How to Get Direction for Your Career

8 Simple Steps to a Meaningful Career

The Alarm rings. You dread waking up in the morning. You hate going to work.

You feel guilty because you should feel grateful that you have a steady career. But you can’t seem to shake off this feeling.

You‘re disengaged and unfulfilled at work. Somedays you just want to walk out of the office…

Never to return again.

If you’ve hit this point in your job, I want to tell you that I’m sorry that you feel this way.

But at the same time, I want to congratulate you.

This means that you’re getting ready for a meaningful change in your life.

Did you know that 85% of employees feel disengaged at work according to Gallup?

If you’re thinking to yourself…

“There’s got to be more to life than this.”

You’re absolutely right.

There IS much more to life. You just haven’t discovered it yet.

But before you go off to make big changes in your life, determine what your personal values are.

1. Identify Your Personal Values

If you want to have a meaningful life, you should live your life according to your personal values.

What do you value most in your life? Is it spending more time with family? Serving your community? Pursuing artistic passions like painting or creating music?

Take time to reflect on what you value most in life. And once you’ve thought enough about them, write them down on paper.

Write them down repeatedly until you know them by heart. When you can articulate your values well, your next steps will become clearer.

Living by your values is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process. Your circumstances will test your values time and time again. Meditating your values daily will give you the strength to stand by them.

When you have a clear understanding of what your values are, you will have a compass for your life. This compass will show you when you’ve gone off course. And you can use it to get yourself back on track.

Raising the awareness of your own values will raise the accuracy of your life compass. Living your life according to your values closes the gap between the life you want and the life you are living.

When this gap is closed, your life will start making sense. You’ll find meaning.

2. Track Your Activities

Instead of making a to-do list, track all the major activities that you do throughout the day.

Record your emotion and energy levels next to each activity. Even for activities that don’t seem significant like taking your dog out for a walk.

Were you energized? Lethargic? Bored out of your mind? Do this for at least 2–3 weeks so that you have enough data to work with to discover what excites you. Maybe even the act of reading this article is enjoyable for you.

Be completely honest with how you feel about your activities. The more detail the better, because it will help you provide context around your data. For example, perhaps you didn’t sleep well one night and had a dreadful day at work.

This might seem like a lot of work at first but trust the process. You’ll discover things about yourself that you never noticed before. With each new discovery you make, your excitement for what’s next will grow.

3. Discover What Excites You

Take the data that you’ve collected on your activities to see if a pattern emerges. More likely than not, you will be able to identify activities that energize you. Categorize your activities by energy levels. I use High, neutral, and low (indifferent) for my journal.

Which activities gave you the highest energy levels?

After you’ve identified your activities, start looking for common themes or patterns. Ask yourself questions that help you see beyond your activities.

Were you outdoors doing something physical? Were you working with people? Or were you reading a book at a coffee shop? Why do you think you liked those activities?

I got into a career in writing because it builds on my strengths and my personal interests. I am an empathetic introvert who likes to think deeply over long stretches of time. These qualities made it easier for me to work as a writer.

I never knew how much I enjoyed writing until I went to university. During my undergraduate years, I had to write many research papers. Receiving positive feedback from my professors and classmates on my writing encouraged me. Even though the work was tough, I felt a great sense of accomplishment.

What’s something that you’ve always enjoyed doing? What makes you feel confident? You don’t have to be the best at it or even great at it. All you need is the ability to learn. And enough interest to keep pursuing it.

Build your career around your strengths. This way, even if you are pursuing something new, you won’t start from ground zero. Don’t waste your past experience. Knowing that there is a purpose behind your life experience will help you move forward with encouragement.

4. Think About What You Might Enjoy Doing

If you want to figure out what you want to do, start with what you think you might enjoy doing. I thought I MIGHT want a career in writing but didn’t always have the courage to pursue it.

And because writing is such a broad topic, I didn’t even know where to start. But when I started tracking my activities, I made discoveries that I didn’t notice before. I enjoyed reading books on self-development such as, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.

