Envisioning Your Career
photo by pdeee454
In the last week I’ve spoken with three friends who are in ‘reflective moods’ with their current jobs. All three know they’re in the wrong place. That sense of dread comes over them when they first see their building every morning. And for two of them the vocation itself is not right.
But knowing you need to make the change is the easy part.
How do you avoid jumping out of one fire and into another?
Ensuring your fit at a company comes down to fit on several levels which we’ve previously touched upon.
But what if you don’t even know what you want to do? It starts with vocational fit. And while this is well beyond the purview of RoundPegg, we’re not afraid to stretch ourselves.
(Note: Po Bronson’s What Should I Do With My Life? won’t give you any answers, but if this is constantly on your mind it will help tremendously just knowing that all these other people are in your same boat. Recommended.)
Career Visioning
Are you in the right field? Do you daydream of being a doctor when you ‘should’ be pouring over another spreadsheet? This is one of those big existential questions that’s ‘above our pay grade’ as Obama would say, but if you’re looking to help answer this question try the following:
Andy Chan, the head of the career center at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, hosted one of the best career exercises I’ve ever done. The purpose of which was to envision myself at work 20 years in the future.
If you try this give it at least 15 minutes and don’t be shy about doing it multiple times over weeks (or months) building upon the last vision. Turn out the lights, light a candle or two if it helps and close your eyes.
Describe the office. What does the furniture look like? How many people are around? What color is the flooring? Is it carpet? Wood? Look out a window. What do you see?
What does your office look like? What’s on the walls? Are there walls? Any books lying around? What are they?
What kind of activities are the people around you doing? How do they treat you? How do they treat each other?
What does the relationship between you all feel like? Someone just walked into your office, what did they say?
How do you feel? Look on your desk, on what were you working? You recently had a great idea that you’re excited about for your next project and you put it on a sticky note on the desk. What’s that note say?
And on it goes. You can ask yourself a thousand questions but be sure to record as much as you can afterward and always focus on the smallest details. Focus on how you feel and what’s making you feel that way.
Frankly, I’ve found this to be far more useful than the question “if you knew you’d make $500,000 every year what would you be doing?” For me that one always devolves into an extended vacation.
While it may sound a little new-agey I found it pretty effective. Personally, the key was identifying what it felt like. What were the things I was excited about?
If you give it a shot and you feel comfortable sharing we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Though this was six years ago I still remember my vision. And in the interest of full disclosure here it is. I saw myself in an office with trees all around with a tight-knit collaborative team of which I felt a lot of pride because I was largely responsible for bringing everyone together. Our offices weren’t fancy – kind of warehouse modern and we were all huddled around a white board trying to figure out how to optimize working relationships.
It took five plus years to act upon it, but RoundPegg is making progress on just that. Though currently without the warehouse modern décor and lush tree forest.
Yes We Can
“This is our moment. This is our time. …To reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we are one. While we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubt…we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the people: Yes we can.”
-Barack Obama
We are at a crossroads in our country’s history. We have allowed divisive issues to define who we are and, in the name of freedom and false hope, have forsaken many of the pillars upon which our country was founded. But last night we took the first step down the very long road to reclaiming the soul of our country.
That journey won’t be easy and there will be missteps. But we will not be making it blindly. Or alone. We have walked this path before, we’ve merely forgotten.
And now we have somebody who can inspire us to lift our foot when we are tired. To overcome when we meet obstacles. And to help our neighbor when they cannot go on. For this is a collective race, not an individual one.
While we are mired in war, on the brink of environmental disaster and have a rapidly collapsing financial system we must still take the next step. We must come back together.
To solve these problems we must to collectively believe again. To work together again.
This election had nothing to do with experience. Or policy. It was about finding the right leader. Finding the person who could inspire a nation.
And last night was more than breaking racial barriers. It was more than engaging a generation just now coming of age.
It was about restoring America as a beacon of hope for people the world around. And particularly for everyone of us living under the fifty-starred flag charged with keeping the lamp lit.
For without hope, success means nothing. Without hope we are merely individuals. And without hope we leave our children and their children nothing.
Hope can unite us and can make us a collective once again. Today we take the first step away from being 300 million individuals fighting for our share and the first step toward being the united America that has overcome every challenge put in front of us.
On September 12th, 2001 we bonded. We vowed to remember that feeling. That sense of purpose. We were reminded of what mattered and the American Dream was reinvigorated. We realized the American Dream wasn’t about accumulating wealth or a house or a bigger SUV. Nor was it about living an easy, comfortable life.
In fact, the American Dream isn’t really a dream at all. It is a way of thinking.
The American Dream is about making ourselves better people. The better people we see in our dreams.
Rooted in that is the belief that merit triumphs. That you can’t keep a good man or woman or country down. And that standing on the shoulders of men does not make one a giant.
The American Dream is hope.
And yet, that feeling slipped from our grasp. That feeling and our bonds were rooted in the tenuous emotions of fear and uncertainty. Two emotions with which our country has little collective experience dealing. And it tore us apart.
The last decade has been difficult. The challenges we now face are enormous. But this election showed that millions of people are ready, willing and able to get behind something. To take a stand and believe in the American Dream and the country they love once again.
Today, November 5th, is a lot like September 12th. We again have a collective notion of what hope feels like. We have the clarity of vision that comes from focusing on what it takes to be the better people we see in our dreams.
Most importantly, we now have a leader who can remind us of this feeling, of the better us and who will enable us to begin to live again the American Dream.
This time that feeling and our bonds are rooted in hope and optimism. Two emotions that are inextricably woven into the our social fabric. This time we are focused on what is possible, not what is scary. This time, I hope, it is here to stay.
Remember this feeling. This moment. For this is the moment when we rediscovered who we are.
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Update: Consider subscribing to the Office of the new President’s blog.
