Dream job is not as elusive as it appears to be. Dream job remains a dream for most of the people, because first of all, they don’t define what a dream job does really mean for them. You need to do a lot of soul search, a lot of biting the tongue and a lot of going back and coming forward. But it’s possible to make a living doing what you love and earn handsomely.
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy needs, the basic needs of a human being are to put food on the table, have a shelter for warmth and rejuvenation and clothes to wear. To earn the basic needs man doesn’t need to do much. S/he can have a mediocre job and can earn as much to cover up his basic needs. But dream job doesn’t connote about the first rung of hierarchy needs, rather it’s about the fourth and fifth – the self-esteem and self-actualization needs.
While talking about reaching your full potential and searching for your dream job, New York based serial entrepreneur and author Jonathon Fields says that Maslow has missed one need which should even come before the basic needs of physiological and safety and that is the need of not changing. People are scared of change. They know every bits and pieces of information to improve their lives. But what stops them is their resistance to change. If people are less resistant to change, then they would be able to achieve what they are meant to.
What would be the solution then? How to convince people to change their mind-set about the potential they have and not to waste it to earn only a mediocre living? And how it’s relevant to finding your dream job?
Here’s how.
Once people are not resistant to change they can take the mental leap of changing their security mind-set and can aim for bigger things. They can reach their limit and their limit will expand. And one day when they are at the threshold of going beyond their comfort zone, their dream job will appear. No, job won’t suddenly transmute itself into something ludicrous, but they, themselves will transform to perform the jobs which once seemed beyond their capability.
Want to know how?
Hang on.
If you read this article through and through, one thing you will definitely learn – you are more than you are currently expressing. It’s as useful to people who are just starting out in their career as it is to the people who have already achieved a significant amount of success.
1st Step: Define your dream job, define yourself.
The first step is critical and most people seem to gallop it to reach the next step. Before knowing what colour of hat you love to wear, how would you buy? Same logic you need to use here. Before knowing your values, passions, what turns you on and what turns you off, how would you know what you dream job would look like? And if you don’t know what your dream job looks like then how would you find a job?
There are series of questions you need to ask yourself before you come to the solution about what is your dream job would look like. Your dream job list could consist of:
- What’s your favorite past time?
- What do you do when you have a sudden one day off?
- What do you miss doing most?
- What are your values? (Meaning what characteristics you base your decisions on)
- In the past, if you ever had a job, what did you like in that job? What did you dislike?
- If you have a dream job in your mind right now, why do you think that this particular job is your dream job?
- What are your passions?
- What legacies you would like to leave behind?
When writer and founder of Mindtree, Subroto Bagchi was asked why he writes, he said – I write because I love to write. I have a deep longing to share what I have learned with people who are yet to learn things about life.
And mind you Subroto Bagchi, Jonathan Fields, people who found their utopia didn’t find them overnight. They kept on asking themselves, kept on trying new things and suddenly they found the alignment between their job hunting and passion.
You also can find what your dream job is if you search. Search obsessively. Ask yourself several questions. Write the answers. Talk to people who are from different career backgrounds. Read. Attend seminars. Take notes. Try new things. One day you would see you have found your thing, that thing which inspires you to get up early in the morning to welcome the day with open hands.
2nd Step: Wear a black hat
You may wonder why to wear a black hat out of sudden? If you have read “Six Thinking Hat” by Edward de Bono, you would know that a black hat signifies the obstacles on the path. Once you define your dream job essay, it’s mandatory for you to see whether it’s scalable or not. Your dream job maybe anything from writing to cartooning on the back of a card. But if you don’t articulate what possible hindrances you may face, you wouldn’t be able to handle them when they appear.
Source: pixabay.com
Ask yourself these questions –
- Does my dream job quiz solve any problems in the society?
- What are the possible obstacles I may face while pursuing my dream job game?
- How to deal with family pressure and societal pressure?
- Do I have enough savings to start afresh on a new career?
While embarking on a dream job, the common pitfall is the resistance of other people for you to change. You would see that quite often your family will pose as a serious obstacle than anyone else. Because simply your family doesn’t want you to change and as a result of that they don’t want to change their behaviour toward you. To convince your family you need to show them that you are not putting them in any bottleneck and you have enough savings to make it through.
Once you convince your family, it would be easier for you to pursue whatever you would like to pursue.
3rd Step: Don’t quit your current career yet
If you find out that the job you are presently pursuing is not your dream job, don’t quit immediately. See your job pays your bill, put the food on the table and accommodates your family and all the expenses you have for yourself. So, quitting immediately is foolish. Rather plan. Always remember that you need to have enough money in the bank for you and your family to run on if you don’t do a thing for a year and some more.
