how to discover what you want to do next

How To Begin: 7 Things To Do When You're Stuck At The Start Of Your Career Change

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 07:03:29 +0000

You're ready to make a shift. You're fed up with feeling miserable at work. And you're struggling to know where to start. Natasha explains the art of beginning – and how despite the uncertainty, you can take practical, positive steps towards a more fulfilling career.

Plato said, “The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

No pressure, right?

It's one thing to know you want to make a career change – it's quite another to actually set the wheels in motion.

This is a life-changing decision you're making. The steps you take will quite literally determine the course of your future; your ability to survive; your reputation; how you feel when you wake up in the morning; how you spend your days.

So where on earth do you begin with something like that?

What do you do first?

3 Questions To Ask Yourself When 'What Should I Do?' Isn't Working

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 08:25:06 +0000

Tired of searching endlessly for ‘your thing’ and coming up empty-handed? Unable to make progress until you know what your future career should be? Sometimes a change in focus can reveal a whole host of new possibilities. Natasha shares three powerfully simple questions to get you re-inspired and able to take action on your shift.

“Once I know what I want to do, then I can start. I just can't figure out what that is.”

“What kind of work suits me best? What would make me happy?”

“What's my ideal career?”

What, what, what… What if trying to pin down your 'What' first doesn't always work?

(You'd think if it were an effective starting point, you might have made a bit more progress by now…)

No Clear Career Ideas? The 3 Mistakes You’re Making (And 3 Things To Do Instead)

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:27:03 +0000

If you're stuck for ideas and struggling for inspiration, you're not a lost cause. You're just looking at your shift from the wrong angle. Natasha lays out the key career change mistakes that are limiting your options, and shares some fun techniques for generating new possibilities for fulfilling work.

I had decided to make an evening of it. I sat on the floor of my lamp-lit bedroom, my favourite relaxing album playing in the background and a huge pot of tea beside me. In front of me, a gorgeous virgin page on a fresh new A2 sketchpad.

This was it. This was the evening I was going to have my light-bulb moment.

I picked up my pen, ceremoniously removed the lid, and waited.

And I waited.

The paper looked back at me, expectantly.

"Maybe I just need to start with what I know," I thought.

Why Focusing On Your Career Is Making Your Career Change Harder – And What To Do Instead

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 08:04:19 +0000

Feeling stuck and frustrated trying to come up with career ideas? You could be wasting your time. Natasha explains why your 'career' is a cramped starting point when looking for work you love – and shares three illuminating angles to try instead.

"A Cheyenne elder of my acquaintance once told me that the best way to find something is not to go looking for it. This is a hard concept for a scientist. But he said to watch out of the corner of your eye, open to possibility, and what you seek will be revealed. The revelation of suddenly seeing what I was blind to only moments before is a sublime experience for me. I can revisit those moments and still feel the surge of expansion." – Botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer

There was a particular quality to the silence in my head.

What To Do When You Want To Do Everything: Is A Portfolio Career Right For You?

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 08:46:29 +0000

Struggling to choose one thing to do next? If you'd love to indulge more than one of your interests – and get paid for them – a portfolio career can seem deeply appealing. But what does it actually look like? Who is it right for? And if you want one, how do you get started? Natasha shares some tough truths and real-life stories.

What's most important to you about your future career?

Sometimes, it can feel like finding fulfilling work is just a series of difficult choices.

Do you want security or freedom? Stability or flexibility? Achievement, or autonomy? Variety, or mastery? It's all important, but some of these things just don't coexist in one career. It feels like you have to choose.

But what if you didn't?

The world of work is changing.

Since the financial crash and the pandemic, self-employment and the 'gig economy' have grown rapidly.

From 'No Idea' To 'Ideal Career': 3 Unexpected Lessons From Creatives On How To Start From Scratch

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 10:36:28 +0000

When you try to imagine your future career, what can you see? Is there a clear, inspiring image in front of you, or an intimidating blank page? Natasha explains why it's so hard to come up with ideas for your career change, and shares some unconventional lessons from the experts in how to create something from nothing.

I'm not sure about the term 'career change'.

It doesn't quite live up to the enormity of what you're doing.

Yes, you start out in one career and wind up in another, and in many situations in life you'd call that a 'change'. You might change your shoes, or change your route to work, but these things feel like tweaks, alterations – taking what's already there and editing it.

But my guess is, your situation feels much bigger and deeper and stickier than that.

My shift felt more like a private internal coup.

How A Gorilla, A Basketball And 'Vuja Dé' Can Help You Discover The Career Change Options You Didn't Know You Had

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:20:28 +0000

Stumped for ideas for your future career? Stuck in a Groundhog Day of list-making, job site scrolling or soul-searching? Natasha shares the story of Florence, a career changer who found her calling through an unconventional, back-to-front approach.

"There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." – Aldous Huxley

Have you ever felt like you're in Groundhog Day with your career change? Stuck doing the same things over and over again, desperately hoping you'll have a great idea or notice something new, and somehow never making progress?

In 1999, psychologists Simons and Chabris ran an experiment that quickly became the most famous example of how stuck and limited we really can be.

Lower Your Standards (Or, How Golden Unicorns Are Ruining Your Career Change)

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 08:47:29 +0000

Feeling trapped and in paralysis? No idea what you want to do next with your career? Natasha doesn't buy it. Here, she explains a key 'ideas' distinction keeping you stuck, and shares a simple way to start making progress, no matter how uncertain you feel.

