The space race was rocketing into full swing when President John F. Kennedy visited Cape Canaveral for the first time. While viewing the base, he noticed a janitor cleaning a mop and he interrupted the tour to introduce himself. Hello, I'm Jack Kennedy. Said the president. What kind of work are you doing here? The janitor replied, I'm helping put a man on the man. That janitor wasn't constrained by other people's definitions of success. He was doing work that mattered to him. What he did, matched who he was. And that made him limitless. By Laura Gasner-Oting. The core idea behind Laura's book is to help you prevent or let go of what you've been told success is and to define success yourself so you can become limitless. To become limitless, you must achieve consonants. Before I teach you how to do that, consider grabbing a copy of limitless through my Amazon link. If you grab a copy in the next 72 hours, I will send you an exclusive mini-class on how to find meaningful work to your email inbox. And you'll have a chance at winning a $100 cash prize, which I'll announce next week on the channel Community Feed. To enter, simply forward your Amazon receipt of your limitless purchase to inbox at animatedbookseminaries.com. Now let's learn how to achieve consonants in part 1, the consonants crisis. Why West Dark? This is your purpose freely and clearly defined by you. Put into action through awareness of and alignment with your life's plan. It's ever-changing, but there are four C's that are fixed and make up your consonants. They are calling, connection, contribution, and control. You will weigh the importance of each of the four C's differently at different stages in your life. I will help you figure out what your four C's are in a few minutes, but first keep watching and let's address the four things stopping you from living your best life, which Laura calls the four horsemen of the success apocalypse. The first is passion. We have been given bad advice since the dawn of time. Follow your passion. That advice, the spoken word illegitimate sister of the... Lips, lips, lips. Tattoo. Sounds all well and good. And maybe it even looks pretty in a scrolly font. It tantalizes with fleeting euphoria before it packs a wailing uppercut of disappointment. Laura suggests investing in your passion rather than following it. That means leaning into the goals you set for your life plan and finding your consonants which will cover shortly. The second is purpose. Do your job. Make your money. Volunteer on the side. That's what they said. Laura considers this misguided. You can have purpose in your job. You can start living your purpose as soon as you figure out what you want your purpose to be. Not just when you are done working. Purpose doesn't have to be philanthropy or service for others. It can be whatever you want it to be. Number three is happiness. Happiness at work has been confused with fulfillment. Easy communites, workout Wednesdays and having our best friend in the cubicle next door are all great pleasures. But they are fleeting. Working beats feeling like the work you do really matters. And number four, work life balance. Defining yourself differently when you are at work instead of home is the typical thing to do. But Laura believes that balance comes from aligning your work and home life towards the same overarching goals. What if work no longer felt like work because everything comes from deep inside of you? Questioning your limits. Millennials are seeking out healthy snacks in the workplace. Millennials are turning to entrepreneurship at the age of 39. And elderly people are seeking purpose in their later life. People are questioning their limits. Laura found herself working in the White House as a presidential appointee, helping Bill Clinton design and launch the Volunteer National Service program, AmeriCorps. She knew that she wanted her career to include putting people in the places they wanted to be to affect the most change in the world. So when she left the White House, she joined a nationally renowned executive search firm and learned from the best and brightest how to do this work. But at 25, she was left feeling that the work could be done with more integrity, authenticity, transparency, profit, and even better results for her clients. Once she had her first child, she knew that she needed better results, more impact, more money, more flexibility for herself too. So she started her own executive search firm and ran that for 15 years. The team felt like they had control by choosing projects they were interested in, working from the comfort of their own homes. The curtain was open to their clients to breathe transparency and connection. They focused on projects that resonated with their calling and they earned more money than their previous jobs. Laura sold the company in 2016 to her team members. Laura figured out what mattered to her staff, team, and herself. They achieved consonants together. Now it's time to figure out what matters to you. The too long, we've measured what matters using an outdated list of universal boxes to check. One that asks us to decide our opinion of a potential job based on metrics limited by old economies and previous generations. A common metric people used to decide on a life in Korea is, how much does the job pay? Just look at how many students are pursuing a medical degree to become a doctor because their parents said so and that it pays well. If you want to be a doctor, great. Go after it. But be honest with yourself as to whether that's what you truly want. Now as I promised, I'll help you figure out what your four seats are so you can achieve consonants. Part two. The four seats. The first is calling. Calling is a gravitational pull towards a goal larger than yourself. It doesn't have to be charity, sacrifice, or non-profit work. It is whatever you need it to be. It's a reason you jump out of bed in the morning. To help you figure out your calling, Laura suggests you ask yourself some questions. I'll share a few but for free to pond more questions that I'll leave in the video description below. What fuels me? Why do I do the work that I do? Can I identify my overarching goal? Number two, connection is how your everyday work serves your calling. Ask these questions. What would happen if you didn't show up to work today? How much of your work is related to your goals? How does your relationship with your leader or manager factor into your connection? Thirdly, contribution. Whereas connection is about how the work you do fulfills the calling you want to serve, contribution is all about you. It's about how the work you do helps to build the life you want to live and become limitless. So ask yourself, does your job afford you the lifestyle that you want? How do you want your work to contribute to the life you want to live? And would you be satisfied making less money if the work you did felt more aligned with your values? And lastly, control. Control reflects how you are able to influence your connection to your calling. Do you feel as though your opinion matters at work? Do you know what you do well and do you have a sense of how you could do more of it? Do you have any ability to influence the amount of money earned or the number of hours worked? Once you've figured out what you want, it's time to make practical changes. But where do you even start? For example, you might have a stable job as an accountant at a top firm that pays well. It's an okay job, but you strive for more control. Control over how much money you can earn and control over the type of clients you do accounting for. Keep watching to learn three practical solutions that will help you develop your calling, connection, contribution and control. Part three, finding your consonants. The first solution is to change your career. Yes, you really can do it. You have transferable skills that you've picked up along the way, probably without even realizing it. Changing your career can start with a simple shift of job position in the company you're at now, or there are other options like corporate philanthropy, which Laura expands on in her book. Maybe as an accountant, you are skilled at spreadsheets, so you can make the transition to a digital workflow automation specialist. The amount of options are limitless. Number two, is change your workplace. Ask your manager for changes in your workplace environment, or if you want to try something different, ask to work from home one day a week. Gradually build trust with your manager that you can do the work, then ask for more days where you work from home. I recently met an Aussie surf dude in Indonesia last year who did just that. If none of that resonates, then you could leave your workplace to become a freelancer or form your own company. Now it's my favorite one by the way. It's challenging and perhaps not for everyone, but jump with joy, knowing that you have the option. And lastly, change yourself. If none of the two solutions make sense for you, then it's time to change how you measure consonants. The first step is to stop trying so hard to keep up with everybody else. The random Instagrams you follow are the perfect recipe for Poison's comparison. The next step is to reflect on your life and make the hard choices. I remember my calling to world travel was so violently strong that every bone in my body told me that breaking up with my girlfriend was the right thing to do and pursue my travel adventures. I did it and never looked back. Here are some questions to ask yourself. What allows what you do to match who you are? What does success look like for you both now and in the future? How do you want your work to define your life or support your lifestyle? Let's recap. In today's video, we learned to define success for ourselves to become limitless. We become limitless by achieving consonants, which is made up of the four C's. Calling, connection, contribution and control. Three solutions include changing your career, your workplace or yourself. If you are looking for more help with finding meaningful work, Laura and I have put together a longer video conversation where we dive deeper into helping you, even if you have no idea where to start. Click the link in the description below to register for free and we'll see you there. Thanks for watching and I hope this video made you 1% better.