“I know I want to change career, but for what?”

Career reflection prompts to help you define your next step!

When rethinking our career path, we go through an odd, scary step, where we struggle to clarify what we want next. Part of us knows. Yet, we can’t express it clearly, the way forward is not obvious.

Do you know why? Because we were taught to think in terms of “what is available to us”, not about what we want. No wonder focusing on what we want feels highly unnatural, we compulsively check it against what seems realistic, narrowing down our options and completely overlooking opportunities.

This thought process is a selection of questions I have found powerful in sessions with clients questioning their next professional move, considering starting a business, or changing their career path completely.

Make sure to answer in the most honest and spontaneous way possible. The first answer that comes to you should be the answer.

Dare to dream it

We often don’t even want to acknowledge what we truly want. Be radically honest with yourself, defining what your dream situation would be forgetting completely about what is realistic and what is not.

• What did you imagine doing as a kid?
• If you go one step deeper, how did you picture it? Focus on what you liked about it, how you imagined it would make you feel, and what you pictured you’d be doing. answer these questions for all the jobs you wanted to do when you were younger
• What was the essence of wanting to do these jobs? In other words what was the why — and potentially what is your why?
  ie. want to create, want to help, want to shape minds, want to share wisdom, etc.
• Remove all constraints, if money or learning skills were not an issue, what would you do? What would that look like? How would you imagine your day-to-day be?
• Five years from now, what do you want to have achieved? How do you want to feel? What do you want your life to look like?

Now, what is your reality?

• What are your non-negotiables work-wise?
  think about how much money you need, how many days you want to work, if you want pm off for your kids, the type of day-to-day you want and don’t want to do, etc.
• What do you like most about your current work situation?
• What sparks your inner self? What makes you feel truly alive and joyful?
  at work and outside of work
• What are you willing to give up or sacrifice?

How do we bridge the gap?

Look at all your answers and highlight the feelings, activities, and words that repeat, both on what you want to do, and what you don’t want, there will likely be a repeating theme.

• Thinking of how you wanted to feel relating to work as a kid, how you want to feel in 5 years, and how you are feeling now, what is different, what is similar? What step can you take today to reconnect with these feelings?
  ie. “I wanted to create”, what can you do today to start creating again, at work and outside of work?
• Thinking of your dream jobs and how you wanted to feel, its essence, who else feels like that in their job? What do they do? Try to think as wide as you can.
  ie. if your essence was creating, who creates? Artists, engineers, builders, founders, etc.
• Thinking of your 5-year vision. What’s a small step you can take this week towards making this life happen?
• What is limiting you? Is it imposter syndrome, fear, or something else? How can you transmute that limitation?
• What excites you? Going through these questions, which idea feels scary yet incredibly exciting, or intuitive?

I hope this sparks your reflection and gets you closer to your next steps! Let me know in the comments or reach out with comments and questions!

I am Orianne, a business coach fascinated by the human mind. I work with brilliant humans, helping them unlock their next level, being a career change, business growth, or anything that would make them feel a bit more (or much more) alive and joyful. Visit gambino.me for more info!