6 Things Successful People Know About Turning Your Passion into a Dream Job

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <figure class="article-image-container article-image-container-horizontal" itemprop="image" itemscope="" style="margin: 0px 0px 50px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="6, things, successful, people, know, about, turning, your, passion, into, a, dream, job, " class="photo-image-article-main enlarge-image" height="530" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" src="http://media3.mic.com/NTlhYTEwMGE2ZiMvODN0Nk4xeEVEUEl0V2FuUlI3Ul9xMEhSblBZPS8yeDQzOjEyODB4ODQ5Lzg0MHg1MzAvczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzLzI2MGJhNDk5MmE1OTdlMmY2NGQ5YzAxNTc1ZTQ5MjU0NzdkOGVjNzAwYzBhNDY4N2VjZWJjYjRlN2JkNTljZGYuanBn.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; min-width: 350px; vertical-align: middle; width: 830px;" width="840" /></span><figcaption class="article-image-caption" style="float: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 7px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">6 Things Successful People Know About Turning Your Passion into a Dream Job</span></figcaption><figcaption class="artice-image-attribution" style="float: right; font-style: italic; margin-top: 7px;"></figcaption></figure><div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://r1.fmpub.net/?k1=cmx-metric&k2=6025%7C107%7C334&k3=post&k4=&r=http%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B280044678%3B106818832%3Bl" style="text-decoration: none;"><img class="no-lightbox" data-no-share-btns="true" height="83" src="http://media2.policymic.com/eac65c87649f8f91e50d282d6928d04e.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; height: auto; margin-top: -5px; max-width: 100%; padding-right: 5px; vertical-align: middle;" width="90" /></a> This post is in partnership with <a href="http://r1.fmpub.net/?k1=cmx-metric&k2=6025%7C185%7C492&k3=logo&k4=&r=http%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B280044678%3B106818832%3Bl" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">Cadillac</a>. It's part of a series on young CEOs and Founders who are disrupting industries, and the lessons they've learned.</span></span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A fifth grader from Georgia goes to space camp and experiences weightlessness for the first time. A few years later, he’s standing spellbound at an airshow. At 22, he walks into a conference room to broker the sale of a multimillion-dollar airplane and a business is born. Jamail Larkins, now 30, is the founder and CEO of Ascension Air.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It’s an incredible career full of lessons learned, and if you ask him about it, he’s still at the beginning. Ascension Air leases small aircrafts to pilots, who can then access a fleet of planes for a fraction of the price. It has 24 full-time employees and bases in Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale and, with $8 million in annual revenue, it’s already a success. But his vision is bigger. Larkins wants to operate in every major metropolitan area. He wants to turn Ascension into a household name.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In an interview with <em>Mic</em>, Larkins, who’s often mentioned as one of the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkk45jike/jamail-larkins-29/" style="text-decoration: none;">top entrepreneurs under 30</a> in the country, lays out some of the biggest lessons he’s learned about identifying one’s passion and turning it into a dream job. Because for so many young people who want to make an impact, the challenge is often identifying the what — what do I love to do and how do I make it happen?</span></div> <div id="article-items"> <section class="article-item"><header class="position"><h3 style="margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="number">1.</span> Identify the experiences you can't shake.</span></span></h3> </header><div class="body"> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <img class="enlarge-image" src="http://media2.policymic.com/83e362fd1ff7c5eff698761b897cf7ea.png" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="250" /></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Don’t waste a moment sitting behind your desk wondering, “What should I do with my life,” says Larkins. It’s the wrong question to ask.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The better question is: What experiences have you had that you can’t shake, that have had a profound effect on who you are? Build your identity around those.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Upon asking Larkins if there was a specific moment he could pinpoint, where he knew what he was going to do with his life, he laughs. He identifies a few different experiences that stayed with him instead, like going to space camp for the first time and later an airshow:</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I thought it would be so cool to be one of those [pilots performing in an airshow] ... everyone just watching me.