Discover Your Perfect Career

After meeting hundreds of executives over the years and helping them on their career paths to a new position or a new career, I have assembled a set of tools and resources that may help you on your path.

Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey” is a good place to start. It serves as a reminder of how hard it is to disentangle yourself from the past and the present, hear your own voice, and start living a new life in a new career.

“The Journey” by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

If you feel like your life needs saving, or you’re just desperate for a new start, a new career, create some distance between you and your current life. Step out “deeper and deeper/into the world” so that it’s just you and the stars above. Listen to your voice. What is it telling you to do?

 

Related Posts:

Career Move Mindset (Part 1)

Three Steps to Discover Your Values (Part 2)

Discover Your Strengths (Part 3)

Assess Your Leadership Style (Part 4)

Discover Your Hedgehog (Part 5)

Activate Your Goal  (Part 6)

Resume Recommendations (Part 7)

Creating a Personal Marketing Plan (Part 8)

An Avatar Is Worth a 1,000 Words (Part 9)

Resumes & the Art of Storytelling (Part 10)

Work to Do Before You Network (Part 11)

Boost Your Savvy via LinkedIn (Part 12)

Put Facebook to Work (Part 13)

Increase Your Klout Score (Part 14)

4 Informational Interviewing Tips (Part 15)

Create a Personal Brand (Part 16)

4 Ways to Improve Your References (Part 17)

4 Tips for Working with Search Firms (Part 18)

What’s Your Next and Best Career?

10 Steps to Make Changes Stick