As you envision your future, get clear about what you want. Make a list of the talents you have to offer, how you’ve used those talents in the past, the accomplishments you’ve achieved using them and the value you are able to bring to other settings, Then, let people know around you specific ways they might be able to help. Talk about it, let your friends and colleagues know what interests you and communicate it clearly. The more others understand specifically what you want, the more they may be able to assist you in turning your dream to reality or finding a job that’ll fit.
Ensure that people take you seriously. The clearer your communication, the more others will understand and can help you. Here’s an example from an everyday context.. If you go into a restaurant on a hot summer day and say “I want a drink that isn’t carbonated,” a glass of room temperature water may get plunked on your table because you didn’t ask for anything more specific. However, if you say “I want a tall glass of unsweetened iced tea with lots of lemon and lots of ice,” you’re more apt to get what you asked for because of the clear way you requested it.
Recently some colleagues and I went to a local pub to celebrate a successful program, and requested, “the largest, best Margarita you can make!” The bartender glanced our way, smiled with thumbs up and we each were served LARGE beer steins filled with delicious Margaritas, topped with cocktail umbrellas and skewered fruit. Obviously the bartender “got our request!” Later came the tab…that’s another story.
From childhood many of us were taught to “accept what you get and be grateful.” Those lessons were important when values were being instilled growing up. That was then; this is now. Expand that image into one where you paint a picture of what you want with all the details. If you can’t make it happen at work, create it in your leisure or home life, There’s an old saying “the clearer the picture, the stronger the motivation to get you there; the fuzzier the picture, the more easily you get sidetracked.
“What’s in your vision?” And “Who knows about it?”
