It All Starts with a Dream
We’ve all had dreams of having a really cool job when we were young. Maybe you wanted to be an astronaut, or a doctor or maybe even a musician playing in front of a packed house. There is nothing wrong with dreams but as we get older we have to let some of those dreams go. After all, there aren’t that many astronauts! Eventually, you find yourself doing work that seemed like a good fit at the time but things change and people change as well. Most people change careers about a half dozen times in their life so it’s nothing new. The hard thing is to find that career that really speaks to you and makes you excited, or at least makes you feel that you are in the right profession.
We’ve had many clients who are at a crossroads in life and are not sure where to go next. They are not happy where they are but they don’t know what options are best for them moving forward. OK, maybe astronaut, doctor or professional musician are out of the picture but believe it or not, those professions that were dreams from your childhood can give you clues about what type of work might be interesting for you now. Wanting to become an astronaut all those years ago may translate into wanting to have a sense of adventure now, compared to having a structured and predictable job. Being a doctor may be reflected in a need to work in a helping profession, though you may not have thought of it that way. And being a musician might point to a need to be noticed and have recognition in your work. It’s all part of the personal self-assessment process and the deep dive that we talked about in Parts 1 and 2. I encourage you to really think about what motivates you and what needs you are trying to fulfill. It’s not easy but with some focus and a little help you might be surprised at how you can bring some of those dreams to fruition, at least to some extent.
Once you start assessing what’s really important then you can start doing some research to see what types of career would be a good fit for you. One thing that usually helps is to involve other people and get some feedback from them about what they think of your ideas. Whether it’s family, friends or coworkers, they may say that you would be perfect for a certain career. Or not. But often, other people see things in us that we can’t see for ourselves and their input can prove to be invaluable. They also can serve as our support system since it’s easier to make a change when you have people on your side!
The Past is… Present?
Assuming you haven’t found that dream job just yet, what has held you back? Have you ever even thought about it? For no fault of our own, we develop certain fears and limiting beliefs when we are young and they can linger into adulthood. Maybe you faced a lot of criticism when you were young and you became very critical of yourself when you got older. Perhaps you were told that you weren’t good at a particular subject at school so you kept that limiting belief, even though you may have loved that subject. It’s amazing how things in our childhood stay with us. Sometimes we can deal with them but sometimes we just get stuck and repeat the same patterns of self-doubt and fear, and these can short-circuit our ability to step into a more fulfilling career and life in general. For some, a therapist or a life coach may be needed, but a good career coach will take these things into account and offer suggestions on how to deal with fears and that feeling of being stuck. Many Career Explorers have the best intentions and some wonderful ideas on what they want out of life but they get held back from putting them into action. It’s time to face these old demons and process them so you can open the door to possibility and real change! We’ll talk about that in Part 4 of the series.
