This is part two of a two post series by guest writer Michelle Martin.
Today I want to share with you some thoughts on how to discover your dream career opportunity.
First, Remember That This is a Journey of Discovery
Many people I know are control freaks and perfectionists. I happen to be both.
We always want to know what’s around the bend, the one “right
answer,” that will help us to perfectly control our lives.
Unfortunately, the “perfect answer” doesn’t exist.
The truth is, many of us have learned to hide both our passions and
our talents. For many complex personal and cultural reasons, it’s often
safer to pursue the path of what’s “acceptable” rather than what we
really want.
When we get into this controlling mindset, we miss our hidden
passions. We think we already know the answers, so we don’t ask the most
important questions. Start by letting go of all preconceived ideas
about yourself, all of the “shoulds” and “oughts”. Be an explorer in
your own life.
Exploring Your Passions
Kathy Ryndak and Gord Ridell write
in the December issue of Vitality Magazine about some great strategies
for living with passion. In addition to exploring your childhood dreams
(as I mentioned previously), they also suggest creating a stream of
consciousness list of all the things that get you excited, letting your
imagination run wild and not stopping to edit yourself. Then go through
your list and see how these things really make you feel.
I’m going to take things one step further. When you start to
(inevitably) hear that critical voice tell you that you’re crazy for
thinking that you could live a particular passion, put a star next to
those items. The louder that voice gets, the more stars you should put
there.
In The Power of Flow
(a book I’m currently re-reading and highly recommend) the authors
point out that the purpose of our internal critic is to keep us safe.
But the problem is that safe doesn’t lead to passion. If you think about
it, the times when you’ve felt most alive, most in touch with yourself
were probably those times that had at least a tinge of risk to them.
In my experience, the more my brain shouts “You can’t DO that,” the
closer I am to something I really want to do. Unless you’re REALLY in
touch with yourself (and most people aren’t), then that loud voice
shouting in your ear is actually pointing you in the direction of what
may be your ideal career. Listen to your heart, not your head.
Identify Your Passions’ Building Blocks
To really get to the heart of your passions, I would suggest following Curt Rosengren’s advice to
find your passions’ “building blocks. As you develop your list of
passions, ask yourself “why?” What is it about that passion or idea that
gets you excited?
For example, if you think “I’d love working with inner city young
people”, then think about what exactly excites you about that idea. Is
it about helping young people reach their potential? Is there some
particular thing you’d like to do with them?
The more you explore the reasons why an idea or passion is attractive
to you, the more you will discover about yourself. This information
will help you broaden your horizons beyond your immediate ideas. You’ll
gain in-depth knowledge of yourself that can offer additional insights
that you might have missed on your first try.
Get Artistic With Yourself
An exercise that I’ve found works very well with most people is the “passion collage.”
Your passions are very emotional, visceral pieces of you. Sometimes
language can get in the way of tapping into that information, so you
need to turn to pictures to bypass that part of your brain that simply
can’t put things into words. Even if you’re someone who uses words well,
I still suggest going through this exercise because it taps into the
right side of your brain more effectively than writing.
Gather several different magazines that have many pictures related
your interests. Find a quiet place to think and start going through
them. (You might want to add some music to the mix — this can be help
get you out of your left-brain, ‘logical thinking’ side and help you tap
into your right-brain ‘feeling’ side)
Go through the magazines absorbing what you see. Look at pictures and
phrases. Every time you see something that “speaks” to you, pull out
that page and set it aside. Don’t think a lot. Don’t say “Now why do I
like that?” or “Should I really add that to my pile?” If it attracts you
in some way, pull it out and set it aside.
Once you’ve created a nice little pile for yourself, get yourself a
glue stick and a large piece of reasonably sturdy paper or cardboard. If
you’re using an artist’s sketchbook as your journal, you may want to
paste things directly into your journal. If not, get a sturdy surface
for your collage.
Now go back through everything you’ve pulled out. Start cutting out
pictures and words that capture what excites you. Try to put as little
thought into this process as possible, please. We’re trying to bypass
your internal critic and the more time you give him/her to speak, the
more likely you are to end up with something that’s not really “you.”
Again, without a lot of thought, start gluing images down on your
paper. Let your brain be as free as possible and just give in to the
flow of the imagery you’re creating. Avoid judging. Avoid looking too
closely at what you’re doing and just create.
When you’ve completed the process, sit back and look at what you’ve
created. What pictures and words have you used? How have you put them
together? Are certain types of pictures clustered together? What does
that mean? What kind of feeling do you get from the overall collage? Is
there some larger theme or message that you see there?
Give yourself some time to process this. Then write down your
immediate reactions in your journal. What did you discover about
yourself? How does it make you feel? Did you see things that surprised
you? Scared you a little? Made your brain say “You’re KIDDING, right?”
Note where you had particularly strong positive and negative reactions —
this is all grist for your “passion mill.”
You may want to return to your collage later and see if you find
anything new. If you have positive, supportive people in your life, you
may want to ask them what they see in it that could offer you insight
(only do this if you know they are positive, though!). Use the work to
get you into some parts of yourself that are beyond words. It will make a
difference.
Michele Martin
has been helping people figure out what they want to be when they grow
up for over 10 years. Currently she is a consultant to government
agencies and nonprofit organizations where she designs and implements
career exploration and training programs for young people and adults.
She’s also begun to explore how to use new technology tools for
organizational effectiveness, personal learning and professional
development.
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