How am I meant to know what will fulfil me?
Do you ever find yourself wondering, ‘how am I meant to know what I want at work, I don’t even know where to start with the answer to that question’?
If you find yourself thinking this (and let’s face it you’re not alone) here is a simple tool you can use to give you some clarity and you might even enjoy the process too.
I’d like to introduce you to a career graph. It’s a simple concept where you go right back to the beginning, to the very first role you had. Write the name of the company/job on the bottom axis and then ask yourself, ‘how enjoyable was this role for me’? Plot it on the graph as I have and move on to your next job, doing the same thing again.
Once you’ve completed this process for each of the jobs you have had to date, run a line from the top of each bar, linking them and easily highlighting which roles have stood out for you.
Click here to download your blank career graph
Now is the interesting part. Pick the role you enjoyed the most and this time think about what you were doing on a day to day basis, what was involved in your job, what did you like about it, what did you like about the company and make a list of the attributes that made this the most enjoyable job for you.
To make sure the list is right, compare your least favourite job with the list you have created and see what was missing. For example, when I compare my least enjoyable role with my attribute list, I can see that I found it incredibly boring, I felt a lack of autonomy and a lack of challenge, so I switched off.
Your list will be unique to you, however you now have something to check your current role against so you can identify if there is anything missing…and if you plan on changing jobs, you know some of the ingredients you need to make it a successful move for you.
‘Your heart is always wiser than your head. It knows where you must be. Follow it. Trust it. You’ll find the magic.’
Robin Sharma