Page 179 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

STEP 6: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 167

good and make you appreciate each other more. We all need time
alone now and then, even the extroverts. Do what you must, but
make sure you get some perspective on your life, so that you can
think about your job and the kind of career you’d like to pursue.

Design the Ideal Career or Business

Now that you’ve created your unique career profile, you may want
to rework or expand on the Ideal Job Description you jotted down
in Step 3 so that it more accurately reflects your profile. Are there
any changes you’d now make, given your deeper understanding of
what you are wired to do? Rework and embellish your ideal career
description on the following pages until
you think, “Wow! This would be a dream
come true!” You can always change it I used to work at the
later on as your personal requirements, International House
passions, and values evolve over time. of Pancakes. It was a
Ideally, review your needs and values dream, and I made it
every decade of your life to ensure that happen.
your goals are in alignment with your
passions and values. —PAULA POUNDSTONE
If you do nothing else, do this exer-
cise! It is immeasurably powerful. Just
to give you an example, when I was working at the bank, making
$30,000 a year and feeling that there had to be something better
for me, I drafted (on my coach’s orders) an ideal job description.
At the time I wrote it, I thought it represented the most pie-in-
the-sky impossible thing to have in the world. After you read it,
you’ll see that I hadn’t even imagined I could own my own busi-
ness and work for myself as a coach. Nor did I think big enough
incomewise. Now I have all this and even more! So, think big—
really big! And remember, this is your ideal job description.
It may take time before you get all the various components
together, so don’t panic if this exact job doesn’t appear instantly,