If you’re one of those people who has suddenly found themselves unemployed and you no longer know what you want to do, there’s lots of help and support out there, and yes, there’s work too! Unemployment doesn’t have to be a bad thing, just because the media paints it that way. So many of us have been guilty of plodding along in our jobs, constantly complaining but never doing anything about it. Counting down the days, hours and minutes until it’s the weekend. In fact, unemployment can be a fantastic opportunity to start over again.
Being out of work can only mean that you’re now free to look for something else – it could be the motivation you needed all along to start over.
Unemployment can be an opportunity in disguise!
So stop carrying the weight of who you were in your last job, and start looking at who you are going to be! Take time out to think about what you really want, what were your dreams before life started getting in the way?
Most people dream ‘big’ but then cut their dreams back down to size to be ‘realistic’. But, if you cut your dreams in half, you also cut out half your enthusiasm too. I see it happen all the time, people dream about what they really want to do, then they reel off all the barriers that prevent them from being able to reach them, so they just give up. The only people putting up the barriers though ….is them!
Defining what you want out of life, getting that picture in your head of where you want to be and what you want to do isn’t easy at all! It takes determination, patience, enthusiasm and imagination. ..but it’s free! In fact, if you look back over your life, it’s been full of challenges, difficulties and barriers, just like this, and guess what, you got through them and conquered them all, remember?
So it’s time to realise and visualise what your dream job is. Start big, like ‘what does my dream job look like?’eg. is it indoors, outside, is it creative or very professional? ‘What kind of environment is it in?’ – will it be dynamic and modern, quiet or contemporary? ‘Where will it be?’ Do I want to relocate, travel a lot or keep very local?’ ‘What kind of work would I like to be doing?’ and ‘what skills would I like to use?’
Try to think of as many ‘wants and needs’ as you can. ‘What’s important to me?’ Is it all about salary or is it more about the family work/life balance. ‘Do I want to do a job where I’ll need to do some training or get further qualifications?’ If so, don’t discount it, keep on visualising that dream job and with it you’ll work out how to get the training you need.
Start thinking about the type of work you want to do and the skills you have and enjoy using. Than start listing all your ‘transferable skills’. What are you good at?
The more ‘visualising’ you do, without putting up any barriers at all, the clearer the picture will become about what your dream job is going to be, and more importantly what it isn’t too. Eventually you’ll be much clearer about what you want.
Finally, start writing all these down and really get the energy flowing. Don’t do it half hearted, you’ll only get half hearted results.
Follow your heart and follow your dreams and start planning for a new start, a new you. This could be the best thing you’ve ever done for yourself.
