Creating this one piece of paper is doable. And essential.

This article is the first part of the Dream Job Workshop Series.

The path to your dream job must first pass through you. The question is: Who are you?

What skills do you possess? More importantly, what skills do you like to employ?

Where do you like living? How much money do you need? What subjects interest you the most? What do you know a lot about? What kind of people do you like to be around? Under what conditions do you work best? What do you value? What are your goals and dreams?…

If you know the answers to all these questions, it is very likely that you can already imagine your dream job. If not, finding the answers is easier than you think.  It may take many other pieces of paper to brainstorm, list, and prioritize…

How we do it in the workshop.

…but you have most of the information you need.  Now it’s time to get it down on one piece of paper. In this series, I will go through the mind map above and provide you with tools for drawing a picture of your dream jobs. Then, I will provide some tips on how to go about getting them.

Why One Piece of Paper?

The important thing isn’t merely to “get it all on one piece of paper.” Instead, the idea is to gather all relevant information, prioritize that information, and connect that information visually. Research, as well as my own experience using mind maps, shows that complex decisions become easier by applying these three steps.

Some reasons why:

• No fluff. No distractions. Even if you use a really big piece of paper, the prioritizing process only leaves the most important factors in deciding your dream job.
• Unlocks the chaotic but powerful right-brain. Think intuition, flashes of insight, gut feelings. When you use a visual element to connect the information on that one piece of paper, you begin to use your whole brain – not just the orderly and often fearful left-brain. You wouldn’t want to go about choosing your dream job in a half-assed manner – why go about it with half a brain?
• The power of the word. One thousand self-help books agree – if you write it down, you vastly increase the chances of making it happen.

Having a meaningful picture of your dream job – one that you can hold in your hands – is an amazing way to tear down the vague but crippling impression that a career path or a dream job is something that is too big. It isn’t too big. It can fit on one piece of paper.

Over the next few months, I will be sharing some methods to fill up that “one piece of paper”, along with other job-hunting tips and strategies in my Dream Job Workshop Series.

Dream Job Workshop