I remember drawing a sketch during a team meeting one time of a small unicorn, then a little ornate frame around it, and titled it "Career Goal."
So this cartoon speaks to me in a real way.
Some of us have impossible-seeming dreams. Either it is something that sounds crazy to us or our family, or it has never been done by anyone yet, or people tell you that no one makes money doing it, or it simply seems like something too far out of your experience and expertise so far and thus so unlikely as to be impossible.
If you feel like this is you, I have some advice for you:
Don't let people tell you it is impossible, and if you can't avoid those people or shut them up, then make sure you walk away from those conversations and surround yourself with the people that support you no matter what. Don't know how to find those? Check in with your most supportive friend first and say, quite honestly, "I have this crazy dream and I am not sure how to get there, but I for sure need someone who believes I can do it." (By the way, if your most supportive friend doesn't support your crazy career goal, 1) you need new friends, and 2) get a supportive career coach or life coach to help.)
Remember that often times, things that seem impossible are things you just don't know the road to -- you don't know the path, how to get there, the steps to take, etc. And then start deconstructing the path. This is MUCH easier said than done, but it is doable. If you don't know how to think in terms of steps-to-a-dream, simply start by thinking of one or two things between you and that dream. Then think about one or two things between you and those steps you just thought of. Over and over. Until the steps you have broken it down to are doable/achievable. Again, easier said than done. And you may find that in doing this, there are still unknown steps along the way, but the answer is to then start down the road you have paved with the steps you've laid out as far as you can go. You'll learn a lot on the journey and the missing steps will often times start to appear to you.
Your dream might seem impossible until you actually both get more specific and start brainstorming creative ways to be the thing/person you want to be. Want to be that unicorn? How do you mean that? Literally? Like you want a mane and tail and unicorn horn? Doable -- you can buy those. Want to make money doing it? Hey, I bet people hire performing unicorn people for unique parties, and if they don't, there's a business idea for you. Or you meant it figuratively, like you just want to do something unique? Well, that's actually a bit easier and a bit harder, but knowing that is what you actually want helps a lot. Did you truly mean it, though, in that you don't want to participate in the regular rat race of jobs/careers? Also doable, but start brainstorming what that means to you.
Loop in a new world of people. Find a mentor if possible. If you want to do something impossible, find people who have done impossible things and ask them for their advice (maybe over a virtual cup of coffee -- in regular times I would say meet them in person, but not right now). You will need to expand your network of support for the impossible. If it is a specific job you want and people HAVE done it, find some of those people. Don't know any? Ask your supportive friends if they know people, and if they don't, ask them if they know people who might know people. You may have to start crawling along your line of connections to find those people, and make sure you aren't just taking these people's time just for your own sake (message me if you don't know how to network without just taking -- I can help), but if it is something you really want, then this is a useful doable tool for helping to get there. The people who are in the impossible jobs that you want probably have helpful insight that you couldn't have known, and they may know how to fill that gap in your plan that you didn't know how to move through.
Remember that impossible dreams sometimes need financial support systems, so you may need an impossible job as well as a more traditional job at the same time for a while, at least to build that network of people who get what you are doing and want to pay you for it.
Be prepared to market your wonderful impossibility. If you thought it was impossible and you figure out how to do it, there is likely a world of people who didn't know it was possible to hire someone as amazing as you. You will have to find a way to share the good news.
Hang in there, and if this is too abstract and you want personal help to reach your dream, loop in a career coach or life coach (and make sure they are the supportive type -- not every coach is supportive of all dreams).
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