The More Things Stay the Same

Sometimes when we’re feeling stuck in a job we don’t love, it seems like changing jobs is the only viable solution.

But then, after an exhausting search for a better job, a funny thing sometimes happens. After all, that energy spent looking, some folks end up realizing their dream job was right in front of them the whole time.

Let me give you some examples.

I once coached with a grandfather whose kids (and grandkids) lived too far away for him to visit regularly. He longed to be closer, but he was very happy in his job. The solution? He transferred.

His dream job was the same job, just a different location.

Another example:

I worked with a woman who said she hated her job. However, when we looked a little closer, we discovered something interesting:

She didn’t actually hate her job.

In fact, she truly enjoyed the work.

It turned out to be the people she worked with that were causing her so much grief. After figuring that out, her dream job was easy to land because it was there all along. She stayed put and simply change teams.

Another quick example:

A lady in software sales came to me saying she enjoyed the work. But software wasn’t really exciting to her. She wanted to find something more meaningful and thought perhaps a different industry was the answer.

So how did we solve the problem?

She moved into fundraising for non-profits. And since fundraising is still sales, she stayed in the same field, but simply moved laterally to an industry that felt more meaningful to her.

As you can see, sometimes dream jobs aren’t found by looking very far. And, oddly, change sometimes means keeping things mostly the same.

So I have a few questions for you:

What does your dream job mean to you?

Is it in a new field or industry?

Or perhaps the same job in a new location?

Do you simply need new peers?

Is your dream job perhaps closer than you thought?

Give this some thought