This past month, my career conversations centred on uncertainty, being stuck, hitting a plateau, feeling unfulfilled. We sit with these feelings, not moving into action, postponing the inevitable.
I read career bloggers who recommend reviewing your life goals, creating a vision statement or connecting with a coach. But such well-intended actions do not achieve long term satisfaction.
We’re too programmed for quick fixes and desperately hold on to the ‘to-do’ list.
We prioritize, we problem solve, we scrawl it out and carry it around. Glancing at our to-do lists, we might find a small note with a question mark on the margin of the page – CAREER? WHAT NEXT? We carry this over to next day, and the day after, next week, next month… You get the picture. We put off the inevitable.
Eventually we’re presented with an opportunity or a challenge, but unclear which direction to take, uncertain and stuck.
I spoke last week at the Asian American Journalist Association, and heard different stories. There were cries not of feeling unfulfilled or empty, more a discussion on sheer abundance of choice and which path to follow, too many opportunities rather than too few.
But ironically the exact same sense of uncertainty filtered through the discussion.
Whether one is constrained or overly optimistic, making a career decision is never easy.
Before moving into a problem solving mode, explore what’s underneath these feelings. We know what emptiness feels like. We’ve all experienced uncertainty, but do we consider what actual career success tastes and feels like?
Uncertain, we may resort to analytics for answers, something like this:
1) build a decision matrix, 2) develop elaborate lists and 3) connect the data points, reducing it all to a checkbox of pros and cons.
Our mind plays tricks, and usually halfway through the exercise we stop, convinced we know the answer.
Analytics can be severely limiting and mechanistic for what is a uniquely human and reflective process.
Here’s another approach.
Take out a piece of paper.
Pen in hand, write down your core value.
What drives you?
Is it:
Ambition, achievement and excitement?
or
Personal freedom, spirituality and harmony?
or
Curiosity, challenge, and creativity?
Continue with the list until you feel it’s time to stop. Circle the important ones. Find one, two or three which you will not compromise.
Compare these values with the opportunities presented. Values provide answers about what’s important to you. I guarantee the actions based on this list have significant positive impact for you–and your career.
If you want to know which external direction to follow, look internally to understand what drives you.
Values define your beliefs
Values support decision making
Values offer insights into self.
Take the time to ponder your career, and start to create your list of opportunities.
