The best way to discover your next career is to dream.
Most job seekers focus on their last job title and industry for that next career step. This is too limiting. Do not do this!
Instead let your mind go wild and start dreaming. Push yourself to dream beyond your most recent job title and industry.
Dream about any thing:
- you like to do
- can do
- can learn to do
- want to do
- wish you have done
- want to do before you die
- can imagine yourself doing
- heard about
- saw on TV
- read about in a magazine
- add to this list as you dream
A non-profit in Winston-Salem NC, Imagination Installations encourages us to use this model when dreaming, say “Imagine when…..” and complete the sentence with a positive statement of anything you want out of life.
As you dream do not allow barriers. Let me repeat this, “No barriers allowed.” Don’t consider:
- income
- location
- what others may think
- if you have the skills or experience
- the industry
- job title
- big business or small business
- public or private companies
- working environment
- Full time or part time
As you dream follow these critical guidelines:
- Don’t disqualify anything. Dreaming should be without limits
- Again, don’t consider income. This will cause you to disqualify ideas
- Think about activities you enjoy. Dreaming should be a happy thing
- Dream in quiet spaces. Distractions will misguide your dreams
- Dreaming is not a short term process. Dream regularly & frequently
- Journal your dreams. Let the list of revenue creation activities grow
This dreaming is not a one day thing. It could take weeks, maybe even a month. If you try to rush your dreaming you’ll reduce the benefits of dreaming. Take your time and let your imagination run free.
After you have dreamed long enough, sit back and look at your list of dreams. Consider each one and what they mean to you. Force yourself not to disqualify any dream.
The last step of your dreaming is to prioritize the list. This prioritization is not about money, but instead the dream activities that you like the most. Work through the list using a scaled of 1-10. 10 being the activity you would pay to do, because you would enjoy it so much, and 1 being your least interesting activity. If you’ve dreamed hard enough you won’t have many 1s on your list.
Now that you have your list of dreams and you’ve prioritized them properly, hang on to the list. The next big step of career transition, Open Conversations, will help you discover which of your dreams may be real possibilities.
As you dream into your next great job, read the Free ebook Building a Professional LinkedIn Profile.
* This post is by Teddy Burriss. Follow Teddy Burriss on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about his Social Media Coaching and Career Transition services.