I know that’s a very strange title to start off my first post of the new year, but please understand that I’m very serious when I state that, yes, you shouldn’t support the dream in 2014. The “Dream” that I am referring to, is any dream that doesn’t fall in line with your own.
I believe that everyone has their own dream job in mind, a realistic dream job (because I know most of you would prefer to just bask in the sunlight as ungodly amounts of money are consistently deposited in your numerous bank accounts) and that most of us, who haven’t already achieved our own dream job, are making strides towards it with every passing day.
In fact, when most of us say that we’re at a job that we hate, what we really mean is, this is a job that has absolutely nothing to do with what I really want to do, and is a waste of my time in that regard.
What’s even worse is that a lot of jobs on the road to the DREAM that fall into that particular category. It can be very difficult to find something that puts you on the road to what you really want to do; a good number of jobs end up becoming roadblocks more than path openers, and end up as just an exchange of labor for an exchange of dollars deal.
Maybe you’ve heard this ideal before, but when you work for someone else, you’re essentially supporting their dream. For example, if you work at the Ecko store, you’re supporting the owner, Marc Ecko, and his dream of selling his brand of clothing to the masses.
Supporting someone’s dream isn’t a bad thing, as long as the traits of your dream job fall in line with the dream that you’re supporting. I have a friend who wants to do graphic design for a living, and even though he’s currently not at his ideal job of doing graphic design (working for himself and taking independent contracts) he’s working for a company that has a graphics design department, where he can continue to hone his skills and prepare himself for his future dream job. He’s still exchanging labor for dollars, but that “labor” is something that’s going to help him long after he and the company part ways.
This is my goal for the year and part of my motivation of sharing this post with you. I want to continue to strive for my dream job, and I’m aware that instantly achieving it might not be possible, but working somewhere that has the elements and traits of what I really want to do is definitely in my grasp. I’m working on a list of all the things that I’d like to have in my job of choice, whether it be an opportunity to creatively express myself, making my own hours/schedule, etc. I’m going to compare that list to my current jobs now, and if what I want isn’t matching up with what I’m getting (within reason of course) then I have to find new places of employment.
My purpose for this post is to inspire you to make 2014 the year in which you stop supporting someone else’s dream that doesn’t fall in line with yours. If you can’t line up any of the traits of what you would like in your dream job with the job you’re working at, that could be a good sign that it’s time to find someplace else to work. If you can find those traits, or at least some, then you know you’ve started the path that will lead to your preferred job in the future. It may not be the best scenario, but at least the blueprint for what you want is there. It also won’t be easy, especially if your job allows for a “comfortable” situation. However, if you’re one of those people who can’t find Happiness and Fulfillment in your job, is comfortable really enough?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
