Living the Dream - CareerAlley

Living the Dream - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality. Walt Disney I caught up with an old friend who had worked for me about 20 years ago. I remember his interview. He was at least 20 minutes late and I remember thinking there is no way this guy is getting the job. Of course I hired him and he wound up being one of the best hires Ive ever made (yes, even 20 years later). To think that he completely changed my mind during the interview from not a chance to being offered the job. That is truly an amazing feat. So, fast forward 20 years and he has decided to leave the corporate life (which can be a real pain at times) and start his own business. A difficult decision, but he is weathering the loss of income hoping to get his business off the ground. Doing something youve always wanted to do is, to me, the true meaning of living the dream. Many of us would love to have the guts to do this, most of us never will. I think Ive heard this term (living the dream) about twenty times in the last few weeks. Of course, everyone uses it to mean the exact opposite of what it implies. So, if you are living the dream (unlike my friend) you are probably in a rotten situation just waiting to move on to better things. This could be anything from a crappy job to no job at all. There are, of course, some people who really are living the dream. You can too. So, what would it take fulfill your living the dream moment? What do you really want to do? I ask myself this question all of the time. In reality, I know that being on the selection committee for Victorias Secret models is probably not realistic, but seriously, if you could do what you really wanted, what would it be? Career Assessment Tools Tests Career assessment for you from Quintcareers.com, these provide assessment tools (split between entry level and established job seekers), sites offering various assessment tools, plus a long list of other assessment links which include Personality Tests, IQ tests and interesting links like WhatHalf.com (as in, what half of your brain). How are You Going to Get There Know what you want to do? How are you going to achieve it? How to Use a Roadmap to Achieve Your Career Plans This article, posted on eHow.com, gives you 8 easy steps to building and implementing your plan. It also provides a list of what you need before you get started. Some of the basics like, desired outcomes, your skills, resources etc. are covered in the article. There are also related links to articles and videos on the right hand side of the screen. Top left hand side are links to additional related articles. Made the decision, now what? Okay, so you know what you want to do, how do you get there? How to Make Sure the New Job is the Right Job This is a great article posted on Dice.com and written in the form of a story. The moment you start reading you will get hooked and want to read it straight through. So what is it about? The tale of someone who falls in love with a company (where they are interviewing) for all of the wrong reasons. Sometimes you need to take that step back and re-evaluate the situation. Definitely worth a read. While you are there, take a look at the latest Tech jobs. Start my own business? -We all think about it. Do you have a specific business in mind? Have you thought about all of the pros and cons? Is Starting Your Own Business the Answer? Great question. So what is the answer? This article was posted on Monster.com and provides many of the issues and topics you should consider before starting your own business. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they dont. Read this article before you start your new business plan. The Dark Side of Being Self Employed Many people, myself included, dream about being their own boss or owning their own business. What could be better? Like everything in life, there are good points and bad points to being self employed. So, before you go out and start your own business, take a look at this article from SteveScottSite.com. Its a great story, and it raised some points that you may not have thought about. Good luck in your search.