Top 10 Excuses for NOT Making a Dramatic Career Change to Your Dream Job

Confucius, with much stronger credentials than I will ever have, shared his thoughts on the subject of making a career change to a dream job by remarking, “Find a calling you love and you will never work a day in your life.” Unfortunately, few people ever find work that they truly love.

Working at your dream job may sound great, but nevertheless, too good to be true. Perhaps you need some good excuses — besides the ones you already have — to convince yourself that you can’t make the much needed career change to your dream job. 

Luckily for you, I can help. Truth be known, I once used to be a master of making excuses. Here are a few gems that even David Letterman would like:

Top 10 Excuses NOT to Pursue Your Dream Job 

1.      I don’t believe people can work at a dream job and make a good living at it unless they are offspring of Edison or Einstein.
2.      I once had a nosebleed and I am afraid of getting more if I don’t work at a real job.
3.      George W. Bush would think I was unpatriotic if I were not part of corporate America.
4.      Finding a dream job that I love may be too relaxing — I think I feel more comfortable tense.
5.      I am three-times divorced and I estimate that I have at least twelve kids.
6.      I prefer to live in the past because most of my career life has been spent there.
7.      I have arthritis, and although I know people with much more serious disabilities have been extraordinarily successful in dream careers, I don’t think they know what it is like to have arthritis.
8.      Although my present job is really boring, I kind of like it — I may actually be addicted to boredom.
9.      My dog died and I need to get another one real fast.
10.  I am much too afraid of becoming a member of a better class of people.

All right, this is more than enough. You may find some of the above excuses useful for explaining some of your other shortcomings in life, particularly when you don’t want to take responsibility for having created these shortcomings.

My point is best made by the Jewish proverb: “If you don’t want to do something, one excuse is as good as another.” 

Let’s be honest. All of us are good at justifying why we haven’t been more successful in following our career dreams. At one time, I likely did it a few thousand times myself.

Alas, excuses don’t bring results — we only hurt ourselves with excuses. Fact is, virtually all excuse-makers progress at the same speed just like all procrastinators wait at the same speed. Moreover, there is no time like the present to use a good excuse to postpone what is important, but appears somewhat difficult to do. 

Excuses are convenient, but as always, there is a downside to anything convenient. Individuals who are not able to get rid of excuses find it virtually impossible to succeed in the long term. On the other hand, once people get rid of excuses, they can succeed at a lot more things than they think they can — including making a dramatic career change to a dream job!

NOTE: This article is adapted from the unconventional career book Real Success Without a Real Job by Ernie J. Zelinski. You can download the Free Ebook with the Table of Contents, Preface, and Chapter 1 of Real Success Without a Real Job through this direct link:

Free Downloadable Ebooks to Help You Make a Dramatic Career Change