“You want what you already have.” This is one of the things we are told to do if we want to be happy and content with our lives. How can we apply this to find our dream job?

First of all, what does “dream job” mean? Is it the kind of work you see people doing in movies and TV shows, where people wear designer clothes, work in ultra-modern offices, and travel the world on all-expenses-paid business trips? Maybe. But it can also be building kitchen cabinets in a small garage, teaching a kindergarten class, or being everyone’s favorite waitress at an all-night truck stop. A dream job, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

So, whether you’re white or blue collar, fabulously well-paid or minimum wage, high-status or on the bottom rung of the social ladder, here are some signs you already have your dream job:

1. Time flies: If time flies when you’re at work, and you look up at some point and say, “What? It’s almost time to close? Where did the day go?” you could be in the job of your dreams. (If you’re looking at the clock, noting every minute that passes, you probably aren’t.)
2. You can’t wait to get there: If you jump, or even drag yourself out of bed in the morning, eager to go to work, already thinking about your day and how you’ll meet the challenges, you may already have the job of your dreams. (If instead of looking forward to your day, you’re dreading it, that’s a bad sign.)
3. The time stops: But in a good way. When we’re doing something we love, something creative, or something we’re passionate about, we lose all sense of time. If this happens to you regularly at work, you may already have your dream job.
4. Pleasure overcomes pain: Even the best job in the world has its downsides. Nothing is perfect. So just because you occasionally have bad days, stressful times, times where you’d rather have an all-day dentist appointment than spend more time at work, doesn’t mean you don’t have your dream job. If you can look back on a few weeks or months of work and know that the ups and downs far exceeded the lows, you may already have your dream job.
5. You use your unique talents and gifts: Each of us is born with a unique set of talents and characteristics. One person’s dream job is another’s nightmare. If you forced a star soccer player to be a librarian, he would probably feel trapped and claustrophobic, whereas if you put a brilliant librarian on the soccer field, he would probably have a life expectancy of about 3 minutes. If his job takes full advantage of his own unique set of gifts and personality traits, he may already have his dream job.
6. You have a purpose: Having your dream job is not always about having a very fun or very lucrative job. It is possible to do really hard work, without glamor or boring, and still love it because it serves a higher purpose. Talk to nurses, firefighters, geriatric aides, funeral directors. Their jobs can be dangerous, unpleasant, exhausting, maybe even thankless, but they feel rewarded and fulfilled knowing that their jobs make a difference. Even a sanitary engineer or the lady who serves coffee at the all-night restaurant can feel the warm glow of knowing that because they do their job so well, other people’s lives are better. If you feel this way about your job, it may be your dream job.
7. Are always learning and growing: No one wants to feel like they are getting stuck, doing the same thing over and over again, never learning anything new. We thrive on learning new things, on novelty, and on facing new challenges. Who wants to spend their days in a monotonous and boring environment? If your job allows you to continue learning and growing, you may already have the job of your dreams.
8. Support your life goals: Some people want a career. Other people just want to earn enough to live while doing their “real life,” whether it’s surfing, acting, or volunteering. If your job allows you to achieve your life goals, it can be your dream job, and unfortunately, for a large percentage of people in the world, a dream job is any job that puts food on your table and keeps a roof over your shoulders. heads. . Think about it.
9. You love the people you work with: Sometimes the people you work with, whether they’re your clients or your coworkers, can turn a normal job into your dream job. Every once in a while a group of people get together at a workplace and magic happens. There is such a great synergy, everyone is so compatible and having so much fun together, that you almost don’t care what the job is, you just love doing it.
10. you can’t stop talking about it: If every time someone asks you about your job, you start raving about how great the company is, what a big difference it makes to the community, how generous and special the employees are, what wonderful things you’re learning. .. you probably already have your dream job. (On the other hand, if every time someone asks how work is going, they end up offering you some cheese to go along with your whining, it may be time to dust off your resume.)

So how does your work compare? Is it your dream job? Almost your dream job? Or is it unfortunately missing? Use this checklist to help you decide if it’s time to start looking for a new job or if it’s time to sit back and be grateful for the job you already have.