For example, Robin finds out that writing is his passion. And he wants to pursue it with all his heart. But right now he is a recruitment consultant in a consulting firm. He earns well and his family depends on it. So here, Robin needs to plan. He needs to ask himself –
- How much I need to save every month so that I can quit within a year?
- The amount I have set aside for family expenses, can I pare it down by 10-20%?
- How much money I need to save so that if I don’t get paid for a year or so, I don’t need to worry about my family expenses?
Yes, it’s important to pursue your dream job, but at the same time you need to do some reality check. Things look good on the appearance, but to know what they really are you need to dig deep and see.
4th Step: Dig deep and research your dream job
Let’s extend the example of Robin who has realized that he loves to write. Now, he knows that he loves to write and has got enough evidence that he can do the same and earn well. But that what he thinks. It may not be true for him.
In this case, what he needs to do is to go to the market and do some due diligence. He needs to go to different job sites and find out how much money he can charge per article as a beginner. He also needs to know whether his writing skill is efficient enough to earn him a job of a writer.
Best way to start your dream job search is to take ready, fire, aim approach. Here, Robin needs to apply for a freelance writing gig. He can choose anything to begin with. Then see for himself what his experience is and then gradually expand his direction from there.
5th Step: Start a part-time venture
Robin has fired his arrow and seen that he is good enough to earn a living from his writing. But he is yet to quit his day job.
It’s better not to quit the day job yet. Rather it would be prudent, if he takes some time and thinks how he can take out some time for his freelance writing career. Maybe 2-3 hours a day after office hours or 8-10 hours in the weekend.
While you are still a newbie in a market, it is worthy to take some more time to see that whether you can continue it for a long time and also whether it’s giving you that much happiness as you had thought it would. If it’s so you can go ahead and transmute your part time journey into a full time affair or else you can continue with your current day job.
So, hang on there, do some work part time and then see whether it rings a bell or not.
Source: http://exameangola.net/
6th Step: Set an earning goal
You need to think that with time the value of money will decrease. So whatever you are earning in your day job now wouldn’t be enough 2 years from now. Strategize by adding 20% of your current income.
For example, if you are getting a salary of Rs. 50,000 per month, 2 years from now you need to earn at least Rs. 60,000 to suffice.
Thus, while pursuing your part time venture, you need to set a goal to earn at least similar or 20% more than whatever you are earning now. Yes, you need to do some tweaks and find out more time per week or month to see whether it’s really possible or not.
If within a year, you find out, that it’s easily possible, then you can gradually plan to quit your day job and start your new career full time.
If not, then you can continue to do your day job and at the same time pursue your dream job part time as long as it seems worthy.
7th Step: Scalability is a major part
Most passionate people think that everything is scalable. But quite often it is seen that everything is not scalable all the time. Thus, you may love to do certain work, but it may not pay you enough to quit your current job. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue them. Pursue your passion with all your heart but remember that if you have a family you have responsibility. And to find freedom for your passion, you need to take responsibility to earn enough to run your family well and save some.
Business philosopher, Jim Rohn remarked –
Do the things you have to do quickly, so that you can do the things you love to do.
It’s quite right. Your present job may not be what you would like to continue, but you need to have enough skill and knowledge of the new career to make it scalable and to earn enough.
8th Step: What if your dream job is in the similar field?
Very few people have this advantage because very few people articulate clearly what they would like to do in their career before starting out in a career. If you know that whatever you are doing it’s the right thing for you and you just need to expand and reach a higher rung, then all you need to do is this.
“Work harder on yourself than on your job”
Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success Magazine talks about a beautiful ratio, i.e. E vs. E ratio. First E stands for education and second E stands for entertainment. If you don’t think that you need to read more or educate yourself more simply calculate how much time you spend on entertainment and how much on education. And you would get a clear picture of what you can do with your time.
9th Step: Start your new journey
If you have found your dream job, congratulations! A bright future awaits you. But if not, you can go back to the first step and start again. Nothing is a waste of time because everything that you do or abstain from is an opportunity to learn something new. If you succeed, continue, if you fail, learn and start a new path.
10th Step: Don’t give up
While endeavouring into this new career, you may fail in the beginning. Yes, you may have tested the path before and you may have enough facts and figures to convince you that your present career would be beneficial and fulfilling to you. But it may not be true in every deal, in every job, in every step that you take. You may fail and sometimes so bad that you wouldn’t feel like getting up. But don’t give up. You have done it before and you can do it again.
Reading about it is easy. But finding your dream job and pursuing it with all your heart is only possible for warriors of courage. Go ahead and take the first step now.
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