Who Is Dr. Adam Sheck?
Below are excerpts from an interview that will give you a feel for who I am and why I am in the field of Psychology, focusing on Mission.
Why did you become a psychologist?
My first career was in computers and engineering. I received an undergraduate degree from MIT and then a Master’s degree from USC in Systems Management (an MBA for technical people). I entered marriage therapy almost twenty-five years ago, when problems surfaced in my marriage. Unfortunately, we couldn’t work the relationship out. However, I continued in individual psychotherapy and learned a great deal about my own inner process.
Eventually this motivated me to return to graduate school, complete my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and become a licensed Clinical Psychologist. I believe that the possession of an analytic, scientifically-trained mind combined with my emotional intelligence and deep empathy make me a very unique and effective counselor and mission specialist.
What exactly IS a Mission Specialist?
It’s a play on words that I appropriated from NASA’s space program. It’s only fitting, as I was an engineer before I became a psychologist. In working with my psychotherapy clients over more than 20 years , I’ve always been interested in connecting them to their passion and their purpose, their reasons for getting up in the morning.
Now in the second half of my life, the concept of mission and life purpose has been calling even more strongly to me, which resulted in my creating the Own Your Mission Coaching Program and this website. I’ve drawn on my psychological experience as well as my engineering background to create something that can truly help people connect to their life purpose and remove the blocks in the way to living their mission fully.
What do you mean by mission?
For me, mission has four components:
- Your gifts & talents.
- Your values.
- Your passion.
- Your contribution to the planet, what some call your “calling.”
To be successful in living your mission, you must have all four components firing together. If your talents go against your values, you will never be successful. If you have no passion, yet have the gifts, you won’t have the fuel to continue on. Similarly, if your mission is only about you and doesn’t contribute to society in some way, it will ultimately prove unsatisfying.
So to me, when you discover or perhaps uncover your mission and fully live and express it, that’s what I call OWNING Your Mission.
What is YOUR mission?
It has evolved over the years and continues to evolve. Here is my succinct answer for today:
My mission is to create a world of passion and purpose by using my gifts and talents to empower and mentor others in owning their mission while having fun on the journey.
The having fun part is really crucial both to me and for my clients. I’m too old to do anything that isn’t fun and satisfying to me anymore and supporting men and women in mission is fun. Yes, it’s a lot of work, it is challenging and it can be painful to identify and remove the blocks to owning your mission. AND, the work is too serious to take seriously all of the time, it also has to be fun, which is one of my gifts and one of my values.
How can we find out more about your work as a Mission Specialist?
I’ve created a Special Report, “The Secret To Owning Your Mission!” which is available to members of the Own Your Mission Community though the website. There is no obligation and a few more perks as well, including a complimentary 20 minute Mission Consultation with me via telephone or Skype when you subscribe at the optin box at the top right of the page.
Anything else you’d like us to know?
I’m not a big, impersonal, managed care corporation. I answer my own telephone and read my own emails. I’m a man who cares and I want to be able to help more people, which is why I’m learning to use the Internet in order to support more lives.
But ultimately for me, it’s about people and connecting and that’s what I love to do. I love to connect with you and help you connect with yourself and those that you love. I really care about my clients and our work together.