Part of the series Accessing the Most Powerful Version of You

Reaching your highest potential and experiencing the fulfillment, success and reward you deserve

Every once in a long while, we meet a person who, in their open sharing of their story, they help us shift our perspective of life in general and of our own specific journey. And doing so allows us to see whats possible for us in the future, in a brand new and enlivening way.

I met such an individual recently, and her personal story is riveting. What she faced and overcame as a very young child is inconceivable to many of us, and the work she does now to help others overcome their challenges and achieve the greatness theyre destined for is deeply inspiring and motivating.

Dr. Grace Lee is a career mentor and educator, speaker, and neuroscience expert helping career-driven professionals joyfully earn more, be more, and experience greatnessan ultimate level of success and reward in their work and life.Given her personal experience where she found that her academic and educational training werent nearly sufficient to help her overcome her challenges let alone achieve the greatness she was destined for, Lee is on a mission to redefine modern education, teaching men and women how to unlock true vocational confidence and master their professional destinies. Lees upcoming book, Million Dollar Story, due out December 2019, explores how to pivot from the worst moments of life to profit and win with purpose.

Lee shares crucial lessons shes learned in overcoming extreme adversity in childhood, and in her work helping others achieve high levels of success and personal fulfillment:

Kathy Caprino: Grace, can you share a bit about your childhood story and the extreme adversity you overcame?

Grace Lee: Sure. Mine is what I call a David and Goliath story. My earliest childhood years were in Hong Kong, and as a young child, my mom was my best friend. My father was absent much of the time and I didnt have a relationship with him. But my mother loved me deeply and accepted me, and taught me so many principles about life. When I was almost nine, my family was involved in a terrible car accidenta head-on collision and my mom, who was driving, didnt survive.

I sustained terrible injuries. The collision dislocated and fractured two vertebrae in my neck, and broke both my wrists.I was so close to not being able to walk again, move my arms or breathe on my own. The following year on my 10th birthday, my father remarried and started a new family.He told me he was no longer able to care for me, asked me to leave and arrange to have someone else care for me. I had lost everything that was important or meaningful to me and now didnt even have a place to call home.It destroyed my self image and my confidence since I believed that this was happening because I was unlovable and worthless. Many cold nights I roamed the streets looking for shelter or some place of escape and often I thought if I committed suicide no one would know or care.

I started working in the family-owned restaurant when I was 11 as a waitress and cashier.Although I wasnt paid a salary to work there, I enjoyed being in the company of my customers and collecting tips from the table as my earnings for the day.One day, an older couple came for dinner and noticed that I needed a place to stay. After they settled their bill, they invited me to follow them home and stay with them for as long as I needed.This wonderful couple saved my life and gave me a second chance.

(For Graces full story, listen in to our Finding Brave podcast interview.)

Caprino: Youve said that you have a skill for helping career-driven women master their professional destiny.What in your past work and life experiences has contributed to your ability to help others experience forward thinking that propels them to greatness?

Grace Lee: As I mention above, I spent most of my childhood as an orphan with no support, no place to call home. It wasnt until I finally let go of my previous self-image as someone totally unworthy of love that I was intellectually capable of thinking about the future. And I wouldnt have been able to do that if it werent for the amazing couple who adopted me. Two years later, I learned to begin to trust their love and the care they offered, and developed a deep burning desire for a better future. One where I would have my own home, be independent, and give back to these wonderful people who gave me a second chance.

The only way I knew how to achieve that vision was act in accordance with what Ive been told: go to school, get good grades, then get a safe and secure job.I didnt have any financial support, so I had to get resourceful to find a way to fund myself to my dreams. You know how they say that usually when people are in a do or die situation, they tend to succeed? That was my own experience.When youve escaped the worst pain and trauma in your life, you dont want to go back. I had to learn to survive first, and then I learned to thrive. Sustained thriving requires forward thinking. And as I got older, I added more and more experiences to my years which gave me better frameworks upon which I planned for my future.

Caprino: What have you found to be the reasons why sometimes even the most ambitious person doesn't step up into their greatness?

Lee: The most ambitious people are often laser focused on what they are determined to achieve. It could be more money or recognition or power, for example, which may be their secret desires. They have clear goals and work very hard to accomplish them. Its great to have ambition, but its even more important to focus on how to become a new and different person who will be able to sustain a level of high performance.

Greatness is a choice. We rise to greatness when we choose to react to the worst moments of our life with gratitude, love, and perseverance. And sometimes an abundance of ambition can be a distraction from what what we know deep down to be important.

Caprino: What is your best advice for those who are struggling to go from good to great in their career?

