WOULD YOU HELP ME WITH SOME CAREER-RELATED RESEARCH, PLEASE?

WOULD YOU HELP ME WITH SOME CAREER-RELATED RESEARCH, PLEASE?

My life was transformed in 1994 when I sat down and had my first-ever 'proper' career guidance interview with Mike Bond at Pathways Adult Career Development Centre in Sunderland.

Prior to that time I was pretty-much kicking about achieving not very much. At the time of meeting Mike, I was rock-bottom. The irony is I ended-up getting Mike's job at Pathways and, by way of a 2-year process, fulfilling my dream. I will be grateful to him for the rest of my life for the help he gave me in sparking my 'calling'. (What some people call the 'Aha Moment'.)

I designed my 'Career Dovetail Formula' in 1997 when, working with students in schools and colleges, I began relaying the visual metaphor for what can be a very hard-to-grasp, esoteric and intangible commodity - the 'perfect fit' of finding great work. Subsequently, it has been my brand, philosophy and methodology, see below. I've been evangelising about the power of quality-assured career guidance ever since and my own quest has led me along a magical mystery tour helping others tune-in to the power of meaning-filled and meaningful work.

Most often people are pretty downbeat about the notion of discovering joy at work; at least when we start out. But watching them transform is the joy I derive from what I do. One of the toughest lessons for me has been that you can only help someone when they are ready to help themselves. The process usually involves devotion, sacrifice, control, denial (?), faith, self-encouragement and discipline. So it can be a tough journey. [And that's why I believe only 10% of the population discover their perfect work.]

Therefore, to improve that worrying statistic and with so many young people struggling to build traction in their careers, I am currently researching the 'Anatomy of the Aha Moment' for a new book/ short film we're making. I'm dissecting the 'before and after' of the changes people go through when they take time to 'career dovetail' themselves into great work.

So - after all that - here's the question:
(You can be as critical, quizzical, doubting, orthodox or enthusiastic as you like. This has to be a sliding-scale of opinion to be credible). 

***What faith do you have in there being a perfect 'career dovetail' out their for you? Have you found yours? If so what does it mean to you? Is it purely qualitative or could you quantify it too? And is there a price to pay - time, money, relationships, attrition, anxiety...***

It would be great to get a dialogue going on this BIG QUESTION here below. But if you would feel more comfortable, you can email me at duncan@careeradvise.me

I'd be ever-so grateful if you would contribute your thoughts, feelings and aspirations. If we can crack the recipe, who knows where it might lead.

THANKS

NB - if you could share this post with your friends, we could grow a really big conversation about what I hope will become an inspirational solution.

WHAT DOES YOUR LIFE HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU?

Believe me, you can find the answer. The idea that it is possible to discover a perfect career choice which weaves every one of a person's attributes in a single strand, has to be one of the toughest challenges for even the most inspirational Career Coach to translate.

People don't know what they don't know. Similarly, how can we know how wonderful it is to be in love without having ever fallen in love. How can we appreciate the rush of adrenaline of freefall without actually leaping from a plane. That wistful gleam of intoxicating joy can only be held by the bearer of the actual experience. So it is with being docked into our perfect work. It took me 32 years to find mine. I now know I couldn't have survived without it.

Truly living the experience of beaming all of our gifts, talents, skills, capabilities and life experiences in the mastery of a distinct vocation is transformational, confidence-giving and supremely energizing because it helps us invest in our own purpose in life. As always, no two people are alike. The career conundrum facing all of us is as taxing as the hardest equation we ever saw in a Maths exam. But that mystery is so much a part of the joy created by self-discovery!

The driving motivation for solving your career conundrum and unleashing your unique blend of traits on the world is that you, and only you, own it. Your career identity is yours to invest in and, once you've uncovered it, not only will put food in your belly, it will feed your life with purpose that will sustain you for always by fuelling your day-to-day living.

More than anything you will possess that deep self-assuredness and innate smile that you see on the face of any hard-working, skill-mastering, and devoted artisan craftsman or woman, radiating from the joy invested in them by their discovery of what it is that truly makes them tick. The 'Master-at-the-Helm' knowing their true bearing in life with a beacon on the horizon to aim for every day.

Life is a journey, we pass this way but once. We owe it to ourselves and our loved-ones around us to uncover our true destiny in life. This quest is made all the more joyful when we know what it is we are here to do with our lives.

Remember the guiding maxim: "Find a job that you love and never work another day for the rest of your life!".

BE ENTHUSIASTIC OR RISK NOT BEING ANYTHING AT ALL. Be hungry to solve your career conundrum. Be hungrier for the prize.

For help in your quest why not attend one of our career discovery workshops or call for a one-to-one coaching programme:

www.careeradvise.me