Are you afraid of losing your job?

Many people lost their jobs in 2010 and I think many more are likely to do so in 2011. This can obviously be very scary. My invitation is to take it as an opportunity to stop and take stock, dig deep, ask new questions, and raise your sights, not lower them. Obviously one of the major reasons we work is for pay, and losing your work creates a necessity to earn money.

But the way you can create income today has never been so full of possibilities. Many people are being honest and saying to themselves, "I am losing a job that I never liked much anyway, but never had the impetus to leave. Now I have been pushed, what new choices might I like to make?"

I left a secure but very unfulfilling corporate career selling computers to foreign banks twenty years to create work that was more meaningful to me. I now write, have become a best selling author, and travel the world inspiring, educating, coaching and mentoring others who feel a call to find and follow their own authentic life. Although my change was self initiated rather than forced upon me, I have learned a lot about making positive change through my own experiences and helping thousands of others create successful businesses around work they love.Here are five tips that can help you use you to make losing your job, or the fear of losing your job, into an opportunity for greater happiness and fulfilment.

1. Begin to think of yourself a brand - begin to break with the belief that your security comes from having a job with someone else. Your security always has and always will come from your own strengths, skill, experience, expertise, talents and abilities, even as an employee. This is always what you have been hired for, and the more you become aware of and understand what your strengths and passions are, the more secure you will become. Being your own brand means understanding your own uniqueness, understanding how your unique adds value to others and then packaging your brilliance and finding the people who can benefit from your strengths.
2. Raise your sights, not lower them - rather than reacting through fear, you have an opportunity to think bigger, happier and greater ways. An empowering way to do this is to ask yourself great questions. So take a pause and ask yourself questions like, "What would you love to do?, What dreams have I been neglecting that I could re-visit? What greater opportunities are beckoning me? How have I been playing smaller than I am capable of?" Today, it has never been more possible to build work or a business doing work that you enjoy, have a passion for and are good at. Indeed, I would even suggest that following your joy and passion are the new security, not sacrificing yourself doing work you don't enjoy.
3. Be willing to pioneer - it can be tempting to think what you've always thought and do what you've always done. Especially as adults, we can find it hard to make new starts, to take steps in which we are beginners and lack confidence. We don't like being less than competent. But this can be a great opportunity to pioneer and start a new phase, to pioneer, to take everything you have learned and become and start a new chapter. Even a baby step in a new direction can initiate you and get you across a new threshold. Ask yourself, "What new chapter is beckoning you? Where are you being called to pioneer?"
4. Move in the direction of your dreams and fears - it is tempting to regard fear as a stop sign, but when you are pioneering and moving in the direction of your dreams, you are likely to experience fear, doubt and what call resistance. That's actually a sign that you are right on track. It is counter-intuitive, but you grow greater than your fears by facing them. You discover more resources within yourself by putting yourself in unfamiliar territory. So be honest about what you know in your heart you'd love to do, but are afraid to do.
5. Get yourself great support - it can be hard to make significant positive change on your own. The gravitational pull back to old, habitual and familiar ways is always strong. So consider getting coaching, mentoring, joining groups, reading inspiring books, listening to audio or watching video programmes that support you and feed your mind with new ideas, inspiration and information. You will evolve at the rate of the people that you spend most time with, so spend time nurturing your inspiration and starving your resistance.

You have tremendous potential and talent within you. Now could be just the time to step up to an even richer, happier and more successful life.

Nick Williams has spent the last 15 years helping to illuminate the world of work. The author of six books, including the best selling The Work We Were Born To Do and most recently The Business You Were Born To Create. He is passionate helping people be happy and fulfilled in their work. www.inspired-entrepreneur.com, /www.facebook.com/entrepreneurclub