Living Intentionally: In Your Career

For as long as I can remember, one of my greatest intentions in life was my career.  At the ripe age of 7 years old, I decided I wanted to go to law school.  So, I began living intentionally to make that happen.  I got straight-A’s.  I performed well academically during undergrad and involved myself heavily in leadership roles.  I then went on to law school, graduated and passed two bar examinations.

What nobody told me during this entire process, though, is that sometimes your desires shift.  Yes, I love being a lawyer and am grateful for my career.  However, I always imagined that upon graduation from law school, the bridge to the castle would be placed down and I’d be able to pass through the moat and straight into my dream life.

If you’ve been following along for some time, you know by now that that’s not what happened with my career.  Rather, in 2011 I was forced to again raise my intentions to find the career I wanted.

These days, I’m asked frequently by students across the country about how to land a dream career in sports.  My answers differ depending upon where they find themselves in life, but generally, they boil down to one thing:  Intentions.

What is it that you want to do career wise?  If you could wake up every morning for the rest of your life and only do one thing, what would it be?

After answering these questions, the next question should be, why aren’t I doing this job now?

The first two questions posed above lead to goal setting.  The answer to the third will either be the objectives you need to complete to achieve that goal or excuses as to why you’re never going to work your dream job.

Here is an example of how I answered those questions when I started on this journey in 2011:

1.  Career wise, I would love a job that combines three of my greatest passions in life:  Sports, writing and the law.

2.  If I could wake up every morning and do only one thing, I would write.  I love nothing more than sharing stories with others and learning about the stories others around me have to tell.

3.  Truth be told, before 2011 I wasn’t writing sports law and sports business stories because I created too many excuses for myself.  It doesn’t pay enough.  And I have massive student loan debt.  I don’t have time to do this.  Nobody would read what I wrote anyway, so it’d be a waste of time.  And I don’t have time already.

Slowly, I gained the confidence I needed to make my entry into the field.  The excuses that served as the original answer to my third question slowly faded.  They were replaced with intentions.

I can make enough money doing this, because I am good at it.

I have enough time to do this, because it is important to me.

People will read what I say, because I will build a rapport with them.

In some areas of life, living intentionally takes longer to develop.  Wanting to become a lawyer and acting out the intentions necessary to become one was second-nature for me.  Wanting to become a sports writer and realizing I could become one, on the other hand, took some more time.

The lesson here is this:  You have the greatest power of making your career goals come true.  Look inwardly to define what they are.  Then, get to work on making an action plan of what needs to be done to achieve those career goals.  Once you have made that list, replace excuses for why you can’t complete it with intentions.  And with that, my friends, you will be set on your way to finding the career of your dreams.