Building Your Career Dreams Into Reality

Creating a career vision requires thinking differently. Most people believe that in order to create a big career vision or any change in life, you need first to achieve the result you’re looking for, and then you show up the next day and learn how to live and steward that result. 

That's one way to do it. 

In this episode, let's have some fun. I talk about how to create your vision from a future perspective.  

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hi, welcome to the Career Refresh podcast. I'm your host, jill Griffin. I'm a former media and marketing executive, turned career strategist and executive coach. I spent my career working my way up and through the ranks of global organizations and startups, and today I show others how to do the same. Join me each week as we discuss the strategies and actionable steps to leverage your host, jill Griffin.

Speaker 1: 0:34

All right, today I want to have a little fun and I want to talk to you about creating a really big career vision, or you could put a life vision. Whatever your vision is, but I'm a career strategist, so I'm always going to talk about your career. So this is the moment to open your notes app, grab a pen and paper whichever works for you because I want to take you on a fun journey where I'm going to ask you some of my favorite career visioning questions. Most people think that in order to create a big career or a big career vision or any change in your life, you need to first achieve the result that you're looking for and then show up the next day and learn how to live and steward that plan, that result, and that sometimes is one way to do it, but I want to talk to you about how to do it from a future perspective. It's totally different. The energy is different, the outcome is different and it is faster, my friend. So, no matter where you are in your career, you get to create an incredible vision by living from your future. Now, I know this may sound a little cray and a little bit out there, but it's true. You get to use your imagination, your possibility, thoughts and the feeling of inspiration to create what you want now. So I ask you, who do you want to be? When you think of your career in a year from now or 10 years from now? What is it that you will have created? Who will you become? What advice does that future self that's you? What does it have to tell you today? Because if you already had the job, the promotion, you were already leading the department. What would your future self tell you? I mean, the best person to get advice from is your own self, and why not your future self.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Our minds like to make decisions from the past because it feels predictable and safe. We learn from our past, we learn what works, we learn what doesn't work, and then our brains want to always go back and make decisions based on what we already know, but then you create more of the same. So if you are someone whose strengths kind of lie in really looking at historical data or facts or finding that context, digging into analytics, then this is going to be a really new way of thinking for you, because in order to do this, we have to let go of the facts of the past and we have to use our imagination, which is going to require time to pause and lean into our imaginations and have some playfulness with it. Your imagination is your creative spark. Your imagination asks you to try on possibility which is really jumping into your future. So the easiest way to create this result is to think and act like the person who already has the result.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Imagine if you had those things. What would you be thinking about all day? If you already have the career you wanted the solid partnership with your teammates, you knew how to deal with the chaos at work, or you were already getting the promotion, or you launched your side business. I'll offer you this If you already had the promotion, you would not be thinking about getting the promotion. Do you know who thinks about getting the promotion? Someone who doesn't have the promotion? Stay with me.

Speaker 1: 4:25

So, if you fast forward to the future, bring your imagination with you, find the thought or the things that the future self is thinking, and bring that future perspective into your life. So, if you have your dream career, if you had your dream job, what is it that you would ultimately create? What is it that you would do? Who would you be meeting with? Who would you be showing up with? What would you be wearing? What would you be seeing? What would you be experiencing? Think about that and bring it into today and look if your idea is comfortable and it's probably already in line with your default thinking and your default thinking is defined by the limits of the past and the present, not what the decades of surprising, amazing, big success you have ahead of you. And you get to choose how you want to see it. And then you get to choose it in advance.

Speaker 1: 5:21

One of my mentors makes about $40 million a year. It's crazy and it's amazing. And she said that her goal is to make $100 million a year. It's crazy and it's amazing. And she said that her goal is to make a hundred million dollars a year because she wanted to see if she could. She wanted to see the people she'd hire the lives she'd touch, the impact she'd make on her community just because she can. And then, after having my mind be blown by that logic, I realized that if you have the thought that you're going to make a hundred million dollars a year, you're going to carry yourself differently. You're not going to wake up and say, okay, let me figure this out tomorrow. You're going to start that today. You'd probably have a different perspective on your current career or the business that you're involved in. You probably problem solve differently when challenges come up. You'd look at your colleagues, your bosses, your teammates, your clients, your prospective vendors and the entire world differently.

Speaker 1: 6:18

So think about your goal, not just this year, but I want you to go beyond that. Go a few years or a decade beyond it. Go beyond that. Go a few years or a decade beyond it. What do you want for the career and therefore the life ahead of you?

Speaker 1: 6:31

If it feels like a really, really big dream, write down whatever comes into your mind first. Don't edit yourself. And if it feels exciting or fun, it might be too small. And if it feels like it doesn't require the help of others, it's probably too small. When you're simply imagining what's possible, I don't want you to like filter yourself or stop the imagination. Just play and whenever your rational brain comes up, just ask it to take a little nap, for right now we're going to come back to that. At another time we're going to get clear on what we need to do, but right now this is about exploration and play. Allow yourself to be in a window of possibility, just to be able to open it up an inch or two.

Speaker 1: 7:20

So when you consider the possibility that the vision for your career is really big and available to you, how does that feel? Write down those positive emotions. If you consider that this vision is available to you, how would you carry yourself? Write down those actions. And if you consider that, what would you be doing and creating and having and thinking? Write down those thoughts. And continuing with this. If you're thinking about what goals you might have, who you would partner with, what results you might create, again write down those thoughts.

Speaker 1: 7:58

This is how you create a really big future. When you consider the possibility of what you want and that you can create change, that you can create the position, the dream or the business you want, you start to think about what that person would do, be, see and have now and you bring that into the now so that you create the results now. It's not the other way around. We don't look past and try to repeat it. We look to the future, think what would I need to be doing seeing, tasting, smelling, acting upon and then bring that into the today. All right, short and sweet, I would love to know how you were creating your vision and if you're looking for help, I would be honored to help you check out the details in the show notes where you can schedule an appointment, know how you are creating your vision and if you're looking for help, I would be honored to help you check out the details in the show notes where you can schedule an appointment to work with me, either privately or in my group coaching program, and you'll see what's right for you.

Speaker 1: 8:57

Okay, folks, I appreciate you so much and thanks for joining me this week. I'll see you next time. Hey, thanks for listening to the career refresh podcast. If you're enjoying this and you want more information, go to my website, jillgriffincoachingcom. There you can find information on how to work with me one-on-one or my group programs, or even bring me into your workplace. I'll put the link to my website in the show notes. But hey, listen before you go, do me a favor, rate and review this podcast, because it definitely helps me get the word out to people everywhere so they can also thrive in the workplace. All right, friends, I appreciate you. I'll see you soon.