Sometimes life knocks you down so hard that it seems like there are no more possibilities for you. Let alone dare to dream anymore. And yet often more is still possible than you initially thought for yourself. Like Margot. She was referred to me by her family doctor, she told me. Because she so wanted to go back to work, but was limited by her medical history in what she could still do. Maybe career coaching could help her see new possibilities?
Twice she had overcome a very serious illness, and her body was still recovering. Which meant her job as a caregiver in a rest and care center was in jeopardy. "But I love doing this work so much! My heart is with those people. I want to work again so badly, but I can't manage." Her career question was very clear: "What job can I still do, taking into account my physical limitations?"
The Miracle Question
Margot gets to work with the Travvant toolkit. It soon becomes clear that the place where she works now fits her values perfectly. She also maps out which things she is good at and likes to do, and what she might want to develop further. We compile this information in her career passport, which will help her during the planned interview with her management to identify which tasks she can and wants to take up when she returns.
As frail and fragile as Margot looks, her eyes start to shine and her face lights up when I ask her the "miracle question," "What's your big dream, Margot? Suppose you go to sleep later and this night a miracle happens. When you get up in the morning, everything has changed, a miracle has happened and all your wishes have been fulfilled ... What job will you do then?"
Not for five seconds does she have to think about it, her eyes are shining and I believe her tail is even wagging as she explains, "Then I work with demented elderly people. Together we make music with instruments and we sing together, we work in our vegetable garden, we craft things, I tell stories ... Oh, that's really my dream job if I could do that."
This is one of those moments that gives you goose bumps as a coach; because it's so sincere, so straight from someone's heart that you know there is only one right choice. So I say, "Ok Margot, we'll go for that! We won't go for anything less than your dream." Given Margot's creative side, I explain that it helps if you visualize your dream. Or as Walt Disney said, "If you can dream it, you can do it."
The dream board for your dream job
Making a dream board, in itself, is very simple. You take a stack of magazines and cut out each image, picture, words and texts that resonate with your dream. Stick this on a large sheet of paper or a piece of cardboard and put it visible so you see your dream daily. Automatically and subconsciously you will start taking actions that match your dream.
Two weeks later, Margot is shining at my door with a large cardboard under her arm. "I immediately got to work," she explains. "My sister helped me with the drawings. I felt so happy when I was working on this, this is absolutely right. And you'll never believe what happened! I showed it to my supervisor and she looked at me with surprise and then pulled a folder out of her drawer: "Margot, what you want to do that just exists; that's Contact Clowns, you can train for that!" And Margot continued: "I almost came here as a contact clown. I already totally know what I'm going to look like, what clothes I'm going to wear!".
The career passport
If we then put Margot's career passport next to her dream job, her talents and values fit perfectly into the new job content she envisions. Which strengthens her even more to make this work.
First important step: a conversation with her director to bring this up. We prepare this conversation together and agree that she will keep me informed. When I ask her the question; "What if he doesn't go along with this?" comes a firm: "Then I'll go for it anyway! I'm going to take the course." The next few days Margot regularly haunts my mind: Oh how I so hope she succeeds. A few days later an e-mail to let me know that it was a nice conversation and that she will start her training early next year.
Dream - Plan - Dare - Do!
So you see, even though dreams sometimes seem too good to be true, they often succeed. And there is only one way to succeed in this: just get started and that starts at ... tataaa!: the first step. Take that step and see what happens, what changes. Then take the second step and so on.
Dreams makeHow doyou get into Action to Realize your life goals (including your dream job)? you don't achieve them by continuing to dream (or fret in many cases), but by carrying them out, getting into action, by doing!
What about you? What is your dream?
"A dream written down becomes a goal.
A goal broken down into steps, becomes a plan.
A plan backed up by actions makes your dreams come true."