Do you know what your work is? Most people could rattle off a list of things related to their career. For example, a title, an employer's name, annual sales, deferred compensation, etc. But those things are abstract compared to what your work is. If you want a starting point in finding an answer, then the following question must be asked:
If you lost everything related to your career and I asked you to help my mission/movement, what could you offer?
Now notice, I didn't ask about your credentials, your experience, your references or what companies you worked for before. I focused my question on you. You! That's where the answers begin to come into focus. I know that may make you uncomfortable for a host of reasons.
Some people got their work from their parents, from their religion, from peer pressure, and it's all wrong. Some people followed a path they couldn't fully see unfolding and stayed on it, and it's all right. Regardless of which one represents you, the game is not over. Unless you've fully surrendered and choose to look the other way. What matters most is where you're going, not where you've been. There's no greater a story than the person who says and lives out. "I need to make a change."
The following outlines some ways to get to that place of a fully-defined work:
- Compile a list of what makes you come alive, makes you satisfied even when it exhausts you, makes you want to talk about it. There could be other examples, but just start compiling.
- Stop the negative self-talk. You've made some mistakes, I've made some mistakes, everybody has.
- Be vulnerable. This opens the door to courage. It will help you when you have to tell the world you need to make a change.
- Before you rush into making a change ask yourself if your current setting is suited for your work. Your current business, employer, etc., may be a great fit. The main thing is to define what your work is.
- If a change in career, for example, is necessary, then start small and build to the big. Most people run out of gas because they go to fast and too far at once. Patience is a virtue.