This is an interesting story I hope you can appreciate as much as I do!
A young man of 28 came to me a few weeks ago for coaching as he has been laid off. Actually he had been terminated for reasons that were explained to him had something to do with lack of job performance.
He was understandably upset, and a bit lost. You see, he had worked for this one person/company for the last ten years, since he was eighteen, only taking time off to attend college for a bachelors degree in the trade in which he worked.
The dismissal was a complete surprise and shock to say the least. There had been no prior warnings and he had believed he was contributing to the overall health and benefit of the company.
Just to enable you to see the whole picture, he had just bought a house, was paying for a truck and his savings were -well can we say they were not!
Are you with me?
He wanted help figuring out what to do. He had never looked for a job and had no clue where to start.
I am almost to the point! Stay with me!
The first question I asked him was: What do you want to do?
The first assignment I gave him was to go to http://www.ncsu.edu/careerkey/you/ and take the free evaluation.
Next I asked that he find answers to the following statements.
Choose your ideal work environment-large corporation, small business, government agency or nonprofit organization.
Choose your ideal location-urban, suburban or rural.
List your three most useful job skills and know which is your strongest.
Know whether you want to work with people, data or things.
Know if you want to work with others or work alone.
Know whether you enjoy new projects or prefer following a regular routine.
List some of the main career areas which might interest you.
List your favorite leisure time activities.
Know what kind of reward is most important to you in a job-money, security, creative authority, etc
It turns out that this young man, who has a BS in Construction Management , and who has spent the last ten years of his life working in that profession has realized that he would love to be the photographer for the San Diego Chargers!
He is very clear about his wants. He can (and has) explained why he wants this, how he is going to get it and how long it will take him. He is excited and can not wait to get out of bed in the morning.
He is addressing his financial concerns to trim expenses and enable pursuit of his goal.
When asked why he never did it before, he said – I did not know I could!
And finally we come to my point. Are you doing what you want to do?
Life was not meant for us to work to get by. Nor to work just to put bread on the table. Life was meant to do the things that excite you, things that make you spring out of bed in the morning, things that make the days fly by. When you are doing this, everything else will work out.
I ask that you too, find the answers to the above questions. Take the free survey.
Hoping you jump out of bed in the morning!