Don Roulo is the chief encouragement officer of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

In just a few days we will enter 2015 — can you believe it? I want 2015 to be your most successful year yet, both personally and professionally. Today, I would like to focus on the professional side of things as we enter 2015.

The definition of career or business success truly is in the eye of the beholder. To some, it may mean making $40,000/year and to another it may mean making $250,000/year. Success may not even be measured in dollars and cents, but rather in freedom of time.

Regardless of how you personally measure success, there are three key factors which will determine your ultimate success — your skills and abilities, your personality and your passions.

1) Your skills and abilities. This is where most people place their emphasis. Picture a stool you sit on. Is it better to sit on a stool with has only one leg, or one with three legs? Many people are trying to achieve their goals in their career or business based solely on what they do well. In other words, they are trying to balance their success on one leg of the stool.

While what you do, your skill and abilities are important, they are not the only area of focus and maybe even not the most important area of focus.

Just because you are good at doing something, doesn’t mean you should be doing it. As an example, in business, you may be good at doing the books, but you may need to delegate that to someone else. By doing this you can focus on things which you do better and are more important to your business success.

2) Your personality type. You need to make sure the career or business you pursue truly fits your God-given personality. If you have a personality which is best suited for being an accountant, don’t try to be a salesman. You may experience some level of success, but you will be frustrated and never really achieve everything you want.

Does your personality lend itself to working within a team, or is it better for you to work alone? Do you focus more on details or are you a big picture type of person? Knowing the answer to these types of questions about your personality can make or break your professional success.

3) Your dreams and passions. What are you passionate about? Many people struggle with pursing what they love to do and still making a good living. I often hear, “If I do what I really love to do, I won’t make any money.” Really? Doesn’t it make more sense that if you pursue your dreams and passions, you will be happier, more fulfilled, work harder and experience more success than if you are doing something you hate?

I can only speak from personal experience. When I am training and equipping people through workshops, coaching, speaking and writing, I experience more success and fulfillment than when I do anything else.

As we enter a new year, take the time to ask yourself some tough questions. Do I have the skills and abilities to move forward in my career? Is my personality a good fit for where I am heading? Do I have a passion for what I am doing?

Trying to successfully balance on a one or two legged stool is tricky. You may be able to do it for short period of time, but your ultimate success will come when all three legs of the stool are in sync.

About the Author

Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

One of his most requested workshops is called, Master’s Millionheirs, which trains and equips budding entrepreneurs to make sure they follow sound foundational principles to ensure success in life and business. He believes to achieve true success it is vital to “make a life, not just a living.”

As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.