I was having a conversation with a professional accountant recently. The subject of him changing his career came up again as it had multiple times before. He has known for a long time that he wants to change careers and although he has some idea of what he might want to do, he is unclear about how to transform his desires into a viable career.
What this person is experiencing is not an uncommon phenomenon. Many people spend years in jobs that they are dissatisfied because they lack clarity on what their next career move could be.
If you are reading this and find yourself in a similar predicament, here are some things you could do to help you begin to gain some clarity on your next career move.
Build awareness
Many of us are caught up with being busy and functional. However there is a lot to be said for slowing our lives down and taking time out to think and reflect on who we are, and who we want to be. This heightened level of awareness helps you be conscious of how you are feeling and what you are doing at any given time during the day. There are many ways to build greater awareness, one very effective method is through meditation. Another is by building a gratitude practice or journaling. As you begin to build awareness, you will be able to ideally spot patterns or at the very least eliminate things that are not of interest to you
Try things out
The best time to figure out if you like doing something is when you have very little to loose by trying it out. So if you have a shortlist of potential careers that you might be interested in, make the time to explore them. You could take a class, take a day off to try the new thing, attend a meet up group etc. As you explore how you feel, you will begin to eliminate and gravitate towards certain careers.
Take Notes
Pay attention to the things that bother you about your world , the things that everyone complements you about (but it seems so easy and natural to you that you do not even take their complements on board) and the pattens that you spot in the world that no one else seems to care about or understand. You do not have to do anything with this information but simple take note of them. As these problems and opportunities marinate, come back to your notes and think of potential solutions. Many successful business professionals and business owners have said that the idea they went with is the one that they could not shake.
Notice where the world is headed
Research the future of work and world trends. Artificial Intelligence is a major growth area. the past decade has seen the emergence of data science as a discipline. Many of the careers that people will have in the next 5-10 years do not exist today. By being curious about workplace and world trends, you will be in a good position to spot new and interesting opportunities to latch on to.
Start where you are
Sometimes the fun is in the discovery. Your new career might not be fully spelled out at the beginning of a new job search or business venture, but the important thing is that you start where you are and make the most informed decision that you are able to. As time evolves the things that you enjoy and do not enjoy doing will become apparent helping you to course correct if you need to.
Ultimately career fulfillment for many comes from solving a problem, fulfilling a need and/or serving the greater good using our skills and talents, and being rewarded well for it. Reward can be in the form of compensation, recognition or seeing the impact of the work you do.
Which of these resonated with you and what else have you done to help you gain clarity on your next career move? For more tips on how to advance your current career or transition into the career or business that you love, sign up for my newsletter here and join my facebook group, “The Career Lounge” here.