Have you been struggling in your career and life?

Many people strive for their dream job, an employment position they feel they can be successful in — but, for whatever reason, they can’t get it. Some have been proactive, prepared, taken courses, schmoozed with all the right people and even wore their hearts on their sleeves, only to have them ripped off and stepped on.

Sound familiar? Sometimes no matter what you say or no matter what you are capable of, someone else holds the key and refuses to give you a chance. They come up with all the politically correct answers for your unsuitability, but the fact remains, they’re in and you’re still out. So now what?

Back to the drawing board you go, to keep fighting. More courses, more training, more fake smiles and more believing you can get it someday. After all, doesn’t every book out there tell you to never give up, no matter how many times you are beaten down and pummelled in the boxing ring of life?

Well, I’m going to tell you the opposite. I suggest you stop and pivot.

If you believe in the theory of cause and effect, that things happen for a reason, you must agree that everything you have done in your past has led you here, right now. So, what are you going to do with that knowledge? You probably know a different direction to go in, one more suited to you, yet for whatever reason you continue to deny yourself the opportunity to pursue it.

If you know you need to go in a different direction to be happy, then make this change today and pivot your career and your life. Why are you choosing familiar pain over future happiness? Only you have the power to make a change for the better. Sure, we all start out our lives wanting to be successful, wealthy and loved. But we don’t live in a bubble of just ourselves and our thoughts. We must interact with other people and the world; and when that happens, things don’t always work out the way we wish. Your goal in life is to live as long as you can and at the end of your life be able to answer the following four questions with confidence and purpose.

Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? Did I make a difference?

Focus on making a change in the world around you and in your personal sphere of influence. If you do that, the success (and money) will follow – guaranteed!