Author hopes to inspire people to live their best life

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Some people know exactly what they want to do with their lives when they are very young. For others, it takes a little figuring out. You could say the light bulb went on for Clancy Clark when he was 23 years old.

Like a lot of kids growing up, he wanted to make his father proud. So, he enrolled in college and started pursing a degree in business. It didn’t take long, however, for him to discover that was not the path for him.

“During my college years I kind of felt like I was spinning my wheels and school wasn’t fulfilling for me, but I didn’t want to disappoint my father, so I stuck with it,” he said.

Clark attended three different colleges and switched majors as many times before fate finally intervened.

Everything changed when, while attending Montana State University, he got a border collie sheepdog. Clark named the pup Arlo and later decided to help the young dog follow in the pawprints of his ancestors.

“Arlo showed me that doing the things in life you are meant to do is what it’s all about,” Clark said. “Watching the instinct come alive in that dog as he answered his calling to herd sheep was a revelation for me to follow my own intuition and do the things that are most fulfilling for me.”

In his new book, “Love Your Work Live Your Dream,” set for release by Trail Boot Press in January, Clark shares his personal story of how life unfolded for him.

He sprinkles in much of the wisdom learned along the way. In addition, he gives readers practical tools to enjoy truly meaningful work, have a clear vision of their best life and connect the dots between the two.

As they move through the book, readers learn that after leaving college Clark went to work as a sheep herder. As that industry continued to shrink, he took a job managing a feed store and eventually started working in outside sales, moving through three different decade-long chapters, following his intuition every step of the way.

“A lot of people will tell you when you’re following your intuition how crazy you are. A lot of people said that to me, but I simply did what I was called to do,” said Clark, who quickly rose to the top of all the companies with which he worked.

Throughout the book, Clark reveals concepts and actions that are key to meaningful work and realizing dreams, including this sampling: there are three options to explore if you are unhappy at work, anyone can take steps every day to move toward the life they envision, and there are no endpoints in life, only waypoints.

Clark wants everyone who reads his book to embrace the idea that living on purpose is about making choices based on their intuition, not based on what society dictates or what someone else might say is right for them.

He also proclaims that everyone should aspire to serve others.

“I believe it’s the only way that one can be fulfilled and happy in their career and in their life. Whatever we do, there needs to be an element of serving others to reach our highest potential,” Clark said.

He adds that when people live by this principle, they experience the feeling of inner success, create a life of meaning for themselves and contribute to the lives of those they encounter along the way.

Clark concluded: “To make the world a better place, make your world a better place. That’s one of the core messages of ‘Love Your Work Live Your Dream,’ and I intend to help as many people as I can do just that.”