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He kept following his interests. After the airshow, Larkins started taking lessons. A year later, at 14, he petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to let him fly solo. The FAA wouldn’t let him (you have to be at least 16 to fly solo in the U.S.), so he traveled to Canada, where the age restrictions are looser. By then, flying was his full-blown passion.</span></div> </div> </section><section class="article-item"><header class="position"><h3 style="margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="number">2.</span> Surround yourself with those experiences.</span></span></h3> </header><div class="body"> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <img class="enlarge-image" src="http://media2.policymic.com/edac98e0d33e46fe823888eb3c55fe6b.png" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="310" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Once you know which experiences really speak to you, immerse yourself in a related industry.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When Larkins got back from Canada, he landed jobs selling flight instruction manuals and washing airplanes. He continued doing things that kept him close to flying.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I came from an average middle-class family. I realized as a kid that if I’m going to fly when I want to fly, I’m going to have to afford to do it on my own.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That’s when the pieces started coming together.</span></div> </div> </section><section class="article-item"><header class="position"><h3 style="margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="number">3.</span> Make connections and be ready.</span></span></h3> </header><div class="body"> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It’s one of the most important lessons. Larkins does everything he can to stay up-to-date on the industry and the people in it — what they’re doing, what interests them — so if he’s ever in a room, he can connect with them and be ready for any opportunity.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Networking is huge,” he says. “It’s hard to describe how important the people you meet and know are ... and that’s really about preparation. Whatever it is you want ... you’ll never get it unless you’re ready for it.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When Larkins was in college, a wealthy friend was interested in leasing a plane. Larkins said, “I can help you with that,” and called someone he knew from Embry-Riddle, an aeronautics school, to help him broker the deal. His first one.</span></div> </div> </section><section class="article-item"><header class="position"><h3 style="margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="number">4.</span> People will discourage you, but forget them.</span></span></h3> </header><div class="body"> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Don’t let other people’s hang-ups over your age, race, gender or anything else deter you. Larkins recalls walking into the conference room to seal that multimillion-dollar deal.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The closing guy representing the company ... when I walked in, he looked at me like, ‘There’s no way that this is the guy signing the paperwork.’ Looks can be deceiving,” Larkins says, laughing.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No one knows your dream better than you do.</span></div> </div> </section><section class="article-item"><header class="position"><h3 style="margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="number">5.</span> Keep your eye on your goal and don’t stop.</span></span></h3> </header><div class="body"> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Big dreams can seem so far away it’s sometimes hard to know where to begin. But if you have the guts to start, with every obstacle you overcome the more you’ll want to achieve.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Today, Larkins operates Ascension Air with bases in Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale, but he has expansion plans that put every U.S. city in his sights. It’s a daunting vision that leaves an incredible amount of work undone.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We’ve got a really long way to go,” Larkins says. “We may never accomplish it, but it’s the goal I’m going for.”</span></div> </div> </section><section class="article-item"><header class="position"><h3 style="margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="number">6.</span> Find role models and people you can learn from.</span></span></h3> </header><div class="body"> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You’re not the first person to walk this path. If you need inspiration, it’s everywhere.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I read a lot of biographies of people who have nothing to do with aviation,” Larkins says, “but are successful in their own way ... and I look at the things they’ve done and try to apply them to my own life.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Chances are, if you do the same, your career will start taking shape and bend closer and closer to the dream you’ve always had.</span></div> </div> </section></div> </div>

