It’s turning out to be one of those days. A tie-up on the highway left you 20 minutes late for work. When you got there, somebody was in your regular parking space, and when you walked in the door, the boss dumped a project in your lap that nobody else wanted.
Your first inclination is to put the work aside to type your letter of resignation. After all, you’ve spent years fantasizing about quitting your job and starting your own business. But before you do anything rash, hold off until you know precisely what you want to do and exactly how you’ll get there.
“Lots of times when people are dissatisfied they want to quickly leave their work, but before you can get to that, you need to focus on what is your life purpose, your mission, what are your dreams,” said Carole St. Germain, who counsels people on career changes through the Work-Soul Institute in Harvard, Mass.
Some clues to a person’s true calling may lie in the past. To bring these forward, St. Germain asks clients to choose seven occasions when they felt a sense of accomplishment and to describe these to her in story form. These should include events from childhood, such as learning to ride a two-wheeler, incidents that made them proud, but may not have been obvious to others and easily recognizable accomplishments from adulthood.
Anyone can do this exercise, but St. Germain stresses it’s important to have somebody to tell the stories to, rather than to just write them down. The listener can be a family member of friend, but it’s a good idea to choose somebody who can remain impartial and listen without bias. The listener should also be astute, able to pick up on themes and patterns. Relating your “stories” out loud may lead to insights about what course you should take and the process will move along further by having somebody point out things that you might have missed.
St. Germain also advises paying attention to your sleeping dreams. Because the subconscious mind is always at work, she suggests that before going to bed, you ask yourself for clarity through your dreams. Immediately upon waking, write down everything you remember. Look for symbols that may clue you in to what you want, and talk with someone impartial about your dreams so they can reflect back some of their meaning.
Another step in the process is to envision your perfect work day. What would it look like? What would you be doing and with whom? This exercise helps you get more concrete about what it is you’d like to do.
Now that you understand your motivations, take stock of your skills and chart your course. Based on what you’ve learned, set a goal for one year from today. Work toward that goal with monthly and weekly goals. These can be simple, like making phone calls to people who can help you accomplish your dream, or even to take heed of opportunities that come your way.
“Sometimes you walk into a group of people and you hear a conversation and hearing that conversation leads you to the right people,” St. Germain said. “The key of this is to do what has heart and meaning for you,” she said.
