Uncovering your dream life

 

One of the most common things people say to me is that they do not know what their ‘dream’ is. Most of the time they do, it’s just that they talk themselves out of it. What have you thought of doing, that you’ve then talked yourself out of? Or, to ask another way, if I could guarantee you will be successful at one thing what would you choose? You can achieve that, and find a way to earn a good income from it. Just imagine how your life would change if you spent your time doing something you adored doing? How happier you would be, and how that would affect all areas of your life. The road there will be a struggle at times, blocked at times but also magnificently easy at times – and I guarantee you will get there if you keep going, and you will even enjoy most of the journey.

Now like any good plan, or journey, you have to have an idea where you want to end up, but don’t get too caught up on the specifics just yet. To achieve a dream of going to Canada (which I frequently do) I need to aim for going to Canada, and then when I have that done can plan the specifics, eg. save money, research whereabouts, when, accommodation, flights, etc before I book, and then when I book start thinking about what to do when there, and even leave some planning until get there. The analogy is that you don’t need to know exactly what the specifics of your dream are to start going in that direction. If you love music you need to start by getting as involved in music, and learning as much as you can about music and how you can use your skills in the music world before you start to worry about how you can get paid for it. You will be amazed at the range of jobs within each industry that you just never realized were there until you looked, yet we tend to put blinkers on and then say can’t be done. There are also plenty of people who have created a job within the industry.

So the first step is very big picture – what areas of life most fascinate you? Sport? Fashion? Writing? Electronics? Music, science, people, animals, law, mechanics, design, art – the list is endless – what are your top 3? What do you spend most of your time reading about, watching or talking about?

Next think of what 3 things you enjoy the most, these are things you forget time, and feel more alive when you are doing them. For me they are connecting with people, reading things that fascinate me and creative problem solving (like in crime dramas), and now I have a job that involves researching things that fascinate me and connecting with people to use that knowledge to creatively help them solve problems. Usually our best skills are things we love doing as we are more likely to spend time learning how to be good at what we enjoy.

OK – so now we have 3 areas in life you’d love to work in, utilizing those 3 skills. And now you can begin the investigative work – look at job adverts in those areas to see qualities required. If they need qualifications you don’t have then you know what you need to do next – get them. Ask other people in the industry if they know of any jobs that need those 3 skills. See if you can do voluntary work in those areas to get a look from the inside and meet more people to get advice from.

Can you begin to imagine what life would be like getting paid to do what you love, with none of the stuff you hate? A lot of people convince themselves that there are parts of every job you will hate, err no. The people who have gone for their dreams are ALL doing jobs they love getting paid more for doing less. And they are healthier because they are happier. Why do you think you are the one exception to the rule? And is that more about limiting yourself mentally than actual fact? It is scary going into the unknown, which is why you need to go one tiny step at a time, and soon you will be there.

Play along with me here and pretend you can achieve your dream, give yourself 6 months of really going for it (as in everyday doing at least one thing rather than dreaming once a month!) and then see where you are. I sit with people and come up with a plan to start exploring for their dream and then they go away and talk themselves out of doing it. If that is you – then you first need to lay the foundation of stopping the self-sabortage before you can build your dream (an article on that will follow shortly!)

Here are a list of questions you can ponder on to help you uncover what you want to be spending your time doing:

~ If you could get paid the same amount what ever you did – what would you spend your time doing? (list everything you think of, and then explore what it is about each one and which ones you could earn from)

~ If you won the lottery, list everything you would do and look for ways you can still achieve those but in a longer time frame.

~ Whose job would you like to have? And why?

~ What did you dream of doing when you were a child? (before you learnt to talk yourself out of it!)

The aim here is to find a wildly improbable dream, once you have that then you can find a way to make it happen. If you don’t have that you can never make it happen! Happy dreaming. (and please feel free to contact me with any questions, or to book a session to get help with this)

 Recommended reading:

Wishcraft by Barbara Sher (free to download at www.wishcraft.com)

Life Purpose by Carol Adrienne

Finding your own north star by Martha Beck

Making a living without a job by Barbara Winters

Principles of Success by Jack Canfield

Any book by someone who has done what you want to! 

©2007 Kathryn Hodgson

This article can be reprinted freely as long as the entire article and the above resource box are included, and a copy is forwarded to me.