I just finished the book, “Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment” by Todd Rose. Fascinating book, specially for me, because he sees fulfillment as doing work with purpose and meaning. Yeah!
I’ll be writing more about my thoughts regarding this awesome work…but I wanted to first start with a quote that has inspired me for a few months now, titled “Run Your Own Race,” as shared by Brian Johnson from the book “Louder Than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice“ by Todd Henry. I believe this quote was for me to see because after reading Todd’s book, I feel called to do something bigger, something grander, something unique. And it’s starting to come together as I continue to work with the Life Design Catalyst Tribe.
Here’s the quote:
“The lesson that I’ve embraced over the past decade of life and work is a simple one: because of unique passions, skills, experiences, and opportunities, each of us has a unique race to run. It’s ours alone and cannot be compared to the race being run by others. When we allow the stigma of judgment, comparison, or envy to tempt us off course, we violate the fullness of the contribution of which we are capable. We exhaust ourselves chasing ‘ghost runners’ and ‘phantom success.’ We lose sight of the end goal, and in turn we lose sight of ourselves.
Pursue uniqueness with your voice. Run your race. Execute your plan. Do your work, not someone else’s. Don’t allow envy, spite, ego, or greed to derail you or cause you to chase a phantom ideal that was never meant for you. You have a valuable contribution to make in the arena of influence you’ve been given, and a unique voice to offer the world, but if you are not diligent you may wind up gaining quick ground in the short term, only to watch the pack pass you a few miles down the road.”
I had a conversation with my friend Tina yesterday; as we talked, it made me realize that I HAD to leave UNCG because there’s a bigger plan for me – one that’s focused on delivering a different way for community college students to look at their education and their lives.
I believe it’s time for me to “run my own race,” something that’s unique and different from what’s already being done. And that’s exciting!
The Dream Dean 
Glad to hear (or read) that things are progressing along for you as you prepare for another chapter in “The Book of Bill” Please keep us posted. With so many crazy things going on in the world, it’s nice to read about something positive. Much luck to you and your future.