any negative reasons why you are in the job market; even if your current or past job was worse than spending a week in the dessert without water!

No one wants to hire a person who gripes and complains. No matter where you work or where you are in life, there is always something to gripe about. Typically people don’t care what you have to complain about anyway because everyone else has problems of their own. So keep the sad song to yourself and talk about how you are seeking personal and professional growth.

Job Interview Question #3: How much money do you want?

I think this is one of the most uncomfortable questions for most people. Money is such a sensitive issue during the interview that even the interviewer is asking you against his or her own natural instinct. So the best thing to do is deflect this question, especially if it is early in the interview process. The best way to deflect this question is to give a little that seems like a lot.

ex: Well sir/ma’am, my current salary is $X thousand and I receive 3 weeks vacation. Because I am still learning about this opportunity, it is hard for me to give you my true expectation. But I do know that your company has a good track record with compensating  its employees fairly. (Keep in mind, this answer only works in the early stages of the interview.)

To learn how to respond to this job interview question in the latter stage of the interview, watch this video I recording on this exact subject titled, “Unraveling Mysteries Around Salary Negotiation”.

Job Interview Question#4: Any behavioral question.

A behavorial question is designed to pry into your psyche. The idea is to see if you will answer a question in a manner that will reveal a personality flaw. The problem is that we all have some sort of personality flaw, some of us contain it better than others. I personally can be particularly intense about subjects I am passionate about. That can sometimes come across as a bit much, especially in an interview setting. So I know to tone it down a bit.

Here is what an interview question looks like:

“Tell me about a time when you had a difficult problem to solve that involved you collaborating with a group of people to find a solution.”

How you answer this job interview question or questions like it will make or break your interview. I am not telling you to lie, but I am telling you to use caution while talking about your past experiences. You can talk about a project that was challenging, but don’t talk about how one of your co-workers got on your last nerve and you just about had it with them. In reality it is OK to not like someone, as long  as you don’t cross any professional boundaries in your expression of your feelings. So there is no reason to share those details because after all, you finished the project, found a solution and dealt with the challenges.

Job Interview Question #bonus: This is a question that you will never hear, but I know it is inside the interviewers head. The silent question you have to answer in order to ace the job interview is, “does this person really want this job?”

The answer to this question is always delivered at the very end of the interview. This is called the, “Strong Close”. If you don’t close strong, then you can lose out to an equally decorated candidate who did close strong. Sometimes you can be the less of the two candidates, but get the nod because your closing was stronger! When you drop a strong close, you leave a lasting impression in your interviewers mind. That is the last thing they will remember of you. A strong handshake and a confident line that looks something like this:

A Strong Close: Sir / Ma’am, I want to thank you for time and I want you to know that I am very interested in this opportunity. Especially now that I know more about it, I am confident that I can bring a lot of value to the table. If there is anything else  I can do today to help you decide, just let me know.

That is what you call a home run close. Now you can customize your strong close any way you want, as long as you use this above example as your guide.

I hope this article has helped answer some of your top job interview questions. If you have additional job interview questions that I have not covered, then check out my video on this very subject titled, “Ace Your Next Job Interview”

Or send me a note and I will gladly assist.

For anyone in corporate America looking for a way to get fired, let this be a case in point on how to do just that. Nothing will get you canned faster than publicly trashing your bosses boss and all his direct reports.

In the General’s defense, maybe this was his way of venting about job related stress. Afterall, opening up to a journalist can be theraputic for a general at war for the past 8 years. But is a little discretion on his part too much to ask for?

This is the kind of boneheaded mistake that would make Donald Trump dish out his most famous line that he has come to own, YOU’RE FIRED! The problem is that with someone at Gen. McChrystal’s level, mistakes like this don’t happen. So it is only logical to think he did it on purpose with the kind of cowboy bravado that a general of a dictatorial country would have.

The difference between other countries and America is that our military does not own the civilians it is tasked to protect. So when someone at his level does something that puts us in greater harms way, then we have the power to pressure our civilian government to get rid of the problem.

