One look at the blank faces of commuters making the daily trek to work says it all: most people don’t enjoy their jobs. If you think that’s inevitable, don’t.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” says Mitch Matthews, self-proclaimed “weird, but not too-weird guy,” and author of Ignite: 3 Simple Steps for Re-Sparking Your Buried Dreams and Building a Plan That Finally Works.
Matthews is spearheading a dream job revolution and wants you to join in. Sound crazy? It is…if you define crazy as being creative, audacious, strategic and passionate. According to Matthews, that’s part of what it will take to find your dream job.
To find your #dreamjob, be creative, audacious, strategic and passionate. @mitchmatthews #preparedu
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He shared the rest of his formula during an informative webinar, held as part of the free career webinar series sponsored by Bentley University’s Alumni Career Services.
“70 percent of the workforce says they feel disengaged. Today’s college students don’t think they have any hope of ever attaining their dream job [except Bentley students!], and that scares me,” says Matthews. “Young minds represent our most creative solutions, and our best hope. To me, this is crisis; and a crisis calls for a revolution.”
Matthews is a success coach who found his first dream job at age 12, and started his first company at 19. He believes there’s a job out there able to light you up — if you revolutionize your thinking and learn how to find it or create it.
“If you look at revolutions around the world, it’s usually weird people who change things for the better, and that’s what we’re all about,” he says.
Crowdsource Your Dream Job
Matthew’s dream job revolution wasn’t born from his early successes, but rather from unexpected failure.
“I was working on a big project and almost lost everything,” he recalls. “It was a scary, almost embarrassing time. I was on the ropes. My wife and I thought, maybe our friends can help us out. We invited about 30 people to our house and asked everyone to write down their dreams. These little postcards of dreams were posted all over our walls. We called it the Big Dream Gathering.”
For Matthews, who got the support he needed asking for advice, the experience was addictive. Now, he runs Big Dream Gatherings on college campuses. “We welcome students, alumni and faculty,” he explains. “It’s amazing what happens when people are given permission to dream together.”
7 Ways to Get Your Dream Job
The principles of the Dream Job Revolution are easy to remember, and built around the acronym, D.R.E2.A.M.S. Matthews even throws in an extra “E.”
These seven principles include:
- Decide
“When you look at the core elements of people who found their dream job, what stands out is that they made a decision to find something they could be passionate about — something they were put on the planet to do,” says Matthews.
This is often a process, and not always easy. You may have to go after “it”, before you completely know what “it” is. Your entry points may be unglamorous, but you need to be willing to work your way up the chain.
Don’t wait until you know what your dream job is. Commit yourself to figuring it out, as you progress. Then, commit to getting it or even creating it if it doesn’t exist.
Get more advice on how to find work that you love.
- Roles
Job titles can shift and change as times and companies evolve. Matthews suggests thinking in terms of roles, not job titles.
What are the roles you’re good at? Are you a teacher? Communicator? Numbers cruncher? Motivator? Define your areas of strength, and what you’re passionate about doing, and go from there.
“Look for foot-in-the-door opportunities,” he shares. “If you fixate on a title, you may stall out early.”
Instead, make powerful contacts along the way, while you work hard and honor your job — no matter what it is. This can pay off in the long run and open doors to dream job opportunities.
It’s also a good idea to think about people you know, or know of, with cool careers.
“Connect with them — virtually or in person. Ask them to share their story and also ask the powerful ending question: ‘Who else should I be talking to?’ That will help you get to the top of the chain,” he explains.
When #jobhunting, look for roles, not job titles says @mitchmatthews #preparedu
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- Experiment
For Matthews, this is where the “weird” really comes in. To explore all of your dream job options, you need to experiment with different skills and interests.
Pick up a user experience (UX) certificate or a degree in marketing analytics.
And don’t experiment only with career skills. You could learn more about researching or numbers crunching, but also kayaking or travelling.
“Your unique interests can morph together in quasi-weird — or totally weird— highly successful, game-changing ways,” he shares.
- Excellence
Matthews’ second E is all about excellence — instead of perfection.
“I’m a self-proclaimed recovering perfectionist. Striving for perfection can shut you down, but you’ll never regret excellence,” he says.
- Attitude
Matthews calls your attitude a combo platter of gratitude and hunger: “Stay hungry and stay grateful. This will help you overcome what I call the 20 percent ‘suck factor.’ Love 80 percent of what you do. That will help you deal with the other 20 percent.”
- Milestone
The journey is the destination, so use every minute well. “Even if you’ve achieved your dream job, you’re still on a journey — peppered with milestones and game-changing along-the-way jobs.”
- Seasons
And that journey goes through different stages and seasons.
During Matthews’ career, he has found hope and encouragement from the fact that when you’re on the journey, during the many seasons of your life, you will take multiple bridge jobs. A bridge is designed to get you somewhere. A dream job can be for just a season of your life, or for forever. You may also spend time in a job that once was your dream job, but no longer is.
“No matter what your job, give your best, learn from it, and know that it won’t be forever — if you don’t want it to be,” he says.
But how do you know you've found your dream job?
“A dream job feels like home,” Matthews shares. “It’s a place you want to be.”
His dream job revolution is open to anyone who dares to visualize a more powerful reality for themselves. To find jobs that allow you to grow.
If you use your strengths, passion, weirdness and creativity, you’ll eventually find — or create — a job that is just the right fit for you.
If you liked Matthews’ advice and want more, listen to his webinar: Dream Job Revolution! Get the Job You Want. And check out the many other career-focused webinars in Bentley’s Career Speaker Series, sponsored by Alumni Career Services.
Corey Whelan is a New York City-based writer whose work has been published at HealthLIne, CBSLocal.com, WebPsychology, Care.com and other online outlets.