Target Your Dream Job in an Hour

Posted on January 19th, 2010 by Keith Ferrazzi

"It's never too late to be who you might have been." -George Elliot

I won’t BS you: finding your passion, discovering your strengths, and most of all MAKING IT HAPPEN is not as easy as it sounds.  So, I’m constantly seeking strategies to make it easier.

Here's one: Five simple lists that you can make to set yourself on the path to discovering your dream job.  All you have to do is take a quiet hour to make these lists:

1. Every profession you’ve ever dreamed or thought of having

You wanted to be a fireman? Write it down!  Pharmacist? Great!  Put it on the list. The idea here is to brainstorm – don’t limit yourself by what you feel is “possible.”  You will start to see patterns among the jobs you list here. Similar traits between them.  That’s the real value, so the more inputs you have here the better.

2. Everything you’re good at – your strengths

Again, we’re brainstorming here so list everything.  Are you good at cooking?  Explaining things to people? Are you great at keeping your house organized?  Are you a great manager?  This is a good opportunity to involve your family, close friends and colleagues – ask them what you’re good at; often they have a valuable perspective that you can’t see yourself.

3. Everything you’re not so good at – your weaknesses

We all have weaknesses, or things that are NOT our strengths. Be honest here – you will find that often these align with unhappiness. Think about times when you’re unhappy: do you hate doing paperwork? Maybe it’s because you’re not very good at administrative tasks.  Are you uncomfortable in social situations? Maybe “being social” isn’t a strength of yours. BE HONEST in this exercise. And ask your family, friends and colleagues for their insights.

4. Every little thing that’s ever made you happy in your life

Happiness is one of the most important things in life. Who doesn’t want to live a happy life?  If you want to find your passion – something that will allow you to be great – then it must also make you happy. Think about every little thing that you’ve ever done that makes you happy. Spending time with your kids, tearing apart a computer and putting it back together, running miles and miles until you can’t run anymore.  Your list of “happy things” will help you figure out first what it is you DON’T want to do; then, you work with this list to identify a career that incorporates one or more of these things in a big way.

5. Companies and/or people you want to work for

Have you always wanted to work for a particular company? Or how about that woman you’ve read about in the WSJ and respect so much. Make a list of all these companies and people.  This will help guide your search after you’ve made all your other lists.  This is one of the first steps in crafting your Relationship Action Plan. Don’t forget to do this one – it will guide you into action.

Making these lists is just the first step of a new system I’ve developed: A Simple 5-Step Program to Land Your Dream Job in 2010. The webinar package is currently $99.95 in our store, but subscribers to KeithFerrazzi.com’s Tip of the Week – and their friends – can purchase it for $29.95 using a special link provided in this week's Tip of the Week.

You can get this special price of $29.95 too by becoming a member of KeithFerrazzi.com!

I’ve found this exercise alone has offered more immediate insight into my passions than any other.  But these lists are only the first step – there are four more steps you need to take in order to realize your dream.

I teach them all in this exclusive webcast, which I originally gave to the Stanford Graduate School of Business. If you are serious about making a change in your life, I really encourage you to download this package.  It’ll be the best $30 you’ve spent all year.

100% Money-Back Guarantee

Not only am I offering this package to you at a steep discount, I’m also making it RISK FREE for you! That means that if you are not 100% satisfied, I’ll buy it back from you (with one condition: you tell me what I can do to make it better!).

This process has helped many successful people discover their passion and their path to greatness. I want it to do the same for you. We’re all in this together.

Product Details

In the “A Simple 5-Step Program to Land Your Dream Job in 2010” package, you’ll get:

  • The one-hour video tutorial from me (in Windows, Mac & iPhone versions)
  • The audio-only version of the download, so you can take me on your commute on CD or in your iPod
  • A NEWLY REVISED version of the Lifeline Group Launch Kit
  • An offer of exclusive Charter Membership to KeithFerrazzi.com.
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7 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

  1. Great post on the power of introspective list-making in directing us toward the work we love. I've gained insight by looking back through the years to list all the things I love to do and the things I do well (overlap = my "motivated abilities"), but I see where your five-list approach can provide added depth and more detailed direction. Thanks for sharing.

  2. Thanks Patrick. I'm glad to hear you're already in the list-making habit.

    Anyone else - questions, comments, results?

  3. Keith - I love the way you have broken down these 5 very important steps. I have done similar exercises in the past but not to this degree (I can appreciate the emphasis on "brainstorming" and "not limiting yourself"). I have found that in doing such exercises, I have a tendency to limit what I think I can and cannot do. I look forward to taking an hour out of my day to work on this and I will share my results with you. I will also purchase the Land Your Dream Job in 2010 packet. As always great work!

  4. Superb advice Keith - thanks for broadcasting it! I went through a similar exercise a couple of years ago - part of my escape from my mid-life crisis...

    I asked myself three questions:

    1. In my work, what do I enjoy most?
    2. What am I good at?
    3. How do I make a living from this?

    At the time I didn't enjoy much of what I was responsible for (operations, finance, IT, legal, compliance, HR, etc, etc). I found the tasks dull and everyday I was becoming more of an expert in technical issues that I had no interest in pursuing. Listing what I didn't like about my job was easy and I had to work hard on my lateral thinking before I finally clicked on what I enjoy most - the more abstract concept of "helping people deal with issues".

    The answer to the second question was easy once I'd answered the first question: I have always had a long line of people coming to me for help - especially in areas outside my domains of technical expertise - so I reckoned I must be doing something right.

    The last question took me weeks to answer. Eventually I discovered there was this thing called executive coaching and after much research I figured out how you can make a decent living out of it. Two years later I have set up my own executive coaching business.

    The exercise took me a whole lot more than one hour to complete but it did start with an hour in front of a piece of paper and the knowledge that I really shouldn't limit myself by what I felt was "possible". For me this was the critical piece: the mindset that "I know that I don't know what I don't know". My advice: don't shut your mind to anything; you may have some odd ideas but that's ok - don't ignore them.

    The fact that it took me weeks to answer my third question was also ok for me. This was about me figuring out how I want to spend the rest of my life so it was ok to take my time to get it right. Of course, now as a coach, I know that I could have been coached to the answers much more quickly!

    I wish the very best of luck to all readers with this!

  5. Hi Keith

    Glad I came back to visit your site - or more rather that StumbleUpon took me to you as this was super timely. Just last night I wrote this blog post bit.ly/9nblNf on doing a SWOT analysis on yourself, your strengths/ weaknesses/opportunities and threats.

    Like your 5 simple steps above it's a great way to just analyse who you are, what gives you energy, what makes you feel alive and what you enjoy doing and then relate that to what you want to do with your life.

    More importantly taking an hour for yourself is always going to be beneficial.

    Thanks for sharing

    Natalie

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