Excerpt from the news


-- Blinded last September by a dirt-cloaked bomb in an Afghan ditch, Snyder, 28, slowly is creating a fresh vision for a life once blazed at high speeds and even higher tension. The former bomb defuser is, for now, interning at a Baltimore software company, staying at a corporate apartment and navigating with a cane. He also is logging 4,000 yards per day at a local pool and — this week — dreaming of London."


“Part of getting an injury like this is the idea that you’ve lost a part of you, and now you are — for lack of a better word — weird. I can’t do things the way I used to do,” Snyder said. “It’s a hard hit to your confidence, a hard hit to who you are. So being able to excel at something, to do it very well, is huge in gaining your confidence back, and gaining back that piece of you that you lost.”


“I knew the risks I was assuming. I knew I was very fortunate to be in that hospital bed and not in a coffin in the ground.  And I knew I could not control the past,” Snyder said.

An Interview: The Fire Starter Sessions: Find Passion in What You Do For a Living Excerpt from the article - "Remember when you were a kid and you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up? Whether it was a writer, a painter, a teacher or a firefighter, you knew what you were good at and what you liked to do and you simply connected the dots to a career. Did you fulfill those dreams? Are you even close? So many people are working just below their potential in that nice safe place far from their dreams. They make a living that pays the bills but leaves them with no passion, no zeal and no spark. "We get talked out of our genuine emotions, our feelings and our states of beings from the time we're born," LaPorte tells Beliefnet. "'Oh, you don't feel that way.' And then it turns into, 'You should feel this way.' You start to doubt how you feel. It's the most tragic thing that you second-guess those feelings." Danielle LaPorte adds with a laugh, "Then you get put into school and then it's all downhill.""


Her book is available at on Amazon


Source: www.Beliefnet.com

Read a full article on MSNBC


Here are some excerpts I really like which turn out to be most of them.

Brian Sharples, 51, CEO of HomeAway


If you want to be truly happy in life then pursue a career that is aligned with your passion. If you're lucky enough to understand what it is then get started early. Don't focus on money or what other people might think. In the long run, if you do what you love then great rewards, financial or otherwise, will arrive.


Before settling into work mode, I probably would have spent a bit more time traveling – seeing the world and meeting people along the way who have explored the planet and themselves. My perspective was too narrow for too long, and traveling may have helped me discover my own passions earlier in life.


 I was more focused on getting good grades than actually learning something. There's a huge difference.  Later in life you better understand the privilege of having four (or more) years to absorb knowledge without the distractions of the real life that will follow.


John Veihmeyer, 55, Chairman and CEO of KPMG LLP


Here’s the piece of advice I always pass along: Personal integrity is thecritical success factor for an individual. And that includes a concern for others and your community. People who take a longer term view – who think about becoming a successful person first, and then a successful business person 


The biggest mistake I almost made was turning down an opportunity to move into a different role within KPMG, which I initially viewed as a bad career move. Thankfully, I listened to the advice of a mentor and accepted the new role, and it turned out to be a great career move. The key learning for me here was to seek career guidance and inspiration from others rather than going it alone.


Be a life-long learner. Don’t view college as the end of your learning experience.


My father taught me the keys to succeeding in business were treating everyone you come in contact with - from the most junior person employee to the biggest client - with respect, as well as always maintaining your personal integrity.




Rick Arquilla, 59, president and COO, Roto-Rooter


Find something you are passionate about and the money will take care of itself.


Memorizing and regurgitating will pass the course but it is not learning!






Linda Bowden, 60, President, PNC, New Jersey


I would have worried less about thinking I needed to know it all.


I also would have been more fearless in terms of knowing it was OK to make mistakes—we all do, especially early in our careers.


Staying too long in a role that I knew in my heart was not right for me was probably one of the biggest mistakes I made.


 As far as the one thing I wish I’d listened to while in college, it would’ve been the observation that it’s OK to fail. Your failures can sometimes be your greatest learning opportunity. It comes back to the idea of believing in yourself, and realizing those experiences represent an opportunity to learn and develop new skills.




Brian MacLean, 58, President and COO, Travelers Insurance


Most of life's really challenging issues are multi-dimensional and can't be solved with a sound bite or a one line vision statement. To resolve difficult issues you need serious people willing to work hard to understand different perspectives and look for collaborative solutions. It's never easy.