Dream Job Coaching

1. Allows You To Be Your True Self All of The Time

It takes a tremendous amount of energy to step into a false persona for work and not be your true self. Your dream job will enable you to not be “Jekyll and Hyde” but will allow you to be your true self at all times and not waste energy.

2. Fits Into Your Life

Your dream job will integrate perfectly into your lifestyle and will fit you wonderfully. It will feel like a natural part of you and will not hinder your life and other aspects of your life (family, hobbies, interests, etc.). This does not mean that there will not be times when your job will interfere with your life – that is something that will happen. But a dream job will interfere with the rest of your life significantly less than other jobs. For example, your dream job may offer you flex-time so that you can work at home at times to spend time with your family. You will still have to work but it will offer you more flexibility and more of what you want.

3. Incorporates Your Values

A dream job will have the same values as you and will not ask you to embrace values that do not resonate with you or to go against your beliefs. If you have a concern for the environment, for example, your dream job will not ask you to be involved with toxic waste dumping.

4. Allows Your To Tap Into Your Unique Gifts

Everyone has different gifts and qualities – your dream job will allow you to tap into your unique gift and express it fully. You’ll notice that work will feel more effortless due to the use of your gifts and you’ll begin to notice the impact you’re having on all that you touch.

5. Gives You Energy Instead of Draining You

You feel energized by your job instead of drained and exhausted by it. You look forward to it and embrace every part of it. You start to notice that you have energy for other things both in and outside of work. Having more energy has the benefit of helping you to become more creative and enthusiastic. Imagine the possibilities when you harness all the energy that will fill you.

6. Enables You To Align With Your Passion and Do What You Love

There is an ease that comes with cultivating your passion. You’ll feel as if you’re coming to your true home and doing what you’re meant to do in this lifetime. As you do what you love, you realize your purpose is being fulfilled and you feel satisfied and comfortable.

7. Helps You To Make a Difference to Something You Believe In

It enables you to feel good about giving to your job knowing that you are making a difference in some way and your unique talents and gifts are being used to bring about change to something that is important to you.

8. Is Enjoyable & Doesn’t Seem Like Work

You wake up every day excited about going to work instead of dreading it. You can have fun at work and feel happy about doing your job. You might find yourself asking “Do I really get paid to do this work? It feels more like a hobby than a job.”

9. Follows Your Wants Instead of Your Shoulds

You listen to your intuition and your heart instead of your rational mind and/or what society and others think you “should” do. As you listen to what you want, you begin to know yourself more clearly. The rest of your life starts to rearrange itself around who you truly are and not who you were supposed to be.

10. Fulfills You

You feel a sense of completion. The work you do, how you do it, and the responsibilities and roles all come together in a way that makes you feel satisfied. You know the work you are doing is having impact and you are truly serving your purpose.

When you look at your life, where do you see your greatness shining? Are you creating a new invention, solving an age-old problem, helping others in new ways? Greatness comes in many forms. For each person, it is something different and technology offers many variations for new techniques. It can shine when you are with your family or friends, while working, during telephone conversations or even while washing dishes. Look deep within yourself and let out the magnificence. When does everything seem to click perfectly?

Maybe you can’t decide where your true potential is centered yet. If this is a difficult question, think about what gives you pure satisfaction. Do you enjoy working with people, with tools or with ideas? If you could only choose one, which would it be? Ask yourself, Where is my greatness? Sit back, relax and close your eyes. If competition gives you a thrill, imagine that you’re heading toward the finish line in the Olympic 100 meter Dash. Though your closest competitor is a stride behind, you give it your all and exceed your previous time by several tenths of a second. Greatness isn’t only about winning a race but about striving to reach your best and then exceeding it.

Imagine all the possibilities when you dare to be great. Maybe you are skilled in getting opposing groups to come to an agreement. This is a skill used not just between family members or between management and unions; it is how nations step back from the ravages of war. The ability to help others resolve differences without losing face is a talent just as important as that of a scientist who discovers a new cure to an old disease or an inventor who develops a new device.

