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Finding the Perfect Job

Photo by Alex Stoddard

Today I received an email from a man named Nick (not his real name) who wants help finding a job. He has two different resumes, one for his “business life” and one for his “adventure life”.

As I browsed through his resumes, his many accomplishments stood out. So I began to wonder why Nick needed my help to find a job? He certainly has his pick of fields from which to choose.

Then it dawned on me. If Nick was a carpenter and only a carpenter, he would search for carpenter jobs. Easy. But, since he is an adventurer as well as a business man with many accomplishments in various fields, the issue really was finding the direction, not finding the job.

And most adventurers have irons in many fires. In fact, many people have irons in many fires. It’s hard to know which road to take when there are so many paths. It creates brain chaos, overload, overwhelm and ultimately paralysis.

When life has so many grand roads to follow it’s hard to follow just one. If there is no clarity of purpose, passion and direction, it’s impossible to find success. If you are running in a million directions, how can the universe begin to align and create opportunities for choosing?

Realigning Passion with Direction – A Simple Exercise

I completely related to the dilemma facing Nick. Every few months, I literally have to sit down with pen and paper and refocus. I have to realign my passion and my direction.

Here is a simple exercise I use to keep focus and course correct along the way:

  1. In a column I write down a list of everything I want to accomplish in life, my greatest passions. What do I want to be, do, and have?
  2. In a second column, I write down exactly what I am doing that is moving me in that direction.
  3. In a third column, I write down exactly what I am doing that is NOT moving me in that direction.

Then I compare and see if I am moving down the path of alignment with my passion. Finally and most importantly I course correct.

It’s like following a compass path. When you see that you are deviating from the course, turn back and realign the compass. The more often you do this the straighter your course will be. And the shortest distance between two points will always be a straight line.

Focus

I am a firm believer that “Whatever you want, wants you”. If you have clarity of purpose and focus your energy toward aligning your passion and your direction, you will be successful. Why? Because your thinking will be clear enough to see opportunities that you otherwise would have missed. Then you can take action. Simply wishing will not make it so.

The past few months I’ve had so many irons in so many fires, I feel like I’ve been running in circles to keep them all hot. My mood was deteriorating because I wasn’t finding success in any of my pursuits.

I sat down and did the realignment exercise, course corrected, and focused back on what the next six to eight months will look like.

I realized I simply was trying to do too many things and therefore not accomplishing any. I pushed many projects to the back burner. I figured out what was important to me now.

And as my focus narrowed, life began to align again. I landed a large contract adventure job, which will allow me to fund an investment property I have been searching for. Between the job and the property, I will be free to spend several months traveling and diving in SE Asia, which is on my list for 2013.

So it is all falling into place through realigning the passion with direction and then narrowing perception and focusing in on the exact outcome. I am working sequentially on projects and completing one before the next, projects that are in line with my passion.

Finding the Perfect Job

After this realization, I sat down to respond to Nick. While Nick is looking for the perfect job, his resumes don’t give clues to which direction he wants to go.

Taking some time to hone his passion and direction, the path will become clear. From there, he can move down a defined road to locating and landing that perfect job and live his passionate life.

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Carin Kiphart
About the author

Carin Kiphart, “Mantagirl” is one of the world’s top expedition leaders and was inducted into the prestigious Explorers Club in 2006. She is an underwater naturalist and passionate author of all things adventure and travel. At TheAdventureCouple.com she and her husband, Sharkman, share with the world keys to a more exciting, fulfilling and purpose driven life through adventure. Her latest book, Travel Like a Pro is available on her website.

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