Last week I talked about the importance of focusing on possibility if you really want to make a big change. Don’t dwell on what you hate about your current job — focus on what you really want from your dream job!
This is a common complaint I hear from my clients, and we use a simple tactic to help encourage discovery. That tactic? Opposites.
If you know you want something different, but don’t know what that something is, start with the opposite. In the example of wanting a career change, consider: what is the exact opposite of what you’re doing now? If you have a desk job, the opposite might be working construction, or doing landscaping, or something in National Parks — something outside that gets you moving. How do those options sound? If one of them sounds perfect, you’re done. But if not — which is more common — you’ll at least be able to see other options. Then comes step two. Ok, so construction is too big a leap, but then ask yourself: why? In other words: what do you not like about construction?
Well, you might say, I like the idea of working with my hands, but the thought of being outside through all types of weather is just not me!
Excellent. So ask yourself what the alternative might be. What does working with your hands, but indoors, looks like? What about laboratory work, or indoor carpentry? (Don’t let skill, ability, training requirements or age enter into the picture yet. Those are how questions, and remember, how questions will largely work themselves out)
Now continue on in that way. OK, so sawdust bothers you — what’s the opposite? See how it works? Allow your answers to lead to the next powerful question – instead of leading you to the conclusion that you don’t know what you want to do. Like Thomas Edison taught us, if you find enough things that are wrong and don’t work, all that’s left is what is right and does work! And one of those options might be the very opportunity you’re looking for because the unbound, limitless journey of inquiry will likely lead you to places and ideas you would have never thought of.
But, and it’s a BIG but, you’ll only see it if you keep asking questions – and keep focusing on possibility rather than the how.
