You are walking down the same crowded street you walk down everyday. The hustle and bustle around you has become so common that you hardly even take notice of it this day. You twist and turn, mechanically maneuvering yourself through the crowd; your mind is as cluttered as the street.

Reaching the elevator of your building, you silently wait beside the featureless faces around you. The door opens and you take your place in the crowded elevator. Reaching through the dangling arms, you press the button for your floor.

As the elevator begins to move, the silence again dissipates; not from those around you, but from the thoughts in your head. Obligations, tasks, meetings, soccer games, and politics crowd your mind as the door opens on your floor.

You step off the elevator and are unexpectedly slapped in the face by a complete stranger. Before the sting on your cheek fades, the person has fled. You stand there, stunned, as your face grows warm from the assault.

You look around and, for the first time, are aware of your surroundings. Strangely, you feel more awake than you ever have before. Your thoughts are clear. You are in the moment.

Deep within everybody lies something; something that is more than what they have now. It may be the desire for riches, or a quiet mind to finally enjoy the life around them that they have been so blind to.

For some it takes something like death, constant ridicule, the loss of a marriage, or the strange fortune of luck to wake them up from the slumber of regular living. Otherwise, moments spent reading columns such as this one are just another way to pass the time. Maybe you are looking for conversational cud, or for a way to make your day work a little more smoothly. Perhaps you, too, are drifting through your life and job, waiting to be awakened. Well, this is your wake-up call.

The answers to a happier, wealthier, more productive, more effective, more balanced version of yourself are swirling around your head every moment of every day. Yet, you have been asleep, drifting through the days of your little cubicle world. You saw the world through the fog of the fatigue, dwelling on a painful past or dreaming of a future too far to grasp.

Becoming a better version of yourself is not rocket science. It does not require you to finally discover the magic formula that has, until that moment, been locked inside the ancient texts of the Romans. The answers have always been staring you right in the face. You simply have not been ready for them.

Everything comes down to a decision; a decision that only you can make. It is the decision to wake up; the decision to deal with things that fall under your control; the decision to have a positive attitude instead of playing a victim role; the decision to become a better professional because you want to be.

If youre not satisfied with your current situation, then make the most of it. Be passionate about what you do and who you serve. Dont serve your customers as a way to position the company or put better statistics in next years brochure. Serve your customer well because you have a passion for your customers and a passion to serve.

Wake up and make the decision to shake off the heavy layers of sameness. Be aware of your surroundings. Read and absorb the information around you, and make it your own. Criticize and question everything if thats what it takes to develop yourself.

Trust yourself enough to follow your own path and your own passions. Leap off the cliff and free yourself from the illusion of security. It is only on the fall down that youll realize you have wings to fly.

Tom Richard

Tom Richard conducts seminars on sales and customer service topics nationwide. Tom is also the author of Smart Salespeople Don't Advertise: 10 Ways to Outsmart Your Competition With Guerilla Marketing, and publishes a free weekly ezine on selling skills titled Sales Muscle.