The following activity will help you develop greater awareness of what is most important to you, and what you want out of your life and your career.

INSTRUCTIONS

Read the desires listed in the next pages. Modify or re-write any in any way that makes them more meaningful to you. Add any important desires you feel you are missing.

Work through the series of questions on each of the desires so that you know how you feel about each of them.

Then undertake the triangle of pairs exercise to determine which are the most important desires in your life.

Our desires - what we are seeking to achieve - guide our actions and determine how we experience different aspects of the world.

Our desires are not static. They change and evolve over time, to reflect new experiences and new stages on our lives and careers. As children, for example, our most important desire may be winning the love and approval of our parents. As we grow and mature, new desires, such as autonomy, achievement, and the need for self-approval, may come to the fore. Parenthood may shift the emphasis once again to nurturance, family and achieving financial stability.

It is all too easy, however, to lose touch with what is important to us in the process of managing our day-to-day activities and tasks. Moreover, because we rarely stop to reflect on our desires, we may fail to "catch-up" with changes in how we see the world.

We also need to differentiate between desires and wishes. Desires must be deep seated if they are to motivate you effectively enough to want to change things. Wishes are really only fantasy, they have a make believe quality to them. With desires there is no magic, there is sufficient want in them to make sacrifices or to swallow pride for. Desire is the major advantage the underdog has - the desire to win more than any of the fat cats.

Understanding your desires can help in:

• determining personal and career goals
• making decisions about your career and personal life
• selecting the kind of position and working environment which best matches your needs and preferences
• understanding the kind of people you most like to associate with
• allocating your money and time to achieve the greatest personal satisfaction

FLESHING OUT MY DESIRES (One of the best headings I ever thought of)

- What is the detail of my desires?

- What do I mean by them?

1. Achievement: To accomplish important things; to reach the top of my field/organisation

-  What do I consider as the important things as measure of achievement?

-  If it is to reach the top - where is the top?

2. Affection: To obtain and share warmth, caring, companionship with family, friends, or co-workers

-  Who do I wish to share warmth with?

-  Who do I really care for?

3. Affiliation: To be accepted and liked by others; to work closely with others; to belong

-  Who do I wish to be accepted/liked by?

-  Who do I want to work closely with?

-  What do they have to offer if I am to belong to their world?

4. Autonomy: To be able to establish and act in terms of my own priorities and time schedules; to be free of organisational rules and norms

-  How free do I really want to be?

-  Can I afford to be able to establish my own priorities?

-  What particular rules or norms am I seeking to be free of?

5. Challenge: To be involved in interesting, challenging work

-  What will I find a challenge?

-  Where will I find this?

Desires

This is just the first of 23 areas we believe need consideration.

Rank the five:

Which is currently the most important?

You now have a partial view of two of the 9 dimensions we believe are in need of consideration in a career planning exercise.

Does your current job satisfy the template you have started to create?

If not what do you want to do about it?

Which direction do you need to go in order to seek satisfaction? Press here for facilitation