Define Your Dream Job

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CoolCareers.com

From http://www.coolercareers.com/dream%20job.html

 

Many of us stay in jobs we don't enjoy because we have bills to pay or children to support and we don't know how else to do it. Change is frightening, and sometimes means admitting we made a mistake. It could mean expensive retraining, having to live on less, moving to another area - and how do we know we'll get it right this time? The only way to find out is to take a few risks, and if you take them one step at a time, you still have the option to dive back into your comfort zone for a while or change direction if you need to.

 

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Working out what you'd really like to do.

You should now have made a list of the steps that led to your present job. Did you start off on a certain course, but then something happened causing you to take a diversion? Perhaps you had children, a change in your financial circumstances, had to look after a relative or developed a health problem? Would you like to get back on track?

Is setting up a business your ideal career, but you have no idea how to go about it? To learn how you can do this and be successful, go to Small Business - Starting Up Online and sign up for the newsletter and free audio -The 30-Day, Step-by-Step Plan to Internet Riches!

Have you always had a secret longing to follow a particular career, but thought it wasn't practical or that other people would laugh at you? If so, write it down anyway and scroll down to the section on impossible dreams. If not, there are plenty of ways to discover your ideal job. Try one of the following:

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Exercise 1. Imagine you've won £10 million on the lottery. You've bought the house, the chalet or chateau, the yacht, the cars. You've been round the world 6 times, you've shopped till you dropped and partied till you fell over.

Luckily, you had a sensible advisor and before you went wild, you invested enough for you and your family to live happily ever after.

How would you spend your time? Make a list and think about ways in which these activities could relate to work. You'd be surprised at the sort of things that can make money. A story I've heard several times involves a couple of women who could only think of watching soaps when asked about their interests. They went on to make money writing weekly summaries of their favourite programmes and getting paid for them! Try taking up some new interests - do something you've always wanted to do but never had time.

If you were taught not to use your imagination and find Exercise 1 too frivolous, try this:

 

Exercise 2. Think of all the things you really want from a job, even if you have no idea what that job might be. Make a list of everything your ideal job would provide. Be as specific as possible eg: If you want the opportunity to travel, do you want a weekly trip to another part of the state or country in which you live? Or do you want a monthly trip abroad to a different destination each time? Or a long trip to another continent 3 times a year? What do you want to do when you get there? (some jobs offer lots of travel - meaning time spent in airports, hotels, conference centres and not much else).

When you've done this with every aspect of your ideal job, look at your present job and see if you can make any changes which will increase your job-satisfaction. Can you take up any spare-time activities or learn any new skills which you can apply to your job or use to help you move to a more fulfilling one?

Or are you convinced your dreams are really impossible?

If your dream is definitely not possible, for example, there may be an age or health related restriction, make a list of all the things that attract you to the job in question and then look at other jobs in which you could find them. Be creative - you may end up with a combination of a couple of part-time jobs, some voluntary work, and some new hobbies. If you only have 10% job satisfaction now, getting 50% of your ideal is going to be a major improvement and you can keep working towards a higher percentage.

You may not be able to follow your dream immediately, but there will be some small steps that you can take straight away. You can then work towards increasing the areas of job (and leisure time) satisfaction in your life. If you are having trouble creating your dream or finding the money to finance it, have a look at The Law of Attraction and see if that can help you overcome the block.