My Dream Career Isn't Possible....Now What?

Here’s a question I often hear: What should I do now that my dream career is not possible?

For most, the answer is simple— stop assuming the dream isn’t possible and start looking for creative ways to achieve it.

You’d be amazed at what we assume is impossible for ourselves, often being more encouraging to others for their dreams. People tell me that starting their own travel business would be impossible, becoming a chef, training to be a nurse, are all beyond reach. These choices may include many challenges, but are certainly very realistic goals to have if you have a passion for them and look for creative solutions.

Then there are those who ask the question, and even I have to admit that the dream as they see it is not going to happen. The 50-year old who last played baseball in Little League is not going to become the next second baseman for the Twins and the 40 year old who can’t carry a tune is not going to become the next Metropolitan Opera star.

So should those people just grow up and get a 9-5 job they can tolerate? Not at all.

Opera singer or pro ballplayer or , whatever practical or impractical lifework dream you have , if it is still deep within you, if it is still calling out to you—don’t give up. The key is to get beneath the surface about the original dream and see, first of all, what the underlying passions are that led to the dream. Instead of just saying I want to play baseball, in our example, find out what it is about baseball that you most love.

Using the case of the ballplayer, let’s look at the basic way to do this:

Step 1. Define what you really still love about your impossible dream. In this case, what our ballplayer might love is:
• Performing under pressure
• Camaraderie of being on a team working hard together
• Competition and winning
• Creating strategies for winning
• Being physical and fit
• Making rapid decisions and acting on them with immediate feedback
• Feeling like a kid without adult responsibilities

Step 2. Come up with alternative ways to experience each of those career elements. Our ballplayer may come up with:
• Performing under pressure.
o Public speaking (especially answering unscripted questions)
o Paramedic
o Leading an outdoor adventure tour
o Doing improv theater or comedy

• Camaraderie--Almost anything where a team effort is key
o Business team member
o Nonprofit team going into emergency situations (goes along with performing under pressure)
o Acting company
o Sports team coach

• Competition and winning
o Creating an ad campaign in a competitive field where results are relatively clear and there are winners and losers
o Sports coach at a school
o Salesperson

• Creating strategies for winning. See the last answer.

• Being physical and fit
o Sports coach.
o Fitness trainer
o Outdoor guide
o Archaeologist in out of the way areas

• Feeling like a kid.
o Leading a youth group
o Doing anything you love
o Inventor
o Work on a team inventing new products for a company

Step 3. Use this information to start developing a career vision. Combine passions, working with the list in step 2 as a jumping off point for actual jobs and careers.

At each step, you can ask your success partner or anyone supportive to help you brainstorm ways to determine and succeed with your vision. You may wind up with something that on the surface looks completely different from what you started thinking was your dream or it may be just a short step or two away, such as being a baseball coach instead of a second baseman. So don't give up. Just get creative!