Barbara Sher - Live the Life You Love In Ten Easy Step-By Step Lessons

Barbara Sher has helped thousands of people recapture their dreams, overcome self-doubt and fear, and find meaning in their lives with her sensational bestsellers I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was and Wishcraft. Now, in a book that is a brilliant culmination of her groundbreaking ideas, the New York Times bestselling author goes beyond the principles introduced in her previous books to design a revolutionary new program that will help you create a life you will lovein just ten easy step-by-step lessons:

1. Find the hidden motivators in your life: the untapped energy sources that will get you where you want to go

2. Gather an unusual support system that works from within and without

3. Uncover the buried feelings that hold you back and get past them forever

4. Learn an astonishingly easy trick to clearing space and making time in your life to go after your dreams

5. Discover the unique gifts that make you different from any other person

6. Overcome the one biggest obstacle in your path toward fulfilling your dreams

7. Access an idea bank to get the information you need on your way

8. Use a dress rehearsal to work out problems before you put your plans into real-life practice

9. Create an ingenious tool that makes the final steps toward your dream a breeze

10. Choose a path that will lead you straight to a life thats perfect for you, a life you deserve a life you will love!

LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE
Its easier than you think!

A DELL TRADE PAPERBACK
Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Random House, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036

Copyright 1996 by Barbara Sher

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address Delacorte Press, New York, New York.

The trademark Dell is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

eISBN: 978-0-307-76405-8

Reprinted by arrangement with Delacorte Press

Published simultaneously in Canada

v3.1

CONTENTS

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

W hat would it take to make you really happy?

Would you have to be a huge financial success? Have the biggest house in town? Own your own helicopter? Thats what advertisers tell us is the key to happiness.

Well, I think theyre totally wrong.

Unless you have some innate, personal love of big houses or helicopters, dont let yourself buy into someone elses idea of the good life. If you do, youre in for a big letdown. Because no one but you has any idea what will make you happy.

What you love is as unique to you as your fingerprints. You need to know that because nothing will make you really happy but doing what you love. Just look at people who are actually living their dreams. You can see a calm focus in their eyes and patience in their actions. They know theyre in the right place, doing the right thing.

I know a man who loves getting up in the morning, going out into his kennel and checking on his Jack Russell terriers. I cant wait to get out there and say hello, see if theyre okay, have them say hello to me.

I know a fourth grade art teacher who says, I love to create an atmosphere that makes the children open up. You should see what they paint. I think theyre the greatest artists in the world!

And I know the owner of a cafe who loves to go to work every day. Theres nothing like having your own place. I like everything about it, grinding the coffee, talking to customers, even wiping the counter.

Somewhere inside yourself you know what you love, too. You dream of starting your own business, or traveling the world, or finding the right mate; you wish you could ride the horses on your own ranch, or lead your party to victory as a senator; or go diving off the Great Barrier Reef with a fabulous underwater camera.

Or maybe you dont know exactly what your dreams are, but you can sense them somewhere deep within you. Even when theyre not clearly defined, theyre never far away. As a matter of fact, dreams are almost impossible to get rid of. They trouble and tempt you. They keep reminding you that youre not satisfied with your life, that something crucial is missing.

And thats very lucky for you. If your dreams didnt trouble you, youd forget them entirely. Thats what you were trained to do. Most of us were told that wed have to make daunting sacrifices to go after what we love: wed have to abandon our lives and live in garrets or on mountaintops and wed have to have talent a thousand times greater than anyone else, because only special people make it. Whenever we dream out loud, were criticized for being foolish by people who really have no idea how special we are. As a result, we crush our dreams without giving them half a chance. Whenever we begin thinking, Id love to travel, or Id love to paint, we quickly rattle off all the reasons why we cant: I dont have the money, I dont have the time, I might not be good enough

How do I know all this? Because Im just like you. In the middle of trying to survive as a single working parent with two jobs, I too watched my birthdays come and go. When my life would get quiet for a moment, I could hear the nagging voice of unfinished dreams. What were they? I didnt really know. But sometimes in the evenings after Id put the children to bed, Id have thoughts I never would have admitted to anyone: maybe I was special. Maybe I was supposed to be doing something remarkable. Maybe one day Id be respected for doing what I loved.

Sometimes Id even take a tentative step. Id convince myself that I should be able to make something of myself, no matter what the odds. After all, we create our own reality, dont we? All I had to do was believe in myself and I could do anything, right? At least, thats what it said in every self-improvement book Id ever readand I had read them all. Just think positive, tough it out, never quit. If you cant follow through on a dream, the problem is all in your head. Change your thinking.