“I Don’t Know What Career I Want”

Are you caught in a loop of not knowing what career you want? And you keep telling yourself, “I don’t know what career I want”… Look no further. Today, we’re going to talk about how to find a career and get you back on track! 

Find Your Strengths

The first step is to find your strengths. What are you good at? Are there things you’ve done that make you excited to work on them? This is a critical step if you’re telling yourself, “I don’t know what career I want”. 

Three ways to find your strengths can streamline your path to finding your career. 

The first thing you can do is a formal assessment like DISC or CliftonStrengths. By investing in a test like these, you can get feedback on your professional strengths and have something to judge yourself against. 

The second way of finding your strength is asking friends and coworkers. Send a quick text to your colleagues and let them know you’re trying to find your strengths. Usually their feedback will be quick and present a perspective you didn’t consider. 

Thirdly, you can write a list of 50 things you’re good at then highlight the things you’re excited about. 

So three quick ways to find your strengths if you’re telling yourself, “I don’t know what career i want”. 

Know Your Stance on Purpose and Passion

When you’re stuck and telling yourself, “I don’t know what career I want”, it’s easy to get caught up in things like passion and purpose. 

We approach purpose and passion with this idea that this defines our entire career. When in fact the emotional satisfaction and fulfillment that we feel in our careers is some thing we create as we go.

There are two types of people when it comes to purpose and passion.

First, you may believe that purpose and passion or fixed beliefs and your job is to find it. Second, you may be a person who believes that you can be happy anywhere so purpose and passion are things that you anticipate on finding along the way.

In any case, it’s important that we look at purpose and passion as one component of our career and not the defining component of our career. You should look for a career that’s exciting to you and that aligns with your strengths and plan on finding your purpose and your passion in that. 

Plan for the next 2 years

It may be hard to picture this, if you’re telling yourself, “I dont know what career i want”. If you’re looking for your next career move it’s often times easier to try and visualize your entire career and make your next step off of that.

When you are stuck and you don’t know what to do, your next step should be to plan for the next 1 to 2 years instead of the rest of your career.

By breaking your career down into smaller steps, you will be able to accomplish more and feel more fulfilled today as opposed to waiting 10 years down the line.

How can you be more purposeful today?

If you’re still telling yourself, “I don’t know what career I want “, then you need to start looking at how to make today more purposeful.

We all have a habit of thinking that we need to push our rewards years into the future instead of enjoying them today, but if you’re stuck right now, you can start with little wins by making today purposeful. 

How do you do that?

You start by finding small things that make you excited and pursuing those passions. It could be things like gardening, carpentry, art, poetry, etc. Whatever you choose gives you creativity and momentum to get you out of your slump and get you back on the road to an exciting career. 

Explore

The last tip I have for you, is to get out and explore. 

At the very end of the day, your ability to get out and find the things that excite you will be the leverage that “breaks the ice” and stop you from saying “I don’t know what career I want”. 

If you can get out and test let’s say three different things, one of those will be more preferential than the others. Then you pull on that thread, and eventually you’ll get to a point where you’re choosing your preferences and moving in a path of the career you want. 

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