Over the years I have met literally thousands of people who want to find their ideal job. Some are prepared to spend years doing what is required to create such a satisfying role. Others want to walk into it straight away. So one question to ask them is: “Are you prepared to do the work that will get your perfect work?”

Something interesting happens with people who actually start doing things towards reaching this goal. They seem to feel more satisfied, even though they may not yet have achieved their ‘utopia’. So let’s explore how your might pursue this route in your own way.

1) You can clarify your perfect work.

“Will I ever find my ideal job?” said one person. “Probably not, but I am about 95% there, which is more than most people. There is a restless part of me that always wants to improve things for my customers and myself. Still, feeling 95% satisfied is not a bad start.”

What would be your perfect work? What would be the benefits of doing this work – both for you and other people? Try completing the sentence: “My perfect work would be to: _____” If you want a more formal ‘template’, focus on the 3 Ps: project, people and place.

* Project: what would the most stimulating type of ‘project’? You might love encouraging people, leading a team, refurbishing houses, solving certain problems, building prototypes, doing turnarounds or whatever.

* People: what are the qualities you want in your ideal manager, customers and colleagues?

* Place: what is the kind of place – culture and environment – where you work best?

You might have several different kinds of perfect work. If so, brainstorm all these activities and look at how you can combine these into a portfolio career. Try completing the following exercise.

2) You can clarify the work you can do to get your perfect work.

Pursuing your perfect work calls for focusing on three things: clarity, creativity and commitment. Let’s explore each of these themes.

Clarity

This is clarity about the theme you want to pursue, rather than the actual ‘box’ you want to fit into. “That sounds rather woolly,” somebody might say, “shouldn’t you be aiming for a specific job?” That is one approach; another is to focus on your vocation. You can then find the right vehicles and do valuable work. There are many exercises on this theme and a link to one approach can be found at the end of this article. You can get some hints, however, by focusing on the following areas:

* Positive energy.

What are the activities that give you positive energy? You may get energy by helping certain kinds of people, meeting certain clients, tackling certain problems or delivering certain results. List all the things that give you positive energy – even when you just think about them.

* Projects.

How can you translate this energy into a specific ‘project’? How could you pursue it to offer a product or service to other people? Alternatively, what are the projects in organisations that would give you energy? How could you find out more about these activities? What are the challenges facing specific organisations? How could you help them to overcome these challenges and achieve success? How could you contribute to - or deliver – these projects? What would be the benefits for the employer?

* Products.

Let’s imagine you find and contribute to a project. How can you turn what you deliver into a ‘product’: something tangible that will help other people to succeed? Your ‘product’ will obviously keep evolving. But it is important for potential employers to know what you deliver, rather than simply what you do. People do, after all, buy results.

Creativity

Clarity is about the theme you want to pursue. Creativity is about finding ways you can pursue this theme. This can be an exhilarating journey of discovery.

Looking at my own life, for example, the journey started when I was around 18. At the time I was working in a factory, doing ‘fortnights about’ – two weeks of working days, two weeks of working nights. My goal was to begin looking for work where I might ‘help people’. This was very vague, but at least a start. During the following years I kept visiting the reference library, scouring books, looking through copies of New Society – a social work publication of the time – writing for interviews, going to conferences and other activities. After four years I eventually got a chance to do full-time voluntary work with Community Service Volunteers. That provided a passport to the future, but the journey was invaluable.

Let’s return to the things that give you positive energy. How can you find or create work pursuing some of these themes? How can you translate these into specific projects? What are the challenges facing potential employers? How can you use your talents to help them to succeed? How can you combine the themes to offer something special? How can you put together a portfolio of projects? How can you keep being creative to find possible ways to employ your strengths?

Commitment

“A long apprenticeship is the most logical way to success,” said Chet Atkins, the guitarist. “The only alternative is overnight stardom, but I can’t give you a formula for that.” That was obviously in the days before TV talent shows. But few of those instant stars stay around unless they keep developing.

So how much time are you prepared to commit to finding your perfect work? How many days, months and years? How can you encourage yourself on the journey? How can you make it joyful? How can you get some early successes? How can you keep checking that you are ‘committed to the commitment’? Try completing the following exercise.

3) You can do the work that gets your perfect work.

Time to set out on the journey. There are many ways to achieve a specific goal, but one approach is to follow your successful pattern. Looking back at your life, when have you worked hard to reach a long-term goal? You may have been studying for an exam, refurbishing a house, solving an intricate problem or whatever. What were the principles you followed? How can you follow similar principles to achieve your perfect work?

“I drew a picture of myself reaching the goal,” said one person, “and looked at it every day. My approach was to treat it like a project plan, something I am used to in my work. This took the emotion out of the equation. After breaking down the plan into stages, I developed a daily working rhythm. I also aimed to get a quick success each day, which kept the momentum going. Frequently I took time out to reflect on: a) What was working; b) What I could do better and how. Sometimes I felt downhearted. But then I just kept taking a look at the picture and worked hard till I reached the goal.”

You will obviously have your own way of working. Looking at your own ‘project plan’, try tackling the final exercise on this theme. First, describe the specific things you can actually do to pursue the road towards achieving this goal. Second, describe how you can encourage yourself on the journey. Try completing the following exercise.

Ernest Hemingway wrote: “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” He was talking about writing, but sometimes it can feel this way about getting your perfect work.

You may do things ‘one day at a time’, overcome challenges and eventually reach the goal. That gains you entry to the country: it is then time to deliver great results. You produce peak performances in your chosen work. After a while, however, your soul wants to move on, which is perfectly natural. After clarifying your aim, you start on a new journey towards doing your perfect work.

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Here is the link to The Strength Toolbox piece on following your vocation, finding the right vehicles and doing valuable work.

Vocation

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