Whatever part of you that rises to a particular challenge, that leans forward with a sense of excitement at this unexpected opportunity is the part you must listen to for it is this inner excitement you feel that offers the potential for greatness. Whether you achieve fame or wealth may be beyond your control, but you will achieve something far more valuable in life — personal satisfaction. When you dare to be great, you will have the calm warmth of knowing that what you’ve done today you’ve done well and you’ve enjoyed the doing of it.

We deserve all the treasures life has to offer and the first step toward this destination is allowing yourself to experience your full potential, your personal greatness. If you enjoy the process of a particular activity as well as the end result you are shooting for, you may have found something worth focusing upon. James Dillet Freeman said, “Dare to be what you are meant to be and to do what you are meant to do, and life will provide you the means to do it and be it.”

Remember the movie Pleasantville in which the residents of that town lived in black and white? We all, in some way, live in a black-and-white world – a world without color. Color can mean many things — the hues of the rainbow, as well as a person’s aura, how people express their true nature.

Often, people don’t reveal the fullness of their gifts and who they are. This can occur because people identify themselves by the roles they play in life, for example their job title, rather than expressing every dimension of themselves.

Midlife career changes can reveal the colorful palate of life by allowing you to see through new eyes.

Without being aware of it, you may be living in a black and white world and you are missing out. Imagine if you couldn’t see the colors surrounding you — a beautiful red rose, the face of your partner, the art you create as an artist or see at an exhibit, the rainbow that gently rises after rain and, most importantly, the gifts you have to give to others. You may be missing a lot of beauty in your own life.

Midlife career changes not only expose you to new jobs, but to new experiences.

The wonderful essence of color shines when you are able to express your true gifts in new ways. All of this is gone when you live in a black and white world – one that lacks passion and meaning. This Grey world is a reality today for most of us!

Here is a quiz to see if you live in this black and white world. If you answer TRUE to more than five, it’s time to bring more color into your life:

1. I say yes to others before saying yes to myself.
2. I avoid doing things that are scary for me.
3. I live a life based on what others want for me.
4. I do what my family and society want for me.
5. I focus more on what I know how to do, than on what works best for me.
6. I am influenced by what others are doing around me.
7. I avoid taking risks.
8. I value my efficiency more than my creativity.
9. I don’t use my heart, soul and mind when making decisions.
10. I play it safe with anything that is out of my comfort zone.

How do you change from a black-and-white world to a world of color? A world in which you know what makes up your true rainbow of expression? You have color in your life when:

• You are clear on what you are passionately interested in.
• You are fully expressing your gifts.
• You have embraced who you are.
• You know what you want to do, and you are actualizing this purpose.
• You look forward to your daily activities.
• You live a life in which possibilities are constantly coming your way.
• You live life to the fullest.

If you aren’t capable of achieving this in your current job or career path, it may be time for a change.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.”

Thanks to midlife career changes, you can reach out and gain those newer and richer experiences.

Barriers are most often imaginary obstacles that seem very real at the moment. When trying to find your dream job, these barriers seem very real and scary. We come up with practical, realistic reasons why something won’t work. What you must realize is whenever you find yourself resisting anything during this dream job process, make sure you realize it is fear talking in most cases.

When you fully begin to understand why you are having difficulty moving forward with the process, you’ll be able to see and understand the fear for what it is and be ready to move on with confidence. It is your unwillingness to confront a fear that traps you. A barrier rises up and we second-guess ourselves with self-doubt. Your subconscious whispers how much easier it would be to stay with the familiar and avoid taking a chance on that unknown. But if we listen to the siren song of self-doubt, we will forever flounder on the becalmed sea of indecision. The solution is to take action and use the winds of change to carry you toward the life you want and deserve.

How do you get beyond your barriers? If you can’t imagine the possibilities that could exist in your future, how do you avoid the possibility of failure? The answer is, you don’t. Failure isn’t something anyone can avoid. It is something we learn from like the toddler who takes a first step and suddenly plops down in surprise. We must review what we did, determine what worked and what didn’t and then get back up and try again. Risk is a part of our daily life and failure is always one of the possible results. Failure is merely a tool, a gage that tells us whether we achieved our goal or not. The proper response to failure is always: re-assess your actions, regroup and try again.

