This affirmation is a perfect example of the metaphysical claptrap that a whole lot of people are buying into these days.
You see it all the time.
The inherent ideas are: (1) that fate is at work in your life (the job I’m supposed to have), and (2) in ascribing human characteristics to things and concepts that are not human (the job I’m looking for is also looking for me).
Fate is the idea that things are supposed to work out a certain way. There is an outcome, a predetermined destiny that the “universe” or some ethereal force is supposed to determine.
Look at this affirmation again. It assumes there is that one job, the right job, that’s meant for you to have. Like finding a “soul mate,” there is a perfect match, one you are destined to discover. “Accept no substitutes!” is your mantra.
I’ve seen a lot of people, especially in the last 20 years or so, refuse perfectly good jobs only because they hadn’t yet found that perfect job, the job that’s also “looking” for them, the job that affirmations like this one convince us is “out there” for us, waiting to be discovered.
And like the serendipitous events behind the two love birds when fate finally brings “soul mates” together, so it is that you’ll finally meet up with the job you were meant to have. Or so the affirmation would have you believe.
But in refusing the “bird in the hand” employment opportunity, we keep looking for the two in the bush. Opportunities get passed up. Bills get unpaid. Savings accounts dwindle, and we spend too much idle time being of no use to anyone because… we’re still waiting for the employer in shining armor riding his white limousine.
This is a first world problem. This is what happens to people who live in an affluent society with abundant opportunities. And as long as there are safety nets in place to provide us with a soft landing (i.e., unemployment checks), there is no big hurry to find any old job.
People who live in countries without the financial safety nets of family and government we have in western nations, well, they don’t repeat affirmations like this one. They’re too busy looking for – and finding – real jobs that pay wages. They would starve to death looking for the “job that’s looking for them.”
While there is nothing wrong with seeking a job that fits your skill sets and personal tastes, it’s often prudent to take advantage of opportunities as they appear and build out from there. No one said you have to stay in a dead end job, or be miserable in your current situation for the rest of your life.