THE 10XD FRAMEWORK
BECOMING HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL IN A JOB YOU LOVE
Most people wish they could work full time doing what they love doing. Phrases like "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life" ring in the back of their minds. Yet because of their life situations, social environments and skills (or lack thereof) they tell themselves that landing their dream work environment is impossible, and that the best thing they can do is go with the flow.
The truth is however you CAN find that one line of work that brings you fulfillment, joy, passion and allows you to be highly successful. And I'm going to share this frame work with you through the 10XD Framework, which includes ten proven principles in action form that will help you arrive where you want to be.
You've probably talked to friends or family who promise you that if you want your dream job, then you either need to attend college or search for a a particular job. Some people who have a job opportunity they offer (such as network marketing companies) might even convince you that the way to be happy in your workplace is to buy into their work opportunity. They'll say things like :"If you want to be financially free, make a difference or travel more, my job opportunity will provide that for you." The problem with these kinds of promises though is that they frame the means and results around their business. They don't start with you. They start with their company, their success story and their systems. Then they craft an entire presentation on why you should join their business opportunity and why it will make you successful. And then they wonder why so many of their recruits drop out.
The 10XD Framework isn't about convincing you to join a particular bandwagon, job opportunity that I think will make you financially successful or bring your happiness. The 10XD Framework is about helping you apply the principles to your personal life in order to find the dream job that you love, lets you grow as a person, and creates opportunities for you to contribute to others. No matter where you're at in life, you can apply the 10XD Framework as long as you have the honesty, courage and humility to evaluate yourself and commit to change.
So with that, let's break down the 10XD Framework together!
1. DESIRE - What drives my 'passion' tank?
Be honest and ask yourself what personally makes you excited? What's something in my life I just can't get enough of? What do I look forward to doing the most at the end of the day? These can be desires you love doing alone or with a group of people. Each of us have thousands of desires each day, so being intentional about capturing the desires we could see ourselves doing full time in a job can feel challenging. Start thinking through your desires by utilizing the exercise below.
DESIRE EXERCISE
Brain dump as many things you can think of that you're passionate about. Don't worry about how small they seem or whether they're too big. Start with areas that you've experienced for yourself. For example, maybe you love the beach because your family went for vacations growing up. Maybe you love playing the guitar because you own one and have been playing for a few years. Write down the desires you've already experienced. Next, write down the desires you have yet to experience, but you know several people who have, and their experiences inspire you. Some example of this could include:
Experiences I've had that I love:
Writing
Reading
Playing football
Playing chess
Hotdog eating contest
Painting
Serving the homeless
Gardening
Doing crafts
Being with animals
Experiences I'd love to have:
Camping
Road trip
Playing in a band
Learning Minecraft
Learning to dance
Fishing
Visiting a special destination
Being in a relationship with someone
As you write these desires down, take some time for self reflection and ask yourself the following questions:
What is it about this that I love the most?
Which desires help me grow as a person?
Which desires can contribute to others?
On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the ranking for each desire?
What desire includes a skill that I'm good at?
This is the first step: learning about yourself and the things that excite you. Once you've completed this exercise, move on to the next action.
2. DESIGN - How am I designed right now?
Evaluating your design means you're taking a close look at yourself to understand what makes you tick and function. This includes a willingness to grow in self-awareness and even asking close friends or family for their perspective.
How we're designed is based on many factors - our past experiences, our life choices, the people we choose to associate with, our beliefs and our abilities. Even the desires we talked about are a part of our design. The more we understand who we are, how we're wired, what we value and what motivates us the most, the more we'll be able to gravitate toward a career that is most fulfilling to our design.
Sometimes there are cross-wires in our design that cause short circuiting in our journey to find a successful career, and sometimes there are strengths that we can develop more. There are many great books on the subject of identifying your strengths and weaknesses, but for this framework, we're going to focus on three key areas:
Personal beliefs
Personal behaviors
Personal abilities
Within these ca
DESIGN EXERCISE
On a separate paper, journal or word document, make three vertical columns for your beliefs, behaviors and abilities. Then, divide these three columns horizontally into two sections: one for helpful and the other for unhelpful. Next, consider the following questions for each of these areas and begin to write down what comes to mind.
Personal beliefs (helpful and unhelpful)
What are some of the qualities I believe about myself?
3. DREAM - Who do I want to become?
Dreaming is the fun and important process of looking at what you love doing and envisioning yourself becoming someone that would allow you to focus on that. Now this is where some people scoff at the process. They laugh, arguing "If I love listening to music, how does my dream fit in with that desire?" The key to dreaming of who you want to become is by starting with the desires that include the following factors:
The desires that actually help me grow and develop as a person
The desires that contribute to others by adding value to them
The desires that include skills I'm either good at or could learn
The desires that score the highest as being most important to you
When you dream using these three factors, you begin to envision yourself tapping into and leveraging the desires that will make the biggest contribution to your life as well as others. In fact, that's what jobs are supposed to do - contributing to others while also allowing you to grow as a person. The best jobs allow people to have an impact on others in some way while also creating opportunities for the worker to grow and develop.
DREAM EXERCISE
Dream of what it would be like to be in a role that would allow you to do what you love all the time. A woman who absolutely loves playing chess might decide that helping others learn the game would be a contribution to them, and would also allow her to grow her skills as a chess player. She might dream of herself as someone who plays chess full time competing in contest that offer cash prizes, and she also might dream of herself as teaching chess to others.
