The Reality of Dream Jobs

From time to time, the "Career Gods" bestow blessings in the form of dream jobs upon some of us. These are the types of jobs that don't conform to the normal office environment, hours, or duties. The odd thing is that a dream job can take several different forms. For some people it can consist of helping the less fortunate by working for a non-profit, coaching a sport you love, working with animals, etc. Unfortunately, even dream jobs can have their negative sides. Here are a few ways in which dream jobs can have crushing realities and things you can do to keep yourself sane.

The most common reality of a dream job is that you make very little money. Let's face it you are not going to get rich coaching for the YMCA, feeding the homeless, or freelance writing. Even though any older person will say that to get paid to do what you love is the ultimate gift, the sight of mounting bills will bring you right back to reality. The key is to obtain supplemental income, in other words a second job. Yet, it would serve you best to be highly selective in this process. Worse case scenario, you find a part time job that you hate and this negative experience will began to spill over into your dream job. What should you do? First, try to find a second job that is closely related to your dream job. Consulting or contract work would be the easiest transition. The cool thing about dream jobs is that they often given you expertise in your designated area. If you coach a team, you should market your services to train or help improve the skills on a one-on-one level. If you work with the homeless or other underprivileged group, you should look for contract work as a consultant with either your local or state government, or maybe even another non-profit. If you are able to use the skills and abilities from your dream job on your part time job, it may seem as though the dream doesn't end.

Sometimes the fire within creates a burnout. The passion an energy that you bring to work each day will eventually take its toll. The only variable is how long will it take? The key factors to will revolve around the number of hours you put in, your personal tolerances, and the amount of tasks you have. Taking a vacation was the old solution to burn out. Most people today realize that prevention is the best answer. Vacations can be just as stressful as helpful, and everyone knows that work only piles up while you are on vacation. Preventing burnout can be tricky, because it usually requires you to self-monitor. That means learning how to say no. People burnout because they try to do too much themselves. The best way to prevent burnout is to delegate and cross train. Cross training ensures that two or more employees can complete any task; so, neither you nor anyone would get stuck doing the exact same work all the time. It also facilitates the ability for you and your co-workers to share tasks; so, no one feels overwhelmed. The key to burnout is pace yourself, be honest about what you can handle, and learn to share the load.

Remember your dream may be someone else's reality. Despite what your dream job is, there are going to be people around who don't agree. It may be a co-worker that only sees the job as a paycheck. It may be the client that you are trying to help, who has a huge chip on their shoulders. Regardless of whether these individuals realize it or not, their negative energy is bound to rub off. Generally, your "I can change the world," attitude will only make these type of people worse. These conflicting ideas will cause tension and a very unhealthy working environment. Since you have to be around these individuals, you have to try and find common ground without completely crossing over to their side. The best thing to do here is to steer the conversation away from work or their situation whenever possible. Your objective is to limit their opportunity to complain. Substituting these negative statements for conversation that revolve around things you both like or topics that are light hearted. Also, try incorporating little creative things that will switch the mood or monotony of your work environment, like an American Idol or college football pool.

Believe it or not, even dream jobs can have not so dreamy sides. How you choose to deal with these realities will be the determining factor, in how long you will be able to live the dream?