Identity is an interesting concept, we use our career or our path as the base of our existence, we are lawyers, caretakers, electricians, dentists, stylist, business owners or entrepreneurs. It is a strange such a large part of our identity is wrapped up in what we do to earn the money we need to sustain our lives, or earning a living.
As a child, I always thought that the adults had it all figured out. They don’t struggle with major life decisions and they have this secret handbook that just tells them exactly what they need to do. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I realized, no one has it all figured out. We may know the things we enjoy, but we may not always know the next steps. The average person has seven careers changes in their lifetime and I can only imagine that this number will continue to grow.
So maybe we aren’t solving what you want to be when you “grow up” but what are the possibilities that will enable you to do the things that you enjoy. So we are “grown” what now?
Strength Finder
In school we are told that we need to work on the things that don’t come naturally to us. We struggle with math, so we get a tutor and we focus on becoming well rounded individuals. However, we tend to ignoring fine tuning the things that we excel at and developing them further. Strength Finder really helped me to have a better understanding of myself, what I enjoy and how to pull out my strength so that I using them to their full potential and continuing to improve and evolve. I think it is also a great tool for building your resume and making sure it highlights your strongest skill sets.
What Do You Enjoy Doing
There are a million and one career quizzes. I know I did a few in university and they came up with the most ridiculous career suggestions from zoo keepers to a school teacher. It wasn’t until I got out into the workforce that I fully understand the working conditions that I enjoyed and the projects that I like working on.
I recently discovered 16personalities, which was not only beneficial to understand my professional self but also uncovering areas for me to improvement and giving me a stronger understanding of my relationships. When deciding a next step, having a comprehensive views of yourself is a great jumping off point.
Goal Setting
One of the things that I uncovered when I did Strength Finder, was that I am obsessed with goals. I love the feeling of achievement, so writing about goal setting is my jam. The way I view my career is that I am either getting paid enough that it allows me to live the life that I want to live in my free time, or I am passionate about the work I am doing so I feel fulfilled in my every day life. Most things in life are a negotiation, you can’t have it all but you can get pretty close. Goal setting really helps me to understand where my priorities are and give me a purpose so that I don’t end up feeling stuck. I like to build out an end goal and then work backwards so I can figure out how to get there. Every year I set personal and professional goals, so stay tuned.
Aligning Values
I know I talk about values a lot, but in the past year, acknowledging my values has really helped me to get a better place in my life, and I continue to have a greater level of comfort in myself.
When it comes to my career, making sure it aligns with my values is very important. The main reason I left my previous role was because the majority of my values were not being met. I was not feeling challenged or supported, I wasn’t able to balance my schedule so I could make time for things that I enjoyed and I really wasn’t tapping into my creativity.
When choosing a role or a career figure out what you need from your job in order to honour your values.
Next Steps
There is no real formula to decide your career moves, but these are all resources that I found useful to help me understand what I need to get out of my day to day so that I feel a sense of purpose. I have written quite a few posts on being stuck , getting out of a rut, applying for jobs and setting boundaries which I feel are all common struggles with millennials in the workforce. We also consistently get mistaken for Generation Z-ers (worst!). Hopefully this helps point you in the right direction when taking the next step. Let me know in the comments below what tools you have found beneficial for navigating your career.
