Monday Playbook: 3 Tips for Navigating the Modern, Meandering Career Path

» By the time boomers turn 58 years old, 75% have received training that goes beyond their initial education level.

Around 80% of college students switch their major at least once before graduating, according to Student Research Group, and 10% change more than once. Meanwhile, the average baby boomer holds nearly 13 different jobs between the ages of 18 and 58, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There’s a reason we talk about career “paths” and not career “destinations.” It takes time to figure out where to go in our professional lives, and for many of us the journey includes unexpected turns to new and different passions. Navigating that path isn’t always easy.

» Winning Words

» 3 Key Plays

1. Explore the Landscape

The United States is a land of options. From ice cream to music to careers, we have a plethora of choices. There are so many options, in fact, that making any choice can be overwhelming and stressful.

An explorer’s mindset can prove helpful for those who struggle with indecisiveness. Explorers start out with goals and prepare for the journey. They don’t hike into the wilderness without provisions, for instance. They take some granola bars, a compass, and a map. But they are open to discoveries that might put them on a path quite different from the one they expected to take.

Explorers are always looking at their options. They order Rocky Road but aren’t afraid to try the mint chocolate chip and the pistachio. They listen to Bach, the Beatles, B.B. King, Black Sabbath, and the Backstreet Boys. Eventually, whether its ice cream, music, or a career, they find the things they prefer while remaining open to new experiences.

2. Bloom Where You’re Planted

Life inevitably takes us places where we might not want to go. We love to bake cakes but we discover we don’t love working in a bakery. We love our job but we get a new supervisor with a toxic leadership style. We can’t land the job we know we want so we feel stuck in a job that we had to take to pay the bills.

As hard as it can be to see it when we are in such moments, those are temporary troubles. And I believe the best way to deal with them is by controlling the things we can control – our attitude, our commitment to excellence, our willingness to do our part to make the best of our situation even as we might explore new ones.

3. Covet Contentment

There’s nothing wrong with setting goals around things like our desired salary, a job title, or the pleasures of life. Maybe we want to own a business or live in a certain city or win a prestigious award. Maybe we want to have a c-suite job or earn enough money to buy a new car or take vacations in Bali.  

Those types of goals can motivate us to achieve excellence. If they are pursued outside the context of contentment, however, they become a snare that traps us in bitterness and regret.

So when our career isn’t giving us pride in who we are, not just the material rewards from what we do, we need to turn off that road. Instead, we need to seek one that leads to the type of joy that’s found in contentment with whatever we have and wherever we are.  

It’s something to think about. Maybe while listening to Bach and enjoying a double-scoop of Rocky Road.