You’ve maybe heard the adage about climbing the ladder only to realize it was leaning against the wrong building. It’s worth a bit of effort and soul searching to discover the right building.
One of the first places we started thinking about our careers is when we were children and people asked us what we wanted to be when we grow up. Most likely our answers were bounded by careers we’d been exposed to by people we knew or TV shows we’d seen. As we got older our repertoire of possibilities expanded. Then we got to college. We were all set to pursue a particular major because of some young ambition we had or pressure from parents to find a good (profitable) career or to impress peers (rock star or Nobel laureate). For many of us, reality set in and we realized we were not all that in love with the foundational work that went into these majors. Moreover, most of us did not see how some of our classes or assignments mapped onto the careers we were hoping to move into. Or perhaps we discovered we did not even want to go into that career at all. If we were fortunate, we changed majors and found something we did enjoy and had some success with. We moved the ladder to a different building.
Having an intentional focus can help you decide where you want to work, with whom, and doing what. Career descriptions and college majors really only tell you what you will be doing. They do not always explore the motivations behind those careers. Knowing your “why” can make sense of the many steps or choices you must take to get through your major or career. Two accountants may do nearly identical work, but one person’s motivation is that they like bringing data into order, while the other person’s motivation is to save clients who can’t manage their own finances from self-destruction.
Knowing your why can also help in those days when everything is a slog (we all have them). We don’t always love some of the tasks, but we love the effect those tasks have on accomplishing what is important to us. It’s a worthwhile investment in yourself to take some time to discover what that why or purpose is.
Puzzle Pieces Coaching 