Unlocking the Secrets to Finding your Dream Job

The average Canadian spends about 37.3 hours per week at their main job, according to Statistics Canada. Working 37.3 hours a week might feel like a lot if we're reluctant to go to work each day and are merely performing tasks for a paycheck. Conversely, for others, 37.3 hours a week passes quickly.

How inspiring is it to encounter someone who appears to have truly discovered their "calling"? Those individuals who don't focus on the number of hours they've "worked" this week? Who become completely absorbed in their activities? Isn't that what we desire for ourselves? To wake up each morning, driven to begin a new day filled with energy, ambition, and happiness? 

Studies have shown that engaging in a personally satisfying and driven job leads to increased motivation, engagement, and productivity, along with improved mental health and job satisfaction. Engaging in a job that makes us happy brings meaning to our lives, gives us more resilience and often helps build stronger relationships with peers.

How to discover your ideal job?

The secret to finding this fulfilling career lies behind identifying and using your personal strengths and achieving a level of FLOW state. 

Let’s start with personal strengths:

According to esteemed psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman, the "father of positive psychology" and author of the book Authentic Happiness, happiness is not the result of good genes or luck. Real, lasting happiness comes from focusing on one’s personal strengths rather than weaknesses - and working with them to improve all aspects of one’s life, including the workplace. 

Personal strengths can be defined as the positive parts of your personality that impact the way you think, feel and behave. A personal strength can be a set of skills, for example: creativity, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability or a character trait such as: honesty, kindness, resilience , curiosity, leadership, and perseverance. Each person has a truly unique strengths profile.

Research suggests that the key is to use several of your best strengths in your work environment to create positive experiences. Positive experience at work includes positive emotions and engagement which would lead to higher productivity and job satisfaction (Harzer and Ruch, 2012; Lavy and Littman-Ovadia, 2016). 

Let’s now establish a FLOW state:

Once you have identified your top personal strengths you want to use those skills and character traits to then enter a mental Flow state.

This concept has been presented by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and has been widely referred to across a variety of fields, and is particularly well recognized in Occupational Therapy.

In Occupational Therapy, the Flow state is a key concept where clients experience total immersion, enjoyment, and deep engagement in a meaningful activity. The optimal flow experience occurs when there is a balance of high challenge and high skill, leading to heightened focus, clarity, and enjoyment. For example, someone can experience a flow state or the feeling of "being in the zone" when playing a sport or an instrument. They may lose track of time by being completely absorbed in their activity.

The below image goes in greater detail helping describe where an individual might be found on the graph. For example, watching television might be under apathy, doing chores might be under boredom, reading under relaxation, driving under control. Whereas learning something new might be under arousal and studying for an exam under anxiety.

The goal is to use our top personal skill strengths, and balance them with a high but achievable challenge to enter a flow state.

Unleashing the power to find your true “calling”:

1. Identify your top personal strengths. By using practical exercises, brief tests, dynamic website programs or by working with an Occupational Therapist, you can identify your highest personal strengths and then seek out careers that allow you to use them. 

   1. Examples:

      1. Assessment tool: One way to help identify your personal strengths is through the VIA Institute on Character. The VIA Institute on Character, a non-profit organization, has created and continues to create and validate surveys of character and supporting research. You can explore their website: (https://www.viacharacter.org/). 

      2. Reflect on your experiences: Think about activities that energize you and tasks that come easily to you. Consider what you enjoy doing in your free time and what problems you find interesting to solve. Reflecting on past successes can also reveal inherent strengths. 

      3. Ask for feedback: ask trusted friends, family, or colleagues for their perspective on your key strengths. They can provide valuable insights into qualities they see in you.

      4. Consider your weaknesses: Sometimes, looking at your weaknesses can reveal your strengths. For example, a struggle with independent work or working solely in front of the computer might point to a strength in collaboration, communication and/or teamwork skills. 

2. Understand your top strengths: Examine your top strengths and dig deeper in the meaning of them. How is this strength different from another one? What are the benefits of a certain personal strength?

3. Get in the FLOW: Meet your top personal skill strengths with a high, but achievable, challenge. 

If you're going to dedicate your valuable time to a job, why not strive to achieve a state of flow in your efforts? Look for high challenges that demand your unique skills, and perhaps you will discover your true "calling"!

References:

• Flow. (2025, December 29). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 31, 2025, from https://editor.wix.com/html/editor/web/renderer/edit/909b73ca-8410-44ad-a949-3641969239fc?metaSiteId=b167e38c-3fd3-4ffa-b0f3-1182064b1addHarzer, C. and Ruch, W. (2012). 'When the job is a calling: The role of applying one's signature strengths at work.' The Journal of Positive Psycology 7, 362-371.

• Lavy, S. and Littman-Ovadia, H. (2016). 'My Better Self: Using Strenghts at Work and Work Productivity, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Satisfaction.' Journal of Career Development, 44, 2.

• Seligman, Martin E.P. (2002). 'Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment.' Free Press.