6 Things Successful People Know About Turning Your Passion into a Dream Job

6 Things Successful People Know About Turning Your Passion into a Dream Job  This post is in partnership with  Cadillac . It's part of...

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How Winners Accidentally Damage Relationships

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> By <span class="Authors inc_editable" data-content-id="58750" data-content-type="article" data-editor-class="AuthorListEditor" data-editor-label="Author" data-fieldname="authors" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: inherit;"><a href="http://www.inc.com/author/marshall-goldsmith" rel="author" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">MARSHALL GOLDSMITH</a></span><span class="TwitterHandles inc_editable" data-content-id="58750" data-content-type="article" data-editor-class="AuthorListEditor" data-editor-label="Author" data-fieldname="authors" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: inherit;">  <a href="http://www.twitter.com/coachgoldsmith" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="blank">@COACHGOLDSMITH</a></span><br /> <br /> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If your first reaction to an idea is "That's great, but..." you could be damaging relationships and morale. Best-selling author Marshall Goldsmith explains how to break one of the worst habits of people who love to win.</span><br /> <div id="narrowArticleHeaderContainer" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <figure class="panographic-image inc_editable_area ArticleMainFigure imageLoaded" data-editable-area-class="ArticleMainFigureArea" id="panographic-image-a" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 16px -28px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="picture inc_editable inc_editable_image" data-content-id="58750" data-content-type="article" data-editor-class="ImageEditor" data-editor-label="Main Image" data-fieldname="image" data-parent-id="wrappercontainer" id="articleheaderimage" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: top;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 668px;"><img src="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/Marshall-Goldsmith_38278.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 668px;" /></span><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit;"> </span></span></div> <span class="medium large" data-src-x2="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/Marshall-Goldsmith_38278.jpg" data-src="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/Marshall-Goldsmith_38278.jpg" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div> </figure></div> <div id="toppromo" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div class="bodycopy inc_editable_area" data-editable-area-class="EditableArea" id="bodycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; min-width: 20px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="article-page-body inc_editable" data-content-id="58750" data-content-type="article" data-editor-class="InlineTextEditor" data-editor-label="Body" data-fieldname="inc_clean_text" id="article-page-body" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 20px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: top;"> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The higher up you go in your organization, the more you need to make other people winners and not make your job about winning yourself. This is a hard concept</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for people who like to win to grasp. The more successful you become, the more helping others win is how you win!</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For those in leadership positions, this means closely monitoring how you hand out encouragement and how you "help" others improve. If you find yourself saying, "That is great..." and then dropping the other shoe with a tempering "but," stop yourself before you speak. Take a breath and ask yourself if what you're about to say is worth it. In most cases, it isn't. If you really want to succeed and encourage others to do the same, try stopping at "great!"</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is a challenge even for those who have acknowledged they do this and think they are past it. Let me share a little story with you. A few years ago, I taught a class at a telecom headquarters. One of the men in my class mocked me when I mentioned this problem that so many of us have with "That is great, but..." He thought it was easy not to use the words. He was so sure of himself that he offered $100 for each time he used these words. I made a point of sitting with him during our lunch break. I asked him where he was from, and he replied Singapore.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Singapore? I said. "That's a great city!"</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Yeah," he replied, "it's great, but..."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He caught himself immediately, and reached into his pocket for cash, saying, "I just lost $100, didn't I?"</span></div> <div class="inlinevideo" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="inline-player-wrap" id="inctv-player-1" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 30px 0px 360px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="kWidgetIframeContainer" id="inline_kaltura_player_1" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: 390px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 640px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><iframe class="mwEmbedKalturaIframe" id="inline_kaltura_player_1_ifp" name="inline_kaltura_player_1_ifp" scrolling="no" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: 390px; margin: 0px; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 640px;"></iframe></span></div> </div> <h2 class="inlinevideoheadline" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px 8px 125px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Marshall Goldsmith: Stop the "No, But, However"</span></span></h2> <div class="inline-player-color-notch" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: 3px; margin: 8px 0px 30px 125px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 14px;"> </div> </div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That's how pervasive this urge to win can be. It creeps into our conversations even when the discussion is trivial, even when we should be hyperaware of our word choices, and even when it might cost us $100.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That was a description of a mild case of this bad habit. Those who have the more serious version are even more harmful and discouraging. We all know negative people. My wife calls them "negatrons." These are people who are incapable of saying something positive or complimentary to any of your suggestions. Negativity is their default response. You could walk into their office with the cure for cancer, and the first words out of their mouth would be, "Let me explain why that won't work."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is the telltale phrase of negativity. It's emblematic of a need to share negative thoughts, even when they haven't been solicited. "Let me explain why that won't work" is different from adding value--because no value is added. It's the big, bad brother of "That is great, but..." because rather than hiding our negativity under the mask of agreement, it is pure unadulterated negativity under the guise of being helpful.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As with "That is great, but..." we employ "Let me explain why that won't work" to establish that our expertise or authority is superior to someone else's. It doesn't mean that what we say is correct or useful. It's simply a way of inserting ourselves into a situation as chief arbiter or senior critic.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you think one or both of these phrases might be your mode of negative modus operandi, I'd advise you to monitor your statements the moment someone offers you a helpful suggestion. Paying attention to what you say in response to people's ideas is a great indicator of how you come across to them. If you find yourself frequently saying, "That is great, but..." you know you need to take a breath, pay attention, and stop yourself at "great!</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100% !important; font-family: Vollkorn, 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 1.5em;">"</span></div> </div> </div> </div>

How Winners Accidentally Damage Relationships

By  MARSHALL GOLDSMITH    @COACHGOLDSMITH If your first reaction to an idea is "That's great, but..." you could be damaging...

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