Ditching the "dream job"
Honesty time: My first version of this post was exactly one word.
But I'll go ahead and explain why I urge you to kick the “dream job” to the curb.
I’ve talked with too many people who landed what they thought would be a dream job, only to be disappointed. “Dream job” is actually the perfect way to describe this idea, because once reality comes crashing in, it vanishes in an instant. And don’t even get me started on “living the dream.”
The trouble is, any one job is not going to magically provide everything you could ever wish for. And even if a job starts out great, there’s no guarantee it will stay that way.
When I started out in journalism, my dream was to work for The Chicago Tribune. I wanted to stride into Tribune Tower, past the inscriptions on freedom of speech and of the press, and get to work … doing something, I wasn’t super clear on that part of the dream. But it definitely involved wearing really nice outfits.
I never did work for the Tribune, beyond a few consultant meetings. And even if I had, I couldn’t stride through the lobby anymore anyway — the Tower was sold in 2016.
I’m not a failure because I didn’t achieve my dream job (frankly, I may have dodged a bullet with all that tronc business, IYKYK). What I really cared about was helping people connect with useful information, and I kept finding new ways to make that dream a reality.
The good news is, once you’ve ditched chasing the dream job, there’s still room to pursue what you love. It just means shifting your expectations a bit. Don’t bet on a job — bet on yourself.
When I shared my initial post draft above on LinkedIn last week, the brilliant Emma Carew Grovum chimed in:
“Chase the dream lifestyle. Chase the dream work-life balance or chemistry (to borrow from Kristen Hare's very excellent metaphor). Chase the dream savings account totals. ALWAYS chase your dreams, but NEVER chase the work or the job.”
Bridget Thoreson
She added that “your job will come and go, and your job is never really yours to begin with. Your job can be taken from you at any time, often by surprise and in dehumanizing and embarrassing ways. But your career is what sticks with you, and that’s your story to tell.”
How can you find a fulfilling next chapter in that career story? Look at how well a job aligns with what you want. Does finding an “aligned job” sound as fun and exciting? No, no it does not. But a little dose of reality now can go a long way toward avoiding dashed hopes in the future. What the aligned job gives us that the dream job does not is a sense of movement and possibility. Like following a compass, understanding what you want will help point you toward where to go. Even if it’s not a perfect match, you can see when you’re headed in the right direction.
Maybe there isn’t one perfect job out there for each of us. But there are plenty of jobs that can help get us closer to where we want to go. Your job does not need to define you. Moving toward your dreams — for your life, for your health, for your future — is the real route to success.
Happy navigating,
Bridget
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