DinnerGrrls.org assumes that in order to achieve career nirvana, your mind must be free from outside noise. What this suggests is that you must know yourself and have intention awareness (why do I want X, Y, and Z?) before you can advance further on your journey towards career nirvana.

WOAH!  That’s some complex ish, little dogie.

Okay, so maybe “intention awareness” sounds a li’l bit out there.  Maybe a picture’ll help!

Personal Story Time

In the early stages of my career, I motored along in the general direction of upper management. It seemed like the thing for a lifelong overachiever with a Yale degree to do. I assumed that my unhappiness was a function of various outside forces conspiring against me:

• the system
• the glass ceiling
• jealous haters
• clothing manufacturers that did not make suits for women with long limbs

et cetera. It never occurred to me that upper management might not be my authentic career bliss. I also never considered that my unhappiness might be a function of currents within me.

This is where getting together with other humans to share career war stories and talk about the future is immensely valuable. Some of the happy side-effects of regularly chatting with like-minded folks regarding your hopes and dreams include

• You can hear — and feel — how your dreams sound as you utter them
• You’re forced to discuss things with a disinterested party (our friends and family often have their own vested interests — no matter how benevolent — in seeing us achieve a certain sort of career path)
• You can get ideas from other people regarding their goals, a wonderful reminder of all the diverse ways in which talents and interests can bear fruit in a market economy

This is the un-secret agenda of DinnerGrrls.org: to put like-minded, thoughtful folks in a room so that they can tawk amongst themselves about their lives, their ambitions, their challenges, and their bliss.

It was after many years of careful consideration, fueled in no small way by my DinnerGrrls.org 1.0 experiences, that I finally had the clarity of mind regarding what would bring me (not my parents; not my ego) deep joy, career-wise. And it’s ironic that now that I’m no longer endlessly wandering towards a happy day job, it has simply arrived.

Before you can achieve career nirvana, you have to be clear-minded about what that looks like for the authentic you. And that means, you have to meet that authentic you, unbound by the wishes and desires of outside forces.

So how, exactly, does DinnerGrrls.org accelerate the journey towards career nirvana?

We’re not about connecting women of a certain demographic (”Women In Toy Manufacturing”; “Asian Thirty-Something Chicks”) but rather about connecting humans of a certain psychographic (”Career Nirvana Is Possible; What UP!!!!!!”).  So when you’re networking with other women who value career bliss, you’re only helping yourself get there that much faster.  Already in love with your life?  (Easy, there, Miranda – “I love my life.  I love my job.  I love my friends.”)  It’s going to feel great to surround yourself with other positive, thoughtful, interesting women.

Whether you’re a DinnerGrrl who knows she’s “in the career zone” or a DinnerGrrl at the tender age of thirty-five who has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up, you still might come away from a DinnerGrrls.org event a smidgen wiser (the former can share her insights and get the feel-good vibes that accompany sharing-n-caring; the latter might be inspired by someone who has made a complex career transition).

You can peruse our upcoming opportunities to meet other authentic, interesting women like you by clicking here.

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You can read some of our articles related to each step of the career nirvana journey by selecting the step that most intrigues you from the list below:

1. Know Yourself
2. Know Your Bliss
3. Work Your Bliss
4. Operationalizing Nirvana:  Tactics

Yay!