It strikes me that there are a whole lot of people succeeding in good jobs who have no clue what they really want to be doing.
It's the price of being both highly competent and habitually taking the next opportunity just because it has arrived. This pattern works for a while, sometimes many years.
And then one day when we take a look at the bigger picture of our career and our life, we realize that we lost track of what we really care about and enjoy doing.
Or sometimes we simply grow out of our job or industry. We lose interest, and we haven't thought of what could come next that would be a better fit.
Knowing what we want requires a little introspection, an activity many of us resist. Here are the top reasons why:
- I'm too busy to reflect.
- Being introspective doesn't get anything done.
- This is too large a question to solve, so I'll just stay with the status quo - it's good enough.
- Nobody gets what they really want, so I'll just stay with the status quo - it's good enough.
- It's a terrible economy - I better stay put.
But here's the good news: you don't have to leave for a week-long silent retreat to address this question of what you want. You don't have to come up with "the" magic answer or take risks greater than you can responsibly handle.
You can understand what you want, enjoy and care about at work by tuning in briefly yet frequently to what you're doing and how it's affecting you. Are you engaged or bored? By what? Are you dreading tomorrow or looking forward to the challenge? Why do you think this is true?
By checking in often and perhaps writing a few observations down, you stay connected to yourself. You don't lose yourself quite so completely to the busyness of your days and the demands of your job.
When you frequently consider your desires, likes and dislikes about your career, it results in you having meaningful and fruitful conversations with contacts and knowing when to raise your hand for certain projects. You lay the foundations that attract the people and opportunities that will help you get more of what you want.
Knowing what you want in your career is not something you answer four times in your life, but something you consider weekly, in small portions. This is because most of the time getting what you want is a result of many small decisions and actions rather than just a few sweeping, dramatic decisions.
Whenever I meet with clients who tell me they want to change jobs, first we take a close look at what they've got going for them at the current one. Many times there is still room to improve their experience substantially without having to make a dramatic job change.
Don't be afraid to ask yourself what you want. Even if you have a high salary and an impressive title and believe you couldn't possibly walk away from that, realize that no one's asking you to. Just hang in there and see what happens when you dare to connect your awareness of what you want with what you're actually doing.
When did you last ask yourself what you want from your career? And how did that go?
