  It occurs to me that part of my problem in my job hunt has been that i've kind of been waiting for something to come to me; for someone to bring me the position I'm looking for. Yeah, sure, I've made some half assed efforts to grab something unique and awesome, but for the most part I've been waiting for someone to say "Here...take this ball and run with it. It's the ball you've been kinda hoping you'd get, and I want you to have your opportunity with it. " Of course, real life doesn't actually work that way; if I want to play with that ball, I best intercept the pass next time it's thrown.
See, I've spent some time thinking about the difference between the ultra successful and the not so successful. What makes one person in "x" industry worth tons of money and incredibly happy, while another makes a mediocre salary or wage and goes to "work" to collect a paycheck? The easy answer is doing what you love makes everything else gravy. But there's more to it than just that. What is that extra little something that separates the Gates', Trump's, Bezos' of the world from a 50 grand a year employee in their company? The employee may very well love his/her job just as much. They may be just as bright, creative, skilled and with similar leadership qualities. So what is the X factor that makes the difference? Well, if I had that answer, my name would be in that list as well.
I think one factor that plays here is vision. One thing the best people at anything have in common is that they are visionaries; they think completely outside the box, come up with a masterful vision and then (and this is where I start to differ) they stick to that vision thru it's completion. Which is the second factor I can determine: Focus. While I've spent the last couple of years waiting for someone to hand me a mondo groovy career and pining and whining for the last one, I've completely lost my focus. I haven't got a clue what my career goals were five years ago (or my life goals for that matter) I only know that I haven't attained them. So, before I can reach the success I've always known I'm destined for (this is not arrogance, btw, this is just something I've known since I had conscious thought...)I must address this cancerous laziness that's been feeding on itself in my head. This blog is part of that, although I kind of made the decision subconsciously. I have, however, now vocalized my goals with this blog and the role it will play in my hunt for success. OK, so let's see here. I've determined that success needs the following ingredients (in no particular order as they're all inter-related): 1) Love what you do--I've always had this; I've quit many a job because I didn't love the industry or the job.
2) Be intelligent--I feel I have a certain amount of this. 3) Be creative-- well, I am a musician, and I have my blog, so that's got to be an inate ability of mine (not because of the blog, but because I've always done creative things) 4) Have a vision -- Ok I need to work on this...I got to find my vision--see need #3. 5) Focus -- My big weakness right now...perhaps this blog will help with this one... 6) Stop waiting to react and start forcing a reaction.
This one is KEY to my happiness in my career right now I believe. So I need to determine the steps to begin this process. 7) Look forwards, not backwards -- This has been a bit of a problem for me the past 8 months or so...time to stop that little self destructiveness... So now I have to start applying these known needs...if anyone out there reads this (like that happens...) and can think of some other needs, please post them in a comment, will ya? Thanks... This will be a continuing thread for a bit, methinks... though not necessarily all at once...I have other thoughts to write as well... 
