Oprah talks careers with Marcus Buckingham

Image courtesy of O Magazine

Oprah Winfrey, the world-wide queen of talk shows, knows what she’s talking about! Recently, if you at all follow Oprah, she has been doing something that she calls her “Best Life Series” where she focuses on helping people all over the world live the best lives they can live. She believes everyone should awaken to their higher purpose in life, especially in careers, since work takes up 1/3 of our entire life!

I happened to be browsing I-Tunes the other day, looking for some good music to buy, and to my delight, I came across some free podcasts from the Oprah Show! Marcus Buckingham, a British career guy, or “Strength Coach” as he calls himself, does a whole series of workshops to help people find guidance in their careers and in life. He also happens to be Oprah’s main career guy these days. His website offers even more information on his work.

He focuses on the fact that everyone should continually find ways to highlight their strengths, not their weaknesses. He says that only 12 % of people actually work on their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses, since our culture deems that more appropriate. According to Buckingham, people who find ways to continually build on their strengths are happier and far most successful than those who don’t. Unfortunately, many people are unhappy at work. Much of this unhappiness can be accounted for because people are drowning in their weaknesses. I know I feel like I am sometimes. Yet, is it really that easy? Probably not, as these days most people simply need a paycheck to get by, no room to worry about whether or not they like their jobs. Listening to this podcast, has reaffirmed for me that we all need to set aside some time in our lives, to figure out what it is we want and where we excel. Who else agrees?