Yearly Archives: 2021

Landing the ideal job can be a challenge but it can also be a life fulfilling process of honouring who you are and what you are passionate about. This can ultimately lead to greater satisfaction and happiness.

Preparation and good planning are the keys to this process, and it involves using all your centers of intelligence, the intellectual, emotional, and physical/intuitive intellects.

When considering the ideal job, you want to consider all the elements including the job tasks and responsibilities, the company, environment, location, culture, and people. You want to consider those things in light of your specific needs and motivation.  That’s why preparation and planning is crucial.

Here is the process.

1. Write down what type of work you are skilled at and enjoy doing. For example, if you are good at graphic design but you especially enjoy drawing characters then that should be notes as a key interest, not just graphic design. Drill it down to your core motivation.
2. What type of environment is important to you? What kind of workspace do you envision for yourself? Do you want the flexibility to work both at the workplace and from home? What would the ideal workplace look like? Would it be bright and open with good views of nature or do you like cityscapes? Where would the workplace be located?
3. Who do you want to have as your co-workers and a boss? Describe the attributes of these people? How do you want to be treated? What qualities do you admire in others?
4. What type of organizational culture appeals to you? Some cultures focus on productivity and others may be more people centric. What are your personal values and what type of culture would align with your values and belief? Narrow down your values to the top five. Here is an article about establishing values.
5. The company itself is very important. Do you prefer a large firm with a well-defined structure or a smaller company that is more entrepreneurial? Do you want a company that allows greater freedom to do things your way or do you like having rules and defined systems?

Steps

Take a notebook and write down the answers to these questions. Allow yourself to dream and re-visit your list a few times over several days to see what comes to the surface. Get in touch with your feelings when contemplating these questions and tune into your intuition that can deliver your ideas at any time, so be prepared to jot them down.

Once you feel you have a good list of what you are looking for, take a blank piece of paper and write down your list along the edges of the paper so it forms a frame. In the blank area inside the frame of words, find images that reflect what you have written. For example, if your ideal workplace is situated within 5-10 miles from your home and somewhere you could cycle to help with your conditioning and health, you could show a picture of yourself riding your bike and perhaps images of what you might see along the way.

If you want to work with happy people who support each other, find images of that from magazines or the web and paste them there. Again, you can add an image of yourself with the people you envision working with.

Use this vision board to help you focus on finding this ideal job. Place it on a wall or use it as wallpaper on your computer or mobile device so you see it daily.

Once you have defined what you are looking for you can now begin researching job opportunities near where you want to work. This could be another place than where you are currently living especially if you have skills that are in high demand, and you have a specific place you want to live.

Bear in mind that your plan needs to be realistic. You may have always dreamed of being an astronaut, but you do not have many of the qualifications required and you may not be able to acquire those skills and certifications. But what would something close to that be that is more realistic? I will cover the next steps in another article and video so follow this blog, subscribe to my newsletter or to my YouTube channel to stay informed.

When setting aside time to work on a task I often underestimate the time it takes. This can be very frustrating and can cause stress. It can also cause deliverables to suffer and affect productivity, customer service and teamwork.

To rectify this problem when planning time to do something apply this rule. If you are planning to take an hour to do a task that you have done before or have done something similar, multiply the time you estimate by 1.25. So, if you plan to spend an hour on something then allocate 75 minutes.

If you are working on something new and you estimate an hour then multiply that by 1.5, so allow 90 minutes.

The best that can happen is you finish early and have time to work on something else. But usually, we underestimate the time it takes as there are always interruptions and distractions that can throw us off track.