Just in time for the New Year and all of the resolutions and fresh starts that come with it, this blog post is the official announcement that Today is that Day will soon be under new management, and I will be moving back into the role that I used to help so many people in the past, and that is as a Fitness Coach.

My time here at Today is that Day has been nothing less than wonderful, and I am very glad that the blog posts and other content from the site will most likely still remain available even after the new owners get done moving things around. The community that has been built around this site is the most empowering and uplifting group of people that I have ever been exposed to, and I am grateful that via the power of the Internet, I will still be able to interact with many of you.

My own life has changed drastically over the last year, and all of the changes have been for the best! I got married to my wonderful new wife, Shanna, and we live on the east coast of Florida which is a dream come true for both of us. I have rejoined the U.S. Military as an Air National Guard soldier, and I will spend 6 months at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi during 2009 learning all sorts of cool, high-tech stuff. My military affiliation will be financing a full-time college education that will also be in the high-tech arena. In addition, I have finally launched the incredible health & fitness website: Surfside Fitness, which is a project that I have been working on for more than 6 months. The result of that work is a beautiful new site that will be an awesome resource for a great many people.

Surfside Fitness is where I will be spending most of my online time, and with major props once again being given to my incredible designer, Jason Larose, I am looking forward to helping thousands of people to attain high levels of health and fitness via that site. I got it completed just in time for the fresh start that 2009 will bring for all of us!

Surfside Fitness is more than just a website and blog, however. The site comes complete with:

• A full suite of services including Fitness Consulting, Online Fitness Training, Program Evaluation, and lots more
• A fitness blog that will be updated several times each week, and a plan is already in place to ensure not only frequent updates, but very high quality health and fitness content as well
• A free health and fitness community that is simple to use, yet packed with tons of features like personal blogs, video uploads, picture uploads, groups, forums, and more
• Frequently updated videos and featured products that will be more than just a stale rotation of old content. The video and product updates will be coming straight from the cutting edge of the health and fitness arena

Since my primary goal with Today is that Day has always been to empower people to believe that they can take control over their lives and build those lives to be wonderful, I want to leave with a parting message:

Never, ever, EVER GIVE UP!

For my wife and I, 2008 has been one of the hardest years of our lives. We have had every imaginable difficulty, and some difficulties that you probably CAN'T imagine. To say that we had to struggle this year in order to get to where we are now would be a radical understatement.

We made it through the fire by sticking to our guns and staying focused on our goals!

There were no hand outs, no easy streets, no miracle cures, and no safety nets. We have had to fight, kick, scratch, and bite for every ounce of success that we have had, and if we had given up, then none of these wonderful things would have happened in our lives.

We sit poised on the brink of a new year that - although there will still be challenges - we are better armed from every conceivable level to achieve success than we have ever been in the past.

We got to this point by believing in ourselves, believing in each other, and keeping our eyes on the prize.

Stay focused on what you want, never give up reaching for it, and your success is guaranteed.

I'll look forward to seeing you all out there wherever our paths cross again, and in the meantime, remember to always enjoy your life. If you're not having fun, what's the point??

Although I'll be the first one to say that an education does not automatically guarantee success, I will also say that getting a formal or informal education in something that you want to make money at is at the very least worth considering. Personally, I will be getting at least an AA if not a Bachelor's degree over the next few years, compliments of the U.S. Air Force.

When the fine folks over at Premier Student Loans offered to do a guest post about making money by following your passions, I jumped at the chance to get some quality content for the blog, since my hands are still too full for me to consistently add new content to this site. So, enjoy this guest post, give some serious thought to the role of education in your own success plan, and feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to share your thoughts!

Success, including financial prosperity, rarely comes to those who lack direction or purpose. Most of us possess a loose network of desires, tendencies and interests that guide us to choose a profession and chart a satisfactory direction for our lives.

Perhaps our first stab at a career came when we took the first job we could get, just to get away from, or to please Mom and Dad. Many of us just go on from there, working this or that job, interesting or not. While your job may not necessarily be your life, since you will spend 30 to 50 percent of your life at work, it stands to reason that doing something that you are absolutely crazy about will, at least, make the time go faster.

