Following Your Yellow Brick Road

Following your Yellow Brick Road:
Career Lessons from The Wizard of Oz
By Coach Cary Bayer
"If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard."—Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz

Your own backyard is always with you: It's a metaphor for, among other things, your higher Self, the talents God gave you to gain a livelihood, and your earliest inspirations. Walt Whitman struck a chord similar to Dorothy's: "What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest is Me."
As a life coach, I sometimes ask clients to reflect on their favorite heroes and stories as children. What fueled your childhood can usually fuel you today. To prove my point, I'll reveal my own backyard. When I was 9 years old, my favorite story was The Wizard of Oz. My heroes were an eclectic group that included Superman (from comic books and tv) and Socrates (from "The Hallmark Hall of Fame" production of Barefoot in Athens).
Today, my favorite story is still The Wizard of Oz. I teach a workshop on finding your purpose entitled "Follow Your Yellow Brick Road," and another on the inner journey called "Over the Rainbow is Within you: Awakening Courage, Compassion & Inner Knowing for your Inner Journey." As a coach, I ask questions--not unlike the way my boyhood hero Socrates did--to help clients discover their truth and the truth. The inquiry also awakens their superior natures, or what you might call the super part of themselves. As you can see, my backyard hasn't changed all that much through the years.
Usually, your talents and inspirations for life were right there in your own backyard, at an early age. If your current line of work has strayed from your backyard it's probably because you thought it was too risky. The truth is, you've always had the courage to follow your dreams; but like the Cowardly Lion, you doubted it. You may have lost touch with your heart's desires; but like the Tin Man, you can rediscover them. When you follow your heart, you'll be led to do work that you intuitively know is right for you, because you have the intelligence the Scarecrow sought. Doing the work you love by using the gifts God gave you leads to the prosperity symbolized by the Emerald City's opulence.
The great journey leads from here to here--from the innocence of our youth, through the experience of adulthood, back to the awakened innocence that sages call Enlightenment. "The end of all our exploring," wrote T.S. Eliot, "will be to arrive where we started. And to know the place for the first time." Dorothy learned this as she returned home to Kansas after her adventures over the rainbow.
The prosperity teachings of Oz--living from and making a living from your own backyard--makes sense, and dollars as well. Frequently, what animates your soul when you're 39 years old is similar to what animated your soul when you were 9. You carry the 9 year-old within you wherever you go; it's your inner child. If you liked helping your mom bake cookies when you were 9, and still enjoy the heavenly aroma wafting from your oven today, why not bake and sell your wares to neighborhood restaurants? You don't have to become a multi-millionaire like Mrs. Fields; it's perfectly okay to build a part-time revenue stream.
If you liked playing with tools as a boy, and tinkering in your work shed on days off is still your idea of a great way to spend time, you might be happy working as a part-time entrepreneur helping fix things for people. There's always a market for a handy-man, even if you choose to do it on weekends or week nights.
If you're not sure what's in your backyard today, complete the following process from my book, The Prosperity Aerobics.
1) Take two minutes to write down 10 favorite pleasures, things that you love to do, for which you have a God-given talent. When you do these things, your soul feels alive; that's because these activities are on purpose for you, they're in your own backyard.
2) Review this list and check the favorite pleasure or talent you'd most be willing to receive money for.
3) Take two minutes to list 10 ways you can provide a service for people or businesses by performing this favorite pleasure.
4) Review your last list and pick out your favorite service. What you have before you now is your very favorite money-making idea. Performing this service is easy for you, gives you great pleasure, and keeps you on purpose.
5) Take two more minutes to list 10 things you'd be willing to enable your favorite money-making idea become a success.
Will you do what it takes to make at least $100 from this idea? If not, you may need to find your courage. It takes courage to make a career from your own backyard, but courage is what transformed the Cowardly Lion into the king of the forest. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' . . .You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
Positive thinking giant Norman Vincent Peale said, "Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have." Obstacles are our own fears preventing us from beginning the journey. Opera great Beverly Sills said, "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." The hockey immortal Wayne Gretzky said it best, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take."
Take a walk in your own backyard and take your shot. You'll be very happy you did.