Blue Sky

Last week, I talked about all of the LinkedIn knowledge that was handed to me from the Career Centre and a LinkedIn Recruiter, Perry Monaco. He mentioned something throughout the discussion that I found especially interesting, and it’s kind of stuck with me since. Perry gave some great advice, known as the “blue sky” concept. Be warned, it sounds simple, but I found it a challenge to do without having inhibitions or expectations interrupt the process. In fact, it took a few tries before I was able to clear my anxieties, which, let me assure you, as a particularly obsessive compulsive detail oriented individual, is no easy feat. The first step is sitting down and thinking over, in some serious detail, what you would see as the ultimate kind of career, something you’d like to see yourself doing. And the importance (and reason) it's called the blue-sky approach is because you're not to set any limits. Of course, because it is November/the month of punishment before holiday cheer/everyday is a dark cloud day, I thought at first it was a little too dreamy. But the more Perry explained, the more it made sense. Ultimately, you're setting goals for yourself, and creating an internal plan.

In reality, many recruiters and interviewers do actually ask this question, and I think it’s an even more important to ask as a student.  If someone were to ask me where I saw myself in the next five years, I must admit, my first thought would be "well, hopefully drinking less coffee..." which is not exactly the ideal blue sky picture. I mentioned the difficulty I had in picturing my own blue sky, much of which is undoubtedly linked to the fear of failure. Which brings me to this video, which I noticed floating around Facebook this past week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L_cGjQSR80 Maybe it was the tone, maybe it was the music or maybe, just maybe it was the pictures. Either way, the video almost immediately made me think of the blue-sky concept. The narrator, Alan Watts, seemingly convinces you to lift all boundaries. In fact, it’s mostly the boundary, the one that in many ways, becomes our main source of $tress. Until I realized I was completely guilty of doing this, I mean it’s been pretty evident that it still remains a concern. But should it? Should money dictate what you want to do? I mean, for a long time I felt like unless I was planning on renewing my citizenship to the Lost City of Atlantic, it definitely needed to be considered. But I’m starting to wonder where I draw the fine line. How much of a role does money play in figuring out what you’d like to do, or where you see yourself? -Vahini