Performing work you love lights you up.  It warms you and nurtures you.  If self-confidence is high, you naturally want to share your talents through work or volunteering, or just being who you are, shining your light.

When you love yourself first, that love will naturally flow to others.  You are generally more healthy and happy, you make better choices, take care of yourself, and invite positive interaction at work and home.  When you know your strengths and passions and have confidence, you gravitate toward work you love, whether it’s a career or service to the community.

A word about women, work and money.  Work and money are a kind of power - the power stemming from good leadership and self empowerment gained from a job well-done. Women tend to minimize their own power, and have received the message growing up, consciously and sub-consciously, that their role is to serve others. Service is a good thing that both genders should do!  But service does not mean denying your intelligence and talent and independence.

Not so long ago women were not legally allowed to handle their own money, and “women’s work,” though extremely valuable, was not measured in dollars.  This left women with an odd relationship with money.  Women were barred from certain careers.  When I was born, the college I eventually attended, the City College of NY, allowed only two careers for women: teacher and nurse.  Official limits are mostly lifted, but tradition can still block women.  And because women have a different life cycle – whether it’s bearing and caring for children, neighbors or aging parents, women often pick up steam regarding career later than men.  In many cases, when men are past their prime, women are just getting started!

It's never too late to re-invent yourself.  It's common now for people to have seven careers in their lifetime. In seeking meaningful work take these steps:

First, picture what you really want (not what your parents, peers, or society tell you what you should want).  Know yourself, be clear about your strengths, define success on your own terms, seek people doing what you want to do, keep learning marketable skills, use your creativity to overcome obstacles, always frame things positively, and mostly, never sell yourself short.