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Twenty Ways to Find the Work You Love
By
Craig Nathanson
Do you ever wish you had a few
more options when trying to find the work you love? Here are some ideas that
might help expand your thinking...
- Change your
physical space when thinking about what you want to do. (Motion changes
emotion and a new location helps you think about things from a new
vantage point.)
- Think about your
problem (opportunity!) from the perspective of someone else. Imagine
someone you admire is giving you advice about what to do. (This takes
practice, but you ll get different answers that may be helpful.)
- Draw a picture of
what you want. Imagine how it sounds, feels, smells, and tastes. (We all
make meaning through our five senses.)
- Find someone else who is doing what you want to do and ask
them for ideas. (This is called modeling. If what they are doing works
for them, why not for you?)
- Define what being successful means to YOU. (You may need to
redefine the meaning of success as compared to all the external meanings
you have learned.)
- Practice thinking
about how you can do what you love. (Think about how you are going to
think about it; break your regular negative thought patterns)
- Laugh! (Humor helps break the negative
patterns of thinking you may find yourself in during this time of
transition.)
- Ask yourself, how
would an eight year-old deal with this? (It's amazing what questions
kids can ask to break it all down.)
- Post the challenge
on your wall for a few days. (Your brain will get tired of not having an
answer.)
- Figure out what you
have at risk if you don't do the work the love now. (It's hard to be
creative when nothing is at stake.)
- Define a
moving-towards strategy. (Positive and Proactive strategies will always
defeat negative and reactive ones.)
- Disassociate and
watch yourself doing what you love. What did you do? (You will be amazed
at the ideas you will come up with.)
- Move ahead in time
by one year and write a letter to yourself telling you what you should
do. (Part of the problem with planning in the present is that you
include the baggage of the past.)
- Write down in 30
minutes all the ideas you can think of to find the work you love. (When
we break overwhelming tasks into small amounts of time, our motivation
and energy increases)
- Ask yourself, What's
the next step I should take? Then spend 30 minutes doing physical
exercise. When you come back, write down the first answer that comes to
mind. (Those endorphins you get from exercise are the best mind
advancing drug there is.)
- Open the dictionary
and read the first word you see. Read the definition. Ask yourself, How
could this apply in helping me do what I love now? (Divergent thinking
can help you notice solutions from a different angle.)
- If you took a big
risk right now, what are the worst and the best things that could
happen? (Sometimes all it takes is using that risk taking muscle a few
times.)
- Say to yourself,
"I INTEND to resolve this." ("I hope" isn't good
enough. Go ahead and try it. No one is listening. Notice the
difference?)
- Reward yourself as
you make some progress. (Internal rewards such as a nap or a ice cream
cone will always last longer than external ones.)
- Allow yourself ten
minutes of quiet time daily to just sit and be aware. Take deep breaths
and be aware of your thoughts. (This will become the most magical part
of your day.)
Congratulations
on taking the first creative steps towards doing what you love! Now write
down any new ideas you can come up with for the next steps you can take
today. I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines.
_________________________________________________________________________
Copyright © Craig Nathanson
Craig
Nathanson is the author of 'P Is For Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day'
and a coaching expert who works with people over forty. His second book,
newly released, is 'Don't Just Retire and Die.' Craig's systematic approach,
the trademark 'Ten P' model, helps people break free and move toward the work
they love. Visit Craig's online community at The
Vocational Coach.com where you can sign up for a class, private
coaching or group coaching. Or you can read other stories of mid-life change
and renewal.
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