
I get so frustrated with the whole “Follow your bliss” mentality that gets bandied around on the internet. Because some of us just need a job to pay the bills and the concept of “bliss” is way too far away of where we’re at right this moment. In this episode I explain that your job doesn’t have to be your dream – and that there is an alternative. Have a listen and let me know what you think.
Links I mentioned in this episode:
2. Your Job Doesn’t Have To Be Your Dream…- Transcript
[00:00:00] Hi, there I’m Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career Podcast. As a career coach, I’m most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.
[00:00:29] Hello hello. It is Bec McFarland here helping you do better and be better in your career. Thank you so much for being here today. This is the second episode of the Pop Your Career podcast, and I’m so excited to be finally doing this.
[00:00:47] So one of the things that I didn’t share in the last episode was that I actually started a podcast for Pop Your Career many many, many years ago, if you were to go like searching on the [00:01:00] internet, just saying, you might even be able to find two or three episodes of it on SoundCloud, the podcast at the time was called 10 Minute Tips. And it was actually under my old brand name, which is a little bit embarrassing , but I’ve always wanted to start a podcast. And I guess it’s just something that fell by the wayside and that I now am finally, doing a full circle and coming back to, so this is really, really cool.
[00:01:29] Today, I wanted to share with you a concept around fulfillment that kind of relates to this idea of having your dream job or your dream career.
[00:01:39] Now, if you know me or you’ve met me in person, you’ve probably heard me ranting on about this before, because it is something that’s really important to me. And I want to help people understand that a lot of the information out there available on the internet is actually setting up unrealistic [00:02:00] expectations. And when we have unrealistic expectations, of course, we’re gonna feel unfulfilled because we are chasing something that is not even necessarily possible.
[00:02:10] So what am I talking about? Well, You might have heard these ideas about working your dream job. You know, there are quotes about it, like find your dream career and you’ll never work another day in your life or something like that.
[00:02:25] There’s all these, boss babe quotes that are around, like following your bliss and living your dream and all of this. And I think it comes from a good place. I definitely think that, you know, the people who are writing these things or who are putting this stuff out there on the internet, they are definitely coming at it from a really positive place where they want everyone to kind of be happy and aspire to work in jobs.
[00:02:47] That mean something to them. But what happens on my end, on the career coaching end, is that I get clients that are coming to me and they’re feeling really, really down and really, really [00:03:00] upset, because of the fact that they’re not living their dream. They’re not working in their dream jobs. And so what I always say to them, what I say to everyone on this topic is your job can be your dream or your job can be the thing that facilitates you living your dream.
[00:03:22] So here’s the thing. Not everyone can have their dream job. It is just an unfortunate part of society. And if I could change it, I would, but I don’t think that’s ever, ever going to change. I don’t know a lot of garbage collectors. But I would have to assume that not all of them would be waking up in the morning, super pumped to go to work.
[00:03:50] Right? If you are a garbage collector out there, I would love to hear from you. I wanna know. I wanna know, are you really, really [00:04:00] excited to get up and go to work in the morning. Until we hear from our garbage collector friends, I’m going to assume that there are garbage collectors out there who are waking up in the morning and they are wishing that they were going to a different job.
[00:04:15] And that is totally okay. They are not living in their dream job, but here’s the thing that job that they do have facilitates them living their dream life in other ways. Maybe even they’re not aware of it, or maybe they’re not even maximizing that. So in reality, when I’m talking to clients about this and how your job can facilitate you living your dream life, it comes back to your values.
[00:04:43] Now we are gonna have a whole other episode on values because believe me, I have got a lot to say on that topic. It’s probably gonna have to be a series, because I’ve actually even contemplated writing a book about values. I just think it’s so, so, [00:05:00] so important. But it is gonna come back to your values. And when I talk about values, I’m really talking about like, what are the most important things in your life?
[00:05:09] What are the rules by which you want to live your life? Now, our friend here who is in this job, who, you know, it isn’t his dream job, but it does offer him, the flexibility to finish work early so that he can go and pick up his kids from school in the afternoon. That bonding time that he gets with his children after work is completely priceless.
[00:05:33] Maybe he actually also earns more doing this than an any other career paths that he’s pursued in the past. So perhaps this extra financial freedom that is on offer through the role allows him to take his family on an annual holiday. Now, obviously I’ve made up this situation. This is not about a real person, but I just wanna kind of flag with you the way that [00:06:00] you can look at the benefits and the opportunities that your job is offering you.
[00:06:05] And then consider how they’re actually affecting you overall. Now, again, there is gonna be another episode on career fulfillment and you can look forward to listening to me rant about the fact that career fulfillment is actually life fulfillment. But it’s just taking note of what you can do to either maximize what you already have, or to maybe just make some small changes to your mindset, to allow you to feel more fulfilled by the situation that you’re in.
[00:06:40] Now, if you’re hating your job at the moment, this may sound a little bit pie in the sky and you might be thinking, oh my God, who is this woman? She’s telling me that if I just change my mindset, then everything’s gonna be okay. That is not always the truth. Sometimes we do actually need to make a move. We need to shake things up.
[00:06:58] We need to go for a career [00:07:00] change or at least just change jobs. And that’s okay. I help people do that kind of thing all the time. But what I’m suggesting is. That quitting your job, going and getting another job or changing careers doesn’t always solve the problem. Sometimes we just need to have a look at what’s happening underneath and what’s often happening underneath is that we are not aligning ourselves with our values.
[00:07:24] We are not maximizing the opportunities that are available to us. And we are setting really unrealistic expectations for ourselves about what our job has to provide us, especially in the terms of it being that dream boss or boss babe career.
[00:07:45] I hope that this has been food for thought for you. I’m really hoping that you walk away from listening to this podcast and just think to yourself, look, maybe I’m not working in my dream job at the moment, but I do really love the people that I work with and it’s [00:08:00] giving me a lot of opportunities to build connections in the industry.
[00:08:04] Or maybe I don’t bounce out of bed every morning really super excited to go into the office. But I really love the fact that they do give me the flexibility to attend my kids school assemblies, or to care for my aging parents, or they allow me to go part-time so that I can pursue a side hustle business on the side.
[00:08:29] There are lots and lots of opportunities that come with a career that aren’t just straight out dream job and that aren’t just straight out cash in your pocket as well.
[00:08:42] So it’s my invitation to you today to just have a little bit of a think about what’s going on for you in your current career. Where are you working? What’s happening? Are you living your dream job? Or are there other ways that your current job is actually contributing to you living a better [00:09:00] and more fulfilling career overall?
[00:09:04] Again, I hope this has been food for thought. I’d love for you to reach out to me and let me know what you thought about this episode. Are you living your dream job or is your job the thing that’s facilitating you, living your dream life.
[00:09:17] Take it easy. And I look forward to seeing you again very soon.
[00:09:20] Thanks so much for listening to the Pop Your Career podcast. I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s tips and that you found value in what I’ve shared with you. If you like your career advice quick and entertaining, I would love for you to subscribe. Also leave me a rating and a review. If you wanna continue the conversation, come and join me over on social media. You can find me everywhere at Pop Your Career. I’ll see you soon.
[00:09:44] This episode is brought to you by the Career Clarity Quest, my absolutely free, seven day program, which is designed to support you in getting so much clearer about your next steps. Find it [00:10:00] at PopYourCareer.com/quest.
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