Four questions to ask at a career crossroads

Career crossroads are not easy to navigate. A career crossroads is when you have multiple career opportunities, and all of them are great choices. 

That’s the challenging part — if any of them will work, what rationale can you use to make the choice.

I recently ran into a career crossroads. At first, I did a logical comparison of the options. I compared the choices by:

• Their earning potential

• The hours I would need to work

• Their flexibility

• The likely opportunities that would open

This logic did not work. There were pros and cons to each choice. 

When people are unhappy at work, they do not describe it logically. They describe it by how they feel. And it’s usually an awful feeling.

If you are thinking about making a work pivot because of how you feel, you can compare career options by how they make you feel.

I found these four questions helpful to guide my decision.

1. Where will I make the most impact?

2. What helps the world more?

3. Which path allows my heart to sing and open the most?

4. What future story do I want to tell?

How to work with the four career crossroads questions

As good as these questions are, how you work with questions matters more. I know you feel a strong desire to just have it all sorted out. To know the answer. Resist the strong draw of needing an answer, and open to sensing and equanimity for a few more days.

Dig into the first question today.

1. Define the career crossroads

The first step is defining what the career crossroads is. Are you thinking about changing the way you lead a team? Or are you thinking about taking a new job? Do you have an opportunity to lead a few projects, but aren’t sure which is the best one to do? Are you trying to choose between two specialities?

Be clear about what the crossroads is.

2. Work with the first question - Where will I make the most impact?

   1. Find a quiet space in your environment to bring a pen and notebook.

   2. Get into a comfortable position, it maybe be sitting, standing or lying down.

   3. Say the question aloud, “Where will I make the most impact?”

   4. Try to feel the question in your body. It can be useful to close your eyes, notice what emotional or physical sensations are arising. Allow those to move how they want. Let that flow and drop.

   5. Ask the question again and this time bring your attention to your mental screen (the space you see when you close your eyes). And just like you allowed flow in the body and emotions, allow any images to show up. Simply note what you see, trying not to judge it.

   6. Bring the first career option to mind. On your mental screen, try to imagine yourself doing the work. And then allow your screen to expand and see if you can sense the impact it might have. This will likely come up more as a feeling than specifics. Once it feels complete. Let it drop. You can make notes of feelings, sights and sounds you experienced.

   7. Then centre yourself again, and repeat step #6 with the other options. Tuning into feelings, images, and sounds as they play out.

   8. Once you have played all the options out, take a moment to reflect on which felt the most expansive.

Beautiful work! Tomorrow, I’ll share how to play with the second question.