This One Word Will Help You Discover Your Dream Job

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• December 30, 2014
• By Ben Fanning
• 2 Comments

I used to believe that the job I could love and the path to the corner office were out there waiting if I just kept searching.

Under this false pretense, I propelled myself through four companies in four cities, making each move because the next best thing was too good to pass up. However, after sitting in the ER fearing I just had a heart attack, I realized the stress of this never-ending search was taking a toll.

After quite a bit of introspection and a few great mentors, I discovered one word allowed me to transform my work day into something much more positive; no more quitting, searching, moving, stalling, stopping, etc.

The Powerful One Word for Your Career

Not only will one word ignite your career, it can completely transform your life. (Click here to tweet this quote.)

This occurs when you shift your professional quest from “finding the job you love” to “creating the job you love.”

Simply substitute “create” for “find.”

Easy, right?

Many people never adopt this perspective, though. How many times have you heard someone talk about “finding a job?”

Maybe they continue the search to find the perfect job for an entire lifetime, or somewhere along the line they give up altogether.

“Finding” becomes an enigmatic and tiresome distraction.

It’s an anemic perspective.  The roots of its weakness come from the very definition of the word “Find,” which means “to discover or perceive by chance or unexpectedly.”

By changing this word to “create,” you shift perspective.

“Creating” is far more powerful and is defined as “to bring something into existence.” In ancient times, the word frequently appears in conjunction with the concept creatio ex nihilo, meaning “creation out of nothing.”

Would you prefer to leave the job you love up to chance? Or bring something you love and desire into existence with intention?

If this idea of intentionally creating something powerful for yourself piques your interest, then you’re in the right place. You can easily apply it even if jobs are scarce.

Here are five steps to immediately start creating the job you love:

1. Get on a mission to create

Embrace the idea that your real quest isn’t to get or find a job. It’s to create the job you love.  This shifts your approach to your work day entirely.

Finding a job requires you to fit yourself into a job that someone else has created. The common perspective is that you should fit yourself into that dream job, whether or not it’s a good fit. Not succeeding in that endeavor could mean unemployment or even worse, humiliation.

As a result, most people master the skills of interviewing, selling themselves, and networking to ensure that won’t happen.

Sure, these are helpful skills, but they leave a massive gap that most never fill. I’m suggesting shifting your focus to free up your capacity and energy to create right where you are.

This leads to the next step.

2. Use your job description at the “clay on the wheel”

Job descriptions are like “clay on the wheel” that we each mold to our own capabilities and the organization’s needs.

For proof, go ahead and pull out the job description from your hiring interview (most people can’t even find it). Does this describe the job you do? In most cases, you’ll probably recognize it doesn’t. You’ve been performing a slightly or very different job the entire time.

The real job is probably a dynamic mix that reflects the needs of your boss, organization, and customers— and perhaps some of you mixed in there, too. Jobs are a lot more fluid than we assume, and their descriptions are like “clay on the wheel” that we each mold to our own capabilities and the organization’s needs.

This means you have much more latitude than you realize to start incorporating work you love into your current job.

Start there.

3. Discover the work that motivates you

The foundation of creating the job you love is understanding which work motivates you and what leaves you drained.  When your day consists of work that you are motivated to do, it doesn’t feel like work.

Pay attention. Make a separate list for the daily activities that energize and those that leave you feeling depleted, and then use this list for your next step.

4. Campaign for work that inspires you

Once you’ve completed Step 3, it’s time to start highlighting those activities to your boss and coworkers who motivate and energize you. Give the most real estate on your Linkedin profile, internal company skill profile, annual review, and conversations with your boss to the work activities you want more of in the future. Consider formally requesting more work activities you’re motivated to do. Seek to delegate or collaborate on activities that leave you exhausted.

5. Inspire your coworkers

Once you’ve started to campaign for the work that inspires, share this process with others.  Notice that when you start to create the job you love, it can lift your coworkers and make a positive impact on the entire office.

Go through these steps and see how they can positively impact the job you have. It’s time to start creating the job you love right where you are today.

Ben Fanning Chief Burnout Officer and still works for a Fortune 50 company. Get inspired by checking out his new book —The QUIT Alternative: The Blueprint for Creating the job You Love WITHOUT Quitting.

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