Your dream role isn’t hiding somewhere else. It’s waiting for you to tell a better story – to yourself and everyone around you.
The new role was supposed to be my fresh start. Different organization, different team, different possibilities. Instead, I found myself stuck in the same patterns, facing the same challenges, feeling the same resentment.
Damn it. I realized the job wasn’t the problem – I was.
Most people discover this too late: you can’t job-hop your way out of work you resent. The real problem isn’t your company, your boss, or even your industry.
The real problem is the story you are telling yourself and others about who you are, what you do, why you do it, and what you’re capable of.
You need to have a coherent and interesting story about your work that includes all those elements.
When you resent your work, your instinct is to look elsewhere, to run away. But remember, you’ll still be there at the new job. You don’t get to escape yourself.
Something I’ve observed (and lived out myself): your dream role isn’t always hiding at some other company. It’s waiting for you to tell a better story – to yourself and everyone around you – about what’s possible right where you already are.
The Internal Story Problem
Most people have convinced themselves of a lie: ‘This is what I do, this is my job.’ They’ve shrunk their identity down to their job title, their department, and their current responsibilities.
‘I’m an accountant.’ ‘I’m a project manager.’ ‘I’m a clerk.’
But you are NOT your job title. You’re a unique and valuable collection of skills, experiences, and capabilities that are packaged into a particular role right now. The moment you see yourself as bigger than your current role and constraints, everything changes.
The External Story Opportunity
While you’re busy telling yourself these limiting stories, your organization is dealing with real problems that need solving. Projects that need leadership. Initiatives that need ownership. Things that are broken. Opportunities that need someone to step up and claim them.
But you don’t see these opportunities because you’ve already decided ‘that’s not my job.’ Or worse, you see them but assume someone else is better positioned to take them on.
Meanwhile, the person who gets the cool project, the promotion, the visibility? They told a different story. They positioned themselves as the obvious choice. Or they just went and did stuff to help solve the problems.
The Power Move: Create the Solution
People wait for the organization to create the perfect role for them and then move them into it. Not going to happen! That’s not how it works. Instead, just start fixing stuff and making things better.
You already know what’s broken. You see the inefficiencies, the communication gaps, the processes that waste everyone’s time. You hear the complaints in meetings. You watch good people get frustrated by preventable problems.
The response most people have to these problems?
- they complain about them.
- they wait for someone to fix it.
- they blame management.
But the way super successful people handle it is different. They just fix it themselves. Without asking permission. Without waiting for a mandate.
When you’re actively solving problems that matter, making things better, organizations don’t ask you to stop. They ask you to do more. They give you resources. They give you recognition. They see what you’re capable of (regardless of what your job title or resumé say), and they give you work like this. They love it when people are just solving problems for them!
You’re not just proving your value; you’re literally building your dream role one solved problem at a time. Do it well, and you’re almost guaranteed they’ll ask for more.
The Choice
Your dream role is staring you right in the face. It’s not hiding at some other company. It’s not waiting for the perfect job posting. It’s sitting in the gap between the problems you see and the solutions you could create.
So stop waiting for a new job posting. Stop fantasizing about greener pastures. The dream role you’re chasing? You don’t apply for it; you get out on the field and you build it.
Will you keep telling yourself the story that keeps you stuck, or will you tell the story that sets you free and lets you start doing work that fires you up?
Quotation I’ve Been Pondering
“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”— Muriel Rukeyser
Journal Prompt
“What story am I currently telling myself about my work, and how is that story shaping the opportunities I can or cannot see? If I rewrote that story, what new ‘doors’ might appear?”
Until next week!!
Work and live well.
Tim
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