How To Pick A Career Path That Inspires You
Before creating BuzzFeed, Jonah Peretti was a middle-school computer science teacher. Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York worked in bond trading. Spanx founder Sara Blakely was a door-to-door salesperson.
What do they have in common? At some point, each of these now wildly successful individuals decided to blaze their own trail and try something new and intimidating.
We’ve all heard stories like this. A future founder, CEO, or influencer feels unsatisfied and unfulfilled. They quit their day job and seemingly find instant success within an inspiring, fulfilling career.
However, what you don’t hear about is how that person selected that inspired path. How did they plan for it? What steps did they take to get there? Is it possible to choose a new career path without risking everything you have?
How To Pick A Career Path That Inspires You
The truth is, with a clear vision and focus on what inspires you, anyone can shift gears and embark on a new career path. Even if you’re far along in your current career, it’s possible to take a new direction. And it doesn’t require abruptly quitting your current job with no plan. The most successful people create a strategy and plan to not only find their vocation but to invest in the self-development and coaching possible to achieve their wildest dreams.
If you’re asking how to pick a career path, here are the steps we recommend taking:
Step 1. Document Your Path So Far
When you look back at where you’ve been, you can identify patterns and self-sabotaging tendencies, analyze your existing skill set, and dig into your interests, hobbies, and inspirations. Not only can this be enlightening, but according to The Harvard Business Review, it can improve your future performance.
“Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future mindsets and actions.”
Without this reflection, you can repeat the same mistakes or missteps, and find it difficult to move forward with a new career path. A visual exercise that can be useful for documenting your personal and professional path is the Waitbutwhy calendar. You can use the calendar to record every week of your life, providing a fun visual overview of how you’ve invested a majority of your time.
Using the calendar to help with your career path, color in blocks to document:
The start and finish of new jobs
Educational background (college, degrees, etc.)
Any special training and certifications
Life events that led to your current career path
Any ongoing hobbies or interests
With this visual, you can have a history of your career choices, as well as insight to any recurring hobbies. Try to focus on items that have nothing to do with your current career path, such as frequent travel, participating in 5ks, volunteer work, time spent learning how to code, etc.
Read More: Self-Awareness, Your Holy Grail For Success And Fulfillment
Step 2. Identify Your Values
There’s a difference between doing something for a paycheck and doing something because you genuinely love it. To find fulfillment in your work, identify what makes you feel in line with who you are.
To gain clarity on these values, we recommend answering a series of value determination questions by Dr. John Demartini, one of the world's leading authorities on human behavior.
These questions include:
What items fill your primary personal or professional space?
What do you frequently think about?
What are a few consistent long-term goals that you're working toward?
What do you love learning, studying, reading or listening to most?
Answering these questions helps to narrow your cope on the industries and potential jobs that could be a match.
Read More: No, Your Job Shouldn't Make You Feel Lousy
Step 3. Clarify Potential Paths
More than likely, there are a few things that inspire you that could turn into a possible career. To identify them, you want to look at the activities and behaviors you do that truly engage you. According to Penelope Trunk, founder of Quistic, focusing on these areas of engagement is critical to finding your vocation.
“Figure out what you need in your life to be fulfilled. Find that work. Then, as long as you have control over your hours and you can see how you help people, you will feel good about your work.”
Her approach is simple: find work that you can do for hours without realizing time is passing. What kinds of things engage you that deeply?
To start, make a list of three to five interests that could turn into jobs. You can also make a mood board with all of your interests cut out and on display. These will be the basis for potential career paths.
A few examples could be:
If you love writing and film, you could have a future in the film industry.
If you love nature and animals, a job in conservation could be for you.
If you feel called to take care of others and you’re not squeamish, you could consider a role in nursing or healthcare.
If you’re stuck, you can use career assessments, personality tests, etc. to help you gain more self-awareness. For instance, Myers Briggs matches you with a personality type. These types of insights can reveal the kind of work that best fits with your unique personality and characteristics.
Read More: Meditate Your Way To Professional Success
Step 4. Consult An Objective Third-Party
Once you have a few potential career paths, take your ideas to an objective third-party. Ideally, this is someone who isn’t a friend or family member or anyone who has a stake in your future. You want a coach or a mentor that can give you feedback on the potential career paths you're considering and has your best interests at heart.
A few options are:
An expert in one of the fields you’re pursuing
A career coach or a consultant
A former teacher or coach
Talking out your career options with a knowledgable third party provides much greater clarity on which path is right for you.
Read More: Signs You're In The Wrong Career Field
Step 5. Choose Your Pain
Even the careers involving your greatest passions will still require some kind of sacrifice. Mark Manson, a self-help entrepreneur, describes this in one of his most popular articles, 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose.
Mark explains that no matter what you do, you will always experience challenges and difficulties that you must overcome. The key, he says, is choosing the problems and challenges that will be well worth the outcome.
“Everything involves sacrifice. Everything includes some sort of cost. Nothing is pleasurable or uplifting all of the time. So the question becomes: what struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate? Ultimately, what determines our ability to stick with something we care about is our ability to handle the rough patches and ride out the inevitable rotten days.”
How does that relate to finding a career path? Depending on what you want to do, you may need additional training, guidance, education, etc., that will require an investment of time and money. You may need to give up your weekends to get coaching.
If you want to become a doctor, for example, but you haven’t gone to med school, that’s a step you must take. If you’re not willing to take that step (school doesn’t interest you, etc.), you will need to choose an alternative career path.
Read More: Conquering Limiting Beliefs
The Importance Of Setting An Intentional Career Path
If you’re looking to do something new with your life, it’s critical to set a career path intentionally. Without one, you’ll risk wasting years of your life in the wrong career. Alternatively, if you don’t have a set process or structure to move towards inspirational work, you can spend months reading self-help books, taking courses and hiring coaches that don’t help you progress.
The key to finding fulfilling, engaging work is to dig into your values, make a plan, and follow through. If you’re still figuring out whether or not you want to switch careers, take our Career Clarity Assessment. This assessment weighs your unique needs and wants and reveals the next steps towards moving to a more fulfilling career.
