[note to self: Portions may require re-writing]

I believe that everyone should take the time to find their passion in life. When you do that, it gives you purpose, direction, the motivation and the drive to actually achieve their goals. Did you know that 80% of people never actually get what they want in life because they simply didn't have the courage to start? Out of the remaining 20%, 80% of them will never achieve their goal because they quit not realizing just how close they were to succeeding. If you do the math, that leaves about 4% of people who achieve their goals just because they started and they didn't give up.

Whether you realize it or not, at this stage in your life, you have a tremendous opportunity to start shaping your life in a positive way. While I can't tell you what your path will be, I would be happy to provide some guidance to get you on the right path.

I recently came across a brilliant article that I think you'll find SO helpful in your job and career search. I believe you are old enough to really appreciate it and get true value from it. It’s written by Peter Drucker, a great Strategic Interventionist working in the area of management and organizational psychology – but it’s not just about management. It’s about how to manage and guide yourself in anything that’s meaningful to you – how to understand yourself, strengthen yourself, energize yourself, create more meaning and guide yourself to your greater success and fulfillment.

It’s really a wonderful piece and you'll find it attached to this email.

A key part of being happy, finding success and creating a truly extraordinary life is self-understanding: you need to know how you’re ALREADY wired in order to capitalize on the innate strengths, talents, and convictions you already have.

Drucker guides you to ask yourself five questions:

1. What are my strengths?

Our culture teaches us to be well-rounded. Our schools force us to work on our weaknesses by taking classes on topics we will always find difficult. But the truth is that all of us have vast areas in which we are NOT strong and never will be excellent. But it often takes less effort to become outstanding in an area of strength than it takes to become mediocre in an area we have no strength. In work, you need to understand and focus on your strengths.

2. How do I work?

What’s your learning style? How do you best take in information and turn it into results? If you know how you learn best, you'll be able to understand more quickly and retain new knowledge much longer, and you'll be much more skillful in your communication.

3. What are my values?

What do you see as your most important responsibilities for living a worthy, ethical life? These are your emotional drivers that will either bring out your greatest strengths – or will leave you conflicted.

4. Where do I belong?

For thousands of years of human history, people did not have a choice of where they should go and what they should do. If you were born a peasant, you did what others did and died a peasant. Today we not only have a choice – sometimes the choice is overwhelming. Here are the key questions to ask yourself about where you should be that will bring out the best in you and most benefit the people around you.

5. What can I contribute?

In earlier eras, companies told business people what their contribution should be. Work was based on force. Today, work is based on choice. You must be intelligent and decide yourself. Based on your strengths, work style, and values, understand you how might make the greatest contribution to your workplace and the world.

It's a quick read and I hope you'll take advantage of this excellent article! In fact, to take it one step further, I would also invite you to take a DISC assessment. It takes about 15 minutes and once completed, you will be provided with links to two insightful reports. One will tell you about your values and the other about your strength. You can start the assessment using the following link. The reports are personalised and take into consideration your gender so I would suggest that you enter your real name and gender. However it is not necessary to enter a real email address or telephone number. Here is the link: http://www.tonyrobbins.com/ue/disc-profile.php
Success comes to those who know themselves.

As I said, this is just the beginning. Once you start to know yourself, it will become easier to figure out what you want to do for a summer job and it will be much easier to find it. I would be happy to have a chat with you to help you focus in on what you want and figure out how to get it.