Hi, I'm Sharon Olbeter

Hi, I'm Sharon Olbeter, Colonel (Retired), and I help military members and veterans craft the career (or business) they truly want by connecting with and strengthening what naturally motivates them.  

Motivation Affects How You Feel

Motivation is your willingness to act to fulfill your motives, which are your needs and wants.  If you ignore your desires, you’ll either feel like something’s missing or you'll feel frustrated.  On the other hand, when you're aligned with your wants, you'll feel enthused and fulfilled.

What's challenging is that you’re unique.  There's no template out there for how you go about finding career fulfillment.  What motivates someone else doesn’t necessarily motivate you.  That’s true of what you want in your work as well as what motivates you as you engage in your work-related activities and as you interpret the kinds of feedback you get.  So you have to discover what you want by reflecting on what you care about and by engaging in activities.

Why Should You Care

You'll find that when you tap into your desires and focus on what you can do to get what you want - you’ll feel upbeat and ready to act.  You'll be more alert to opportunities and resources to make your dreams come true.  Moreover, you'll have the strength to persist to overcome obstacles.  You’ll also be able to shape the nature of your current work experiences to further support your willingness to act.

The Fire Within You

The source of your power is within you -  It’s like a pilot light comprised of your hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations.  Some of your desires have more energy than others.  

They trigger your interest when you perceive an opportunity to fulfill them. Whether you dismiss a thought as a passing fancy or consider it further depends upon how well it matches what you want. If it’s a good match, the desired possibility ignites a fire within you.

That doesn’t mean you’ll jump into action.  Whether or not you go further depends upon how you weigh the potential benefits to costs.  You won’t act if you don’t think your efforts will pay-off or if you think the cost of taking action will outweigh the expected benefits of fulfilling your desire.  Believing you can get a positive outcome overall  fuels your fire to commit to action.

If you do decide to act, you’ll need to continue believing that success is possible.  Success will be more likely if you align your beliefs and actions with your desires so you'll have optimal power.  As you act, you'll also need to experience some progress so you can start with small steps to get some early wins and then move onto larger ones. Getting feedback from your actions and learning how to improve stokes your fire as you experience increased competence.

Moving Forward  

You can’t reinvent yourself overnight and magically jump to a new reality.  It takes time to learn and develop as a person.  

You can’t think yourself through it - you can weigh your options and consider strategies, but action is necessary.  By taking action, you test your hunches and give yourself something to reflect upon as you note the results you get.

As you lead yourself with motivation and:

• Explore opportunities to fulfill your desires
• Empower yourself by figuring out how you can get what you need and
• Engage in your work situations to see what works and what needs to be changed,

you build a bridge to your desired future.