Career Values (Part 3)

Newsletter 11/14/07

Identify Your Professional Passions

This week, I am guiding you through the process of defining your career "sweet spot." Career Values Part 3
Working in your "sweet spot" means your job is in alignment with your values, skills and passions.

The third step is to identify your passions. Your passions are the concepts, topics and issues that really get you pumped up. They are the things in life that most interest you and always grab your attention.

For example:

- Do you love everything about fashion or the entertainment industry?

- Are you crazy about movies and want to write your own screenplay?

- Do you get joy out of conceptualizing and designing new software?

- Are you passionate about environmental conservation?

- Do you get energized advocating on behalf of children?

The following exercise will help clarify your passions:

Think about your favorite magazine. This is the publication you look forward to reading each month. It inspires you and sparks creative ideas you can't wait to put into action.

Now, put yourself on the cover of your favorite magazine! That's right, your smiling face will be smack dab on the cover. This month, the featured topic is you!

Let your creativity flow. Do not put any restrictions on this imaginative exercise. For example, say O Magazine is your favorite publication. It's true that Oprah is the only person ever featured on the cover. However, for the purposes of this exercise, you are on the cover this month. Or if your favorite magazine is PC World, which typically doesn't put people on the cover, that's okay. Let your imagination take over and forget the rules.

Envision you are being interviewed by the magazine's top features reporter. The topic is: "The greatest achievement of your career." This is the achievement you feel completely excited about. It gives you goose bumps just to think about it. The goose bump factor is very important here! That's when you know you're on to something big!

Visualize yourself throughout the interview. What questions are asked? How do you respond? Here are some sample questions to get you started:

- Tell us about the greatest achievement of your career.

- How does it feel to have achieved this accomplishment?

- Once you determined your goal, how did you create your success plan?

- What obstacles did you face along the way?

- How did you overcome these challenges?

- What advice would you give to other women who want to pursue a similar career path?

- What's next for you?

A key step in successfully reaching a goal is to visualize yourself achieving it. You want to create a vivid mental picture of success and allow yourself to experience the positive feelings - pride, happiness, satisfaction, etc. - that go along with your accomplishment. The more you can "see" your success in your mind's eye, the more likely you will be to make it a reality.

After your visualization is complete, examine your experience. Here are some questions to ask:

- What did you discover about yourself?

- What success strategies were revealed?

- What tactics for overcoming obstacles were uncovered?

- What surprised you?

Schedule time in your calendar to complete this exercise in the next seven days. Next week, I will guide you through the process of identifying your strengths and talents - the final step toward discovering your career "sweet spot."

~Maret