This blog is a little bit sneaky. I’m not going to give you the “Ten Steps to Finding Your Dream Job” type of blog. Instead, I want to invite you to go a little bit deeper than just your ideal career, and start to think about your dream life.
Awesomest Life Ever:
We often think of our careers as the only thing that we need to focus on when we think of optimizing our lives, perhaps one of the only things that we would spend money on for enrichment or development. But what about the rest of your life? What would your life look like if you had everything that you’d ever dreamed of? How would your friendships be, your intimate relationships, your relationships with family and kids, your financial situation, your vacations, your free time, your living situation, your health, your work-outs…you get the point.
And I want to point out something very important here, something that makes me tear up as I write this and I consider the foundation of my coaching business: we all deserve everything in our lives to be awesome. Not one of them, not just our careers, or our relationship, or our finances, but all of them. I believe that every person on this Earth deserves total abundance, in all aspects of their lives. Does that mean that we don’t have setbacks or problems that crop up? Of course not…we will all need to work through things, probably every day. But in general, do you love your life?
Dare to dream:
Most of us haven’t yet dared to dream of what we want. We haven’t even begun to ask the question: what do I truly want? And if we are not willing to even ask the question, then I can guarantee that our amazing life isn’t going to just magically materialize for us.
Now, you say, that’s all fine and good, Erin. But how do I start?
I don’t know?
Kachow…here’s how:
- First, sit in silence and pose the question that you most want to know. This might be around a relationship (What would be my ideal relationship? What would that look like?) or around a career (what type of career would be fulfilling for me? What would be my ideal job?). Then let go of the question, and sit for a while. No need to think about answers, just sit for 10 to 20 minutes. (oh, yes, you knew that was coming! If you’re struggling with this, try my post on meditation.)
- Best Possible Self exercise: afterwards, journal around your answers to those questions. Pick a time in the future, perhaps six months, a year, or five years, and write about how that future self would look, be, and act in that ideal relationship or dream job. Positive psychologists have affirmed that journaling about your best possible self (from any perspective) is incredibly powerful and also uplifting. The more details you can include in this exercise, the better. And no editing or holding back – only you will see this!
- Let go of knowing how it will unfold. This is similar to surrendering (another great technique). Essentially, you allow God or the Universe to bring forth all of your amazing life to you without knowing each specific step. This isn’t the same idea as apathy; we probably will need to make changes and set about heading towards our ideal life in concrete ways, but we have to be willing to put forth the energy and then not worry about the outcome. (And I recognize that this is way harder than it sounds, especially for us Type A’ers…)
These tools are what I use in my life to guide me, and they have led me to the incredible path that I’m now on…becoming a life coach and helping others to live their dreams is something I never thought to be doing, and I got there through the use of these techniques. I hope they help you!
Let me know what you do to get answers to your questions. What does your own dream life look like?
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