Stick With Your Passion

All of us want to make a living doing something we really love, but lack the self-confidence to pursue, such as being involved in medical case management, a painter, a gourmet chef, an automobile mechanic, or a writer. As Jack Palance said in the film "City Slickers", "The secret to life is to pick one thing and stick with it." The adhesive that will help us "stick with it" and live the lives we love is passion.

On unique occasions, such as being laid off, succumbing to job burn-out, or just wanting more out of life, we decide to make a change and prepare a clean slate on which to plot our next course. It is at these times that our passions, our burning desires, will give us direction and motivation to pursue the next big thing in our lives.

The Other Side of the Passion Coin

We should not accept the objects of our passions on face value, but rather discover what it is about them that really float our boats. If you feel passionate about "helping people", careers in that field number in the hundreds. They can range from being a live-in aid for a disabled person to going to medical school and becoming a pathologist. On the one hand, a live-in aid has intensive contact with his or her client, including bathing, feeding, and toilet procedures. A pathologist rarely sees patients and works in a lab, preparing specimens and doing hours of microscopic analyses. Both jobs would qualify as "helping people." The trick to choosing a living by following your passions is to explore careers that offer the most satisfaction that also have the fewest disagreeable features.

Find That Special Niche

A passion for art is also a gossamer-like concept. If all you want to do is paint wildlife and fill up page after page in your sketchbooks, you should run that up the flagpole and go full speed ahead. However, if you passionately love art, and think you should become an artist, but never doodle in the margins of your schoolbooks and are hesitant to make that first mark on a piece of illustration board, look deeper into your passion to discover that special niche.

Perhaps an easier route to living your passion is to look at what you already do. What is the one thing you do that you are always thinking about, analyzing, and doing in your spare time? Making a living while doing what you are passionate about may sound more difficult than hanging in there with your safe old job, but you can seamlessly transition into a new career by setting aside time in the evenings instead of doing non-productive things such as watching TV. There are distance learning courses, online degree programs, and web sites that can teach you just about anything.

Engage!

If you are ready to commit to making money by following your passions, set the stage by making time for yourself, being honest with yourself about your talents and passions, doing all the research, and establishing a game plan. Let the transformation begin!

If you have ever asked yourself how to get paid for doing what you love to do, then this post is for you! Whether you want to make money working for someone else, or you want to make your fortune as an entrepreneur, there is a guaranteed formula you can use to ensure your success.

Veteran readers of this blog will note that I have been out of the loop recently, and the subject of finding what you are passionate about is a large part of the very reason why I dropped out of the blogosphere for so long. In short, I have been struggling with how best to spend the time and resources that I dedicate to my career, and I recently got a wonderful bit of assistance in that regard: Brian Kim's awesome book, How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It.

Back in July 2007, I did a review of one of Brian's other books, The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich, and since that book was incredibly useful, I was ecstatic to hear that Brian had released something new. The concept of finding what it is that we are passionate about is something that so very many people struggle with. After reading Brian's Book, I can honestly say that the system contained in his book is the best one that I have seen yet.

As Brian so eloquently points out in the book, many people are "secretly leading lives of quiet desperation," and despite their desire to find fulfillment and financial success, very few people are able to find and stick to a system that allows them to do so. As a result, many people end up just doing whatever they are good at and/or educated for, and what they actually WANT to be doing rarely even enters into the equation.

Using myself as an example, this blog has been up for several years, and although it has been a success on every measurable level, it became more and more apparent to me over time that simply blogging for a living - although enjoyable - was not enough for me. My life requires more of a consistent challenge than just writing provided to me, and I was left asking myself just what it was that I DID want to do.

Although I still love blogging and working on the Internet, I can't honestly say that I am passionate enough about blogging to see it as my "mission" in life. Does it hold value for other people? Absolutely, and for that I am grateful. However, my destiny lies along a different path, and Brian's book really helped to open my eyes to some core concepts that needed to be considered as I mapped out the next stages of my life.

How to Find your Passions

There are other books out there on the subject of finding your passions, but as Brian points out in How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It, most books on this topic ask you to think about the DETAILS of a passion-filled life, but they never really tell you how to find that passion to begin with. The details (type of work, ideal work day, income potential, etc.) are just a small part of the equation compared to the importance of finding the passion FIRST, and then working out the less important details once the passionate foundation has been laid.

