Is your dream job what you want Ask yourself this question

Is your dream job what you want Ask yourself this questionIs your dream job what you want Ask yourself this questionAsk most people what their dream job is, and theyll tell you the opposite of whatever theyre doing right now.If theyre working in a cubicle, theyd rather be travel-blogging their way around the world.If theyre driving for Uber, theyd rather be writing Grammy-award-winning hit singles.If theyre slaving away at an advertising agency, theyd rather be making strides toward becoming the next great entrepreneur.Heres the thing about dream jobs though99% of the time, theyre unrealistic.I dont mean unrealistic in the saatkorn way your parents probably used the word, telling you something is impossible.I mean unrealistic in the most basic sense.Your dream job is unrealistic for you, because you dont actually love the work itself.You just love the IDEA of the endresultIts very easy for someone to say, I would so much rather be a famous musician, a multi-millionaire tech entrepren eur, a world-traveling chef, an Instagram influencer.Thats because the end result is so easy to imagine. Were surrounded by it every single day?- ?on magazine covers, in viral social media posts, on television, even in the conversations we have with our friends and family members.Everyone loves the IDEA of the end result. And so they spend their lives telling themselves that same narrative, over and over again, criticizing their 95 job while simultaneously daydreaming about the life they could be living.The irony, however, is that nobody ever achieves that end goal by being in love withitAsk anyone who has achieved something great in their lives about their journey, and they wont tell you about the rewards at the end.Theyll tell you about the day to day habits that went into it. Theyll talk about the work itself, the mindset, the motivation to improve and master their craft, the exploration process.The end rewards? Those are just byproducts.They are not the underlying purpose.When p eople imagine their dream job, they dont realize they are in love with the end result more than they are the work that goes intoitWhich means, in order to find out what your dream job really is, you cant ask yourself what end reward you want.That question is elusive, and often times leads you astray.Instead, you need to ask what activities you enjoy doing on a daily basis.How can you expect to become a famous musician if you dont enjoy practicing the guitar?How can you expect to become a super successful entrepreneur if you cant find the joy in early morning meetings, traveling, and a high-stress lifestyle?How can you expect to become a best-selling author if you despise sitting by yourself and writing?You cant.Finding your dream job is all about reverse-engineering what activities you enjoy doing on a daily basis, that will allow a desirable end result to manifest on itsownMost people never understand this concept.Instead, they spend their entire lives wishing they were living a li fe that, in all honesty, they really dont want. Thats not how they prefer to spend their time?- ?because if it was, theyd find a way to do it.What you need to ask yourself is, in a perfect world, how would you spend your morning?What activities would you do?And in the afternoon, how would you like to spend those hours?What activities would you do?How would you like to spend your dinner? With whom? Where?How about your evenings?Once you lay out all the different activities youd like to do on a daily basis, compound those activities over five, ten, or twenty years, and imagine what might manifest as a result?You are the product of what you spend your timedoingYou cant say, I want to be this insert end reward and then not enjoy spending time on a daily basis practicing and working toward that end reward.So, if you want to figure out what your real dream job is, ask yourself what you would enjoy doing on a daily basis.Then compound the result of that activity over X number of years.That s where youre headed.And if you dont like where youre headed, change what youre doingright now.This article originally appeared on Inc. Magazine and then Thrive.com.Is your dream job what you want Ask yourself this questionAsk most people what their dream job is, and theyll tell you the opposite of whatever theyre doing right now.If theyre working in a cubicle, theyd rather be travel-blogging their way around the world.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIf theyre driving for Uber, theyd rather be writing Grammy-award-winning hit singles.If theyre slaving away at an advertising agency, theyd rather be making strides toward becoming the next great entrepreneur.Heres the thing about dream jobs though99% of the time, theyre unrealistic.I dont mean unrealistic in the same way your parents probably used the word, telling you something is impossible.I mean unrealistic in the most basic s ense.Your dream job is unrealistic for you, because you dont actually love the work itself.You just love the IDEA of the endresultIts very easy for someone to say, I would so much rather be a famous musician, a multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur, a world-traveling chef, an Instagram influencer.Thats because the end result is so easy to imagine. Were surrounded by it every single day?- ?on magazine covers, in viral social media posts, on television, even in the conversations we have with our friends and family members.Everyone loves the IDEA of the end result. And so they spend their lives telling themselves that same narrative, over and over again, criticizing their 95 job while simultaneously daydreaming about the life they could be living.The irony, however, is that nobody ever achieves that end goal by being in love withitAsk anyone who has achieved something great in their lives about their journey, and they wont tell you about the rewards at the end.Theyll tell you about the d ay to day habits that went into it. Theyll talk about the work itself, the mindset, the motivation to improve and master their craft, the exploration process.The end rewards? Those are just byproducts.They are not the underlying purpose.When people imagine their dream job, they dont realize they are in love with the end result more than they are the work that goes intoitWhich means, in order to find out what your dream job really is, you cant ask yourself what end reward you want.That question is elusive, and often times leads you astray.Instead, you need to ask what activities you enjoy doing on a daily basis.How can you expect to become a famous musician if you dont enjoy practicing the guitar?How can you expect to become a super successful entrepreneur if you cant find the joy in early morning meetings, traveling, and a high-stress lifestyle?How can you expect to become a best-selling author if you despise sitting by yourself and writing?You cant.Finding your dream job is all abo ut reverse-engineering what activities you enjoy doing on a daily basis, that will allow a desirable end result to manifest on itsownMost people never understand this concept.Instead, they spend their entire lives wishing they were living a life that, in all honesty, they really dont want. Thats not how they prefer to spend their time?- ?because if it was, theyd find a way to do it.What you need to ask yourself is, in a perfect world, how would you spend your morning?What activities would you do?And in the afternoon, how would you like to spend those hours?What activities would you do?How would you like to spend your dinner? With whom? Where?How about your evenings?Once you lay out all the different activities youd like to do on a daily basis, compound those activities over five, ten, or twenty years, and imagine what might manifest as a result?You are the product of what you spend your timedoingYou cant say, I want to be this insert end reward and then not enjoy spending time on a daily basis practicing and working toward that end reward.So, if you want to figure out what your real dream job is, ask yourself what you would enjoy doing on a daily basis.Then compound the result of that activity over X number of years.Thats where youre headed.And if you dont like where youre headed, change what youre doingright now.This article originally appeared on Inc. 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