Realize that you are not alone in your failure even though it might feel that way. Everyone fails. Thomas Edison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead, Winston Churchill, Harriet Tubman, Theodore Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, great leaders, acknowledged geniuses of their time, yet these men and women all knew monumental failure. What they did afterwards is what is important. They learned from their mistakes and moved on. And that is what you must do.

If that’s hard to do, imagine you are a counselor advising a stranger about this problem. You have no emotional attachment to the issue. You are calm, logical and able to identify clear steps this person can take to overcome this problem. Every time your sub-conscious comes up with a “yeah, but” to a solution, you counter that next barrier with logic just as you would if advising a stranger.

What prevents many people from landing their dream job? Barriers. Write down the top three barriers that stand in your way from achieving what you most want and begin to consider ways you could overcome them.

I have a job with good money and great benefits, and not much else.

This has me wondering what am I really gaining from my current job besides a pay check. I realized that I am playing it safe. I’m not really trying to change my situation because of fear. I have a certain comfort level that makes where I’m at relatively easy and safe. My current job enables me to survive. I don’t want to stay where I am though – I want to succeed, not just survive.

After working with thousands of clients, I have heard variations on this story from many of them. The average age range of these clients is between 40 and 45. This is the time of life during which people are inspired to make drastic career changes. This is not surprising because I’ve found that a shift begins to happen in people at this time. They begin to want more out of life and work. They begin to weigh their lives, their mortality and their accomplishments, and consider the legacy they want to leave. The fears that have always held them back begin to lift, and they are able to see beyond the limiting thoughts and beliefs.

They’re concerned about finding the job that is right for me. They’re asking themselves is: Who am I, and what do I truly want out of life?

The realization strikes – it is now time to achieve larger goals, and push further than in the past. Money, prestige, and credibility begin to become less important. Happiness, contentment, and peace become the priorities and goals.

Once they’ve established these priorities, the common question that I hear is: What will help me drive myself towards what I really want?

There are two main ways to do this:

1. Do things that you believe in!

Review past experiences. Look at those times that filled you with positive feelings, when you felt that you were truly doing something you enjoyed, and that fulfilled you. Find ways to bring more of this into your life. What experiences have filled you with accomplishment and joy? What still brings a smile to your face? Bring it into your life now.

2. Do things with conviction and passion!

Realize that you truly can do anything. If you must start small, take one step each day to bring you closer to your dream. Increase your actions so that you are eventually unafraid to express your passion fully each and every day. Get support! Collect inspirational stories or quotes, gather a group of like-minded friends or colleagues, make a daily commitment to yourself and your goals. When you feel yourself tempted to act with less conviction, remind yourself that you deserve more, and are capable of more.

The clients that I have seen are inspired by their newfound dedication. Once they identify what they truly want out of life, their dedication propels them forward. They have a sense of clarity, conviction, and confidence that wasn’t present before. Possibilities are opening up as they never had before. Fear is removed from the equation, and the freedom is exhilarating and empowering.

If you can’t achieve these two objectives in your current assignment, I strongly encourage you to consider a new job.

In my monthly enewsletters, I try to provide insights I’ve learned from working with hundreds of clients. The effectiveness of career coaching is evident in the changes I see with my clients. And it’s always gratifying when readers can apply these “lessons learned” to their own circumstances.

For example, one of my  subscribers wrote a wonderful e-mail telling me of her journey towards her dream job. She found Fulfillment@Work and my writing inspirational and helpful. Her story illustrates important points that I think are vital to helping you progress towards your dream job. She wrote:

In part because of you, I am on my way to finding my dream job. The only reason I am on my way is because I had to realize that there was absolutely nothing I can do at my former job to make it better. I spent 21 years in the world of corporate defense law and was very good at it. But, for me, it was a completely dysfunctional world and I realized that I could no longer do what I had to do to be suited for that work in that environment.

Powerful statement, don’t you agree? How many of you feel the same way? Many people stay longer than necessary at jobs that make them fundamentally unhappy and unfulfilled. Why? Because they are good at it. I’m sure that this woman is very skilled at what she does and many of her colleagues are wondering why she’s leaving. As you get better and better at a job, you get more rewards and more recognition. This makes it much harder to leave.

