If your job and your ambitions feel at odds, don’t fall into the all-or-nothing trap. You don’t have to choose between stability and growth—you can build a bridge between them. Look for skills, projects, or experiences within your current role that align with your long-term goals. If your job truly can’t support your ambitions, start mapping an exit plan instead of making a reactive leap. The key is moving with intention. A dream shouldn’t feel like a liability—it should be a roadmap.

We must clarify the client’s dreams in relation to their current duties in order to determine where the root cause of conflict lies. Once this has been analyzed, we should explore potential areas of alignment between the client’s goals and their current job duties. They should also focus on gaining new skills that more closely align with their dreams. Through the establishment of short-term and long-term goals, the client can incorporate tasks that reinforce this alignment or facilitate a move toward a more satisfying state. In addition, a mindset shift can be helpful, encouraging the client to view their situation as a stepping stone toward fulfilling their goals. As such, we can bridge the gap between the dreams and duties of the client.

As a career coach, I would recommend that it's important to help your client create a clear priority list and set realistic expectations. It could be useful to analyze both their long-term goals and current responsibilities to understand how they can coexist. One approach could be to define small, actionable steps that the client can take toward their aspirations, without neglecting their job duties. Time management strategies or techniques like setting specific time frames for working on their personal goals could also be helpful. Additionally, it might be worth exploring professional development opportunities within their current role that align with their long-term aspirations.

I'd encourage my client to be creative, explore how to integrate their skills, passion into daily work; while also exploring a balanced approach of making sure he/she has a span of time with a workload balance that allows him/her to pursue his dreams with a plan, scheduling time to take steps aligned to their dreams with a good time management strategy, making every moment count