Idealists need a Vocation, not a Profession

There are for idealistic personality types in the iPersonic Typology: the Spontaneous Idealist, the Dreamy Idealist, the Engaged Idealist and the Harmony-seeking Idealist. You can take our free personality test to find out if you belong to one of those iPersonic personality types. If you do, only a profession that is important and worth your while is going to satisfy you in the long run. The latter was not intended to imply something material. Since you have a profound personal value system and your need for meaning in all areas of life is strong you must make sure that this aspect becomes a part of your professional every day life, as well. A pure bread-and-butter profession you only practice to make a living and without conviction – or, even worse: contrary to your innermost conviction - is a guarantee for unhappiness. Therefore, you should ask yourself whether your today‘s profession satisfies you in this regard or whether there is need for a change.
All professions allowing you to advise, support and accompany other people in their personal development, are well suited to you (like e. g. teacher, advisor, coach or therapist). Your inclination to see only the best in everybody makes you unique where recognizing and the encouragement of potentials in others is concerned. Beyond that you have a superb intuition and a special talent to motivate and encourage others. There are lots of other professions that could make you happy just as long as they make you believe that you can make an impact and change things for the better.

Already found the right profession for yourself? Great! Or do you have the feeling that things can be improved? In that case please check if your present work environment offers opportunities for you to pursue your propensity for “bettering the world.”

Exercise: Profession as Vocation

• To begin with, in your mind put yourself back into the time as an adolescent. Remember your ideals and dreams of those days. Is there something among them that you could tackle now and today – and even if only partially?
• In your professional environment, is there a way in which you can assume the function of a mentor and participate in the training of junior employees?
• Are there in-house projects coinciding with your humanitarian values and objectives where you could engage yourself? If not, could you for instance initiate and organize the creation of a sponsorship project for a social institution?
• Maybe you can engage yourself with the employee organization by coming up with opportunities to represent others and improve conditions at work?
• Make a note of the five activities at work you like best. What do these activities have in common? This common denominator can provide you with important information about what is most important to you. Are there any possibilities for you to expand on this aspect of your job?

In your present professional environment are no or insufficient opportunities to satisfy your professional aspirations? In that case you may want to think about continuing education or possibly even consider a change in your profession. You as an Idealist have a strongly pronounced interest in the new and need to continuously learn. Sufficiently satisfying this hunger for knowledge and further development is already another important building block for your personal happiness recipe, anyway. Whether privately or professionally, make sure to remain a learner all your life. According to today’s happiness research, curiosity and openness for new experiences are some of the central characteristics (the so called signature strengths) directly responsible for a subjective well-being. Therefore, you were born with a quality representing the perfect precondition for a happy life - if you use it! Ask yourself which new professions or new qualifications would more than now satisfy your longing for a meaningful and fulfilling activity.

Tags: Idealist, Vocation, profession