Instead of focusing on your skills – what you’re good at – focus instead on what you enjoy and your gifts and talents. When you shift your focus from what you’re good at to what will serve your soul, you’ll be on the path to true fulfillment and your dream job. Don’t wait 21 years to hear this wake-up call. Notice if you’re feeling dissatisfied today and make a change. Talk to your employer about how to increase your sense of fulfillment at your current job or change your job.

These types of situations really demonstrate the effectiveness of career coaching. A coach can provide an objective perspective, ask the tough questions and make you focus on possibilities and not limitations.

In my experience, people have far more gifts and talents than they realize. A coach can help you identify and take ownership of them, which is an integral step to finding your dream job and true happiness at work.

How realistic is it to hold out for your dream job in today’s economy? Is settling for less in your career just a necessary evil right now? How to find a job you love when the economy is in a recession?

“Keep the dream alive,” implores Joel Garfinkle of Dream Job Coaching, an Oakland, California-based consulting firm specializing in personal and professional fulfillment. Despite our current economy’s challenges, Garfinkle still coaches his clients to seek a position that provides career satisfaction beyond salary and security. This can be a difficult concept to embrace when many of us are just looking for a job to pay the bills.

Indeed, Garfinkle is finding many of his clients lowering their expectations of what a new position can offer or tolerating jobs that provide little reward beyond a steady paycheck. How can you tell when the fear of losing your job has made you settle for a position long enough?

• You won’t take the risk of asking for a deserved raise or promotion.
• You allow your coworkers or boss to take advantage of you or treat you unfairly.
• You play it safe by not expressing dissenting professional opinions.
• You participate in schmoozing or office politics to secure your employment.
• You become more cutthroat in the workplace and feel like you must compete with coworkers rather than cooperate with them.
• You’ve accepted that you hate going to work.

The thought of losing your job can be terrifying, and it’s easy to see how these reactions can insidiously creep into an otherwise well-adjusted, professional individual. But while these behaviors may temporarily save your job, the toll they take on your psyche can be high. Obviously, today’s economy dictates that marching into your boss’s office to announce that your career fulfillment lies far, far away from your current position is not a smart career move. But do realize, as Garfinkle states, a fear of losing your job can stymie you into believing that a better job is more luxury than reality. How to find a job you love is possible and it looks like this:

• It taps into your innate abilities. If you are good at teaching, your job involves instructing others; if you are a whiz at selling, that would be your primary responsibility. Whatever your inherent skills are, your position uses them.
• It energizes instead of drains you. At the end of the day, you’re excited about what challenges await you tomorrow.
• It allows you to be your true self all or most of the time. That is, the job is a good match with your values and personality. You don’t feel you have to be someone else on the job.
• It fulfills your wants instead of your shoulds. You should be an accountant because you are good with numbers. You want to be a skydiving instructor. Check out skydiving.
• It is essentially effortless. That is, the above conditions have been met and doing your job is a natural extension of who you are.
• Consider using today’s job market as a call to action for your career, concludes Garfinkle. It’s serious and scary to rock the boat and take a risk for what you really want, but never testing the waters just to remain afloat is a scary alternative as well. Don’t use the bad economy as an excuse for pursuing your career goals. That’s how how to find a job you love

Article printed by permission granted from Monster.com.

If you knew the exact date when your life would end, what would you do differently? More specifically, if you had only one year left and had to continue to work for a living, what would you change about your day to day life right now? Would you continue to work for your current employer or would you do something that satisfies your heart? Would you think, “How can I find the perfect job for me?” A large majority of people would seek work that fulfills them, work they value and truly desire.

As you read this article and begin your day today, this is the mindset you need to have because, in truth, part of you is dying when the work you do doesn’t energize and uplift you. You have the power to change that and the ability to do it now. Create the life you want doing work you love. Change course and discover the abundant number of possibilities that are open to you.

