Welcome to 2024 – the year where YOU can focus on finding a meaningful career.
If you’re a healthcare professional feeling a little lost or unfulfilled in your career, this blog post is the beacon in the fog you’ve been searching for.
We’re diving head-first into the three monumental shifts you need to make to carve out a career that’s overflowing with freedom and fulfillment.
Expect to be challenged and emboldened as we explore how to prioritize your deepest desires, become your own biggest cheerleader (even before you see any proof), and navigate the thrilling journey of taking action, failing, and iterating for success.
This isn’t just a read-it-and-forget-it kind of post; it’s your roadmap to a transformative 2024. So, buckle up and let’s get started on your journey to finding a meaningful career!
Use the audio player above to listen, or tune in here.
Shift #1 Prioritizing Your Desires
Finding a Meaningful Career is Based on Your Desires
If you do not prioritize your desires, you run the risk of living a life that feels unfulfilling or disconnected. Desires represent your core needs and wants, the things that bring you joy and a sense of purpose.
Ignoring these desires can lead to a feeling of being stuck in a career or life that doesn’t truly satisfy you. It can lead to burnout, dissatisfaction, and ultimately, regret.
You may find yourself constantly chasing after external validation or success markers defined by others, such as a high-paying job or prestigious title, while neglecting what truly makes you feel fulfilled and happy.
So, why is it vital to prioritize your desires if you finding a meaningful career is your goal?
Your desires are deeply connected to your values, passions, and strengths. When you prioritize your desires, you align your career with these elements, leading to a higher sense of satisfaction and success.
This alignment is key to crafting a career that is not just a way to earn a living, but also a meaningful endeavor that brings you joy and fulfillment.often means making tough choices and setting boundaries.
How to Make a YES/No List to Prioritize Your Desires
To begin prioritizing your desires, a practical and effective tool you can use is the creation of a yes/no list. This tool is straightforward yet profound in its ability to provide clarity on what truly matters to you and help you start finding a meaningful career.
To create a yes/no list, start by writing down all the things you want to say ‘yes’ to in one column. These should include activities, opportunities, or commitments that resonate with your desires and contribute positively to your life and career. These are the things that bring you joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction. They align with your values and passions and move you closer to your desired outcome.
For example, if one of your desires is to spend more time with family, ‘dedicated family time’ should be on your ‘yes’ list.
In the other column, list down all the things you want to say ‘no’ to. These are the activities, obligations, or commitments that do not serve your desires or detract from your ability to pursue them.
They might be things that drain your energy, steal your time, or pull you away from what you truly want. They could be tasks you do out of obligation or habit, rather than because they contribute to your goals. For instance, if you find that social media scrolling is eating into your productive hours, ‘excessive social media’ could go on your ‘no’ list.
The act of creating a yes/no list forces you to consciously evaluate your activities and commitments. It helps you identify the things that are truly important to you and those that are not. Moreover, it serves as a visual reminder of your priorities and can guide you when making decisions.
Shift #2 Believe in yourself before you have any real proof
Limiting Beliefs Prevent You From Finding A Meaningful Career
Understanding that you have the potential to achieve your goals is the bedrock of any significant change in life, especially when it comes to finding a meaningful career.
Believing in yourself is crucial because it fuels your determination and resilience, the two key ingredients that successful people use to navigate the obstacles they encounter on their path.
Many times, we hinder our progress by waiting for someone else to acknowledge our abilities or give us permission to pursue our dreams. However, this is a fundamentally flawed approach. It’s your life, your journey, and your career.
Waiting for external validation or approval can keep you stuck in a place of inaction and indecision. If you’re waiting for someone else’s permission to start living the life you want, you’re likely to wait forever. Your potential is not determined or limited by someone else’s opinion or approval.
This is where being your own biggest advocate comes into play. Advocating for yourself means acknowledging your strengths, owning your aspirations, and taking responsibility for your personal and professional growth.
Remember, every successful person started with a belief in their ability to succeed. They didn’t have all the answers at the beginning, nor did they let the fear of the unknown stop them. They believed in their potential, took action, learned from their mistakes, and kept going. This is the power of believing in yourself before you have any real proof. It’s about trusting in your potential to figure things out along the way. So, make the decision today to believe in yourself, be your own advocate, and watch as doors of opportunities open for you.
The Simple Practice of Giving Yourself Credit
Being your own biggest advocate starts with recognizing and acknowledging your past achievements. It’s about reflecting on those moments in life when you’ve shown resilience, determination, and resourcefulness.
You’ve probably had numerous instances where you’ve overcome challenges and achieved things that you thought were impossible. But as time passes, these experiences can fade into the background, overlooked and forgotten, so it’s crucial to bring them back into focus.
