One way of starting to explore different job and career ideas is - Starting an Ideas Collection.

It is a way to gather together all the thoughts you have about career into one place. To begin with all these ideas might seem like a jumbled mess yet there will be common themes and threads .

To start, I want you to begin to capture all your career ideas in one place. One possibility is a coloured folder which you just use to pop everything in. You may prefer a ring binder or a box, a drawer, or you may prefer to make a collage of your ideas.

What goes into the Ideas Collection? Anything from fully formed ideas (I think I might like to be a wildlife photographer), to a concept (I'd like to help people) or an environment (I'd like to work in the public sector), a skill you'd like to use (mending things), a dream (I've always wanted to design race cars)..... It can be a single word or a job advert clipped from a magazine. It could be a photograph of someone enjoying an activity. 

The important thing is that every idea is stored in one place. You're aiming to pack it full of possibilities which we'll work through at a later stage.

You're not only looking for logical, rational, realistic job possibilities. Try not to censor at this stage. The Ideas Collection is the place for any passing thought, concept, dream, wish or desire which is relevant to your working life.

Open the jobs section of a broadsheet newspaper and give yourself a short amount of time to go through it very quickly, skimming the job adverts. You can pick out 'whole jobs' or just words and phrases which appeal to you. Look for at least 15 words, phrases or jobs. Highlight anything which evokes some kind of gut response in you. Don't rule anything out and try not to analyse the reasons behind your responses. That will come later Tear out all the ads or parts of ads you have highlighted and add them to your Ideas Collection. 

Print out stuff you find on internet sites or tear ideas out of other newspapers, together with articles, jottings from conversations with friends, images and thoughts you have. 

Revisit all those careers you dreamed you might do when you were little - five, eleven, fourteen and eighteen years old: pilot, fashion model, astronaut, brain surgeon, hairdresser to celebrities.... Put a note in your Ideas Collection or even visit www.prospects.ac.uk and look up 'Explore types of jobs' to see what those possible careers actually involve. Make a note of what appeals about these careers now and put that in your Ideas Collection.

You are aiming to have a large number of items in your Ideas Collection, perhaps even 50 to 100. You can now start to identify key themes.

When you are ready, tip out all the ideas somewhere you can see them all. Start to notice where an idea comes up a few times, perhaps wildlife. There is likely to be a few of these. This idea is a work theme.

The next stage is to consider how this work theme could be part of your life. 

Action: Start to compile your own Ideas Collection. Challenge yourself to have 20 items by the end of the week. When you have reached a large number of items, look for patterns and themes that indicate where you would like to turn next.