How To Start A New Career
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
— Andre Gide
Finding the work you love doing is the most important contributor to your career success.
Finding a career we love is the ultimate goal for many of us.
For many, however, finding work you can fall in love with has been a fleeting dream.
In this article, I will teach you the exact steps to finding a career you love.
Why should you find a career you love?
You will feel more productive.
You will feel more fulfilled.
You will likely succeed.
You will inspire others.
You will develop advanced skills.
It will build self-confidence.
You will become happier.
Inspire you to make a significant contribution to society.
Potential high financial reward.
Recognition, respect, and esteem.
Here are the exact steps to help you find the career in your life.
Step 1: Identify a list of new roles
The first step is to take the time to identify 3-5 roles you love to perform in the future.
These roles could be roles that you wanted to land in the past, but your education or experience may have limited you.
It could be roles someone else mentioned, but you would like to explore further.
Whatever it may be, write all of them down without any judgment.
For example, once in my life, I wanted to work as a Technology Consultant to help companies use technologies to improve how they do business. At that time, I had no experience or education in Technology whatsoever.
The closest to technology training I had was learning excel through videos and troubleshooting computer and wifi issues with my father. But I kept courses and learning things on my time and dime.
Several years later, I realized I had become a top Technology Consultant for one the largest advertising companies in the world. If you want it and are willing to invest the time, you can make it happen.
Key actions: Take the time to come up with 3-5 job titles you would love to attain one day. What you love to do may change over time. This is completely fine and is necessary.
If you want o get an idea of what titles there are, use this resource. It has over 450 roles you can choose from.
Step 2: Identify your ideal responsibilities
You must identify responsibilities you would love to perform on behalf of a company.
The most important aspect of finding a career you love is the responsibilities you are willing to undertake.
More than falling in love with the role, you must learn to fall in love with the responsibilities associated with the role.
Here is mine:
Ideal Career: Entrepreneur & Professor
Ideal responsibilities:
Teaching people how to overcome issues and challenges.
Creating articles, courses, and books that resolve people's issues and challenges.
Creating products and services that help people solve life and work problems.
The responsibilities you identified will help you guide your job search and help you focus on finding roles that match your ideal responsibilities.
List them somewhere you can access them easily. I recommend using Google Sheets to collect them in one place.
Key actions:
Read the job descriptions carefully for each of your ideal roles
Use sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor
Read the job descriptions carefully for each of your ideal roles
Make a list of responsibilities that you would love to take on
Write down the responsibilities that could transfer
Step 3: Rank roles and responsibilities
Once you have researched, organize the roles and their related responsibilities based on most desirable to least desirable.
This step will help you uncover the most suitable role based on your interests and desires.
Key actions:
Use a spreadsheet to list all desired roles and responsibilities.
Rank them based on most desirable to least desirable.
Step 4: Identify resources that you can use to advance your skills
Once you have established your ideal role, look for resources to help you develop the necessary skills and abilities in the most desirable role.
Take the time to research books and courses that you can use to achieve your ideal career.
Coursera and Udemy have the best courses you can take remotely to build foundational knowledge.
Think about taking specialized certification or designation once you have had time to consider your ideal career choice.
Key actions:
Make a list of books and resources that can help you.
Dedicate 1-2 hours daily to learning knowledge and developing abilities for the role.
Keep a journal of the knowledge you learn in your courses.
Build small projects with the knowledge you gain (i.e., write an article, create a checklist or template)
Pro-tip: Volunteering and free work are the best ways to advance skills quickly.
Step 5: Identify professionals who can help
Take the time to research and identify professionals who can help you learn about the role you are interested.
Connect with professionals through Linkedin and professional associations.
Key actions:
Browse LinkedIn and make a list of people who has your ideal role
Message them and ask if they are open for a quick call to chat about their experience
Let them know you are impressed by their experience and ask how they got started
Ask them, “What would you do if you had to start their career again.”
Join professional associations and connect with their members.
Ask for informational interviews to learn more.
Step 6: Set a goal to achieve your career goal
Goals are the primary mechanism of creation.
The next step is to set a goal, commit to taking action, and attain the ideal role you have selected.
Key steps:
Use a card and write your goal down in this format “I am so happy and grateful that I am a [your ideal role] by [Specific date].
View this card before you sleep and when you wake up in the morning.
Take consistent action each day to move towards these goals.