So, what is your evidence? What are the instances from your past where you’ve shown determination, resilience, and resourcefulness? What are the moments you’re truly proud of?
It’s essential to recognize these instances and use them as a source of self-belief going forward. They are the proof of your capabilities, your strength, and your determination. They will keep you motivated while finding a meanginful career.
Shift #3 You Must Take Messy Action While Finding a Meaningful Carer
Finding a Meaningful Career Can be Messy!
Taking action is an essential part of achieving your goals and finding a meaningful career. You can’t just sit behind a computer screen, endlessly scrolling through job boards or planning your next steps. That’s being in a passive state of research, merely absorbing information without doing anything about it. It’s a comfort zone that can become a trap. Instead, you need to take action, to get yourself out there and get things done.
This action can take many forms. Maybe it means hopping on networking calls, attending conferences, or holding a workshop. You need to practice new skills, in front of people if possible.
I recall when I was starting out; I did hundreds of hours of coaching calls. I got on the phone with anyone who would talk to me and honed my skills. I also started a blog, posted it, and put my ideas out into the world.
We often don’t act because we think we need to have everything figured out before we get started. This mindset is incorrect. The truth is, we can’t figure it out until we get started.
The pursuit of the perfect next step can paralyze us, but the reality is that there isn’t one. There’s no one perfect action or path you can take. It’s a process, not a path. The process involves taking action, potentially failing, then iterating. It’s about being in the process of figuring something out through your actions.
If you don’t take action and stay in this state of indecision because you’re waiting for the perfect next step, you’ll remain paralyzed. You’ll be stuck in a state of not knowing what to do next, so you’ll end up doing nothing.
So, you must be willing to take action before you have clarity. Even if you’re not sure, take a step. Then, based on the feedback you receive, iterate and adjust. Repeat this process until you reach your goal. It’s not about having a perfect plan from the start but about learning and adapting as you go.
Accept Directional Clarity
Getting started on a finding a meaningful career often feels like standing at the edge of an uncharted territory. You might have a destination in mind, but the path to get there isn’t clear. However, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to see the entire route to start your journey. Instead, what you need is something I like to call ‘directional clarity.’
Directional clarity is knowing the general direction in which you want to move. It’s not about having a detailed map with every twist and turn laid out. Instead, it’s about understanding the fundamental direction you want to head towards. It’s recognizing that there’s an end goal in sight, even if the specifics are still a little fuzzy.
Let’s say you’ve been dreaming about a remote job that allows you to help people, but you’re not sure what exactly that looks like. That’s okay! You’ve already identified two critical elements of your direction: working remotely, and aiding others.
This is your directional clarity. You know you want to leverage the internet to reach people and make a positive impact on their lives. Your first step, then, is to move towards opportunities that allow you to work remotely and help others.
Remember, the journey of finding a meaningful career begins with a single step. That step doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be taken. Be willing to take it, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly the path unfolds before you.
Take Action With Short Feedback Loops
Understanding and utilizing short feedback loops is a game-changer when it comes to taking action. This concept is all about making swift and informed decisions to help guide your path.
Let’s say, for instance, you’ve identified that you want something remote and online. Rather than spending four years studying software engineering without knowing if that’s what you’ll enjoy, go for a swift action that provides quick feedback.
This could be a one-hour coding workshop, for instance. This approach gives you speedy feedback, helping you to gauge if you’re into coding.
This principle of short feedback loops is something I personally applied when I thought I wanted to be a travel blogger. I bought a travel blogging course, wrote a few blog posts, and quickly realized that travel writing wasn’t my thing. I didn’t want to continue down that path, but I had gained clarity. It became clear that travel blogging wasn’t the main area I wanted to pursue. So, I shifted my focus towards coaching.
If I hadn’t initially started with the blog, I would have made no progress. I would have been stuck in a loop of indecision, wondering if coaching or blogging was the right path. But through action and feedback, I gained clarity.
My initial guess was incorrect, but that’s okay. That’s how we learn. It’s through taking action based on a hunch, failing, iterating, and accepting directional clarity that we can forge our path towards greater clarity.
The journey to a finding a meaningful career is not an easy one – it requires deep introspection, a shift in mindset, and the courage to take action.
The key shifts to make in 2024 are prioritizing your desires, believing in yourself before you have any real proof, and being willing to take action, fail, and iterate.
These are not easy changes to make, and not everyone will be willing to undertake this journey.
But remember, the most detrimental thing you can do is to continually say you want something and not do anything about it. So, decide for yourself – will 2024 be the year you finally have more freedom and fulfillment? If the answer is a resounding yes, I’d love to connect with you.
Listen to the podcast for more insights and guidance on this transformative journey. Your fulfilling career is within reach; all it takes is the courage to pursue it.