And Gen. McChrystal is the man of the hour in the problematic category right now. He will surley go down in history as not very bright for publicaly blasting our entire civilian braintrust responsible for our nations safety in the middle of a war; via a ROCK & ROLL magainze. 

He could not have picked a more adequate vehicle to underscore his lack of brilliance; Rolling Stone Magazine.  You can read the full interview here: The Runaway General, Rolling Stone Magazine

While reading the interview, you have to wonder if Gen. McChrystal is not sure whether he is a member of the US Military or part of a 1980′s rockband hell bent on creating an image of wreckless abandon.

Here are is a sampling of utter ignorance from our mighty General while he was in Paris to meet with French authorities over dinner to update them on our war efforts. Keep in mind that the French have lost 40 of their own in our war. McChrystal’s response:

“I’d rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people than go out to this dinner,” McChrystal says.

He pauses a beat.

“Unfortunately,” he adds, “no one in this room could do it.”

“Who’s he going to dinner with?” I ask one of his aides. (Michael Hastings, Rolling Stone)

“Some French minister,” the aide tells me. “It’s f****g gay.”

There is something seriously wrong with refering to an ally who has lost blood for us in that way. I don’t care if they didn’t lose a single soldier out there with us, the fact that they showed up to fight our war is more than enough to earn a little respect.  

So we have to wonder what President Obama is thinking right now. Something tells me he is going to talk to the members of his cabinet, find a replacement for Gen. McChrystal and then channel Trumps famous words, “You’re Fired!

Your job is not to fulfill the dreams of others at the expense of your own health! You  have the right to make the necessary changes in your life to live a healthy, happy and optimal lifestyle no matter what your job title or income level.

In this article I will share the Top 6 job related stressors with you so you can recognize them if you are experiencing them.

If you are stressed, then accept that you are not alone. If all else fails, reach out to me and I will gladly provide guidance on how to get out of the tough situation you are in.

Here is date from the US government to help elaborate on this subject:

According to the United States Center for Disease Control & Prevention, there are 6 major job related stressors that lead to disease and other major health problems.

Health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke. Job stress can also affect your personal life by contributing to divorce, troubled children and personality issues.

If your job is too stressful, then immediately find a way to reduce the level of stress or suffer the consquences. No remedy is too extreme when used  to reduce your job related stress. I assure you that. Well there are a few remedies that are too extreme, but you know what I am trying to say.

The last thing you need is a degenerative disease to haunt you for life because of a job.

By the way, did you know that the most heart attacks happen on Monday morning between 4 am & 10 am?

“Research shows conclusively that the most common day for heart attacks is Monday. Statistics spike on Monday mornings, in particular, since heart attacks occur between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. more than any other six-hour period. The Women’s Heart Foundation notes that blood platelets are stickier in the morning hours, which can contribute to an attack.”  Source: Women’s Hearth Foundation: http://www.womensheart.org/content/HeartAttack/what_is_a_heart_attack.asp 

Back to the CDC Report, The 6 Major Factors of Job Related Stress are:

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/

How about if you plan that vacation you have been putting off for the past couple of years or start investing towards your retirement today?

Whatever it is that you can do, what is stopping you from making today the day you take action?

Alot of us are so genuinely busy that it almost seems impossible, improbable or just not worth the time and effort to pursue something greater than what we are doing now.

But the reality is that there can be nothing further from the truth. All you have to do is ask the questions whose answers will empower you to realign your routine with the activities most conducive to achieving your goals.

Here are 5 questions you can ask yourself every day or every Monday to help set the tone of your day or week.

1. What am I most passionate about? And am I pursuing my life’s greatest passions? If the answer is no, then why not?

2. What activities did I used to enjoy more than anything , that I just don’t make time for anymore? What replaced those activities?

3. What activities can I cut out of my schedule, to make room for something more productive or inspiring?

4. When was the last time I felt inspired and what do I need to do to feel that way again?

5. Is what I am doing today, my only purpose on Earth? If the answer is no, then what do I want my purpose to be?

After you answer these questions, check out my video. In it I talk about the potential of a simple matchstick in comparison to your potential. The matchstick, when struck can set the world on fire. What about you? Does the thought of never achieving your greatest dream create enough friction inside of you to set you on fire…?