What is a Turning Point?

I've been working since I was 15.  I've had an entrepreneurial spirit my whole life.  When I was a little girl, the neighbor and I used to put a rubber band around old newspapers and deliver them to the neighborhood.  In mind, I as selling newspapers - the neighbors, however, we're quite confused.  My first job at 13 was typing for my Mom's word processing business, The Perfect Page; followed by the baseball field "Snack Shack" manager and then my first real job at a fabric store. I was the store assistant manager at at 17 and started my second job when I turned 19, while I was graduating high school.  Those 5 years of working set the stage for who I am today. 

Unlike high school, I excelled in my jobs. I put forth a strong effort, received promotions and praise regularly and at age 19, found myself as the Secretary to the President of a major electronics company. That was a Turning Point and one I didn't handle well.  The good news is that out of all the candidates he interviewed and the people within the company who applied, he chose me as his secretary.  The bad news is that it went to my head, fast.  It wasn't long before they let me go for a more mature model and rightfully so.  At the time, I didn't care - I was going to become a police officer anyway. 

Turning Points are times in ones life where you have reached a pivotal point; felt a particular emotion that had extreme meaning or a "ah ha" moment where you realized you have made an achievement without knowing it. They aren't transitions.  They are times when you realize that something you have been working so hard for has happened; that you've made a certain discovery that is going to force major changes in your life or perhaps making a concerted effort to change the landscape of what you are doing for something up.

Turning Points aren't easy to recognize unless you're looking for them.  I remember where I was standing when I had my first official Turning Point and once I realized it, I had to sit down and take it in.  It was amazing.

...that story is for another day.