Below is an excerpt from my popular eBook “The Perfect Job: Make a career breakthrough and discover your purpose TODAY”. Subscribe today to get your copy… FREE!

In my work I meet too many people who aren’t doing what they are designed to do.

So many in fact, that I started investigating this phenomena in detail. As a person who has been there before, I can totally understand why people are trapped in dead-end jobs, or doing something they pretty much hate for a living.

Why is “work” basically an unpleasant experience for so many people? Why do we sit through hours of traffic, or put up with bullying bosses, just so we can do something we don’t even really care about?

Now, I know what you might be saying: “Sure, there are bad days, but overall my job is pretty good”.

If that’s how you feel, let me ask you the Big Career Question I ask every single one of my coaching clients:

Would you do it for free?

By this I mean, if you won the lottery and money was never going to be an issue for you ever again, and you could do whatever you wanted with your time, would you keep working where you currently work?

Because if the answer is anything other than “HELL YEAH!!”, I’ve got some bad news for you:

You are in the wrong job.

As a Career and Self-Confidence Coach, I have no doubt that true happiness and strong inner self-confidence comes from knowing you have a purpose, and living that purpose as authentically as possible. This does not mean you have to love every single second of your work, but you should certainly feel highly motivated to go to work every day.

In other words: you should love your work!

Your “job” is something that will most likely consume most of your waking hours. While this does not need to be the case (see Timothy Ferriss’ “The 4 hour work week” for more on this), the “work” you do to contribute to the Universe and make something of your life will be what you probably put most of your energy into. So does it make any sense that you should not enjoy this?

In my research into why people stick with jobs that they would not happily do for free, I have found a number of common themes:

“I don’t know what I want to do with my life”

“I need financial security”

“I don’t have the time to look for other jobs”

“I’m getting a promotion/pay-raise soon… probably”

“Starting your own business is too risk… I don’t even really care about money anyway”

I have explored these common excuses with my clients and many others. One of my coaching specialities is being to help someone uncover and challenge the limiting-beliefs they have, which hold them back from achieving career success.

The following are some of the most common belief systems behind these excuses.

Which of these beliefs apply to you?

“Having a safe, financially secure job is of top-most importance”

“Work is something everyone suffers through, it’s just a fact of life that your job is basically boring/unenjoyable/slavery”

“People who have dream jobs are just lucky, or have some sort of advantage that puts them ahead of everyone else”

“If I try, I will fail, and this will have negative consequences that are not worth the risk”

“The city/country/universe is too small for my favourite industry, there’s too much competition”

In this short e-book we will not be able to dive deeply into your belief system. Instead, all I ask is that you read through this book objectively and have an open mind.

The exercises and planning strategies in this book have worked very effectively for me and all of my clients. They are designed to give you some insight into career options and help you figure out what Your Perfect Job would be. Then they will guide you through the process to overcoming barriers in order to make that dream a reality.

This may even lead you to consider becoming self-employed, an entrepreneur… but don’t let that worry you just yet. Let go of the fears and excuses for now, let’s just gently explore some options, ok? You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, I promise!

When I used these exercises and tools for the first time, I became so motivated and sure of myself that I managed to get promoted three times in my six years in Corrections, each time moving significantly up the pay scale. Then, after a painful burn-out period which was the darkest time in my life, I went through these exercises and processes again. This led me to decide to leave my job to become a Career and Self-Confidence Coach, which is my true calling.

Bree, one of my former clients, went through these exercises and decided to go back to school to study Public Relations, as part of her overall plan to become a travel and pop-culture blog-writer. She followed the same process I’m about to share with you, to build up the courage to break away from a 10-year rut of slaving away in low-paying fashion retail.

Another client, Steph, decided to explore her passion further and started her own jewellery business on the side, after realising that it was possible to turn her best skills into an enjoyable and rewarding career without having to quit her “day-job”. This is how I built my coaching business too.

If you read this book with an open attitude of “imagine if there were no barriers and anything is possible”, you might surprise yourself.

You might even find your PURPOSE…

Finding Your Ideal Career

For this exercise, I’d really like to emphasise again the need for you to open your mind. We are going to explore some things that you may think are impossible. Don’t worry about how realistic these are for now.

This is about exploring what would be happening in your life if you had the ability to do anything you wanted. Imagine you could wave a magic wand and make your dreams come to life.

It’s important you adopt this mind-set for this exercises, because this is the “dreaming” stage. We will figure out how to overcome the barriers standing between you and your dream later.

Part one: The external

Close your eyes for a minute and imagine that you have endless money; total financial freedom. However, you are getting bored with having it all and want to do something meaningful with your time. You want to feel like you have a Purpose.

Picturing this ideal world, list the top 10 things you will have. In other words; what are your most desired possessions, accomplishments, results, relationships etc.? Below are some prompt questions you can ask yourself:

What possessions will you own?

Where will you live and what kind of residence will you have?

Who will you spend most of your time with, and why?

What kind of adventures will you be having?

What other benefits would come to you naturally through living your ideal lifestyle?

Now, list the top 10 activities you will be doing. Think of how you would want to spend your time, particularly in terms of “work”:

What kind of activities do you wish you were paid to do?

What brings you the most joy and satisfaction?

What challenges do you thrive under?

Would you prefer to lead or follow?

What are your favourite sports, hobbies, and relaxation activities?

Part two: The internal

Read over that list of your top 20 desired “haves” and activities. Imagine that you have all those things now, and that your week is filled with those activities.

How would you view yourself? List 5-10 descriptive words or phrases about you would feel, view yourself, and the other internal experiences you would enjoy, if your life was like this:

Emotions: happy, confident, ambitious, excited, enthusiastic, peaceful, powerful

Thoughts: “I can do anything”, “I’m the boss”, “Today will be another great day”

Beliefs: The world is full of opportunity; I am living my purpose; I am doing what is right”

Now imagine you are looking at yourself from another person’s perspective. See yourself as the person with all those great things, doing those awesome activities, and feeling those positive emotions about themselves. How would you describe that person?

Inspirational

Confident

Trendsetter

Free

In control

Rolemodel

A natural leader

Bringing it all together

Now that you have these lists and bullet points of the kind of factors which would make up your ideal career/lifestyle, let’s turn this into a motivational story.

Go through and highlight the top factors in each of those 4 areas that mean the most to you. Have a go at writing a short story or paragraph using those bullet points in a descriptive way.

Here’s an example from my Master Plan (a blueprint for success that I create with my 3 and 6 month 1:1 coaching clients):

“I will be travelling often to visit the most awe-inspiring places on Earth, while tutoring under master Latin dance instructors. I will be earning about $40K per month through my coaching, book sales and internet marketing businesses. I will be known as a master of coaching people to create successful careers and develop unbreakable self-confidence. People will see me as a wealthy, jet-setting entrepreneur. I will be a masculine leader, a naturally charismatic rockstar who is known for his authentic integrity and endless empathy for others.”

Go ahead and have a go at these exercises now.

This story you write – your ideal career and lifestyle Supergoal – will become your motivational morning reading-assignment. Read it once every day, until you are taking so much action towards achieving it you no longer need motivating.

Provoking desire for the “dream” is one of the key steps to increasing motivation long-term. Motivation is made up of desire and courage. This section was all about building clear, concise dreams which you can desire.

Later, we will figure out the courage bit.

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