Creatively organised

I find it hard when I am in a creative burst, particularly when I am in ‘dream big’ phase to keep my thoughts ordered. I have recently discovered Trello. A fantastic list/organisation tool. It is fairly generic and can be used in a multitude of ways. I have separate boards for work and home, but you could create particularly boards for each of your projects!

It’s also really useful to use for group projects as you can share boards with colleagues or family members! There are also mobile apps so that you can use Trello on the go!

 

Crash course on finding your dream job!

Dick Bolles has just written an article on how to find your dream job/career in 2 minutes!

He says ask yourself these 10 questions and you will know what makes you come alive!

1. What kinds of problems do you most like to solve?
2. What kinds of questions do you most like to help people find answers to?
3. What knowledge of yours do you most like to display, to other people?
4. What are your favorite hobbies or interests?
5. What are your favorite words, that you most like to be tossing around, all day?
6. What’s your definition of ‘a fascinating stranger’?
7. What newspaper or magazine articles do you most love to read?
8. What Internet sites do you most often gravitate to?
9. If you watch TV, and it’s a ‘game show,’ which categories do you hope the contestant will pick?
10. If you could write a book, and it wasn’t about your own life or somebody else’s, what would be the subject of the book?

What career or job have you dreamt up by answering these questions?

Share your responses!

Am I a fantasiser or a dream-builder?

Fantasisers:                                              Dream-builders:

Rely on luck                                                   Rely on discipline

Focus on the destination                          Focus on the journey

Cultivate unhealthy expectations         Cultivate healthy discontent

Minimise the value of work                     Maximise the work they do

Look for excuses                                          Lead to action

Create inertia                                                Generate momentum

Breed isolation                                             Promote teamwork

Wait                                                                  Initiate

Avoid personal risks                                  Embrace risk as necessary

Make others responsible                         Make themselves responsible

Q3: Are the factors to achieve my dream within my control ?

I want to be an astronaut.

I want to be ballerina.

I want to be an actor.

Every child has big dreams. But are they achievable?

• There are only 500 astronauts in the world, both past and present.
• Only 2% of the world’s population have the body and flexibility to be a ballerina.
• There are more actors out of work than in work.

Does that mean we shouldn’t dream?

John Maxwell states ‘ dreams by definition, are not supposed to start with reality. They are supposed to be fantastic, incredible, and out of the box. After all, they are birthed from hopes, desires and possibilities’.

We are told from a young age that we can become whatever we want, the sky is the limit and the higher you aim the higher you will achieve.

These thoughts are damaging. Guess what? We don’t have unlimited potential, resources and opportunities. There are some things that are just not possible.

I remember as a child wishing I could fly. It was a hard reality to learn that that was never going to happen!

So where does that leave us?

You need to decide if your dream is achievable. Look at where you are and what you need to do to reach your dream. Are the things you need to do in your control?

What are you strengths and weaknesses? Do they align with your dream? There is no point dreaming of being a international concert pianist if you don’t have the flexibility and dexterity to play!

If your dream intersects with what makes you come alive and your strengths, your dream may in fact be possible.

Reality…is the enemy of fantasies but not of dreams. – Rudy Ruettiger

What is holding me back?

So you are getting excited about your dream, you get that little flutter in your belly, but you can’t begin. You cannot discipline yourself to do anything about it.

What is stopping you?

Is it one of these key dream-stoppers?

1. Lack of Drive

If this is the case, then you are not passionate enough about your dream. Or more importantly, your dream doesn’t excite you, it doesn’t reflect what is important to you or makes you come alive. If this is the case, maybe you need to identify a new dream. Begin by exploring what makes you come alive!

For me, teaching makes me come alive! The look  on someone’s face when they finally understand something for me makes me come alive, and the confidence they exude once they understand gives me an enormous buzz!

2. It’s too big

Sometimes if you have big, broad, long term goals, you can be overwhelmed and terrified before you even begin. Baby steps is the way to begin. Children crawl before they walk, and walk before they run. You too, need to give yourself space to grow into your dream.

3. Perfection

Sometimes the fear of getting something wrong, can get in the way of actually beginning the journey towards your dream. There is nothing to recommend for this but to stop testing the water, and jump right in! There is no perfect idea, time or method. In fact, our dreams are shaped and refined as we grow and develop.

4. Fear of letting go

I think this is one of the biggest blockers to pursuing your dream. If you have invested a lot of time, effort and training to get where you are, and you realise you are not passionate about it, it can be incredibly difficult to walk away. It takes courage to realise you are not where you need to be and even more bravery to start again, but it is worth. There is nothing sadder than someone who denies themselves their true passion.

Q1: Is my dream really my dream?

The question above has been a journey all of itself, for me. 

You see, I started my life as a scientist. I thought that I wanted to be a scientist, in fact I thought that I wanted to be a doctor. I truly did. It is only on learning about myself and who I am, what excites me and what makes me tick, that I realised that was probably the worst choice ever for me.

The difficulty was that people linked intelligence with the Maths/Sciences. In fact after being a scientist I moved into Maths/Science teaching, a much more humanistic role and a role that suited my personality much more, but still a Maths/Science role.  I got a mixture of responses, from both family and friends on my career change. One that stood out was ‘Why would you become a teacher? What a waste of your intellect!’.

So as I began my journey of self discovery, many people saw me as a failure, or wasting away my talent.

What I have discovered though, after many years of soul searching and career changes is that I am essentially creative, I am a people person, I am an altruist and I am a born teacher. All of these attributes together bring me to the beginning of my next journey: to birth my new dream.

Who are you? What makes you tick, what excites you and makes you want to get up each morning? The answers to these questions is the beginning of your dream.

Can my dreams take flight?

A man wanting to get pregnant, no matter how much he wants it, will find it next to impossible (unless he pays a lot of money to be part of some experimental research or he is transgender like this man.) to achieve.

So continuing my analogy on wanting to get pregnant to the right dream so it can grow and cultivate, I too need to be practical. Is my dream achievable?

John Maxwell says there are 10 questions you should ask yourself to see if your dream can become a reality.

1. The Ownership Question:     Is my dream really my dream?

2. The Clarity Question:            Do I clearly see my dream?

3. The Reality Question:            Are the factors to achieve my dream within my control ?

4. The Passion Question:           Does my dream compel me to follow it?

5. The Pathway Question:         Do I have a strategy to reach my dream?

6. The People Question:           Have I included the people I need to realize my dream?

7. The Cost Question:                Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?

8. The Tenacity Question:         Am I moving closer to my dream?

9. The Fulfillment Question:     Does working toward my dream bring satisfaction?

10. The Significance Question:  Does my dream benefit others?

As I reflect on these over the next week or so, I encourage you to also reflect on your dreams.

Beginnings

Having a dream and enacting it are two completely different things. It is like wanted to have a baby and actually getting pregnant. Then of course, once you are pregnant you need to feed the fetus and allow it to …