Jan- good for you. Just as successful businesses are the ones who know how to adapt, you’ve made changes when necessary to keep propelling yourself forward.

Josh- there currently is a lack of self-confidence in European culture that stifles ambition. You can sense it in Kate’s description of German schooling, and I sensed it in France where people will do almost anything just to keep their precious de facto 8+ weeks of vacation per year. I remember a few years ago that a survey was done in Spain showing that the most desired job was that of a government bureaucrat or functionary i.e. job security with much vacation and just enough salary to get by.

There are also bureaucratic issues that make starting a business unnecessarily difficult but thankfully most of those issues are being resolved in some European countries or have been already.

Russel- thanks for that insight and yes- good luck. It’s true that many people see their jobs as who they are, and make their lives more difficult than they need to be as a result. This is changing though with 1) the growing tendency of people to switch jobs more frequently *by choice* and 2) the increasing ease for people to multiply streams of income using the Internet even when they have a “real” job.

Rebecca- good luck to you and your husband too. No one has full control over their job, income, etc. but there are many things you can do to increase your control. But I don’t need to tell a WAHM that :)

Rob Moshe- hear hear!

How much more successful we would be if we spent more time on realizing how truly great and capable we are and less time on what we assume others think about us.

Cheers.

Saw you in Problogger killer titles. you can check out mine if you wish.

How To Be A Prostitute Farmer?
http://www.robschaumer.com/blog/2008/02/20/how-to-be-a-prostitute-farmer/

We’ve accepted that we can’t control what happens to his job but we can control how we pick up and move forward from the experience.

Thanks for the optimism you’ve provided!

““Change who you are!” I said. “Who you are is the light that has been shining inside you since the day you were born. Who you are is not a job. Who you are is sacred and can’t be touched. Just keep it burning and you’ll be fine.”

Thanks for sharing,

Barbara

Indeed. And it has taken me two years to turn my career about (worse than a supertanker trying to change course).

Could I have done it sooner? Sure. I just had to let go of my ego to do so. By this time next year I plan to be deeply immersed in my studies and … well, I’ll take it from there.