An average person spends more than 90,000 hours in their lifetime at work. Why stay stuck on the wrong career path?
Have you ever asked yourself, what career is right for me? It doesn’t matter the stage of your career, feeling stuck in the wrong career or having uncertainty about your career can negatively impact you in more ways than you may realize. Identifying your career goals, anchors, and focuses will project you into your desired new direction that redefines your career story.
Most people won’t leave their jobs due to money worries, fear of failure, uncertainty about the next steps, or because they feel like the timing isn’t right.
Before you rage quit and begin an arduous job search, develop a deeper understanding of what you want in your career so you’re empowered to make decisions that will guide you to a career that enables you to thrive.
What is Career Clarity and How Does it Impact Your Decisions?
Career clarity is an understanding of what makes you tick and brings you fulfillment when it comes to your professional life.
When you develop a clear clarity, you’ll understand:
- who you are
- what you are capable of
- what your wants and needs are
- what values drive you
- what motivates you
- what brings you joy
- what drains your energy
- what your personal preferences are at work
Understanding your “why” or your purpose is an important first step to gaining career clarity when you’re feeling stuck in the wrong career. You’ll be confident in answering all of the answers in the list above because you’ll understand why you do what you do and how your why impacts every decision you make. Knowing your “why” or your purpose makes decisions will give you clarity in your life and empower you to confidentially make decisions that align with your “why.”
But what happens after you’ve gained career clarity? You need to deepen your understanding of the concept of career focus. This is when you have a clear vision of who you are and where you want your career to take you. Essentially, your focus is the ultimate goal. When you have a goal as your focus, you can make decisions that will help you get closer to a career in which you can thrive.
You can gain career focus by observing what you like and don’t like about certain jobs. Taking a look at other opportunities that align with your career anchor may also help you hone in on what you want your career focus to be.
Use Career Anchor to Your Advantage
A career anchor is another element that holds you on the right path, even in the face of difficulties. Everyone has a career anchor that is pulling them in a certain direction. A career anchor is always true throughout your life—it combines the competence, motives, and values that relate to your professional work choices. Your career anchor should help identify the specific roles and disciplines that fit your style, skills, methods, and talents.
If you’re stuck in the wrong career, you will often find your work incompatible with your core values. This realization can make you feel uneasy, frustrated, discontent, or unable to continue being productive. It’s that feeling of “something’s just not quite right.”
If you want to avoid feeling like you can’t focus on your work, you need to turn to your career anchor to align your core values and use them to make informed decisions. A career anchor is an element you can turn to when facing difficult decisions so you can away from feeling stuck in the wrong career.
After finding your sweet spot: the place where your talent, passion, and mission intersect, your career anchor will give you career focus. The goal is to use what you do best to do the work you love to produce results that matter.
Related Post: Do You Know Your Strengths?
Talent, Passions, and Mission: How to Utilize Each to Find a Meaningful Calling
Talent: What You Do Best
Discovering your talent is all about identifying and owning your natural skills and abilities—and working to develop them. Ask for input from people around you who are familiar with your natural talents.
- Are you a skilled communicator?
- Are you good at interpreting data or creating graphics?
Passion: What You Love to Do Most
It’s not enough to be good at something—you should love what you do. Find your passion by focusing on the activities that make you feel alive. Where you totally absorbed, both mentally and emotionally.
Mission: The Results That Matter
Determine your mission: what matters most to you.
- Who do you want to help?
- Are you passionate about making a difference?
- What problem do you want to fix?
- When does your heart feel full?
Think about jobs and career opportunities where you could align your talents, passions, and mission—that’s your sweet spot.
Walt Disney once said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” If you’re thinking about a career change, quit daydreaming and start taking action today. Sometimes accepting that your job doesn’t bring passion can be hard.
It’s important to recognize that as individuals, we are constantly growing and expanding, and our aspirations will change. It takes courage to recognize that life is too short to focus on things that don’t enable you to be your best self. An important factor to remember is that it’s okay to make a pivot and adjust your focus because life and career are ever-evolving so change is inevitable.
You don’t have to be stuck in a job you hate any longer than you have to.
Are you looking for a professionally trained career coach to help guide you through self-examination and reflection? I’d love to work with you to help you find the career of your dreams. Schedule a free exploratory call here.