When you have started on your journey to find the work you love, the biggest challenge is not finding something you love, and can also make money doing, but it is working out which of the many choices that you could take will lead you to the work and lifestyle of your dreams?
It's not about discovering yourself, it's about discovering yourselves!
You see there is no envelope out there with your name on that tells you your perfect job or career, it's never that easy. Instead you have to discover what your real working identity is and how you can create the lifestyle you want from it. So today I thought I would give you my top five tips for discovering your working identity.
Act Don't Think!
I get so many emails and phone calls from people who are looking for help in discovering the work they love and in most cases the first thing I discover is they have spent months, even years, thinking about their ideal role in life, yet have not taken any action to check out their thinking. So rule one is act don’t think. Throw away the assessment manuals and career guides, get out there and try things, then try some more things. Eventually, and in fact normally very quickly, you will discover what you love and hate about the work you do.
Change Your Mind!
Once you have set down a path that you think is the route to the answers you are looking for, it's fine to change your mind as often as you like. You can go back and forth between different ideas, experimenting, learning, but not to much analyzing, just a little reflection and a lot of action is whats needed.
No Big Decisions!
Don’t commit yourself to life changing decisions until you have done plenty of my first two tips. Even then, don’t do something that you cannot back out of with little consequence. In other words, do not commit your life savings, or even your redundancy cheque, to an untested idea, this is the time for small steps and small decisions.
Jump Before You're Pushed!
It's OK to take a step back and reflect on your decisions, but not for too long. If you procrastinate and wait for disaster to force your hand, you are not going to make the right decision. So prepare yourself as early as possible, start taking action, and start experimenting, before you jump from your last job. But don’t worry, many people do not have that luxury and are suddenly faced with losing their job. This doesn’t mean you need to panic, you can still follow these tips, but think about getting a coach, mentor, or a trusted expert who can help you accelerate your transition process.
Seize the Moment!
Life doesn’t move at one pace, so this is going to be a stop start process. It is really important that you are ready to take opportunities as and when they appear. Use the natural gaps and windows in your life to reach out to your network and communicate your intentions, receive feedback, and learn new things. Now some of you, I know, are big on planning and will have a fixed plan for how your transition will work. STOP! Don’t allow your fixed view of how this should all work to stifle your natural creativity. Don't let it close off potential life changing opportunities, just because they were not in your plan!
About The Author’s Work
As well as the many speaking and training events James appears at, He also conducts a small number of one on one coaching sessions for people who really need to gain traction in their career transition. James will take on a further five individual coaching assignments in the next two months, and if you would like James to help you, drop him an email at james@james-kneller.com with your contact details and we will get in contact with you.
Need a Speaker?
James is an incredibly entertaining, engaging, and knowledgable speaker, and if you would like to book him for an event, contact him by email at james@james-kneller.com
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