Are dream jobs/day jobs truly an imaginary entity? A pipe dream?

You hear this discussed on here pretty regularly regarding career choice. I'll admit, when I was in my early early teens, I wanted to make a career out of hunting/fishing. Unlike most, I didn't eye up the hunting show industry, but rather the writing industry. I had my face buried in the magazines constantly reading articles. Everything from F&S to the smaller pubs like PA Outdoor News. As I grew older, reality set in, and I pursued other interests before high school ended and I began my education for...well...education.

Starting my 7th year teaching graphic/digital design, photography, and web & multimedia development, I'm starting to get an itch for something different...or even a change of pace. I feel like part of me is crazy for wanting to leave a stable career (and position), but I often see myself unhappy doing the same job for 35 years. The problem is, even at my young age, going back to school is not in the cards, and there's only so much expansion within the education field. I still toy with going to higher level education, and I'm currently submitting an application to become and adjunct at a local college.

However, I can't shake this idea that having a job you really love isn't really unattainable.

What are your thoughts? Do you really love what you do? Would you consider it a dream job? Does such a thing really exist?



.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I really need to get in a tree.

 

Contentment brings peace. Peace bring happiness. Happiness brings Joy. Joy brings contentment.

Your "dream job" is what's keeping you from being content now. Which is keeping you from happiness and joy. Stop dreaming and start living in the now. There is most likely nothing wrong with your job and I'm sure there are many others who would find your job a "dream job."

Once you find contentment in what you do and who you are, you will be happy. The other "intangible" about contentment is you will find that greater opportunities will be presented to you once you are content. I'm not saying give up on wanting a promotion or a career change, I'm saying that being satisfied with what you have is not always a bad thing. Good luck and God bless.

 

I enjoy my job. I love what it allows me to do and I love where I live.

 

I think Pat Howard has a dream job:D

 

I dont know if a "dream job" for me exists. I have 3 simple requirements
1. Has to be something I enjoy doing
2. Has to make me enough money to not have to worry about money
3. Has to leave me lots of time off to do whatever I want.

That all sounds like I am asking for everything, but I don't live a very extravagant lifestyle and could easily live off of less than what I do now. So its not like i am wanting a 6 figure job to make me happy. But I certainly don't want to be scraping for beer money either
I enjoy hunting, fishing and fitness related things. I wouldnt want hunting or fishing to be my job, so I am down to very few options.

My current job only provides #2. I dont like what I do at all, and get hardly any time off for someone my age.

 

You would have to be more specific with your meaning of job.

 

I love what I do.....Lead Marines

 

I love my job and consider it a dream.

Ill never be rich though.

A Non-Prostaffer posting from my Samsung Galaxy s4

 

I've been content for sometime. Contentment is fine, but it can lead to an often boring job life.

I don't think many consider my job a dream job aside from "summers off."

I suppose it's not necessarily a matter of not being happy with my job necessarily as much as it is me feeling as though I'm not using my skills to their fullest potential. I really liked working in the "industry" side of things the little bit I was exposed to it in high school doing internships. I like creating. I love teaching the subjects that I consider hobbies of mine, but I spend far more time teaching or developing new tools for teaching than I do actually doing these things anymore.

I found a local, but growing tech company advertising for a in house designer and social media marketing position the other day, and I was tempted to apply. I have NO problems working year round as I work much harder having summers off now as it is. I feel like I'm not putting my education, training, work, etc., to good enough use. Now, if I could land a position at a college, I might change my tone a little as well. I suppose there's nothing wrong with aspirations or setting new goals, but at the same time, I suppose I should also be thankful to have a job.

 

My job is in no way a dream job, but it's relatively stress free, pays above average, and it can be interesting/challenging at times, which keeps me content.

All of my dreams job would probably end up with me being divorced and broke.

 

Hate my job, does provide lots of time off for killin stuff though, and my family of 5 is still livin indoors and eating regularly. So I try to count my blessings for now...... for now....
Once my youngest is in school and Momma finishes her masters and is working full time I will blow this popsicle stand to pursue work that I am passionate about.
So to answer your question, is a dream job obtainable. Hell yes it is!!

 

I've been struggling with this for the past year or so. I've been doing the same job for over 8 years now. It's very stable, a good company, good pay and good benefits. So you would be crazy not to be content, but I'm board out of my mind. It has become too easy, there's no real challenge other than dealing w. idiots or jerks, and I don't even find that challenging any more, just annoying. I'm very good at what I do, but I feel that I have climbed all the "challenge" mountains for this job. I still have about 30 years to retirement, and I'm trying to decided if I can find a way to stay interested for that long. I'd love to find that dream job, doing something that I love, but I fear that in 5 or 6 years, I will have climbed those challenges as well and will be back to being bored.

