How To Find Out What You Want To Be Known For - 7 Ways To Find Out What To Pursue
There are 2 camps, the one who know early on what they want o do when they grow up and those who seem to be on a never-ending surge
No matter which camp you’re in, todays’ episode will give you 7 ways to decide your path and also serve as benchmark whether you’re on the right track or not.
A lot of people live their lives having no clue what they want. They usually follow the traditional career path that their family chose or drift in their career because they are given the opportunity and they don’t think any further whether it’s the right choice for them.
Not judging. I did the same. I only ever considered one career path for me: climbing up the corporate marketing ladder,
In hindsight, getting disrupted 10 years in was – although at the time the worst experience in my life but also the most eye-opening and game-changing one. I was miserable in my role and that affected every part of my life: I was grumpy, I put on weight, I had constant mood swings and I didn’t look forward to anything beyond getting to a Friday night as quickly as possible. Pretty sad if you ask me and this should also be your reminder: you only have this one life and it’s you are responsible to make the most of it.
Not only that: You’re also more likely to excel in a career that aligns with your values, interests, abilities, and personality, so use what you are about to learn in the following 7 steps to choose the path that seems most aligned to you because in the end: you only have one life and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.
However, whilst we only have one life, that doesn’t mean we only have 1 career. Which brings us into the first point:
1. Optimise for interest; not a career
I’ve mentioned it multiple times on the show, but I can’t stress this often enough: whatever you’re doing now won’t be the same you’ll be doing in another 2, 3, 10 years so don’t think that the decision you make now will be your life sentence. We often still have the same mindset that our parents had that we choose an education path which is the foundation for the one and only career that we’ll retire in. This no longer is the case. Technology changes the tasks in careers quickly, makes certain professions or elements of it anyway redundant but also creates new opportunities. Instead of focusing on educating yourself only in this one profession, set your life up for interest.
Especially if you want to become a Trusted Authority, you need to commit to life-long learning about this topic. You can’t do it if the thought of it already bores you. Mark Schaefer calls it ‘sustainable interest’ as the foundation to become known for it.
Truth told: I’ve been talking and sharing insights about Personal Branding in various aspects for nearly 8 years which is quite a long time. Sure – there have been iterations and evolutions of my messaging but the core hasn’t changed: How to become known, recognised and trusted for your expertise so you can monetise it, either through corporate roles, your own business, a portfolio career and anything in between.
So first tip: instead of being scared of making the “wrong” decision with the direction you’re taking, remember that you’ll change highly likely in the next 2-3 years anyway. You don’t have to commit if you aren’t enjoying it or if the world takes a different turn. So get clear on topics you’re interested in, that fascinate you, you’re committed to learning everything there is about it and to also dedicate time and energy to it with actionable steps.
2. If money doesn’t matter …
One of the most common reasons why people get stuck in their career is their financial obligations, especially from their mid 30’s onwards. This is where you usually have either a mortgage, a family, student depts for a post grad,… you name it.
However, one of the ways to find out what you really want to do and be known for is to ask yourself the question: if money doesn’t matter, what would you do? If all of your needs would be taken care of, what would you do all do? Who would you spend time with? Where would you be?
Often the answer is lying on a beach, drinking pina coladas. Nothing against that but I guarantee it’ll get boring a month in at the latest.
Having no purpose, meaning: adding value to others in one way or another is the cause of depression and mental health problems. As morbid as it sounds but often, when one partner dies and that was the only person left in someone’s world, it doesn’t take long for the other person to go also. We all need a purpose in life, contributing in one way or another. So the question is:
How would you love to contribute?
If you don’t have an answer straight away, don’t stress. It’s absolutely normal. This leads us into the next tip as it will help with getting new inspirations:
3. Broaden your horizon
We often get so narrow minded and blind-sided in our own bubble that we don’t even realise how many more opportunities there are. This is one of many reasons why I love coaching so much as asking my clients different questions for them to activate a different part of the brain that usually makes them say ‘I haven’t even considered that’ … honestly- best feeling ever!
Some of my favourite ways to do research are:
Ask friends in your social network. Your peers are likely to know about some career options you may not know about. You may also have friends who have work experience in a career that could work for you. Use your social network, and ask for other people’s opinions.
Ask a career professional. Career counselors are professionals who have the skills to match you to a suitable career. Talk to one of these professionals and get some professional advice. Before you schedule that appointment, ensure that your counselor has a state license and is a member of the National Career Development Association (NCDA) to avoid getting bad advice.
Use social media. Leverage the reach of social media platforms to research different careers. Read information on profession-based Facebook groups; read Twitter chats on different professions; and use LinkedIn to access job descriptions, interviews, and articles.
Attend professional events. Most industries host workshops and conferences. Try to attend a few that relate to different careers that interest you.
