Chris, overachiever coach, on why you shouldn’t fall in love with your work: “I am not pro dream job”

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life” is one of many famous quotes attributed to writer and humorist Mark Twain.

It makes sense, right? If you love cooking, what could be better than becoming a chef, as long as you are good at it, of course? If you are a football fan and have a way with words, why would you not want to try your hand at being a sports writer or broadcaster?

It may not be the case for everyone, but the likelihood is that most of us have at least one role we would consider our “dream job.”

The problem with chasing the dream job

On the face of it, that seems like a logical goal to chase. But give it a little thought, and there are some fairly obvious pitfalls.

Would we still love cooking as much if we had to spend eight hours in a hot kitchen under relentless pressure to get dish after dish out on time? Would we still feel the same way about football if we had news to cover nonstop and deadline after deadline to meet?

Some people would, and do. Others would not.

Why the idea of a “dream job” can backfire

For Chris Castillo, an overachiever coach who “helps ambitious humans reclaim life from burnout, pressure, & overachieving” via her TikTok channel, we should not be pinning all our hopes on finding our dream job, a concept she describes as “trash.”

“When we think there’s one magical dream job that is going to be our perfect fit and we just need to figure out what it is, we get stuck,” Chris explains, before detailing the two ways things tend to go wrong.

“Either you put blinders on and you miss other good opportunities because you’re so hell bent on doing that thing.

“Or you start to feel doubts about that dream job but you refuse to hear that, so you just ignorantly repress all of your concerns,” she continues. “Then one day, those doubts finally pile up enough that the world bottoms out from under you and you have an existential crisis.”

“Existential” and “crisis” are two words nobody wants to hear.

So what should you do instead?

So how can we avoid that outcome if we find ourselves in either of the situations Chris describes?

According to her, it comes down to evolving and reassessing where you are at any given time. Just because you wanted something last year does not necessarily mean you will still want that same thing next year.

“Focus on figuring out who you are and consciously making continuous decisions to move toward that. It’s like a values aligned career that’s constantly shifting and growing with you.

“I am not pro dream job. I am pro figuring out what works for you and constantly reassessing it,” Chris concludes.

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