There you are, waiting patiently for a good idea to strike so you can finally take some action.

If only you had a good idea, you could start looking for jobs.

If only you had a good idea, you could try networking and meeting people in the industry.

Leading A Double Life At Work? Why This Is Keeping You Trapped – And What To Do About It

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 07 May 2024 08:19:43 +0000

Feel like a fraud in your job? As though you're only a fraction of yourself from Monday to Friday? Or, worse, someone else altogether? This is likely affecting more than just your mood. Natasha shares a story from a career changer who inspired the term 'Half-Deck Behaviour', and explains how it could be keeping you stuck in your shift.

"I live a double life. There's the 'me' I am at work, and then there's the 'me' I am at home. And if the two 'me's met, I don't think they'd get along very well."

What I hear over and over again from career changers is that you feel like you're not yourself at work.

Or, if you are, it's only in a small way, every now and again.

The rest of the time, you're performing; pretending to be someone you're not; contorting yourself to fit into an oddly shaped box and trying to look happy about it.

The 'Forever' Fallacy (Or: Why You're Probably Not Going To Find Your Perfect Career, And That's OK)

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 08:09:56 +0000

You ache for it: that beautiful 'click' of finding your fit. The work you can dedicate your life to, safe in the knowledge you've found your place in the world. But does it really exist? Natasha explains the fallacy of the 'forever career', and the mindset shift that can break you out of the paralysis it induces.

Finding a career that fits you like a glove sounds delicious.

You've read the tantalising catchphrases:

"Find the work you love and you'll never work a day in your life..."

"Your dream job..."

"Your life's calling..."

"Discover what you were born to do..."

There's something reassuring about the idea. Somewhere out there, apparently, is a career waiting for you like a tailored jacket; something that encompasses all your skills, passions and oddities, and feels exactly right.

4 Ways To Find Work That Feels Like You

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 09:32:06 +0000

You want to do work that fits your personality. But what if you've spent so long in a job you hate, you've lost touch with who you are? Natasha shares four starting points to getting paid to be yourself.

"My job just doesn’t feel like me."

"There's more to me than this."

"This isn't the kind of person I want to be."

Sound familiar?

You're not alone. We hear these phrases constantly from our community at Careershifters.

A career that doesn't suit you isn't just a question of not liking what you do every day – although that's unpleasant enough. It's about the impact that what you do has on your sense of who you are.

Your career is deeply intertwined with your sense of identity.

Why All Your Career Ideas Feel Uninspiring And Unreachable (And What To Do About It)

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 09:22:27 +0000

Struggling to find a career idea you're really excited about? Feeling like a stuck record, going over and over the same old ground? Natasha shares a simple metaphor to help you understand why you're not moving forward with your shift, and what you can do to open up fresh, exciting options.

Two young fish are swimming along in a fishbowl. After a while, they pass by an older fish swimming the other way. The old fish nods at them and says: "Morning, boys. How's the water?" The two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"

It's a cute, funny story, and it becomes incredibly powerful when you apply it to the question of finding work you love.

Why “What Am I Good At?” Is The Wrong Question To Ask At The Start Of Your Career Change – And What To Do Instead

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:23:22 +0000

Trying to identify your transferable skills? Wishing you knew what your strengths were, so you could really get going on your shift? Be careful. Natasha shares 3 reasons why starting from ‘skills’ could be stunting your options – and what to do instead.

If you’re trying to come up with ideas for your future career, one of the first questions you’ve probably asked yourself is:

What can I do, given my skills and experience?

What am I good at, and what does that say about where I should look?

“What am I good at?” is an important question. If you’re going to make a living at something, of course it needs to be something that you’re skilled at. Plus, being able to identify and communicate your abilities gives you confidence, and a set of criteria with which to start your search.

Struggling To Find Your Ideal Work? Why Looking For Your 'Career Umbrella' Will Get You Clearer, Faster

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 08:05:48 +0000

With thousands of potential careers out there, how are you meant to find the right one for you? And what happens if you make the wrong choice? Natasha shares an unconventional way to focus your ideas and keep your options open at the same time – creating a career path that feels true to who you are, and to who you might become.

"Your perfect career is out there waiting for you," they say.

"What you seek is seeking you," they say.

Nice idea. But how long is it going to take?

If your perfect career is out there somewhere, it can feel like an impossible task to find it – like searching the whole of the ocean for a single, specific fish.

Much like the ocean, the world of work is vast, ever-expanding and ever-changing.

In this huge space, how in the world are you supposed to do it?

How To Come Up With Ideas For Your Career Change: 12 Proven Approaches From Scientists And Creatives

Natasha Stanley — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 08:35:04 +0000

No idea (or too few ideas) about what to do next in your career? Struggling to come up with options that feel inspiring, and feeling stuck in paralysis as a result? Natasha shares a range of mindset shifts and creative techniques to get you bubbling with possibilities for fulfilling work.

Trying to come up with new, exciting, viable ideas for your career change can feel like running on an endless hamster wheel: huge amounts of effort, no meaningful results.

And a lack of ideas is lethal for motivation: it leaves you feeling stuck, confused, useless, and frustrated.

But you don't have to wait for a bolt of inspiration to come hurtling from the sky. There are things you can do to actively 'unstick' your mind and get moving.