Jared Akers

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Do You Want it More Than You Are Afraid of It?

by Jared Akers

Hanging out on Facebook the other day I saw a quote posted by Henri over at Wakeup Cloud. The quote was from Bill Cosby and it said, “Decide that you want it, more than you are afraid of it.”

Henri’s comment on his FB post was, “When you make this shift, everything changes.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Real change starts when we decide that no matter how great the fear, the possible payoff is worth it. Moreover, with this perspective and attitude, we have the open-mindedness and perseverance to turn obstacles into challenges.

The Convergence of Emotional and Financial Support

During my workday I often take a break and walk around some wooded areas close to my office building. It’s when I do some of my best thinking.

With “follow your passion” being all the rage these days, it’s a topic I think about often. In short, it’s the concept of doing what you love and getting paid for it. And guys like Jonathan Mead at Paid to Exist and Henri at Wakeup Cloud are doing extraordinary things in helping people achieve just that.

Ultimately the goal is to have what supports us financially also support us emotionally and/or spiritually. Unfortunately that’s not the case for most people. But why can’t our workplace provide more emotional and spiritual fulfillment instead of adding stress and frustration?

Thankfully many companies are starting to realize this and incorporate emotional intelligence programs into their workplace. Let’s hope the trend continues.

If you’re interested in emotional intelligence, I suggest two books initially:

  • Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace) by Chade-Meng Tan (Amazon). This book is pretty good and talks about how an EI program started within Google changed the way they do business and helped peoples lives.
  • Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman (Amazon). This book is long and in-depth. I loved it. It offers a ton of detail in the science of emotions.

About Me

Jared & Emily Akers Hello, I'm Jared Akers. And that lovely lady next to me, that's my wife Emily. This photo was taken in 2009 while on the island of Curacao SCUBA diving. We're happy, and want you to be happy too.

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