Lost Your job?
Think Calling Not Dead-End Career!

by ants

Post image for Lost Your job? <br />Think Calling Not Dead-End Career!

If you have recently been retrenched or you are fearing your job stability in the near future, you are one of the thousands around the world feeling the same pain due to a worldwide recession which has its stronghold on many nations and societies and threatening the well-being of families and the sustain of communities.

Every time I open a paper or tune into the television news, I’m faced with the results of the credit crunch or the big recession. And everyday I hear of people being laid off or facing their houses being repossessed by ailing banks which are functioning solely on bail-out funds at this stage.

I don’t know about you but my overwhelming sense of all of this is that people are somewhat encouraged to live in fear of may or may not befall them in the next twelve months. We are encouraged to hold onto jobs which don’t motivate us because we are made to believe that there is nothing better and that if we lose this one, we may lose it all.

What nonsense I say!

I’m not reading anything that refers to taking this current situation and turning it around in such a way that will probably challenge conventional thinking whilst satisfying our creativity, intellect and stimulate us to do something we have always wanted to do. Instead we are forced to consider only the traps of our mortgage, the low interest rates that is supposed to encourage us to spend the money we don’t have, the imminent rise of the fuel price and the soaring cost of living. I think you would have to have ostrich syndrome if you aren’t aware of these things by now.

What Happens If We Focus on What REALLY Motivates Us?

What will happen if we put all of that to one side to focus on what it is that really motivates us and then to turn that into something (maybe an idea, a service or a product) that will not only earn us a living but will go a long way in getting us to jump out of bed in the mornings, filled with excitement and joy at the prospects another day in the office has to offer?!

Isn’t it time we stop focusing on the credit crunch, the BIG ‘R’ word and the ominous doom and gloom mentality we are currently stuck with? It’s time to take a moment to reflect on the time that you were really excited about something you wanted to do or believed in. Something you may have given up on or lost hope that it may ever work or that it would not gain the credibility it deserves?

Does the company you work for provide you with the right set of skills and tools to equip you to leave them or have they handed you a set of golden handcuffs? Do you plan to be stuck in your current job forever and will you make the move only when you are pushed by means of redundancy?

Get Started Down the Road to Living Your Passion

It’s time to live your passion! How, you ask?

Just like you would eat an elephant - piece by piece.

Here is an exercise to get you started:

Write down two things you loved doing as a child.
Write down two great things of your previous job.
Write down two great things you would like to do in the next five years.
Write down two great things you would like to do before you retire.

Great, now you have four things that you really enjoyed doing once upon a time and four things you can imagine doing in your life. Please notice if you spot a pattern in any of these eight things and if you do, please note that down.

Ask yourself these questions:

Which of these eight things can be used immediately to create a new career or part-time hobby for yourself?
If I had more of this in my life, how would I feel?
What can I still do today to achieve this?
What would this give me?
Could I do this for a living or take it on as an exciting hobby?
Do I possess the skills to do this right now?
If not, what do I need to do in order to get that ball rolling?
Whom can I ask for support or assistance?
How and by when?

The difference between having a career and following a calling is an endless of exciting possibilities.

Following a calling does not leave room for any complacency, inaction or laziness because you only have ONE chance.
Following your calling is an investment in yourself and not in that of an ailing financial institution or bankrupt pension fund.
Following your calling means that you are only accountable to yourself and will never have to answer to a boss who does not provide you with room to flourish or a set of skills that will see you through your lifetime.
Following your calling means that you can no longer ignore the voice in the head, the passion in your heart and the spring in your step!

Dr Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) said:

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”