Read the paper. Watch the news. Get an endless dose of pundit certainty about the uncertainty in the job market. If you have a job, the news makes you uneasy. If you don’t, it makes you sweat.

You can let the job market control you or you can step up!

Who’s making the rules?

When times are tough, we can allow ourselves to be paralyzed or stoke ourselves to act. We can choose to see the options or imprison ourselves in old thinking. I vote for kicking up the dust!

It’s easy to create self-limiting rules about what’s next for you:

-I need to stay in marketing because that’s all I know.
-Starting my own business would be too difficult.
-I’m too far behind on IT applications to compete.
-My age holds me back from the work I want.
Then we can also crush our own spirits with negative self-talk like I’m:

-Not smart enough
-Too inexperienced
-A loser—got downsized
-Too shy, different, educated or not
It’s time to stop grinding your teeth and to start taking a big bite out of the job options out there!

What’s on the menu?

The American comedian, actor, and writer, George Burns (1896-1996) said,

-“I look to the future because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.”
-“I’d rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.”
What if we all chose to use these two tenets to drive our career choices? How would that affect your next steps?

Looking to the future means thinking about the work you want to be doing in your 20’s, 40’s, 60’s and beyond. (Burns was still doing standup gigs until just before his death at 100.)

It also means thinking about work that you love…not like or enjoy or know how to do…work that you love! That’s both a challenge and a tall order.

Sample. Nibble. Taste.

We don’t know what we love to do until we’ve done a little of it or watched someone else. It starts as an inkling, a whisper by our inner voice that, in time, can grow into awareness.

If you stop paying attention to that inner voice, you’ll miss the moment when you can connect what you love to do with an opportunity to do it.

The key is to stop looking for jobs and start looking for work you love doing.

Some will take you around the globe or across the country. Others provide opportunities to do good, develop new talents, and learn new things.

They’re not all “fancy” jobs with big salaries and perks. They may not lead you to exactly the work you’ve secretly wanted, but they will get you closer.

You may need more than one job to pay the bills, but two jobs doing what you love are better than one you hate. It is for me!

Combine things!

There’s no rule that says you can’t follow the career path you’re on now and fill in the gaps with work you love. That “love it” work can even supplement your income and your need to make a difference.

-Write a book, sell an article, start a band, paint, act
-Become a product blogger or host a Blog Talk Radio show
-Do event planning, graphic design, building renovation, landscaping
-Become an adjunct professor at a nearby college
-Start a local chapter of a professional service organization
-Teach English as a second language, champion a cause
Enjoy the desserts!

It’s your career and your life. Do all you can to drive it and not let it drive you. The options are out there. Your ability to think and act creatively—your business fitness—is between you and what you want. Eat up. Enjoy every morsel!