Stop Chasing a "Dream Job." Wake Up and Build the Ladder.
"Why do we call it a dream job when dreams are only for those who sleep?"
I was thinking about this, and it made me look into it more. It highlights a massive irony in how we view success. We associate the pinnacle of our professional lives—something requiring intense focus, grit, and execution—with a biological state of unconsciousness.
If you are sleeping, you aren’t working. So why is the "Dream Job" the gold standard?
To navigate the future of work, we need to stop looking at "dreams" as passive fantasies and start looking at them through the lens of ancient wisdom.
The Lost Meaning of "Dream"
We assume "dream" has always meant "visions during sleep." It hasn’t.
In 8th-century Old English, the word drēam meant vitality, mirth, music, and loud noise. It was a word for being wide awake and fully alive. It wasn't until the Viking invasions that the Old Norse word draumr (sleeping vision) arrived and slowly overwrote the original meaning.
But if we go back even further, to the Hebrew roots of the Old Testament, the definition becomes even more instructive for our careers.
The Joseph Principle: The Dream Is The Work
In Hebrew, the word for dream is Chalom (חֲלוֹם). It comes from a root that implies strength, binding, and restoration. A dream, in this ancient context, isn't a flight of fancy; it is a source of vitality.
Consider Joseph, the archetypal "Dreamer." When Joseph has his first defining dream (Genesis 37), he isn't floating in the clouds or enjoying a feast.
The Text: "Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field..."
The Insight: Joseph was working in his dream. He was engaged in agricultural labor, binding the harvest together.
The Biblical blueprint for a "dream job" isn't an escape from labor; it is a vision of meaningful labor. Joseph’s dream was a preview of his stewardship—he would eventually save nations by managing grain during a famine. He dreamed of the work because the work was his calling.
The Jacob Model: Building the Bridge
Then there is his father, Jacob. Jacob’s most famous Chalom occurred at Bethel. He didn't see a random hallucination; he saw a ladder set up on the earth reaching to heaven (Genesis 28).
The Dream: A structure connecting the dirt of reality with the vision of the divine.
The Shift: Later in life, Jacob graduates from Chalom (symbolic dreams) to Mar'ot (visions)—clear, direct instruction from God.
The Human Insight for Navigating Tomorrow
As we look toward an uncertain future defined by AI and rapid change, we need to abandon the "sleepwalker" definition of a dream job and embrace the Joseph and Jacob models.
1. Seek Vitality, Not Ease (The Old English Rule) Stop looking for a quiet, easy job. Look for drēam—the "loud noise" of vitality. Go where the energy is.
2. Dream of the Harvest (The Joseph Rule) A true dream job isn't one where you do nothing; it's one where the work itself feels like a vision. Joseph didn't dream of retirement; he dreamed of binding sheaves. Find the problem you are obsessed with solving.
3. Build the Ladder (The Jacob Rule) Your career should be the ladder between where you are (Earth) and the ideal you strive for (Heaven). Don't wait for a bridge to appear; you have to build the structure that connects your current reality to your future purpose.
The Verdict
If your career feels like a "dream" because you are sleepwalking through it, wake up.
Let's return to the root of the word. Let’s stop looking for a fantasy and start looking for Chalom—for the strength, the stewardship, and the active vitality of building something real.
Don't dream about it. Be awake for it.
Benediction for the Waking Dream
"Lord, deliver me from the passivity of wishing things were better. Grant me the vision of Jacob to see the ladder, but the hands of Joseph to do the work.
Let my dreams not be escapes from reality, but blueprints for stewardship. May I find vitality in the binding of the sheaves and the building of the future. Keep me awake to the opportunities You have placed in front of me. Amen."
Sources
Etymology: Wojtaszek, M. (2018). "Dreaming-machine." Angles, 7. (Old English drēam vs. Old Norse draumr).
Hebrew Philology: Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. (Root definitions of Chalom and Chalam).
Scripture: Genesis 28 (Jacob’s Ladder), Genesis 37 (Joseph’s Sheaves), Genesis 46 (Jacob’s Visions).