In addition to the step by step process that Brian lays out in the book, he is quick to also add in that using the power of your subconscious mind is also an integral part of finding your passions. Brian's system advises you to not only make a consistent conscious effort towards finding your passions, but to also use your subconscious mind as an active ally in the process, and to respond quickly whenever inspiration or "ah-ha moments" strike.

Did you find your passions?

Another thing I love about the book is that there is a 10-question "test" that you can apply once you think you have nailed down your passions. It is easy to get excited about a new idea or a new plan of action, but if the new passion won't fuel a long-term process, then it's not really a passion to begin with.

Chapter 5 is entitled How You'll Know You've Truly Found What You Love to Do, and the 10-question test does a great job of separating temporary enthusiasm from the long-term mindset that true passions are made up of.

How to Make Money with your Passions

There are really only 2 ways of making money: You either use your resources to work for and invest in yourself, or you use those resources to benefit someone else, a.k.a. - an employer. Both of those systems have their benefits, and this book does not take sides. Brian has a section about how to make money as an employee while following your passions, and a separate section for how to make money as a passionate Entrepreneur.

Both of those sections of the book include the same "questions equal answers" mentality, and the questions that you ask yourself about how to monetize your passions are the critical first step towards finding useful answers. People who find the wrong answers are the same people who asked the wrong questions. For both the employee route, as well as the entrepreneurial route, Brian lists the types of questions that you should ask yourself.

I was also very impressed with the short, yet extremely useful section that he put together for entrepreneurs who want to monetize their passions. His overview of the entrepreneurial process of making money while loving what you do is only a few pages long, but it covers a lot of ground and definitely points the would be entrepreneur in the right direction.

Conclusion

Overall, the book How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It promises a lot, and if you are willing to go through the processes described in the book, you will indeed get a lot out of your time investment. Discovering what to do with the rest of your life is worth a little bit of homework, don't you think?

For me personally, I have already changed my own mindset about the future, and I have a renewed sense of hope and confidence as a result. Even just a short time after reading the book,  I have already gotten a huge amount of value from it.

Brian Kim has written a lot of great content over the years, and despite the massive impact that this book will have on the lives of anyone who reads it, the cost is very low.

Big props to you, Brian, and thanks for this great book that will help to put so many people on the right path!

Pick up your own copy of
How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It

BONUS#1: ($12 value) Get a FREE Copy of "The Introspection Workbook" - Use it to help discover the kind of work that's suited just for you!

BONUS#2: ($12 value) Get a FREE copy of the special report: '3 Real Life Stories Of Those Who Did It' - Read the real life stories of those who have managed to find what they love to do and got paid for doing it! See how they used the information in the book to do so.

I want, I want, I want! It's the battle cry of the ages, yet people still fail to realize that getting what they want is just a pittance compared to continually taking action once they get it.

You don't need to look any further than the almost universal desire that people have for more money in order to see this concept in action. People jump through all manner of hoops in order to gain financial freedom, but even if they had a mountain of money in front of them, if they didn't do anything with it, then it would just be a useless pile of paper.

Photo Credit: Txt2Pic.comIt is not what we GET in life that matters, because life is handing us new opportunities every single day. Rather, it is what we DO with those opportunities that will ensure not only our long-term success, but our day-to-day happiness as well.

The Dream Job

Every person has their own rendition of what their "dream job" is, so what would you do if you actually attained it?

• Would you just show up for work every day, but not do any actual work?
• Would you stop working towards future success and advancements?
• Would you ignore opportunities to demonstrate the skills or experience that you used to get the job to begin with?

A "dream job" without a corresponding effort on your part to show that you are worthy of that job is nothing more than an opportunity for you to end up standing in the soup line.

The Dream Body

Yep, we've all pictured it in our heads at one time or another, right? Those firm muscles, tight curves, and sculpted features are things that most people give thought to, and for some people, it is an on-going quest that lasts for decades. What would you do if you got your "dream body," though?

• Would you start eating junk food like it was going out of style?
• Would you stop exercising effectively and on a very consistent basis?
• Would you pick up every unhealthy habit that you could get your hands on?

