Are you in a career you love, or in a job you are tolerating? What's the difference? If you're working strictly to earn a paycheck to pay the bills, you have a job. If your days are filled with passion and delight for the work you do, you have a dream career. So how is your career going? Is it filled with dreams or nightmares? We all have responsibilities. Bills to pay and futures to save for. Going to work is reality. So why not shoot for the stars? Why not have a goal to make a great salary while doing work you love? Impossible? Guess what? It won't happen until you decide that it will happen. When you tackle new challenges in your career, the beginning is the hardest. Once you jump in, your goals take shape, and they begin to seem realer and easier to achieve. Here is how some of my clients described their dream careers when they were at the beginning of their shift from job to career: "My dream career would be focusing on the areas where I can find fulfillment and can make a difference in the lives of others. It has to be creative." Linda May "My dream career would be working at something I'd do if no one paid me to do it." Dale Alvaraz "It has to get me excited. So excited that I would rather work than watch TV or do something else. Another indicator is when I can wake up early without an alarm clock and I am looking forward to the day." Alex So So How To Do Make The Shift From "Just A Job" To Your Dream Career? Follow These Four Steps Below: 1. Recognize That You Want More Do you know in your heart that you want a career that gives you meaning, purpose, and satisfaction? Listen to your inner voice, because what it is saying to you will not go away until you act. When you get to a point in your career when you know it is not working anymore, it's important that you do something about it. 2. Get Ready Mentally To Have More Write down what your dream career is. If you do not know, write down what it's not. When you know what you don't want, the flip side is what you do want. Look at this piece of paper everyday. Review it in the morning. Look at it during lunch. Go over your words before you go to sleep. This process will help your thoughts sink in and become a part of your subconscious. What keeps many of my clients from saying "I can achieve my dream career" is fear. Fear is normal. There's always fear when we take on new goals. But ask yourself which fear is harder to be with: the fear of knowing that you did not give your career its best shot, or a fear of failing? 3. Get Into Action To Have More Nothing happens until someone does something. And, if you want a dream career, you have to get moving. Act. One action leads to another, which leads to another. This is how goals are reached. Bit by bit. Piece by piece. When you work on your dream career, a little bit each day, your wish will be granted. Consistency is key. Most of us do not believe that we have hours each day to work on our career, but the truth is we do. How about working on your career 1/2 hour in the morning, 15 minutes at lunch, 1/2 hour before you leave the office at night, or an hour after dinner? Breaking your dream career into small achievable pieces will make a tremendous difference. You will be surprised and amazed at how much progress you will make. 4. Recognize That Anything Worthwhile Takes Time All goals take time. And, the time they take to become real usually takes longer than we'd like. Know that this is part of the process. Keep moving no matter what, even if you do not feel like. Trust that you are on the right path. Your dream career will happen, because you want it to happen. The effort you put in will be worth it, because the end result will be a career you can proud of. So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!