Eve Wright - Life at the Speed of Passion: Create a Life of Intention, Purpose, and Integrity

Create a Life of Intention,
Purpose, and Integrity

EVE WRIGHT, ESQ.

Copyright 2014 by Eve Wright

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Ca-reer Press.

LIFE AT THE SPEED OF PASSION
EDITED AND TYPESET BY KARA KUMPEL
Cover design by Joanna Williams
Printed in the U.S.A.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wright, Eve.

Life at the speed of passion : create a life of intention, purpose, and integrity / by Eve Wright, Esq.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-60163-314-9 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-472-6 (ebook) 1. Self-actualization (Psychology) 2. Self-realization. 3. Interest (Psychology) 4. Job satisfaction. 5. Satisfaction. 6. Success. I. Title.

BF637.S4W725 2014

158.1--dc23

2014000406

To my daughter, whose focus, persistence, and independent streak are reminiscent of her mothers.

To my mother and my husband, thank you for your unwavering love and support of me and my relentless pursuit of the infinite possibilities.

To my work family (particularly the gals), the friends I interviewed, and those to whom I refer in admiration in this book, thank you for your humor, your candor, your life lessons, and your infinite ability to inspire.

Do you have a philosophy that shapes your life? I do. As a matter of fact, these days I never leave home without it. It is quite a simple one, actually:

There is nothing I cannot achieve.

Maybe it doesnt sound that simple, but trust me, you will find that it is once you start living it for yourself. This philosophy is the driving force of my belief system, and it compels me to strive for excellence each and every day. Pursuing goals, both personal and professional, is key to my success. But this was not always so.

When I was younger, I had a tendency to focus on my academic career. I pursued my academic goals with zeal, but in my personal life, I lagged behind. As I matured, I realized why my personal life was not very satisfying: I was not constructing the same framework for my personal success and happiness as I was for my academic pursuits. I realized that if I wanted to achieve the same level of success with my personal life, changes needed to be made. So I went to work on creating a framework that would help me achieve both professional and personal success.

My first step was to explore interests and activities outside of my studies. Once I started looking, I gleefully discovered a world of interests that could consume and fulfill me just as much as my academic career had, and I realized that my personal triumphs could be just as remarkable as those of my academic career. My mother used to say to me, There is no need to waste a perfectly good life waiting on moments that never come. Her wise words did not resonate with me fully until I was mature enough to see the wisdom in her philosophy. This was her way of telling me to think outside the box and unearth my true potential to achieve my greatest success. Now, I am passing that advice on to you: Never let yourself be defined by another persons expectations. Continually reject the labels people want to force on you. Once I broke free from the labels and boundaries set for me, I was able to unlock my full potential. My ability to set my own agenda and embrace my passions with abandon allowed me to see far beyond my own imagination.

I believe we all suffer from a personal expectation ceiling. Now, you may have heard of glass ceilings beforethe invisible barriers many women feel inhibit them from climbing up the corporate ladderbut we can also set our own ceiling made of our personal expectations of what we are able to achieve. These ceilings are often formed from and influenced by fears about stepping outside and exploring new challenges. Our goal is to recognize these limitations and shatter this ceiling by raising the bar and challenging ourselves to excel beyond the paths that have been chosen for us.

This is possible because we are all in charge of our own destiny. I am here to tell you that there is no room in your life for negativity and defeatist attitudes that drag you down. You can become so bogged down with negative thoughts and a woe is me attitude that you simply fail to achieve. Never allow other people and their expectation ceilingnor even the one you make yourselfto define what you are capable of achieving. You are the captain of your ship and solely responsible for your happiness and success. The right attitude will propel you forward and allow you to shake free of the chains of others notions that attempt to define you. You are limitless. Your ability to succeed depends on your belief in yourself and your ideas.

Heres an example from my life that illustrates how breaking free of others expectations and the roles they have assigned to you is the best move you can make. When I was in law school, I wanted a particular law clerk position, but the people around me were intent on talking me out of it, pointing out how it would require me to pick up and move to a strange city where I would be all alone, and how the position wouldnt count toward my law school program. Why would you want to go there and do that? Why uproot your whole life when things are fine where you are? These were the questions I received when I talked about my plans to conquer the challenge. But I was not deterred, and I harassed (in a nice way) the hell out of a group of individuals until I got the position. Then I dug in and convinced my school to give me credit for the clerkship. And my challenge did not stop there. I also found a way, by hook and by crook, to secure a temporary place to live and a job to cover my expenses. Soon I was making my way in a new city all by myself, and it was one of the best things I could have done.

Thats just one example of how other people and their negative, defeatist attitudes can try to shape your life. I could have taken their advice to heart and followed the traditional pathit certainly would have been easier. But, honestly, all the effort I put forth to achieve my goal was so worth it. I am here to tell you that once you start to figure out the life you want for yourself and then work to make it your reality, the world opens up! It is almost as though the expectation ceilings, defeatist attitudes, and negativity are dark clouds in your life that are burned away by the sunshine that is you.