What do you want?

James was driving down the NKVE when he heard his stomach growl. Breakfast was a glass of water with a piece of bread and now it is 2pm. That tightening sensation around his stomach and the noise it was making was telling him that he was ready to eat a horse. Suddenly over in the distance he sees a sign, it’s McDonalds! Like a man who hasn’t eaten for days, he was vividly imagining the big slow bite of a burger, with the juice spilling off the sides, the fresh sliced onions making a crunching sound and then the explosion of taste in his mouth. He salivates and he makes the turning into McDonalds drive through.

After waiting for what seems like an eternity, he arrives at the voice box that barks out “HOW CAN I HELP YOU?” James then thinks about it for awhile and he thinks about it a while and he thinks about it for a while more then, “HOW CAN I HELP YOU?” James opens his mouth to speak to the voice box but he is unsure of what to order, after erm-ing and err-ing for a while he says, “I don’t know”. In his mind now, everything taste’s so good, oh should I get the quarter pounder with the huge slab of meat, oh wait, the Big Mac would be more filling, oh oh wait, there’s the Chicken McDeluxe and it’s juicy fried chicken centre. Then in a slightly more impatient tone “WHAT CAN I GET YOU SIR?”. He again goes “I don’t know”.

If you carry on to say “I don’t know” a few more times, what do you think the order taker in McDonalds should do to you? If he can, he’ll take you, dismember you and cook you to become James McChicken. If you end up saying “Give me anything!” What do you think he will give you?

Does this sound familiar? Have you ever gone to a McDonalds drive through and you were unable to make a decision? Have your colleagues asked you out for lunch, asked you what you wanted to eat and you say something vague like, “anything lah”, “up to you”, “something nice” and you end up going to a restaurant you don’t like, to eat food that tastes terrible, at a place that charges you big bucks for small portions and as a bonus give you the farts for the rest of the day.

Getting your dream job is like deciding during one big McDonalds drive through. Be 100% sure of what you want before you drive up to the order window. “What if I don’t know what I want?” Good question, but you do know what you want; we all know what we want. Squirrels know they want nuts, elephants know that they want bananas, Darth Vader knows he wants a Star Destroyer and you know what sort of work that will make you happy. You have just buried it under mountains of self doubt, washed away your dreams in the river of life and killed that kid that is inside of you.

So my one tip for you is to write down a list of a hundred dreams of what you want to be, do and have, decide if the job you’re going to apply for is going to help you get what you want to be, do and have, destroy your self-doubt and go for it. Employers can see if you’re applying for your dream job or if you are applying for a job that pays the bills. Applying for your dream job pays more, is more fulfilling and you and your employer will be happier, or at least you will not have the same fate as James McChicken.

If you need coaching in finding out what your dream job is, how to destroy self doubt, think and act powerfully and how to win that dream job, watch this space,  JobsDB has the right workshop just for you.

Cheers,
Edmond Yap
Education Republic
www.edurepublic.com