Richard Nelson Bolles
Birthdate: March 19, 1927
Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Date of Death: March 31, 2017
Occupation: Author and Episcopal Clergyman
Profile: Best known for
What Color Is Your Parachute?
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nelson_Bolles
Number of Quotes: 31
Always define what you want to do with your life and what you have to offer to the
world, in terms of your favorite talents/gifts/skills – not in terms of a job-title.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
By and large, adults in this society tend to choose what they are good at as a
career. If you are good at more than one thing, choose what you love the most.
Chaos is the law of nature; order is the dream of man.
Finding your mission in life is not a destination, but a journey. It's the journey of becoming more fully and deeply yourself in the world.
God, I don't know how to find
a new career. I need you to guide me. Show me the next step, and give me the courage to take it.
Hunches are not to be sneezed at.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
If you are out of work, your job is to find a job. Get up in the morning and go to
work on finding a job. Spend at least 40 hours a week on this job of finding a job.
If you can't find a job that matches your passion, then find a job that leaves you enough time and energy to pursue your passion outside of work.
In the end, it is not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
This sentiment is often also attributed to Abraham Lincoln,
but Bolles frequently used it in his writings and talks.
In today’s world, he or she who gets hired is not necessarily the one who can do that job best; but, the one who knows the most about how to get hired.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
It is a mistake to look for the job first and try to make your life fit it. Instead, you must first
do a serious inventory of your life to see who you are, and then look for a job that fits you.
Job-hunting is a full-time job. It requires a plan, a system, and persistence.
Not for nothing is their motto TGIF -
Thank God It's Friday.
They
live for the weekends, when they can go do what they really want to do.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
Our mission in life is to use the skills and gifts we have—in the place(s) we feel most
called to be—to accomplish the goals (or purposes) we feel most called to address.
The best work, the work we are meant to do, is always a union of the heart's desire and the head's skill.
The chance of a new career falling into your lap is very slim. You have to go out and find it.
The more specific you are about what you want, the more likely you are to find it.
The object is to keep busy being something … as opposed to doing something. We are all sent here to bring more gratitude,
more kindness, more forgiveness and more love into this world. That is too big a job to be accomplished by just a few.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
The purpose of job-hunting is to find the kind of work you were made to do.
There are no rules. There is no one right
way to find a job or change careers. There is only what works for you.
There is no failure except in no longer trying.
This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.
To find your mission in life is to find the intersection between the world's deep need and your deep gladness.
This is arguably his most famous and widely quoted line.
Use this opportunity. Make this not only a hunt for a job, but a hunt for a life. A deeper life, a victorious life, a life you’re prouder of.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
We are all meaning-seeking creatures. We are not just looking for a job; we are looking for a purpose.
What is the secret of finding work you love? Three words: Tell me more.
When you are looking for a job, first find out what you love to do, then find out where you can do it, and finally, find out how to get in the door.
You want to take action every day, not sit around waiting for something to happen.
What Color Is Your Parachute?
Your life is a story. You are the author. You get to decide how the story is told.
Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
This is a paraphrase of a saying attributed to the Budda, which Bolles
often used to summarize his philosophy.
Last on Earth
