I’ve written about Christine Kelly and her site, Self-Made Chick, before.

She’s smart, funny, generous with her knowledge (self-made, at that), and generally right-on when it comes to all things netpreneurial.  This chick walks the talk!

She’s recently written about how she turned her experiences (in business and in life) into a short ebook and made a few bucks along the way.

I’m confident she’s going to make a lot more before she’s done with this little mini-venture.

And, specifically for those of you who’re exploring online publishing, her model’s a good one if you want to get something into a downloadable ebook format.

So, check out the Self-Made Chick.  Good stuff and a Top 5er.

Popularity: 47% [?]

If your dream job involves running something online, you’re going to love this one.

I enjoy running across things that are just so simply beautiful and that make me stand back and say, “Wow, I wish I would have thought of that!”

So, it’s with fun and pleasure that today I bring you news of FreeRice – an organization that combines getting smarter with doing good. Read more »

Popularity: 47% [?]

If your dream job is to work with words or ideas in some fashion, you really oughta check out what Eldon Sarte is doing over at Wordpreneur.

Wordpreneur is all about writing for dough, and there are a ton-o-sites with that same focus.  However, what makes Eldon’s site different is his slightly-offbeat-yet-laser-focused attitude and take on all things writing and publishing. Read more »

Popularity: 51% [?]

If you are serious about your goals, drop the conditions. Go directly to your goal. Be your goal! Conditions often disguise strategies for escaping accountability. Why not just take charge and create the experience you are looking for?
Eric Allenbaugh

Is that powerful stuff or what?  You bet it is.

And, I love this way of thinking.  I first got turned on to “being the goal” through the master of them all, Earl Nightingale and his book Earl Nightingale’s Secret Discovery.

You become what you think about, says Earl.

That man can deliver a powerful message.

Speaking of powerful messages, I’ve really been getting into a CD series lately (got ‘em on MP3 downloads) by Mike Dooley — Infinite Possibilities.  Mike’s mantra is that thoughts become things.

Be the goal.

You become what you think about.

Thoughts become things.

Wowie, zowie!  Take a sip-o-that nectar, Dream Jobber.  Powerful, mighty powerful stuff.  (Hint:  It works!)

If you want to invest a tad in your future, check all of these out.

I mean it, if you can learn that becoming the goal — turning your thoughts to things through becoming what you think about — you are there . . . you’re on the cusp of having your dream job . . . and a whole lot more.

Let me know how you’re getting on.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I’m a movie fanatic.  I like most kinds of movies, but I’m partial to some of the great black and white oldies from the 40s and 50s.  I have a daughter who’s also into movies, yet if I try to get her to watch anything that was made before 1990, you’d think I was asking her to throw away the best two hours of her life.

Old, sometimes and for some people, is just not worthy.  I find myself walking past older books and titles in the bookshop in favor of the newer ones, for example.  So, it’s always a wake-up call for me when I rediscover something from an older book or a master thinker from days of yore.

Old books and thinkers remind me that people have gone before us, thinking the same thoughts, and struggling with the same issues. Nope, not many from the past had the luxury of “worrying” about getting a dream job (they were happy just to have food on the table and a warm place to sleep at night), but our ancestors did struggle with values and choices in their lives.  They did worry about doing the right things, for themselves, their families, and their communities.

So, it was great when I rediscovered Henry D. Thoreau a few weeks ago and realized how appropriate he is to those of us in our dream-job quest.  Here’s one of his thoughts:

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.  To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.  To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we with to dominate our lives.

Are you doing that Dream Jobber?  Are you thinking the thoughts that will lead you to action that will take you in the direction of that desire you’ve always had?

Thinking over and over and over again . . . and turning those thoughts into action is what will get you that dream job.

If you’d like to learn more about your thoughts leading to action, you may want to check out a more contemporary source, and another master, Earl Nightingale and his book, Earl Nightingale’s Secret Discovery.

Thoreau . . . Nightingale.  The best of the best.  Top 5ers.  Check ‘em out.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Here’s a pop quiz for you, Dream Job Seeker:

I know of a book that I’m sure you’ve read (maybe a few dozen times, even!) that will tell you exactly what sort of tools you’ll need in order to get your dream job.

Think for a moment . . . hmmmm . . . let me scroll down a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Know what it is?

Give up?

You don’t even have to read it again to get its meaning.

Scroll down a little more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready?

 

It’s Watty Piper’s classic all-time great one, The Little Engine That Could.

A Top-5er for sure, right up there with Nightingale and all the rest.

Check ‘er out.

Better yet, try this:  Go get the book at your library (or off your kid’s book stand even).  Once in hand, plan to get up 15 minutes early the following morning.  Make yourself a cup of your favorite hot drink, snuggle up in your favorite chair, and read the book.

What does it make you feel and think?

Can you give it a try?

Popularity: 8% [?]

Barbara Sher has been writing and speaking, elegantly and inspirationally, about living your dream-job life longer than just about anyone I know.

I’ve devoured just about everything she’s ever written, and her words ring true.