Many people wait until they reach their 50’s, 60’s or 70’s before they realize that life is finite and if they are going to do that which they’ve secretly dreamed, they must begin now. It’s why so many people go back to school, take a class on gourmet cooking or a foreign language or begin to learn a musical instrument in their later years. These interests that have lain dormant for so many years can open new careers and new avenues of joy.

Recognize that life is finite regardless of what your age is. It is precious and each moment must be treasured and used wisely. No one can capture time and store it away for a later date. It is something you must spend each day and, at the end of the day, decide whether you’ve spent it wisely or wasted it. Seize the day and breath life back into the dreams of work and life you’ve left untouched for too long. Use this message as springboard to a whole new future just waiting for you to discover it. James Dean said, “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”

It’s never too late to ask, “What is the perfect job for me?”

Every advance the world has known has come from someone who struggled with day-to-day decisions just like you. Imagine what our world would be like if those people had never existed or never reached for their dreams. Today you must envision not only what you are now but what you will become in the future and the impact that could have on the world.

The same can be said of you. Only you know the person you can be. Only you can release the beauty and power that lies hidden inside you waiting for the right moment. Your talents and gifts can only be truly recognized when they are shared with the world.

What are we – your friends, colleagues and everyone around you – here to learn from you? Your answer has the power to change your life. It can help you in finding the right career for you. When answering this question, all of your energies become focused on why you are here – your purpose for living. You are one of a kind and when you leave the world that’s it. You don’t have another opportunity. See yourself as an endangered species, with limited number of hours and energy in your life. You are here on this earth to serve a purpose. Honoring one’s gifts means using them to contribute to others. How can you arrange your life to maximize your utilization of your gifts?

Looking at your life and work from this perspective has an incredible effect: it imparts new urgency to your desire to make a change today and to commit to doing something you believe in. We all have dreams we would like to accomplish, we have work we would love to do and we have loved ones we want to share and spend time with. These dreams whisper to us lightly, but most of the time we are too busy to hear. Allow yourself not just to hear the whisper, but to take action. Don’t wait until it’s too late and that special person isn’t there any more or the opportunity doesn’t present itself any more.

If you want to answer the question, What Are We Here To Learn From You?, then do the following:

1. Discover and acknowledge your gifts.
2. Learn how to share your gifts with others.
3. Begin to create work that channels your gifts.

The key is finding the right career for you. Finding your true work taps into your passion and provides a means for you to express what WE are here to learn from you. Don’t wait to allow the true you to come forward. Make your footsteps on the sand of time now. Cullen Hightower said, “A true measure of your worth includes all the benefits others have gained from your success.”

If you sense that something is missing in your life, realize that you are not alone. Statistics say that over 90% of Americans are unhappy in their jobs. Most of Americans know that finding the perfect job isn’t easy. Each day they go to work not quite sure what they do want but absolutely certain that this isn’t it. Do you feel restless, eager for some change, something more fulfilling and exciting that could stimulate your mind, your soul? Subconsciously, you search for a way to express those gifts that come from within your heart, something that will have meaning to you. You search for work that lets you feel you’ve made a difference in the world.

Gandhi needed to lead his country into freedom, Mother Theresa needed to heal the sick and comfort the dying, Picasso needed to paint and you need to …

Until you realize what you need to do, you will forever travel on your journey of self-discovery.

A musician must make music, an artist must paint,
a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.

- Abraham Maslow

The task is to recognize that you are uniquely special, have something to give, some talent no one else shares in quite the same way. This gift needs to blossom so we can appreciate and enjoy the benefits of it and acknowledge you for it. You owe this to yourself and to all of us to honor your gifts, for only when you share your unique joy with the world does the entire world benefit. Every advance mankind has known has come because of someone’s effort. Don’t let shyness rob you and the world of the power and the passion that lies within you. No one can be all that you will be except you yourself. Follow your passion.

We each have a limited amount of time to make our mark on the world. The only way to find satisfaction is to live your life in a way that uniquely responds to your dreams. That’s why finding the perfect job should be number one on your priority list. You must be willing, committed, absolutely determined to discover what you love to do. Wherever that journey takes you, the gifts revealed and your expression of them will change the world.