I believe that you owe it to yourself to find your ideal job or business idea. In fact you deserve your ideal career or business. The following are reasons why you should desire an ideal career.
- Happiness
- Fulfillment
- Healthy
Happiness
You will find that you will develop a blissful mind state, when you achieve your goals. When you are in a career that challenges you and encourages you to grow.
Fulfillment
This may be financially, emotionally or a better life balance. You will find that you feel a degree of fulfillment.
Healthy
Ultimately, achieving your goals in your career is beneficial to your health. We spend most of our day at work, it is an incredible injustice to yourself to be in a position of unhappiness. It is unhealthy!
But, to achieve your desired goals and aspirations, it is important to have a plan. I will take you through 5 easy steps, based on an analogy I developed.
- Dream
- Mapping
- GPS
- Drive
- Refuel
Dream!
Take 1 minute in silence and close your eyes. Imagine where you would like to be in the next 5 years; live the view, the smell in the air and the sounds in your surrounding. Now write down everything about your dream that made you happy. Imagine, the type of person you could become, compare that person in your view to the person you are now. Are you as happy as that person? More fulfilled? Write down your reasons and contrast them.
Mapping
Once, you have an idea of your dreams, contrasted the difference in the person in your dream and your current state of being. Then, I want you to draw a map. Doesn’t have to be a fancy map, a simple straight timeline will suffice. Start your timeline from 5 years ago to present, and then 5 years into the future. Now, in the timeline, state your key achievements and achievements you would like to fulfil. Explore in particular your past, identifying the areas you thrived in, and why you flourished in this area. You may learn, that perhaps your strength lie in management or perhaps a more clinical role. But, whatever knowledge you gain from this, use this to identify your strength and weaknesses. Think about how to integrate these strengths to drive you to your 5-year goal. In order to map successfully, you must be willing to talk to those who are in the position you wish to be in and utilize them as a role model.
GPS
Time to reflect, be honest with yourself and determine where you are on the road to your dreams. Place yourself on the mapping system (above), and simply be truthful to yourself. If you are on the track to your dreams, and it is on schedule then well done to you. If not, then think about the reasons for this, and make a list. Now think about how you can change this list, using your strengths. It may mean you develop new strengths, but that’s fine and you should trust yourself to achieve this.
Drive
Yes, get in the car and drive! A lot of people talk about where they want to be in 5 years but never take the plunge to achieve their dreams. Take a leap of faith; believe in yourself, knowing that you can achieve your dreams. When you buy a used car, you take a certain leap of faith, hoping that the car doesn’t have any serious hidden issues. Therefore, be prepared to apply for a new job, to challenge yourself to grow or to start your own business. Stop complaining about how unhappy you are in your job and start driving! You may fail, but you will eventually succeed if you keep trying. So, don’t be afraid to fail, because failure is a step closer to success. For example, you have never had a hospital pharmacy interview before, well now you have; even if it was unsuccessful you have experienced it! So, you should be more prepared and confident for your next interview.
Refuel
You may drive to your goals, but you will need a period to refuel yourself. To remind yourself of why you should achieve your dreams? Why you have to change jobs? And, why you have to start your own business? Or complete your diploma. During this period, it is important to review the plan, your map and give yourself credit for at least taking time to invest in yourself. Think about what you could have done better, and how you will achieve this. And, drive towards your goal.
Bonne Chance!
16/08/2015
Photocredit: Moyan Brenn – flickr
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