I’ll do more complete reviews of some of her classic books down the road, but for now I simply wanted to encourage you to get to know her and her work.

While you could pick up any of her books and be the better for it within a few reading sessions, I suggest you start with one of these three books, then work on from there:

Wishcraft, about getting the life you really want.

Refuse to Choose, about having a multi-part (portfolio) career and life, pursuing many of your interests.

I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, about self-discovery.

These are truly change-your-life kind of books.

Check ‘er out, a genuine Top 5er.

Popularity: 9% [?]

You probably know by now that I’m a big Jeffrey Gitomer fan.

He’s written a number of sales-oriented books over the years and I’ve scanned them with only mild interest, so it wasn’t until his most recent book, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, that I got hooked on Gitomereze.

I’m also a true believer in following the advice of people you trust, so now that I know Gitomer a bit, I wanted to pass along his advice on the four books he says you need to read if you want to get your head on straight (Jeffrey calls it attitude self-awareness).

Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie

The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale

Notice that all of these are true oldies.  But, so what, they only get smarter with every year.

Check ‘em out.

And, of course, check out Gitomer’s latest when you get the chance.

These are all Top 5ers.

 

Popularity: 8% [?]

I read.

A lot.

And, over the years, I’ve dabbled in self-help and success books.  I go through spurts, and honestly, sometimes I get pretty fed up with all the rah-rah stuff.  But, I also admit that I have to attribute much of what I’ve learned to all the great rah-rahers out there — Nightingale, Mandino, Canfield, Robbins, and countless others (Gitomer’s a new one on my radar).  There’s no substitute for on-the-life training and actually being out there doing and living your work, your life, and your dream job; but, great books are a tremendous supplement to that.

As I was thinking about all of these writers and cheerleaders last night, it occurred to me that they all take up a common theme, despite their side stories and experiences.

What all of the success literature of all time boils down to is what Earl Nightingale says in his class book, Earl Nightingale’s Greatest Discovery, and it’s this:

You become what you think about.

That’s it.

That’s the secret to success, and to getting your dream job.

Now, you’d have to read the whole book to get to the meaning behind those words (nope, you can’t just sit around and day dream about your dream job — ya gotta actually do something at some point), but that’s the essence of success.

Say your dream job is to become a charter boat captain somewhere in Florida.  You start by reading everything you can about boating.  Then, you boat wherever you are.  You talk to other boaters, and you meet a captain or two.  You take a vacation to Florida and spend as much time as you can on charter boats.  Maybe you hire on for a week or two to be a mate.  You read some more.  And, you think about your dream job.  All that thinking turns to doing turns to being what you’re thinking about.

I’m tellin’ ya right here and now, Earl Nightingale is right — you become what you think about.

Check out his classic of a book, Earl Nightingale’s Greatest Discovery and let me know what you think.  It has been around for ages, and it gets smarter with each passing year.

Nightingale and this book are both Top 5ers.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I’m a pretty serious, and often intense, reader.

Sometimes I think it’s almost a disease — this fascination with all things books, writing, and publishing.  I’m that guy you see who picks up a magazine (on any topic!) while standing in the checkout line . . . just to have something to read.  I’ll read the backs of laundry pick-up slips while waiting in a drop-off line or the “How To Prepare Your Package for International Shipment” poster while in the post-office queue.

I read fiction (historical fiction, mostly European-related, mysteries, espionage, and literature) and non-fiction (business, how-to, current events) alike.

So, yeah, I read a lot, but I also go in spurts.

I can read three books in three days and then not read anything for a month.

But, when I get the hunger and just gotta have a new book in front of me, I can get pretty desperate.  I’ll walk around the bookstore for an hour or two and, if nothing seems to hit me, I’ll prowl the library . . . if nothing still works, I can get pretty kick-the-dog kind of edgy.

I’d recently been going through one of these can’t-find-a-book-to-save-my-life phases, when an author’s name jumped out at me from the Borders’ bookshelf — the writer is William Boyd and he can, quite simply, write the pants off of just about anyone else.  I’d kind of forgotten about him (having not read any of his stuff for a couple of years), but I almost wet my pants when I realized he has a new book out.

So, really, if you like great fiction — I wouldn’t really classify his stuff as historical fiction, but he does do sweeping across the 20th-century-Euro-themes a lot — grab this guy’s stuff.

His newest book (great, but not my favorite) is Restless, a two-in-one story about a daughter and a mother who’s not all she appears to be.  Great writing, great story line (contemporary and pre-WWII Europe), and just a fine piece of storytelling.

And, if you’re intrigued with this writer, know that his Any Human Heart is definitely a Top5er in my book, and might even be the single best thing I’ve read in the last 10 years.

Not far behind Any Human Heart is The New Confessions, which is also on my Top5er list.

All William Boyd stuff is really worth spending some time with.

Fortunately, I’ve recently (well, what took me so long, I don’t know!) developed a system whereby I stock up with books so that I’ll always have something on the shelf in my times of need.  The shelf is bulging with a pile-o-goodies right now, so I’m a smiling-and-reading fool at the moment.

Popularity: 13% [?]