What Do You Really Want?

Getting clarity about what you want in your career will make all the following steps much easier. However, getting clarity doesn't come from dreaming and brainstorming and thinking about your future...

Whether you’re getting started in the workforce or you’re ready for a change of pace, it’s important to find out what you really want out of your career. If you don’t take the time to dig deep and identify your goals, you’ll find yourself in yet another job that doesn’t fulfil you. Even if you are comfortably situated in a job you love, you should identify what you really want to get out of it. Inevitably, things change, and to achieve positive career growth, it helps to know what direction you’re going in.

If you are striving for a career change, know that many people are in the same boat. People in this position often struggle because they know they want a change, but they don’t know what that change might look like. To make matters worse, it is usually quite easy to identify what we don’t want. We know this from past experiences that negatively affected us. Maybe, you know you don’t want to have a boring job since you already worked in retail, and doing inventory practically put you to sleep. That’s a start, but if you think about it further, it might be difficult to discern what you do want. When this happens, it can be pretty discouraging.

Focusing on what you know you don’t want can quickly lead to the mentality of “I don’t know what I want.” When we get stuck in these thought patterns, it’s hard to move forward. It depletes your motivation and energy, which is the last thing you need when you’re trying to kickstart a career change. Together, we can figure out what you really want from your career so that you can find your direction and make progress in your goals.

Talk it through

To find your direction, you first have to look at where you’ve been. Talk through your experiences with a coach or someone you can trust to clarify what you want from your career moving forward. Think about the best times in your past job. What worked for you? What would you like to take with you when you transition to a new career? Next, think about the worst times in your career. What are you ready to leave behind? It’s essential to go deep into these questions. It doesn’t help to skim the surface.

Identify the root cause of your successes and problems, and you will be in a much better position to find out what you really want from your career.

Know yourself like the back of your hand

The importance of knowing who you are and what works for you cannot be understated when you’re trying to find out what you really want. Of course, this is easier said than done. It usually takes a lot of time and self-reflection to learn about yourself. When I work with clients, we often do a few assessments to get started. They can be helpful to learn more about your personality, communication style, and values. A great example is the 16 Personalities Assessment (also known as MBTI). Their basic report is already very useful, and it's free.

From Thinking to Taking Action

You can’t gain clarity sitting on your couch. You will get some ideas by thinking things through, but you won’t get clarity until you get up and take action. By now you know what worked for you and what didn't, have gained insights about your personality, values, preferences.

Now it's time to start exploring, because motivation is driven by action.

Don't make the mistake and wait for motivation as you keep thinking through possibilities. Motivation comes from taking action, even if you're just taking baby-steps, doing some experiments, or a mini-project. See our next blog post explaining why why taking action brings clarity.