Posted on June 27, 2011 by Lee Weisser
Are you thinking about changing your job or career, but don’t know where to start? Maybe you have so many good ideas that you can’t decide which one to pursue.
You’re not alone. Some of us can generate tons of ideas on a moment’s notice. We get really excited – passionate even – about bringing these ideas to fruition. But somewhere along the way we get stalled. We end up not realizing any of our dreams.
Perhaps you’re wondering about starting your own business. Maybe you may want to advance into a leadership position. Or maybe you want to transform your leisure or volunteer activity into a paying job.
What you need to get started is focus…focus…focus. Recent explorations in neuroscience confirm that whatever we repeatedly give attention to will become hard-wired in our brains.
So, how can you get focused? Many people find that a daily practice of yoga or mindfulness meditation helps them feel centered and able to concentrate on one thing at a time. Activities that demand your full sensory awareness of the present moment can help calm the chaos in your mind. Mental imagery or visualization is another technique, often used by athletes, to achieve the best possible state of mind for peak performance. What would it look like (and feel like) to be doing your ideal work? Give yourself time to really think about this.
The trick is to make these practices a daily habit so that the patterns become embedded,  and require less conscious effort to carry out.
When your mind is quiet, you will be capable of thinking more clearly and more deeply. You’ll be able to weigh various options against the values that are really important to you. What are values? They are the things that you instinctively find indispensable to a good life.
Ask yourself, What do I want out of my work? Why do I work? Be sure to write down your responses. Values include things like: recognition, helping other people, creativity, and achievement.
Identifying the path you want to follow is a powerful way to take more control of your life. You’ll be happy at work when the values that are important to you are met through the actual work that you do, and the environment in which you work.