A "dream body" is made up of both the mental and the physical work that it takes to get that body to begin with. If you stop doing that work, then your "dream body" will once again become nothing but a far off goal that you can't quite get your hands on.

The Dream Relationship

Who hasn't dreamed of their "soul mate" at one time or another, or at least dreamed of the guy or girl that would keep them satisfied on an emotional or physical level? That "dream relationship," however, is not something that can be won, but then just ignored.

• If you are a certain person in the beginning of a happy relationship, do you honestly think that relationship will stay happy if you start acting like a different person?
• If you have certain goals or dreams that are shared by your significant other, but your goals or dreams change, is it your significant other's fault when the relationship starts to crumble?
• If you are a family man or woman, but suddenly you decide to recapture your college glory days of keg parties and panty raids, do you honestly think that is going to fly?

A relationship - by definition - is made up of 2 people harmoniously sharing their life experiences. If one person changes drastically from how they were in the beginning of the relationship, the possibility that the other person will change enough to balance things out is minimal at best.

The moral of the story here is that the attainment of success - no matter how thrilling - is simply a moment in time when you realize that you have won. After that moment has passed, it is time for you to step up to the plate and consistently prove that you are worthy of that success.

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Have you ever heard that phrase "The more things change, the more they stay the same"? What a bunch of crap! There are 2 main reasons why phrases like that exist, and neither one holds water.

The truth of the matter is that in order for change to occur - on both an individual scale, as well as a global scale - holding on to the way things "used to be" is a recipe for nothing but a modern-day remake of the same mistakes that we have already made in our lives, and on our planet.

Photo Credit: KadhaIf we want true, lasting change to occur, then we must realize that change means change, it does not mean wrapping the old life up in a new package and then presenting it again as if it's all new. It's like that ridiculous advertising slogan "New and Improved". Something can't be new AND improved - it has to be one or the other!

Nostalgia for Days gone By

One of the biggest reasons why people cling to their old patterns despite an innate need to move forward is nothing more complex than that wonderful emotion of nostalgia.

Our lives, no matter how hectic or chaotic they may be, are filled with "sweet spots" that are permanently ingrained in our memories and on our hearts. We remember "back when," or "that time when," or "how it used to be".

Those memories and the emotions that they invoke are wonderful, and to forget or bury them would be nothing less than criminal. However, living from them is just as much of a crime! Your glory days from the past are just that - in the past. No matter how wonderful those days were, they are gone now, and you need to come to terms with that.

You should cherish your past, and learn from your past, and apply what your past has taught you, but your life will never move forward if you are hooked on "the good ol' days". Recognize your past for its positive aspects, utilize the contrast from the negative aspects as a marker for what to avoid in the future, and then let it all go.

Your past - no matter how powerful it may be - is gone. An exponentially more powerful and more glorious future, on the other hand, is nothing but a thought and a commitment away. 

A Comfort Zone that needs to be Broken out Of

The other main reason why people tend to color their futures with the hues of their past is simply the fact that they are used to doing things that way.

I'm not talking about the standard self improvement dogma about getting outside of your comfort zone - we've all heard that one a thousand times. No, I am talking about the fact that people simply don't do what it takes to create and maintain new habits that cause their lives to be significantly different than they have been in the past.

Each of us is guilty of it on some level or other, but we don't realize our guilt because we are so used to doing things that way that it feels natural to us. Just because something feels natural does NOT mean that it should be a part of your life!

When I was a kid, I lived one quarter mile from a very busy set of railroad tracks. Those trains were very loud, and they came through many, many times every day and every night. After a few years, though, I stopped hearing them. They became such a natural background noise that I didn't even consciously hear them anymore.

Just because I got used to living close to the train tracks does not mean that I would want to live there again!

Our ability to get used to something - even something challenging or difficult - does not automatically mean that we should make that thing a part of our lives. If our habits - no matter how steeped in antiquity they may be - do not take our lives in the direction that we want to go, then those habits need to fall by the wayside.

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I have used the term "if nothing changes, then nothing changes" in so many of my writings that I have literally lost count. I don't keep repeating it because it sounds cool, but rather because it is the truth of our existence.

The more things change, the more they stay the same? I call B.S.!! The more things change, the more they NEED to change.

Anything less is just a carbon copy that is getting more and more faded the more times you copy it.

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