How Much Joy Is In Your Journey?: A Creative Guide to Your Fearless Vision

Life is meant to be lived abundantly! Many people in Western culture are striving for success. There are people who make a lot of money, but their relationships “stink”. There are people who are highly spiritual, but they’re broke all of the time. There are people who want the home, a great business and all of these outer things. However, having these outer things does not necessarily guarantee what we really want, which is happiness. We go for these outer things thinking that they’re going to bring us the happiness, but it’s backwards. The way to live that abundant life is to go for the inner joy, the inner peace, and the inner vision first, and then all of the outer things appear. Everything you want is actually an “inside” job. The “outside” world is a world of effects. It’s just the results of your thoughts. Life is meant to be abundant. Set your thoughts on happiness and joy! Imagine living a life of purpose where you get to do what you want and you get to enjoy doing it. Imagine getting rid of the self-defeating chatter in your mind, those nagging voices that chip away at your self-esteem and prevents you from accomplishing your goals or dreams. Imagine developing the courage and confidence to maximize your own true potential and experience more joy in your personal and professional life because you have developed and explored a vision for your life. THE APPROACH As we prepare to travel together through this guidebook, let me share about my approach to this topic. I don’t profess to be an expert on creating the perfect life vision because I’m the most successful person that I know. That would be pretty over-blown on my part! What I have found in my leadership and coaching experiences with adults, through counseling experiences with students over the years, as well as graduate degrees in the field of counseling and leadership is that a person without vision will perish. So, here’s my very practical approach that you’ll find in this book: *Inspirational quotes. If you’re like me, having bursts of insight to inspire working hard is energizing sometimes. If you haven’t looked up from the laptop long enough, your vision can get cloudy. Quotes throughout this book serves as reminders that there’s a purpose and reason for your dedication, discipline, and hard work. *Real-life stories of people with experiences that you may be able to relate to, who were able to clarify their vision, embraced their purpose, and found the joy that identified their true definition of personal success and created their path towards professional achievement. *Reflective insights that will enable you to identify your qualities, gifts, and natural strengths. You will tap into your own personal power. *Coaching questions to help you clarify your follow-up steps. As you strive towards more success, know that asking the right questions facilitates finding the right answers for the experience that you are trying to work through. *Resources that you may find helpful in further exploration along your journey. As you take this journey with me, I will share various topics addressing why you need a vision, how to create your vision, identifying what you really want, constructing what your best life would look like, and some tips for having joy in your workplace. Yes, the “destination” is important, but let’s embrace and enjoy the journey. Like taking a walk in the park, you know where it is you want to go from one point to another, but as you travel—you feel the experience and you’ll notice things along the way that were previously overlooked while you were hastily running through life. You’ll listen to nature and enjoy the view through this meditative experience. There’s no race. Just you, your inner voice, and self-coaching for clarity.

Dr. Ja’net Bishop, a native of New York City, is an experienced School Principal, certified School Counselor, and Certified Personal and Executive Coach. Ja’net is an energetic, compassionate person who believes her purpose is to inspire people to excel through learning and growth. She’s the Founder and CEO of HAVE JOY, LLC, through which she shares her expertise as a Personal Development Coach. She completed her training for her Certified Personal and Executive Coach (CPEC) certification from the nationally accredited coach training program, the Coaching and Positive Psychology (CaPP) Institute. CaPP Institute is approved by the International Coach Federation (ICF). Using her years of experience as a school leader, counselor, Veteran, volunteer, and personal development coach, her engaging rapport and diverse skills empowers others to achieve desired goals. The result for those she’s collaborated with includes personal and professional fulfillment. She presents at national, state, and local conferences/workshops addressing topics relative to leadership, work-life balance, and self-care. Her sessions, workshops, and group coaching programs empowers clients. Ja’net, a former Army Captain, has served as a Public Affairs and Finance Officer in the Army Reserves and the North Carolina National Guard. Additionally, she’s served as a drug abuse prevention and teen pregnancy educator. She was also the Executive/Advocate Director of the Augusta Child Advocacy Center. As a consultant, she’s developed youth intervention groups for Juvenile Court. As a former Adjunct Professor for Cambridge College in the Counselor Education graduate program, she’s taught, advised, and mentored future school counselors. Ja’net is a board member on several non-profit organizations. These organizations, in varied capacities, works towards developing character and leadership skills in youth. She believes that everyone has the potential to develop character, leadership, and to live their life on purpose! Ja’net has professionally prepared herself with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Home Economics; a Masters of Education (M.Ed.) in Guidance and Counseling; a Specialist in Education (Ed.S.) degree in Administration and Supervision; doctoral degree (Ed.D) in Educational Leadership. On a personal note, she and her husband William are the proud parents of two sons, William II and Matthew, whom are the true blessed accomplishments of her life!