So You Want to
Get Out of Job-Jail?
Super. Here's how:
1. Stop searching monster.com, craigslist.org and other job boards.
This is the same job-mentality that got you jailed to begin with. It might feel productive to do these searches... like you are doing something good to change your vocational unhappiness... but all you are really doing is delaying your Real, Ultimate Relief. Your time is much better spent learning how to trust -- and boss -- yourself.
2. Burn your resume.
Seriously. A resume is just another job-mentality-shackle. Do you honestly believe the best parts of you can be captured on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper? Chronologically. With lots of "action verbs" and "measurable results". This unquestioned custom of having an impersonal-yada-yada-filled-document represent you is offensive to, and dismissive of, your Highest Mind. These traditional HR processes are as dignified and honoring of your talent as an assembly line. At a pickle factory. Conventional HR methods are lifelessly automated. Insensitively mechanized. And here's where you get really snagged: If you, as a Sensitive Person, have struggled with the job thing (as the majority of us have), chances are your resume -- which is a cumulative list of your jobs -- is either less than stellar, or does not portray the True You. So your resume grows "weaker," while your chances of landing a passion-filled job grow weaker too. I have been stuck in the dreaded Resume Rut, too. And you know what I found the perfect resume solution to be? Instead of trying to "doctor it up," burn it. When you really make up your mind to forsake job-jail, you just do not need one anymore.
3. Ignore cynics.
The work-life you desire is absolutely achievable, but cynics will never support your desire. How could they? Cynics are unhappy work-inmates who envy free people (and those courageous enough to reach for their freedom). They are not good sources from which to learn about freedom. Stop letting work-inmates have so much influence over your dreams. Turn your attention to those who are enjoying "life on the outside."
4. Create your plan.
If you are going to bust out of job-jail, you need a plan. To make that plan, just pay close attention when you: Feel Really Bad (uptight, constricted, like you want to retreat); and when you Feel Really Good (at-ease, expansive, like you want to stick your neck and/or your heart out). These two scenarios have a lot of guidance and direction to give you. So, the next time you notice yourself feeling either really bad or really good, get a pen and paper, and immediately write down everything you notice about that moment. For instance:
What day of the week is it?
What time of day is it?
Where are you?
What are you doing?
What are you wearing?
Who, if anyone, is with you?
What is the topic of conversation?
What happened just before this moment?
What is scheduled to happen after this moment?
What are the background sounds, scents and activities?
You will be amazed by how much you learn about yourself by taking the time to ask-and-answer these questions at high/low peak moments. The questions above help you answer the even bigger, more defining questions below:
What do you want to express and experience?
What do you want to do (your service/product), and whom do you want to do it for (your market/audience)?
What do you want (your desire), and why do you want it (your motive)?
The more care and consideration you take in answering this, the more delightful your life will be. In all aspects.
5. Practice being free.
Because of strong job-jail conditioning, most people do not know, or have forgotten, how to take full responsibility for themselves. Most people have mastered varying amounts of helplessness, and have become fluent in excuses about why they are not really loving their life. But we are not "most people." We are 20% of the population endowed with the ability to perceive more and, despite the toll and drain that can accompany that endowment, we press on. In spite of your capacity to feel/sense almost everything, you forge ahead without the benefit of buffers. Reward that fortitude with freedom. Until you are living it (all the time), practice it (much of the time). Practicing being free is easy. You do it by thinking about, and acting on, your Feel Really Good List you made in #4.
6. Commit to these steps.
Doing them initiates your freedom. The steps create a focused motion inside of you (insights, epiphanies, revelations, dreams, etc.), and a focused motion outside of you (opportunities, resources, invitations, discoveries, etc.) The steps add strength and clarity to your desired life.
(Still wondering, "Yeah, but how?" Read the *P.S.* on this page.)
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