Design a career you'd love!

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Amit Sood, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

You need a dream. A clear vision of the most perfect future life and career. The one you’d love. The one that would fulfil you. If you don’t even know what kind of life and career you’d love to have, you’re not likely to create it.

“The way you show up in the present is given by the future you live into” — Werner Erhard

First, create clarity about what kind of life and career would you love. What do you want?

Here are some steps you may like to try to figure out clearly, what your dream career and work may look like-

1) Think about the past — what were you doing when you were really loving it? What put you in the state of flow? What were you doing when you were so deeply involved in it, engaged so passionately, that you lost the sense of time? Whom were you serving?
2) Identify and focus on using your natural strengths. We have been trained through our traditional education system to focus on identifying and overcoming our weaknesses. However successful careers are created by harnessing strengths. What kind of work is unusually easy for you? What are you most admired for? How can you bring your strengths to greater expression in life?
3) Imagine the most perfect, average, routine work day. Give flight to your imagination. If there were no limitations, what would your day look like? If you were having your dream day at the most perfect job you can imagine, what are you doing? Describe your work day in great detail, focussing on experiences. Where are you? Who are you with? What makes you click? You can extend this to your entire day to create clarity of the kind of lifestyle you’d love to have. Where are you living, what are you doing? (Here is a link to an excerpt from a delightful talk by Frank Kern on Core influence, that covers this topic.)
4) Consider that all jobs are actually services of others (the Service-dominant Logic). And, Earl Nightingale in his famous talk titled ‘The Strangest Secret’ says that you get paid in proportion to how many and how deeply you serve. Or contribute to. The difference you make to them. What kind of life’s struggles draw your attention and empathy? Who are you inclined to serve? Often where you have struggled most is the area where you can contribute most powerfully to others. Perhaps this is your zone of purpose and meaning. That can bring back passion to your work life.
5) Research (perhaps on LinkedIn). Search, identify and list people that you admire in the areas of your interest. What are they doing? How do they present their work, accomplishments and competencies? See what you can learn by researching their career trajectory. You could even interview some of them. You might be surprised how many people love to talk about their journey to success, and even may be willing to mentor you if you authentically admire them.

Once you are clear about what you love to do, here is how you can create the career you’d love:

A) Design and create your PERSONAL BRAND, Focus and Align it to your dream job.

To create a powerful & authentic personal brand focus upon these ten dimensions -

1) Visualise your future (Who‘d you be – when you have made it?). Visualise your future brand. (What you’d prefer people to know about you?).
2) Identify your Strengths (your natural gifts & talents, your skills, competencies and abilities). Let them shine
3) List your Accomplishments. Share the learnings from the experiences
4) Identify your Interests and articulate your Passions
5) Create clarity on your Values. Share your experiences with them
6) Discover your ‘Why’ — your Life Purpose, and give voice to your commitment to your purpose and values
7) Identify and articulate where and how you create value and make a difference
8) Identify the focus audience and the topics of common interest
9) Make a communications plan — the channel, the method and the frequency. Take it across all channels.
10) Step into the light. Put the message out there. Be seen online and offline with your message. Create congruence, vulnerability and authenticity.

Design your Personal Brand.

B) Network with trendsetters and leaders in that area.

Write to them, if you’d want to work with them or learn from them.

1) Research their work. Connect deeply with them. Express authentically and powerfully — your interest and admiration for their work.
2) Share what can you make possible for them.
3) Give voice to your commitment and attitude.

Consider that we’re not hired or promoted to higher positions for our qualifications, knowledge or past experience, but for what we’d make happen for others — particularly leaders.

C) Celebrate every time you work on this expedition or apply for a job.

Remember, you’d need to persist to succeed, particularly if your direction is a departure from the rat race.

Take up a personal challenge to keep going even when you are not getting results right away. Keep learning and correcting your course.

Reward yourself for taking nos and still keep going. If you haven’t given up, you haven’t failed.

D) Keep checking — are you doing everything that’s needed to get the break you love?

Sometimes we deeply wish to have a great career and life but we are not quite willing to put in all that may be needed to make it happen. Contemplate. Challenge yourself — do you really want it or are you just wishing for it? Are you ready to put in all that it would take to create your dream career?

Brainstorm. Make a list of things that people did to get dream jobs, careers and lives. Make the lists exhaustive. Now, see how many of these things are you not inclined to do. These could be the very things that create breakthroughs. Once you are willing to challenge and break your internal barriers, these actions may not appear that difficult.

Remember, your greatest attribute is your personal commitment. They would be lucky to have you serve them.

Don’t compromise. Go for your dream career. Commit to your dream.