Then I thought, it would be great if I could have a career like Napoleon Hill. He devoted many years of life to researching how people live productive lives. His work appealed to me and I wanted to do the same.

At first, I didn’t know where to start but felt motivated to dig deeper. I knew that I enjoyed learning about productivity and goal setting. So I started with what I knew I liked. Even though it seemed too general.

It’s okay to start general, as long as you have something to work with. Why? Because the whole point is to start. Without input, there is no output. When you try something new and reflect on that experience, you get closer to learning what you want.

So where does the grass look greener for you?

It’s true that the grass is green where you water it, but is your grass really green where you’re standing?

Are you truly happy where you’re at today?

If you could pursue anything without judgment from others, what would you try?

5. Research and Try Things Out

Although I wanted to be like my heroes and write books as a full-time career, I knew it wasn’t a viable option. At least not yet…

I couldn’t just up and quit my job and write a book that may or may not sell. Although it would be a fantastic experience to write a New York Times’ Best Seller, I had to scale down on my dream.

So I started off by trying things out in a much smaller way.

This meant that I can still pursue writing without quitting my day job. Instead of writing an entire book, I thought to myself, why don’t I start with a blog post?

It’s okay to have big dreams. In fact, I encourage people to have big dreams. But before you go for that big dream, first learn how to do small things in a great way.

So what’s your big dream?

How can you break them into smaller goals that will help you get there eventually?

Your dreams might seem impossible at first. And your friends and family might even laugh at you if you said them out loud.

But when you break them down into small steps, you’ll see just how possible it is.

My process for writing a book is quite simple. I plan on building a community through blog posts over the next few years. And once I have enough following, I’ll be able to write a book for my readers.

Even if I can’t write a book, I will have done enough writing through blog posts alone to equal that of a book. And I am still using my writing to help my readers. So I am already living my dream. I’m using my writing to help people despite not having a single book published.

I encourage you to go out there and try the thing you always wanted to do. You’re much closer to your dreams than you realize.

6. Talk to People

Pursuing your dream career can often be a lonely process. Your coworkers, friends, and family members may not understand you. Changing careers often overwhelms people. Having a support group around you will increase your chance of succeeding.

Speaking with people who are already in careers that you’re thinking of pursuing will save you a lot of time. When we first pursue something, we tend to either idealize it. Or we sometimes overestimate how difficult it is and give up too early.

The word “mentor” sounds like a big word, but mentors are just people who already went through what you’re going through. Speaking with mentors will save you a lot of time and energy.

You’ll gain insight into the types of challenges you can expect and how to overcome them. You might even find out that the direction you’re pursuing isn’t worth it after all.

7. Reflect Honestly About Your Experience

Sometimes when we want something to work out, we ignore obvious signs that it’s not going to work. Think deeply about your new career direction and the experience that you’ve had so far trying things out.

Are you being too idealistic?

Did you truly enjoy your experience?

Did you feel fulfilled?

What were the biggest challenges?

What sacrifices do you need to make in your time, energy, and money? Would you regret it if you didn’t pursue this career?

Ask yourself deep questions about your experience. Answer them with as much context and detail as possible. Sleep on your thoughts and give them enough time. Then you’ll be able to make a sound decision.

8. Commit to Your Decision

Once you make your decision, commit to it for at least a year.

Burn all other bridges.

Don’t think about anything else that you could be doing. You’ll only fill yourself with doubt. And when you’re filled with doubt, you get stuck.

So once you make a decision to pursue something, it’s time to focus on that and that alone. Make a year-long commitment to your choice. Give yourself enough grace to fail. It’s okay not to succeed from the beginning.

Your biggest regret will not be your failures. Your biggest regret will be not knowing what could have been. So give yourself enough time to do what you’ve always wanted to do.

And always remember…

Success is never final, failure is never fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

― Winston S. Churchill