Could someone please offer me some guidance on some kind of particular, SPECIFIC project that I could attemp, to "get my feet wet, so to speak" I am COMPLETELY new to the field of Data Science, mainly because every employer I have worked for, simply COULDN'T sell any customers anything that would use techniques learned in this field.

Of particular interest to me is machine learning/Predictive Analysis.

I have attempted many "test projects" myself, but I seem to NEED some sort of outside "catalyst" to tell me a specific goal, and a specific set of guidelines, when I am trying to learn something.
Otherwise, I tend to lose focus, and jump from one interesting topic to the next, without ever gaining any experience.

Thank you!!
I would suggest Kaggle learning projects - http://www.kaggle.com/competitions

Look for the ones in the 101 section that offer knowledge. There's many pre-made solutions ready, which you can ingest and try variations of.

Also, I have bookmarked a Comprehensive learning path – Data Science in Python, which among other things gives a few answers to your specific question.