Uncover your “Touchstone” and find career happiness?
Uncover your “Touchstone” and find career happiness?
One of the methods I use with clients seeking to get on the “right” path to fulfill their small business entrepreneurial ambitions is called the “touchstone” concept, which was first introduced in 1973 by Barbara Sher in her amazing book, Wishcraft.
Now I worked for Barbara many years ago to help her market her training materials and I learned first-hand how valuable it can be to carefully assess the core reason one type of business seems to be so attractive to you over another idea.
So what exactly is a “touchstone”, and why do I think it is so important to find out what it is for you? You see, sometimes, the key element in what draws us like a magnet to one business or career over the other is actually a deep desire to participate in that general field of endeavor more than one specific job or business. This is so essential to uncover because this yearning can then be satisfied in more than one way, once we discover the “touchstone” or profound, deep-seated, and perhaps even subconscious, impetus, or driving force that compels us to select this path over another one.
For example, a friend of mine always wanted to be a major league baseball player, but did not make the cut to that level in the screening process that aspiring sports professionals must go through. He could have dropped his ambitions as soon as the organization dumped him from their roster, and went off in a different career direction entirely. What he realized though was that the “touchstone” or key subconscious element that made him want to be part of a major league baseball team could be satisfied indeed in more than one way.
My friend leveraged his knowledge and love of baseball to work his way into a position as a marketing executive at one and then another major league baseball team, and has enjoyed a long career (probably much long than any player’s) in an industry he wanted so much to be a part of. Of course if he possessed a magic wand there is no doubt my friend would have used it to become a star pitcher, but all in all, understanding the “touchstone” for his dream provided him with an option that generated much more career fulfillment than giving up on baseball entirely, if that makes sense?
Or how about me, Professor Ira? In my youth I dreamed of being a rock star, like so many other Baby Boomers. I played in a few local bands at a few local clubs, but as you might assume, the reason you never heard of my career in rock n’ roll is that it fizzled out pretty quickly. But I really loved performing and entertaining, and being on stage in front of an audience was fun for me, not scary as it is for a lot of people. Fast forward to today, I enjoy my life as an educator, keynote speaker and corporate trainer, as I gain a type of career gratification which I would not otherwise experience. Why? Because at the hub of what I do now is the very same “touchstone” that was the nucleus or center of why being on stage as a rock and roller was such a thrill for me.
I am guessing that just like me, you too are lacking a magic wand? This is why uncovering the touchstone at the heart of why one career or type of business calls out to you can bring immense joy and satisfaction to your life. In all honesty, perhaps not as much joy and satisfaction as whatever was the original factor that got you interested in this area, but since none of us knows what the future will bring, perhaps…Yes?
And if you, like me, and most other rational people on the planet, want to achieve the upmost career or business happiness possible, finding the “touchstone” at the core of your dream can lead you to far more options than you ever thought possible :-)