I'm still waiting for that magic invention idea to pop into my head so I can pursue that. Still waiting though

 

I love hunting too much to ever turn it into a job.

I love what I do. I find great satisfaction in helping people. It's a perk that I'll get military benefits, 6 weeks paid vacation, all federal holidays, and a 20 year retirement I don't pay into. The pay is less than the retail world (mainly just the starting out years), but I can't put a price on time off. I couldn't function with only 2 weeks of free time a year.

 

Trevor, you going to a prison system pharmacy? My wife loved her rotation there.


On a side note, I'm not talking about a job in the hunting industry, just that I had at once had believed I would only have a "dream" job. Not a job with contention:D

 

After many years chasing more money and a few layoffs later, im back at the first real job I ever had. I worked at the machine shop im at now in high school but couldn't get any money out of them so I moved on. I learned alot through the years and landed back where I started after my last place went through some hard times.

I can honestly say that I'm happier with what I do for a living than ever before and for the most part, I don't dislike my bosses. (That's not always been true)

If they would trim some of the dead weight, I would be even happier.

Of course there are bad days but I don't know what I will be doing from one day to the next and that keeps things interesting.

Funny thing is, I left for more money way back when and now make more than I have ever made on a 40 hour week.

Oh, and taking personal time has never been issue for them. If I need to leave, there are usually no problems with it.

But I don't think I would consider it a dream job.




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

Well I jumped right into the working force after I graduated High School. Get paid average, paid holidays, and can build up my vacation time. It's a desk job and I absolutely hate it, not the desk part but what I do.

The problem is I fear going to college just to graduate and find out the job market sucks. Plus, in high school, I spent most of my time focusing on drafting & design and less on other subjects. After spending 3 years taking those classes I realized architecture is not my thing. Engineering seemed interesting but like I said, I was lacking in CP classes.

My dream job would have to be something to do with biology, forestry, etc. Just have no idea where to start and tired of being stuck in this career rut. As time passes, I start to accept my job more and more but I don't want that at all.

 

Sometimes when you succeed at your profession or it stops growing you get the itch to do something else but thats usually time your gotten really good at that profession. I say stay with it and start a 2nd business on the side and see if you can replace your other income with it over time.

 

I'll start in Indian Health Services so I can move to Alaska and gain residency...but yes eventually I'll probably transfer to the Bureau of Prisons so I can transfer back home to Kentucky and work there once I settle down and want kids to be near the family.

Best perk of all, military active duty allows you to keep residency in any state you previously had it, even if you are transferred elsewhere. So I can establish Alaskan residency, and even if I move back to the lower 48...I'll keep an Alaskan drivers license and can go up there and hunt sheep, bears, mtn goat, etc annually as a resident of the state still.

 

Here's what you do: Start filling up a sheet of paper with items describing what your "ideal life" would look like. Be outlandish and crazy and try to come up with at least 50 things, like: Ride a Harley across the country, visit all 30 ballbarks, hunt in Alaska, be a millionaire, etc. Call it your "Dream Inventory". Then start listing things that are really important to you. things that would be more achievable and meaningfull, like " be a respected member of my community, be important in the life of a child, be the go-to guy in my profession. Start to be more specific working in the talents you already possess and the skills you hope to acquire in the near future. Things will start to clear up for you on what you're capable of and what is important to you. In short, establish your "vision" on what your ideal life would look like and start setting goals that you can work on to achieve some of these Dream Inventory items. I'm a CPA and I meet people everyday who are starting their own businesses to try to achieve that balance and happiness in their lives. Find your passion and work diligently on pursuing that what makes you happy. Take a leadership class to help you learn these skills. That's what I did and I couldn't be happier!

 

I do think a dream job is attainable.

For a while now I've wanted to do SOMETHING with the outdoors. And I have stuck to it all the way until my junior year of high school (now). Right now I am looking at majoring in Wildlife Biology and doing something along those lines...I think I would really enjoy it. Biology class is by far my favorite and is pretty much the only class I don't mind being in. Right now I am looking at Kansas State University/Iowa State University/University of Montana for the Wildlife Biology programs they provide. I still have like a year a half to go before I make my actual choice so I'll have to wait and see if I am still interested when that time rolls around.