Gain new knowledge. You can explore possible professions while equipping yourself with the necessary hard skills for working in them by using platforms such as Coursera, which offers free programs in several areas such as math, computer science, and personal development. Additionally, you can boost your knowledge of specific career paths by reading books, watching relevant YouTube videos, and trying new hobbies that could lead to a rewarding career.
Do your research – but remember don’t get stuck in the research phase. Take action with every single piece of information you have which brings us into tip 4:
4. Taking action vs thinking
Sitting down, mulling over how it would be like working in profession xyz, being in industry so and so, … that’s all nice and good until you realise that reality is often quite different to expectations. I’ve mentioned the example of public speaking a few times as many of my clients want to add public speaking in one way or another to their portfolio.
And I love it but I’m also always brutally honest about how much effort and commitment it actually takes. Not only the actual putting together of content for the signature topics but then also the ongoing practising of presenting it, recording, finetuning, changing, getting feedback, … just showing up and giving a speech isn’t what reality looks like.
For some of my talks I practised at least 50h in advance because there is an art & science to the ratio of stories vs statistics, examples vs theory, personal insights vs general observations and so on. You get the gist. Make sure you get first-hand experience in whatever you are contemplating doing as you won’t know if it’s the ‘right’ way for you or not until you try it. This is another reason why I love building a portfolio career: not only can you tip toe your way into it without risk, but you can also build up your commitment to the craft.
There are multiple ways how you can do it. Some ideas are:
Job shadowing: This technique involves observing a senior worker performing their job duties for as little as a day or as long as a few weeks. Job shadowing can help you to learn about the job, build valuable contacts in a particular career path, and gain valuable skills.
Informational interviews: This method involves contacting a successful senior professional in the career of your choice, requesting the opportunity to benefit from their industry expertise, scheduling a meeting, and learning about their career path thus far. It’s also a great way to build industry contacts.
Internship: By completing an internship, you can gain a first-hand understanding about a particular career. An internship is likely to be more comprehensive than job shadowing and informational interviews. It can also help you gain work experience that you can list on your resume, which can improve your chances of being hired in the future.
Volunteering: You can volunteer in your preferred career path during your free time to gain on-the-job experience and skills that can improve your resume and employability.
5. Know what you don’t want
Often it’s harder to pinpoint what you want vs what you don’t want so you can take the different angle of eliminating tasks, environments, people and requirements that you don’t want. A good exercise to find out is to also observe what really bothers you in your current situation: is it that people are always the negative Nancy? Is the industry highly regulated and every decision takes for freaking ever? Are the tasks that you mainly work on draining to you? You’ll know if you procrastinate doing them, if you know how to do them but still, it takes forever. You feel physically drained and exhausted, not just tired. These are good indicators that you’re on the wrong track.
6. Flip the script –
What makes you truly happy?
Now you’ve determined what you don’t enjoy doing, neither are good at or that drains your energy, it’s identifying what lights you up. What’s important here is that you don’t want to focus on the actual activity but the underlying feeling associated with it> For example: if you love triathlons but you’re an accountant, you may think that hasn’t nothing in common. How could you ever connect those two worlds?
You want to ask yourself the question: what about triathlons or being an accountant light me up? Is it the competitiveness of the sport, the mental toughness you build when pushing your own limits, the camaraderie that comes from being in a squad and going through the highs and lows of training and competitions? Same with accountants: is it the high attention to detail you thrive in? The never-ending regulation changes? The constant thrives to find new ways to structure your clients financial set up better for them to improve their results? What is it that makes you forget time? This is what we want to find out as this is what we can use to identify where else you can find it. What other industries, professions, environments require and provide exactly that.
What did I like most in each of my previous jobs?
What was my best employment experience, and why was it great?
What were my favorite features of the organization?
What did I dislike most about the organization?
What did I like or dislike about my previous supervisors?
Among my previous supervisors, what did I like most about my favorite one?
What is the biggest challenge I have faced in my employment history?
Among the individuals I have worked with, which of their qualities did I value most?
7. Get new perspectives
Big reminder: making this decision doesn’t (nor should it be) a solo job. Share your goal and what you want to accomplish with trusted peers, friends, family and also ask their feedback and insights. What do they associate with you? Where do they see your strengths? You’ll be surprised what others can see in you that either seems so trivial to you or normal and you think everyone knows this or can do it because it’s natural to you. But let me tell you- we all have our own traits and strengths that attracts and repels people.
7. Review your choice once every three years
Once you have begun your chosen career, evaluate your decision once every three years to make sure you’re still on the path you desire. Your aspirations, skills, personality, and interests can change over time, and you shouldn’t be afraid to adjust your plans to meet those changes. If necessary, use this process again to find a new career. If you’ve been wondering how to figure out what kind of job you want, you should now have all you need to start narrowing down your options. Use the information we’ve laid out here to get on the path to finding your ideal career.