This morning, my body woke itself up at 4:43am and I hopped right out of bed. This is a huge deal for me.

I had attempted to change my daily routine, many times in the past, to going to bed at an early hour so that I could get a very early start each morning. However, with each previous attempt, I was disappointed by my seeming lack of self-discipline.

Of course the same can be said of my previously failed attempts at living a more healthy lifestyle as it relates to physical activity and my eating habits.

If you’ve been following this blog and podcast the past few weeks, you’ll know that I’ve been experiencing a great deal of success in my pursuit of a balanced life. Oh, I’m no expert in the field and I certainly have a while to go before some will be convinced that this is indeed a lifestyle change and not yet another fad. However, I’m completely convinced that I’m on the path that leads to success.

As I look at the transformation of what has taken place in my life, I’ve been asking myself… What is different? What has changed? Why am I experiencing success in so many areas of my life now where I simply didn’t have the drive and commitment to pull this sort of stuff off before.

I think I may have found a key ingredient that may help to answer these questions!

When comparing this attempt to waking up at 5am to my previous attempts, one thing has become abundantly clear to me. When I attempted the “early morning routine” previously, I was still working as an insurance agent. A job that I “fell into” as a result of taking the path of least resistance. While my career as an insurance agent drew upon some of my skills and talents, looking back, it was overall boring and never quite challenged me.

Of course I quickly took on any “challenge” that came my way when competing in sales contests against other agents from around the United States. However, I often found that there seemed to be a bit of inner turmoil with the temptation to sell a product to a client based upon my desire to win a contest in contrast to selling that product to my client based upon their desires or needs for insurance protection.

Looking back, I enjoyed a few aspects of my career in insurance such as “building relationships with my clients”, “the thrill of a sale” and “the paycheck.” However, while these things gave me something to accomplish day by day, I simply never felt as though I was living my life with a purpose.

In my previous career, I lacked the passion needed to motivate me to greatness and true success. For me, success is not defined by income. If it were, I was within arms reach of that type of success. I’m thankful that temptation seems so far removed from me today. Okay, not completely thankful, but still, I think you get the point.

When I began podcasting, I became very excited. Those who knew me before noticed something change inside of me during that time in my life.

I’ll never forget having a conversation with an underwriter from one of the insurance companies I represented. During our conversation, the topic of the television show “LOST” came up. I had mentioned that Stephanie and I produced a podcast about that show and proceeded to tell her about it with more enthusiasm that I’d had in years.

The next day, I was on another call with that same underwriter. This time, she brought up the topic of podcasting. She had told me that she had listened to the podcast the day before, after we got off the phone. She then told me that she had debated on whether or not she should mention the thought that had come to mind while listening.

Of course, there’s no way I was going to let her get out of telling me what she thought of while listening to our podcast. She then told me that, in her opinion, “Cliff, you have found your true calling in life. I can see you podcasting as a full-time career.”

I didn’t know what to say. You might suspect that my head swelled to the size of a large watermelon. However, that could not be further from the truth. In fact, the first thought that came to my mind after we got off the phone was more along the lines of “I wonder if she just thinks I’m a terrible insurance agent.”

A quick glance across my office to the bookshelf full of trophies and awards for being the top agent for multiple companies reassured me that I was, indeed, great at what I did. However, I must admit, that was the first time I actually realized that, since I had started podcasting, insurance had simply become a “J O B” and that my true passion in life was in doing something else.

As I spent more time in the field of podcasting, I became more and more disinterested in anything related to insurance whatsoever. Getting up at at 8am to be to work by 8:30am seemed nearly impossible to me as I eventually got to the point where I dreaded going to work every day. I kept convincing myself, that this is what “had to be done” because I have committed to provide for my family.

As I found myself getting more and more depressed about my lack of any enthusiasm and my over all disgust of what had seemed to become my participation in the “Rat Race,” I started to ask myself a very important question.

Why Am I Here?

It was at this time that I remembered a calling that I had to ministry. A ministry that would be devoted to Encourage Others Through Christ. Some of you may be aware of a few online identities that I have where my user name is “CliffEOTC.” That stands for “Cliff, Encouraging Others Through Christ.”

The question then turned into… “How can I most fulfill this purpose in my life?” This led me to ask even more questions like “What do I really, really want in life?” “Where am I going?” “If I achieve all my goals, what would it look like?”

The more I evaluated the answers to these questions, the more it became abundantly clear that the life of an insurance agent was not the life for me.

I needed to find a career that allowed me to build relationships with people. I need to find a career that allowed me to pursue my desire to entertain, teach, encourage, and inspire others!

In January, 2008, I left my career as an insurance agent. When I left, I was making more than $85,000 per year. I walked away from that to pursue a dream! A Calling! What I felt was my purpose in life!

Many of you, reading this, have been with me every step of the way through this journey. As I look back over the past year and a half, I’ve never made so little money! However, my life has never been so full! As each month goes by and the bills, once again, get paid, my faith in God’s provision soars.

As I said before, my definition of success does not revolve around finances (That’s a blog entry for another day). With that said, today, I truly find myself to be be a successful individual. Oh, I’m not all the way there yet! I still have so much to learn and to achieve! That why this is called “Pursuing” A Balanced Life.

Why is it that I’m able to, now, make the changes necessary to my lifestyle, when I had failed so miserably in the past? I really do believe it’s has a lot to do with the fact that I’m living a life fueled by Passion and Purpose! Before, when I tried to wake at 5am, I dreaded the day that was ahead of me.

Today, when my body woke me up at 4:43am, I didn’t say to myself, “I can sleep another 17 minutes before I have to get up.” No, instead, I hopped right out of bed, got dressed, brushed my teeth, had a healthy breakfast, and literally couldn’t wait to come down to my office and write a blog post that might either entertain, educate, encourage, or inspire others!

I’ve figured out “Why I’m Here!” Have You?

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If you have taken the time to read this entire post, I’d be honored if you would let me know in the comments section.