If only I had more experience, made more money, had such-and-such a qualification… then I’d be able to apply for that dream job.
How many times have you run that thought sequence?https://careerattraction.com/the-real-secret-to-dream-job-success/
How many times have you dismissed yourself as a possible candidate within seconds of hearing about a job you would love?
How often have you shut yourself down within a heartbeat, thinking, “Oh, I probably wouldn’t like it anyway.”
If any of this resonates with you, then you may just be on the brink of realizing there is so much more you could be doing with your career — you just haven’t given yourself enough space to dream about what might be possible for you.
You see, in these situations where we discount our abilities, experience and qualifications, we’re taking ourselves out of the game before the starting whistle has even been blown. By not even considering the possibility, we don’t open up to allow this new reality in. We subscribe to our old beliefs, thought patterns and assumptions — which may no longer even be true, particularly in this fast-paced world we find ourselves in now.
Open Yourself Up to the Possibilities
In all of the above scenarios, you’re not allowing yourself to daydream about what your ideal job looks like. But the very fact that you have these snippets of awareness about new, better, more exciting jobs coming into your awareness suggests that this is something you know deep down you want to explore. And if it was completely out of reach for you, your mind wouldn’t even let you pick up on it. It wouldn’t even come into your thinking at all.
The problem is that when these thoughts come, you shut them down before you have the chance to be creative with them. If you’re not actively engaged in having that new career or new position show up for you, then you’ve shut down the possibility before it’s had the chance to gestate.
But that’s okay.
Up until now, you just thought these possibilities were silly, and your put your focus onto other things. But now you’re becoming aware of something more. Now you’re opening to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, if you keep reading you may gain some understanding about how to actually get what you want.
Good — then read on!
How to Bag Your Dream Career
First off, you need to define what your dream career looks like.
To most, this is a really difficult task because they don’t allow themselves to:
- Daydream and play with it, or
- Make a choice
In order to be able to create any aspect of your life the way you’d like, you must be able to imagine what it is you’d like to create. Otherwise, all you’re doing is looking at your GPS and saying, “I want to go somewhere that isn’t here.”
As soon as you start thinking about possible destinations (possible outcomes), you can plug in the coordinates and allow yourself to start mapping the route for how to get there.
Road-Blocks to Bypass
Many people have a deeply buried belief that limits their ability to create possibilities and choose.
Thoughts like:
- What if I lose the security I have?
- What if I get rejected?
- What if I choose the wrong thing and end up miserable?
- I don’t have time to change what I have; I’m far too busy just staying afloat.
- Maybe I’ll think about it when X, Y, Z is done…
All these thoughts take us out of making a positive decision and purposefully creating the career we choose. So get really aware of when they crop up and put them aside so you can start mapping things out.
Get Mapping
So, let’s assume you’ve spent some time daydreaming about what you’d really like your career to look like. Now you just need to put your focus on that and let obvious actions come to you.
The obvious ideas aren’t necessarily the most comfortable, but they are the most direct. An example of a comfortable next step would be:
I need to take a course in (insert mildly related subject) and get a qualification in this area.
That’s comfortable. And totally useless. Here’s a more direct route (which happens to be more uncomfortable — sorry!):
I need to track down and reach out to 10 people who are already working in the kind of role I want to be doing. They may be strangers right now, but I’m going to connect with them, get a conversation going and see where it leads. My goal at this point is information-gathering and relationship-building.
Scary? Yes.
Worthwhile and light-years ahead of signing up for a college course? You betcha.
Employers employ people with balls, initiative and connections. Not qualifications. (Tweet this thought.) Anyone who tells you differently is either not an employer or behind the curve. Talent and go-for-it-ness trump paperwork every time.
Now, To Set Your GPS
Ok, now it’s time to implement this for yourself. Here’s how:
-
- Set your GPS (daydream and then choose what you want).
- Set aside your limiting beliefs.
- Allow the most direct route to come to your mind.
- Take the obvious (and sometimes scary) option to create that chosen outcome.
That’s it.
Here’s to your inevitable success!
Ready to give this a try? Need some help? Let us know in the comments!
Image: Flickr
