What is the number one thing I hear when working with clients or speaking to groups? An incredibly fast, I don’t even know, every time I ask the question, what do you want to do? I have to admit it breaks my heart. Not that they don’t know the answer but that they aren’t even willing to consider what work they want to do, let alone a dream job. It is as if because no one tapped them on their shoulder with a ‘calling’ that they will forever be doomed to the work slog drudgery. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can retrain your brain and narrow your focus to get to your dream job. I promise.
Recently I was talking with two people who are nearing retirement, both are excited but in very different ways. I loved hearing their stories. Typically, I am focused on how your dream job or dream career can help you now or in the next 5-10 years. Listening to them I got to fully understand how it can impact you for the long haul and how they are approaching this next chapter differently.
Loving Life Lori
Lori has been working in a career most of her life that she adores. She has worked with children, managed big projects, gotten her hands dirty, and had to learn new skills at every turn. Lori said that the best years were early on. She had a boss the likes of which have never been matched and each day was a whirlwind of activity, but she felt like she was making a difference. After years in that role she made a change within the same organization to take on more responsibility and earning potential. The new role didn’t deliver on the responsibility but it did have a more exciting paycheck. So what did she do? Picked up any and every interesting project she could find. It took several years, but she was back to that feeling of blissful whirlwind. Lori loves her career but knows that the next chapter holds so much more freedom and adventure. She was so animated talking about everything she’s done and accomplished in the last 40+ years of her career and said that she will miss it every day.
Get Me Outta Here Gretta
As you can guess by the name, Gretta had a bit of a different take on retirement. She too worked at the same organization the vast majority of her life and took on a couple of different roles within it. When you’d speak to Gretta about how would was going she’d mention all of gift cards she was earning, how much overtime she was putting in, and the fact that they let her work from home some days and all of the over time at home. It was all about the small perks that her employer afforded but no excitement. To this day, after years of hearing these stories, I could not tell you what exactly she does. I just assumed that she liked it fine because she never complained. Enter, the retirement planning years. Gretta did not like her job, heck, she seems to have outright hated it. She has been, ‘counting down the days [until retirement] for years.’ When asked why she can go into a full on rant asking if you’d want to key this and that into a computer for hours on end. She looks at retirement as a means of escape. When asked why she never made a change she said, well, what else was I going to do?
Who do you want to be?
This is a no brainer when you get to look in hindsight at something laid in two simple options. However, when you’re in the mix it’s harder to see it. Are you in the several years that Lori went through to get back the excitement for work she once had? Or are you on a path to ranting about how you’ve hated most of your waking hours for the past 30+ years? You can be Lori and it is easier than you might think. If instead of saying I don’t even know, you’re saying great! where do I start? Read on my friend.
What is the highlight of your day? Why?
Start by determining what is the part of your day, or even week, that you really enjoy and look forward to? It could be a productive meeting, quiet time where you knock out a lot of tasks and see your queue drop, or proof-reading emails. Dig into it and dissect why you enjoy it. What are you getting from it? What would it feel like to do more of it? This is most often a part of the workday, because it can’t be when I’m done. However, it doesn’t have to be. If you’re thinking that you really love sitting on a church or community board or committee dig more into that. If you really enjoy the one-on-one of working through homework with your kiddo, dig into that.
Who do you want to help?
This one can be in total alignment to what you found you enjoy or it could be completely different. Don’t feel like you need to be swayed one way or the other. Maybe you know you want to help young adults with disabilities. Perhaps you want to support organizations who are tackling climate change. Maybe you’re looking to help as many working moms and dads as possible. My point in picking such random examples is that I don’t want you to box yourself in here. Really think about this one.
What are you good at? Get a little abstract here.
This is where people get stuck and just go the route of I don’t even know or what else would I do? Think in smaller terms on this one. If you’re a teacher you’re not just good at teaching kids, what are your skills that propel you forward there? Is it your ability to engage a full room and keep their attention? If you’re working in an office you’re not just good at data entry. You might have great attention to detail and the ability to focus on a single task with hyper focus.
Do some research.
Seriously now, go hang out with your friend Google. Talk to others at work. Reach out to your HR department or talk to your boss or mentor. Find out what kind of work would increase your ability and likelihood to do what lights you up, helps others, and utilizes your skills. Like now, go now.
Figuring out what your dream job is feels empowering. I know that sounds a little odd because just knowing you really want to be a mechanical engineer or a data scientist or a leader of leaders doesn’t change what you’re doing today. However, it gives you a direction and a choice. It reminds you that you can do the work to figure out your career because you already took the first step. Most people won’t even figure out the answer. Heck a really quick, I don’t even know is so much easier than actually figuring it out. Even when they agree that after 30 years they don’t want to be feeling the same way or doing the same thing. So, if you are one of the few who will actually take that first step (or maybe you already have!), I would love to hear what your dream job is. If you don’t know what that job is yet, I want to help. Click here to take a very brief quiz that will point you toward your perfect career path.
I have been lucky to have my dream job for 32 years. This is an inspiring post!