Why you can’t figure out what to do next.
One question to get your career and life back on track.
Let’s say you know you don’t want to work in your current job anymore.
Perhaps you’ve already left it. Perhaps you are planning to leave it.
Maybe you know that you are done with your industry altogether, or you vow to never work for a company with a toxic culture, or for a company that isn’t well-funded, or for a company that is only work-from-home.
Or maybe you have no clue at all as to what is next for you.
Whatever it is, you are struggling to figure out what you want to do next.
The answer just isn’t coming. Or, you come up with an answer and notice you are procrastinating and just not making it happen.
Most likely this is because you have been thinking too much. You have been using your thinking mind to generate an answer to what you want.
The part of you that knows what you want next doesn’t think.
(Note: if you are in an active job search you may want to also read my post on how to fix a job search that sucks.)
Lion tracker, life coach and TED speaker Boyd Varty reminded me of this quote by Joseph Campbell:
If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step… it’s not your path.
When you create a path with your logical and rational mind you are looking at what makes sense, how the step will be perceived by others, and what is realistic or likely to happen.
When you do that, you aren’t noticing your wants. You aren’t in the present moment. You aren’t noticing what you feel a pull towards. Or what lights you up. Or what captures your attention effortlessly.
You are keeping what it is that you want away from you. Because your mind can’t make sense of it. So it tells you that it’s irresponsible to make a career move that doesn’t offer a steady income. It tells you that what you want is unlikely to be a successful choice. It may even tell you that you aren’t suited for it.
Instead, try asking yourself this:
When I do finally “figure it out” and find that next thing… How will I know I have found it?
And whatever your answer is, find one thing you can do this week that makes you feel exactly that way. And do it.
When you do, you will be back on your path.
Hello, I’m Serena. I am a life coach. I help high achievers find what they are uniquely meant to do. If you would like to receive thought-provoking content, join my email list. If you are interested in 1:1 coaching, get in touch with me here.
