Give yourself time to explore.
In your career, it can be tempting to choose the next available option. I did this for the first 20 years of my career. I would get bored at one job, I’d start looking around, and then take the next job that accepted me. I would take a couple weeks off between jobs, but was never actually without a job for those 20 years. And that worked for me because I was terrified of not having a job; it only changed when I built the financial security to be more patient.
I’ve been talking to people who are at a point in their careers where they want something new, but they’re not quite sure what. They are tempted to jump to the next available option, and I am telling them to be patient instead if they have the financial security to do so. These are talented people with plenty of options, so choosing based on which option appears quickest doesn’t serve them.
Instead, I recommend coming up with a few options to explore, giving themselves time to have conversations with people about those options, and then make a more informed decision once they feel they have a better sense of the paths ahead. When they give themselves time to slow down and explore like that, they get a feeling that makes it clear what they want to pursue (as I did with coaching).
To be clear, I’m not saying to explore forever; at some point, you have to choose something and take the next step. But even giving yourself a month or two to explore can be freeing to check out some less “realistic” options.
#career #careerdevelopment #coaching