You took a right when you should have gone left
In school we always hear about the "boom industries” that are “growing” and will be “hiring for the long term”. Teachers encourage us to look at the Information Technology sector, or Engineering, or Computer Science… “Everything will be computerized, get a job in the tech sector.” This may be fantastic advice for some, but terrible advice for others. When we take a look at the future and see where we can make ourselves fit, it may be practical but in the end, can lead to dissatisfaction.
Ask any employer, these days it is hard to keep workers. Employee turnover is huge during this great resignation period. Many people are working toward upward mobility, some are dropping out of the workforce to retire early, but many others are just looking for something… better.
If we take a step back and look at the entire process of training toward a career, perhaps we can come up with a more effective system. Rather than looking outward at prospective industries and forcing ourselves to fit the job, we take extra time to be introspective, determine our interests and strengths, and strategically move toward roles that will scratch those natural itches.
What about the people who are already well into their careers? Do we just say, “too late!” No way! We don’t have to just focus on the school aged, college aged, and young adults, we can all benefit from a perspective change. A simple online search will provide tons of examples of people who have successfully pivoted later in their careers. The issue that needs to be addressed, however, is determining which way we should pivot or which path we should go down at the start.
Imagine that you have read an article about a wonderful little waterfall on a river near your favorite vacation spot. You never knew it was there but you read that it is in the area, and you just so happen to be going to your favorite vacation spot in 2 weeks! You are determined to go to this wonderful spot and take a thousand pictures. You head out on vacation and as soon as you drop your bags off you head out the door. No GPS, no map, no written directions. You just say, “I am going to that waterfall” and head out!
You start walking down the street and see a path into the woods, so you take it. After two hours you see another path that looks sunny and worn, so you think, this will take me there! After another hour you come out on a street right outside of a downtown area you have seen before. Sweaty and tired, you keep walking to the end of town. Finally, your beaten feet need a break so you step into a convenient store. The man behind the counter can tell you have had a rough day and says, “How can I help you?”
You go into your sad story about how you wanted to go to the waterfall and have been walking all day but just can find it. You tell about the paths and how you just thought it would be right around the corner every turn you took. The man listens politely and at the end of your story, he says, “Where are you staying?” You tell him the name of your hotel and he says, “You took a right… You should have gone left. Go back, take a left walk to the woods and 200 yards down the path you will see the waterfall.”
There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from this example but one of the main lessons is: knowing your destination is only the start, you have to know how to get there.
Lets keep the story moving.
So you go back, tired and weary, and make it to the woods. You push yourself to make it up over a rise and down the back side. You hear it. The sound of rushing water, getting louder and louder with each step. Then, through the trees, you see it, the beautiful waterfall. It looks a little smaller than in the picture from this angle but still lovely. But, what is that smell. It is not pleasant, you push forward toward the falling water.
When you are about 30 feet away you stop and look. Its a waterfall. Its nice. You take a couple pictures of your sweat stained face, with your hair completely soaked and your clothes dirty. Then you realize all at once, you don’t even really care for waterfalls. They are nice and all but, its just water and rocks… and this one is stinky water, and small rocks. You shrug your shoulders, and give a half-hearted smile and turn, slowly starting the short trek back to your hotel to take a long soak in the hot tub.
Before you left for your trip the pictures looked so wonderful. The comments on the posts made you think this would be the best trip you could take on your vacation. You were so excited about the prospect of seeing something so widely held as a destination point by travelers to the area. So what happened? Well, maybe you never thought about how much YOU wanted to see the waterfall, or how much YOU like hiking, or if YOU have the skillset to navigate to the location. It seemed like a great thing for people to do and see, but you aren’t people, you are you.
These two concepts together, both properly looking internally at your own skillset, values, interests to identify a goal or final location and making a strategic plan to get there, create an excellent way for people at any stage in life to begin forging ahead toward a career or goal that is much more satisfying and long-lasting. Its simply a perspective change, as early in life as possible, that can make the difference. Lets start thinking about what fits us rather than contorting ourselves to fit something else, then make a plan to get there.
If you want help with this, send us a message at Orchardstreetsolutions@gmail.com. We can help you walk through this journey and, at a minimum, better understand yourself so that you can search for a life that fits who you were made to be.