Lee: If you are in a situation where things are good in your career, then chances are that you are in a place of abundance. And you had to hustle and grind to get here. In this place if you feel that things arent great, they could be better, or youre still unfulfilled, then recognize and consider that there is a space on the other side of abundance where fulfillment and purpose can be actualized.

If human psychology has taught me anything, its that true fulfillment comes when we are constantly growing and contributing. Its not met simply in abundance. Seek out the places in your career and your life where you can create the space for growth and contribution. Youll know youre on the right track to the great career that you seek if the good-to-great transformation feels like an organic, cumulative process.

Caprino: In your experience, what impact does higher education have on a person's ability to build a great career?

Lee: First of all, I want to say with conviction that higher education is not necessary to build a great career. Why?Because a persons ability to build a great career isnt developed in school. It is developed through a process of taking massive action through fear, just-in-time learning, and expert guidance.

Higher education provides a safer environment (compared to the world of work) to experiment with action. And academia develops our skills for learning new things if we thrive in that structure of teaching.Unfortunately, the education system is not designed to help students build careers (heres my personal take on 7 crucial lessons academic education didnt teach me). Its optimized for granting certificates as proof of acquired knowledgeand membership to an alma mater.

Knowledge and membership dont directly lead to a great career no matter how prestigious. Also, the myth of job security is perpetuated by the education system: go to school, get good grades, and get a safe and secure job. That paradigm is all about acquiring knowledge to pursue job security (ultimately financial security), which will elude you because it doesnt exist in todays marketplace realities.

Instead, whats more empowering and sustainable is to aim for what I call vocational confidence. By vocation I mean work that is your true calling as it is connected to your mission, your natural talents, and your ability to make a contribution to the world for a handsome profit.Once you do, it will necessarily mean you have the ability to create your most meaningful work; work that is aligned with your mission and purpose. I cant think of a greater career than that. Because a vocation is a great career.

Caprino: You must hear a lot of objections in response to your message about getting paid your worth from people who believe that focusing on doing what you love instead of getting paid well helps them to achieve career fulfillment. How can someone reconcile the perceived tension between great pay and meaningful work?

Lee:Yes, this is a sensitive subject for a lot of people. Partly because the subject of money itself can be a sensitive topic, but also because most people have the perception that high pay and fulfillment are mutually exclusive.

In other words, the common belief is that you can either love what you do or get highly paid, but not both. But pay is fair exchange, and that only makes sense when you look at the facts of how money flows.Unfortunately, you can have employers who discriminate, clients who negotiate unreasonably to cut your prices, etc., but its not the norm.

Setting those aside, the money you earn is directly correlated to the value you add to the marketplace youre in. Its the exact same whether youre working for someone or in business for yourself. The marketplace is paying. The question is, What is it willing to pay? The answer is, It is only willing to pay for value.And the more value there is, the more it will pay. This is good news since our emotions about the work were doing dont factor in at all.

Knowing this is freeing because it means that we can get highly paid for doing work we love so long as it adds value to that marketplace.

Caprino: Youve said, All the problems we face in our careers are simply unasked questions. Can you share some questions we should be asking?

Lee: Ill share two of my personal favorites that solve specific problems.

Problem: Im not making enough money in my career.

Ask yourself:

1) What skills do I need to refine as a clear leader in my industry to help me overcome the obvious obstacles that are restricting my growth and profitability?

Problem: I cant keep up with all the expectations that are placed on me but I dont want to give up or let people down.

Ask yourself:

1) What could I delegate or stop doing that would free my time to do what I need to do for profits?

2) What are the most frequent reasons my calendar gets hijacked, and what guardrails do I need to build to keep these intruders from sabotaging my day?

Caprino: What are the steps to take to turn knowledge into action and produce the result of a truly great career?

Lee: First, chunk it down.Confusion and overwhelm are going to be features of the journey, so break it down into smaller chunks that you know you can handle all in a days work.Make it real by scheduling it. When you focus on these each day, its no longer insurmountable.

Create the space in your life to produce the result you desire. The space includes your physical, mental, social, family, and financial space.Make it a game that you must win, and strategize the steps to get you to your goal.

This changes your state from one of fear to power. Most importantly, learn to enjoy the entire journey rather than just looking forward to the outcome.

For more information, visit http://www.careerrevisionist.com.

To build a more rewarding, impactful career of purpose, visit Kathy Caprinos Career Breakthrough Coaching programs, and tune into her podcast Finding Brave.

See more here:
What You Need To Know To Rise To The Greatness You Were Destined For - Forbes