Looking For Work Abroad: Getting Creative

Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Relocation, Tools & Resources, Working Abroad
1 comment

After Monday’s post went up (the one about finding other options if you can’t land a job in your host country), a couple of readers remarked that this was all fine and dandy, but what if you don’t have a clue what you want to do other than your current job?

Or what if you hate your current job and would rather gouge your eyes out than go for the same type of position, thank you very much?

Great points. As always. Please keep the questions coming; I love to hear what’s on your mind! Also, we’re in luck today, because generating ideas is one of my favourite activities in the world, and I do have some good resources for you.

Resources, from the predictable to the unexpected

- Work your way through “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was” by Barbara Sher (I reviewed it here). You can also try “What Color Is Your Parachute?” which takes a slightly more conventional approach. Personally, I prefer “I Could Do Anything”.

- Download “Focus” by Betsy Burroughs, and try some of the exercises she suggests. This is a book about creativity and idea generation, not job-hunting. Highly recommended if you feel completely stumped, or if you want a career change and need to think creatively about what to do next.

- Follow a lot of very different people on Twitter – no, you won’t be able to keep up with every update, but you’re bound to find interesting resources there. Or watch a bunch of TED talks on YouTube. When you stumble across people whose job or ideas you think are really great, Google them and find out how they got there.

- Use mind maps to organise your ideas. They’re much better suited to creative thinking than ordinary lists, because they’re not linear. You can break down, branch off or expand on any idea/keyword on your map, and then you can link them together to stimulate further brainstorming.

- Dig up forgotten dreams. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a teenager, what field did you want to study, before you opted for something “more reasonable”? Is the passion still there? If so, start making plans to rekindle the dream!

Still nothing?

- Coming up empty? Getting overwhelmed or discouraged? Walk away from it – go do something completely different, like gardening or yoga. Allow your brain to relax, and it will reward you with fresh ideas when you least expect them – keep a notebook handy so you can jot them down.

- Along the same lines, distract your brain from the issue at hand by giving it something else to puzzle over. Preferably something that uses different thinking modes. When I get writer’s block, I play online sudoku – the more difficult the better. Ideas usually start flowing again within 10-15 minutes.

- Get help from other people. Why not ask your friends to suggest careers that would be a good fit for you – things they can tell you’re talented at, or jobs you’d be happy in?

- If you’re brainstorming on your own, find an accountability partner, and commit to a minimum number of new ideas you’ll come up with weekly. 15 ideas? What about 30? And why not try for a hundred? The idea here is to stretch your brain – setting an outrageously high goal will, paradoxically, make it easier to pull out all the stops and get truly creative.

- Hire a coach for a couple of sessions to help you brainstorm, clarify your goals and narrow down your options. I offer a special 3-session package just for that – the first session is all about generating ideas and picking the best ones, then the other two sessions are for follow-up and implementation. Less expensive than ongoing coaching, and a worthwhile investment with immediate results!

Parting words of wisdom (or something close)

OK, I know I’m getting dangerously close to Tony Robbins, rah-rah you can do it territory here (as an aside, if I ever turn into one of these over-the-top “motivational coaches”, please feel free to beat me with a large stick. Or at least shoot me an email so that I can beat myself with a large stick.)

Alright. Where was I?

Oh yes – there is something that you absolutely must do, and that is trusting your own creativity. None of that “But I don’t knooow what I wanna dooo!” or “I’m not good at coming up with new ideas!”

Nonsense. Come on, we expats solve problems and come up with new ways of doing things all the darn time. Expats have been proven to be more creative than average. So stop self-censoring the ideas you already have.

Leave behind your fear of making the wrong choice. Pay closer attention to your true aspirations and desires, and you’ll be amazed at how many ideas you spontaneously generate – promise!

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Emmanuelle

Images by sirwiseowl (top), khilwat (middle) and chiefmoamba (bottom), all via Flickr Creative Commons