Which way from here?
I want to work on interesting projects. And I’m not doing that right now.
That was my wake-up call.
A moment of honesty, a thought I woke up to, that forced me to stop just chasing clients, or looking for the next job, or business opportunity, and start thinking more deliberately about what comes next.
One evening before falling asleep, I ended up watching a video by brilliant behavioral scientist Matt Wallaert (who I’ll be interviewing soon on the Change Wired podcast - stay tuned). In it, Matt shared 4 questions to ask yourself when navigating a career transition.
I figured I’d share my answers with you - to keep up my writing practice, hopefully spark something useful for you, and help me figure out what’s next.
1. What do you physically want to do in your role?I want to work on interesting problems.
To me, that means applying my experience to real-world challenges. I want to find problems worth solving and solve them.
I want to learn, research, do some data work, build hypotheses, integrate knowledge across disciplines, and create solutions. Then I want to apply those solutions, in collaboration with people - stakeholders, teammates, partners.
Half of my time spent deep-thinking, creating, learning.
Half connecting, coaching, speaking, working with others.
Behavioral design. Systems thinking. Making things better.
2. Who do you want to work with?The geeks. The thinkers. Framework builders. Scientists. System designers.
People who obsess over clarity and complexity in equal measure.
And I want to collaborate with business people, creatives, policymakers, social entrepreneurs - those who live close to the problems.
One of my favorite things in the world is building bridges - between disciplines, between people, between mindsets. I want more of that. Third of my talent is system thinking and design, third is tinkering with solutions, third is communication with diverse groups of people, translating their points of view into something they all can relate to.
3. What do you want to be held accountable for?Results. Real change. Impact you can see.
Imagine this, sitting on a bench, looking at the world around you and thinking, "Because of me, this sh*t works a bit better"
Helping people thrive. Helping clients helping others have access to more opportunities.
Creating outcomes that last, even when I’m no longer in the room. Building sustainable systems that keep on giving. Expanding our collective knowledge.
I want to be useful. I want to make a dent. (One might say, don't we all?)
4. In the service of what?This one took a minute.
A client once said to me, “I don’t feel like I’m making a difference. How do I have a bigger impact? You know, thousands of people.”
I asked him, “Well… who do you want to impact? And why? Probably not all the people?”
The “why” matters. I believe we care most about the things that once caused us pain.
For me, 2 themes stand out:
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Potential left unexplored. I always wanted to do so much but for a long time I couldn’t. Wrong country. Not enough money. Not enough access. So much time wasted figuring out how to find a fit, instead of letting my potential go into full bloom.
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Systems that harm instead of help. I hate seeing people waste their life energy stuck in loops - bad food, toxic habits, addiction, passive distraction - when all it might take is one right nudge to move them toward health, purpose, possibility and potential we all have.
I believe we can design the world as a garden for human potential not just scatter seeds and hope for the best.
Your turn.Which way from here?
