Create your dream job within your current one

Growing up, many of us had an ideal job in mind that we would occupy once we became adults. However, few of us actually get work in our desired area and we plod through life feeling like failures. Even worse, some of us blame the outside world, and become bitter and resentful.But it doesn’t have to be this way. Even if you never land your dream job, there is a way to change your perspective to find your dream job inside your current one. What might this look like?To answer this, you will have to voyage back into your past. Start by writing down why you wanted to do your dream job. If you wanted to become an astronaut, maybe it was the excitement of making discoveries that attracted you. If you wanted to be a writer, you probably loved inventing stories and playing with words.Although your perspective will have changed beyond recognition over the years, allow yourself to relax and dream for a moment. Remember the excitement you felt as a kid fantasizing about your dream job. Get in touch with your inner child and its yearnings. Don’t worry if it feels awkward and just indulge yourself for a moment.This exercise was meant to convert those desires into actionable insight to reshape your current reality. Recall the astronaut example and the thrill of discovery. I’ll let you in on a little secret: at TSG, we don’t know everything about insurance. Every week we discover something new and curious.So you can experience the joy of discovery in your seemingly boring office job. You may think there is nothing to see, but you may not be looking properly. Obviously, this exercise has its limits because there’s nothing quite like being an astronaut – we’re not naive. We’re just suggesting re-framing situations to enhance your quality of life.Now that you have recaptured an inkling of your childhood dreams and desires, put your adult hat back on and translate those dreams into your present reality. It won’t be a perfect fit, but do your best to find areas of your life that can best meet those desires.Since we’re talking about jobs, look to your current employment and find ways to satisfy your childhood dreams within that job. If you wanted to become a writer, write the clearest, most articulate and thoughtful emails in the world.If you wanted to be a public speaker, practice at every meeting. Take a deep breath, stand up straight and speak confidently like you always envisioned doing. If you wanted to be an artist, take some initiative and create artwork for the office.It doesn’t matter that you’re writing emails and not a novel. It doesn’t matter that you’re speaking about production targets instead of your inspirational travels around the world. It doesn’t matter you’re painting sketches of the office plants instead of modernist masterpieces.That’s because pursuing your passion on a small scale is better than nothing at all.Obviously, you should seek opportunities to scale up, but any movement and progress puts you ahead of everyone afraid to go after their passion.If you can’t ever imagine seeing your job in this light, try this thought experiment. Find a picture of Michelangelo’s David and remember that it was once a block with no distinguishing features beyond ramrod straight lines. But the artist had a vision of what the block could be and he created it.That’s your current situation. Your present job looks like a boring block, but it hides enormous potential for transformation inside and it’s your responsibility to chisel something beautiful and worthwhile out of it. You must coax the beauty and possibilities out of your surroundings.Work with what you’ve got and start now because you have a lot more than you think you do.Your surroundings may not change, but you can change the way you look at them. And once you change your perspective, you will be able to change your surroundings because you will be present to opportunities.Are you ready to create your dreams?