February 2008
The Magic of Dreams
At our first meeting Terri told me she had recently broken off a relationship with someone. Her former fiancé was consumed with building a boat to sail around the world. His enthusiasm for the project was so contagious that Terri was drawn in by it. She loved spending time with him working on the boat and dreaming about sailing it. Once they were engaged of course her fiancé expected she would accompany him on the trip.
After really thinking about it Terri realized that she had no desire to leave the coast of Massachusetts where she lived. She admired her fiancé for having such a strong passionate dream. His dream filled a void she had in her life. She actually envied him for having a real sense of where he was headed and felt lost because she had no idea what she wanted for herself.
Many people get caught up in what others dream and want for them. How many people became doctors because their parents wanted them to do it? They took their parents dream as their own without thinking about it. Sometimes that works out but sometimes it does not.
I had a manager who said after he was finished college a friend of his father's who worked for New England Telephone at the time told him that they were hiring at the telephone company. That is how he ended up working there. He never thought about what he wanted to do. When the company was looking for volunteers for a lay off, he decided to leave the company and explore other options.
One lawyer client of mine chose to go to law school because a friend of the family was an attorney and promised my client a job when he finished school.
Sometimes people are lucky and fall into a position that does work for them. They are the lucky ones. More frequently people, who haven't really thought about what they want to do, at some point ask the question, "Is this all there is?"
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be like Terri's fiancé and to be really excited about the work you are doing? How do you get there?
The first step is to have a vision of what your life and work look like when you are doing work you love. Terri's fiancé had a very real picture of the boat he wanted to build and the trip he would take with it.
Some people might have a more global far reaching dream. A baker who works in a bakery might have a vision statement such as: My vision is a world without hunger. Needless to say he can't do that alone but he might start by baking bread in someone's bakery. His dream would give him the energy to find others to support him and ways that he could produce more bread or perhaps sell other food. Maybe he even starts his own bakery and starts donating his day old bread to the local soup kitchen. He uses that vision to guide him in making choices.
Your vision doesn't have to be as global as this. You may be committed to implementing a technology, serving a local community, writing a book, or living a healthy life style. Find a dream that really gets your juices flowing! (Look for a place where you are actually emotional about it.)
A vision guides you in your career. It gives your life and work meaning. If you are working 8+ hours a day and feel stuck, thinking about your vision may be just the catalyst you need to feel inspired to move forward or to make a career change.
Take Action
- Review the list of questions published in Parker's Points this month. http://www.asparker.com/ppt0208.html See if they help with your vision.
- Try reading another article I wrote on vision in 2004 entitled The Push and Pull of Vision http://www.asparker.com/rts0904.html
- To find your own vision of work and life spend 20 minutes in silence just daydreaming about what you would like for your career and life.
- To begin the journey of creating a whole new vision of your work and
life, read the book Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction
by Laura Berman Fortgang. Work the exercises to help you formulate a vision
of a new career. Need help? As a Authorized Life Blueprint Facilitator
I can help you to get the most out of the program. Call me at 781-598-0388
for more informatio