What Career Direction Is Next for You?

The issue of uncertainty drives people absolutely batty. With such dramatic shifts in the workplace, our personal lives, and our world, we are sometimes left so confused about what our next chapter should look like.

In his book, LifeLaunch: A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life, Frederick M. Hudson writes about driving "our" world by becoming more grounded and aware. The message he’s trying to convey is that instead of relying on the outside world, we should be focused on grounding ourselves first by identifying our values and beliefs. Hudson suggests that we can bring about positive change if we manage our lives from the inside out. He believes staying anchored with your inner values will allow you to pursue the goals you believe in, ultimately bringing about success and fulfillment.

Understanding this premise helps us to more easily discover the possibilities that surround us. According to the National Career Development Association (NCDA), a new chapter people are embarking upon revolves around becoming “more fully alive.”

An example of this scenario is the four empty-nester women who take a trip through Indonesia on a spiritual journey. Think “Eat, Pray, Love.” I feel certain that you may have noticed this shift. According to the NCDA, the reality is that “people 50 years and older will spend more than $200 billion on travel, much of it on trips to distant and exotic places.”

Another example is elevating your hobby and pursuing an entrepreneurial venture. The NCDA also states, “Nearly 70 percent of people over the age of 45 say they intend to keep working during what used to be thought of as their retirement years.”

I think people are finally realizing that time is of the essence. That becoming more fully engaged with what we love should be a priority, because every so often we are reminded of the sobering fact that today might be our last day on this planet. The question plagues many of us, “Are we really happy doing what we are doing?”

We hear that 60 is the new 40, that 70 is the new 50 and so on and so forth. Many conversations and intimate dialogues surround us as we march forward into a future that is a bit unsettling on certain fronts. Furthermore, the way people make career choices based on unplanned events (i.e., Happenstance) really plays an important role in making a career decision. I first heard about the Happenstance Theory many years ago at a lecture conducted by John Krumboltz, a legendary career theorist who believes that we are more likely to capitalize on chance events and turn serendipity into opportunity by maintaining a level of curiosity, flexibility, and optimism.

As I look back into transitioning my own career at the age of 40, I realize that my decision to take a career development course at the graduate level was extremely instrumental in where I am today. The professor happened to teach that amazing class just once, and I mean it was the only course she taught in her entire 30-year career.

Interning under this professor for a solid year led me to another conversation with a colleague (a Happenstance event) that propelled me to teach my first course in Adult Development and Life Assessment at Immaculata University. In fact, many of my career moves seem to have an element of Happenstance. A chance encounter, a random dialogue, and an off-the-cuff conversation seem to have served as a core component of my career advancement.

As the workforce becomes increasingly more global, new skills and talents are always going to be in demand. Developing alliances, relationships, and networks provide individuals with support in reaching their goals. Regardless of the setting you are in, you can count on employers to increasingly shift responsibility and demand more from you.

What’s next depends on you taking control of your career and managing it right down to the paper clip (as Donald Trump would say). With the psychological "divorce" between employees and employers, the concept of stability is vanishing. Asking yourself, “What is next?” is an imperative. Remain engaged, pay attention to everything around you and inside you. I am curious if you realize that there are hidden messages giving us information about what to do next.

This notion of paying attention to next steps reminded me of Carl Jung’s quote. He stated, “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

Actually, my belief centers on both:

Achieving career success, as you define it, involves your ability to remain engaged and pay attention to both yourself and the outside world. Become anchored inside yourself to win at life and your career.

Make no mistake -- you cannot simply eliminate the outer world. Beginning with self, however, will keep us on course when our world is moving in a thousand different directions.