How to Find Your Passionate Work

Following are some exercises to help you finding what is your passion in life and how can you develop it.

1. Go through magazines, brochures and newspapers and cut out any images, photos and words that inspire you. Make a collage, and see what main subjects are reflected.

2. In a middle of an empty page write the most important value for you in your work. Write other values that excite you and connect them to the ones listed thus far. Once you have finished, look at the relationships between the words and discover the message in relation to your vision.

3. Ask yourself the following questions:

a. What do you do that is natural, easy and effortless?
b. What activities put you in the flow, that place where you get energized and lose track of time and space?
c. How would you complete this sentence: I love it when I know my day will include:...

Once you have completed these three steps you hold a map for your heart's desires. You've found what excites you, the values that are important for you as well as your strengths and talents.

Now sit down and make a list of all the possible jobs that can include the contents of this map. Be creative and even invent new positions, or new jobs. Don't limit yourself to reasonable solutions.

Allow yourself to dream and pursue the unknown, all that lies beyond your comfort zone and limitations.

Take as much time as you need and have fun with it.

Positive monday booster from Vered Neta

Doing the Work That You Love

So many people are sitting and hoping that someone else will make them happy. That their boss will give them a raise, that their company would make their job more interesting, that their kids would be nicer and behave better so they would be happier, that their husband or lover would make them feel good.

This is a childish behavior and even worse it puts you into the position of a victim. It’s time you take charge on your own life.

As a child, I remember my father, sitting in his room, surrounded by his books, writing.
His work was his love. Later in his life, when most people have retired, he was up early in the morning, busy with his work. It gave him, both a meaning to life and kept him young.

My mother never liked her teaching job, although she was very successful. She retired early and kept searching for satisfaction, without success. She became bitter and sad.

Until today I cherish the lesson I learned from them: Find a job that is your hobby, your art.
As children we all wanted to be somebody. A fireman, a pilot, an artist. As we grew up, we realized that our job must also pay our financial and social bills.

So we sold our passion and love for stability and security. We rationalize by saying that 'work is work', and pleasure will come later.

But does it?
When was the last time you found the time and energy to do the things that you really care for?

What if your work could follow your heart's desire? What if you could really do what you love to do?

Finding it might be difficult, as we have lost touch with what we enjoy most. It has been too long since we have given ourselves the chance to connect to it.

So, how about taking some time off and instead of complaining about your job, start searching what it is that you love doing. Find out what is it that you are good at, where your talents lie and what comes both naturally and easily to you.

Recall childhood activities that you once loved. Become aware of the situations that bring out the best in you.
Discover what values are important to you and what you would like to see manifested in your work.

Once you have created a framework for those activities, talents and abilities, in which you excel (as well as those values that you wish to express in your work), start investigating what sort of work expresses them to their fullest potential.

Allow yourself to be creative; don't dwell in the area of "sensibilities". Allow yourself to be open; as opposed to reasoning everything.

Communicate to the world the type of work you wish to have. You will be surprised at how much support you will receive, once you clarify your wishes.

When you do the work you love, it becomes easy and effortless, because work becomes a source of energy rather than a drain. You continuously grow and develop while creating for yourself a space of love and friendship. You tap into your creativity therefore remaining young and alive.

So how about making your hobby your work?!

Positive Monday Booster by Vered Neta

bad bosses' classes

I'm now in reading deeply to compensate the reality imperfet conditions by ideas of how grat this reality can be and what should i do to change it. This is very much aboout Covi's book. And from ChangingMinds I've got a good article.

1. A bad boss can be a walking textbook on behavioral psychology. Working with a bad boss is your golden chance to learn the "do's and don'ts" of management. In all probability you can learn more about people management working with a bad boss in six months time than working with a good boss for five years.
2. Bad bosses help you learn harsh realities of human nature and make you better prepared in life's countless encounters. You swim better when you learn swimming in a rough river or sea, rather than in a calm swimming pool.
3. Every growl, rude remark, goof up, threat, cover up, charm switching, etc., can be a good lesson that is going to pay rich dividends to you at a later stage. They help you become a better manager at a later stage, because you will now have a rich experience in the pitfalls of bad management. It helps you to instantly remember and avoid the wrong things when faced with similar or equivalent situations.
4. And bad bosses help you in many other ways if you study their lives carefully. For example, it will help you understand how and why many employees erupt like a volcano at home due to work related problems.
5. Worldwide many ordinary people have become great leaders because they were subject to various degrees of insults or extreme forms of harassment by someone. So, directly or indirectly, every great leader will have to thank their tormentors for their current greatness. Similarly it can also perhaps make you great someday.

This is more self-comforting. I prohibited myself to complain about the work situation until I do the most I can. And the goal is to implement all my projects to be proud when leaving for a better company or for my own business.

selfactualization

Sorry for Russian, but this is my opinion about russian article from e-xecutive.ru.

Реально понравилась статья "Тайны корпоративного двора". Прежде всего тем, что поднят вопрос самоактуализации.

Обидно, что практикам не хватает более формального и системного подхода - в статье сформулирована проблема и показаны плохие примеры, мол, не справились, мол, не получилось. Есть пару-тройку намеков о том, что можно делать, но основы под это никакой не подведено. Замечаю за собой ту же слабость - лень формулировать, проверять на целостность и полноту теории. Нас долго пичкали статьями Портера. Я все удивлялась, мол, написал книгу, молодец, но потом еще двадцать пять лет объясняет ее в статьях. Теперь понятно - он постоянно ее тестирует на соответствие изменяющимся условиям. Подходит ли модель пяти сил для анализа интернет-бизнеса, почему сил именно пять, не пора ли ввести еще парочку, и тут же тестируются кандидаты. Но Портер - он этим и живет, преподает себе. А тут управленцы же.

Daniel Porot

One of the greates things our Career Center did is getting Daniel Porot (porot.com) to our class.
Playing with his career guide I've found a wonderful exercise.
List the talents you have.

Mine are listed below:
1. Challenge myself
2. Make fun of
3. Negotiate
4. Discover
5. Present
6. Set goal
7. Coach
8. Keep going
9. Analyze
10. Put into words
11. Balance
12. Structure
13. Manage resources
14. Repair
15. Organize oneself

upd. have done it forthe second time

1. Make fun of
2. Customize
3. Coach
4. Negotiate
5. Balance
6. Communicate
7. Analyze
8. Develop
9. Present
10. Explore
11. Put into words
12. Find a solution
13. Improvise
14. Keep going
15. Find instruments