It Starts With, “I Want…”

Just about any goal we achieve can be initially traced back to a moment when wanting it entered our conscious thought. Depending how weak or strong that idea of wanting whatever enters our thoughts, we then make a decision to either do nothing (because we don’t want it bad enough), or we act in ways to bring that desired goal to our reality (because achieving it has significant desirability).

Let’s say you see a futuristic car in an on-line advertisement. It’s totally impractical for you, you have no real plans on getting one, but it’s appealing enough that you click on the picture to see where the development is at. Twenty seconds later, you close that window that opened up and it becomes nothing more than a twenty-second diversion. Five or ten minutes later, the image of that car is gone from your thoughts as you never really wanted to own it, you had just wanted to look at it out of curiosity.

We do the same when food shopping but take the steps of going home with desired items. You want a specific type of fruit or cereal, and so you make a mental or actual list, go down the aisle, pick it up and pay for it and they are yours.

The same process occurs when we want a new job. Some of us, like the futuristic car example, tell ourselves and others that we want a new job. We don’t however, do much more than visualize that wish. Like the car, the job seems out of reach. It’s beyond our qualifications just as the car might be beyond our financial wealth to buy. Unlike the car however, the lustre of that job we want tends to stick with us and the wanting for something else is maintained, brining about a dissatisfaction perhaps with the job we have at the moment. This is like looking at the car in the driveway we do own and liking it less because we’ve seen something newer and better.

Some of us however make the decision to do more than just want a job; we act in ways to bring the wanted job to our own reality. When we finally achieve our desired goal, it is normal to feel immense satisfaction in not only having realized what we wanted but also in the effort it took to get it in the first place.

It all starts with two words of course; “I want.” Once you utter those words be it to yourself or to someone else, you open the possibility of setting in motion a series of decisions and actions which can bring the desired job closer with each step you take. Sometimes, you already have the experience, education and personal requirements a job requires, and your goal is deciding which employer would you like to work for. Other times, you might want the job but realize you have to first acquire the education and experience the job requires, and so your end goal requires you logically first take the steps to get the prerequisites.

So far so good? Okay great. Now think about your own situation. Do you want a job? How bad do you want it? If it’s just a passing thought because you already have a job but you’re going through a rough day, you probably don’t want it bad enough to go through the effort of finding a new job when in two days time you’ll be mentally happy with your job now that some specific project is done with.

On the other hand, perhaps you are out of work altogether, or the job you have doesn’t provide the level of income, happiness or security you need thus prompting you to really want a new one. Like anything you decide on, you need to initiate movement and then sustain the energy to bring you closer to getting what you desire. If the initial movement does not occur, or if the momentum you are establishing fizzles, your end goal cannot and will not come about.

Job searching can be immensely frustrating. An interesting thing happens in the process which can explain why some people give up job searching. Back at the initial thought stage, we generally think about getting a new job. It’s a vague desire for change, something new. We then consider and think on what KIND of job we want. Then we start looking for that KIND of job in the geographical area we are willing to work in. When we find a job posting or decide on a company we want to work for, we then zero in on THIS job with THIS employer. That idea of the KIND of job we want has been replaced by wanting THIS specific job.

So we go for it. If however we come up short and don’t get it, we can make the mistake of feeling we have failed in our goal. But our initial goal wasn’t to get THAT job with THAT employer. No our initial goal was to get a job doing that KIND of work. There are others out there. It’s important to remember our initial goal. The job we got rejected for is just one KIND of job we want. We need to keep the momentum moving despite the result.

Don’t take your rejection for a new job as rejection for the KIND of work you want. If you want it bad enough, stay focused and keep applying. 

Written By Kelly Mitchell

It Starts With, “I Want…” was originally published @ myjobadvice and has been syndicated with permission.

Photo by slightly everything