In the past week, I’ve had 3 different conversations with students and professionals who haven’t quite figured out how to master career exploration. They feel stuck and feel like there’s no innovation in the type of roles they can have in their careers.
I get it! It almost feels impossible when you don’t know what’s available to you. But I’m here to tell you that there are so many career opportunities out there, you just need to know how to find them.
Career Exploration: Why Being Curious is Key to Discovering Your Dream Career
The talks that I had got me thinking about my own journey.
When I went to college I chose the loftiest goal that I could — “Become a film director.” I chose this goal because I wanted to tell stories, and this was the only career path that I was exposed to. I found out later that I didn’t actually enjoy the tasks that a film director did. It wasn’t for me, so I had to keep exploring.
By the time I left college, I found out that I could tell stories through design. I was excited to explore this new type of storytelling as a Tech Product Designer. I dipped and dabbled in that arena for a bit, and then later decided that I didn’t want to push pixels around for my entire career.
A couple of years into my post-college career journey, I wanted pretty much nothing to do with design, and only wanted to focus on telling brand stories as a creative marketer in the media industry. Now I’m kind of doing that, and I believe I’m on the right path.
I say all of this to say that there’s more than one way to live out your dreams. I didn’t realize what I liked or what path was right for me until I started getting curious! The only true way to figure out what’s out there is to invest heavily in career exploration, and I’m going to show you how to do that.
3 Simple Tasks to Help You Explore The World, Discover Your Passions & Find Your Dream Career
𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗞 #1: 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘
We don’t do anything in life alone. In fact, the people that we meet have a larger impact on our journeys than most like to admit. So, it’s only fitting that I make task #1 about connecting with PEOPLE. The people you meet can help you figure out what’s happening in your desired industry, what the typical career path looks like, and what you should consider before entering the field.
How to Connect with Someone New
Use Linkedin to search for people who went to your college, high school, community program, boot camp, etc Ask them to chat about their post-college and/or career journey. You can expand beyond your network by searching for people who went to your rival college/program as well!
Form Deep Connections
It’s important that you try to form deep connections with each person that you meet. You can do this by asking them both generic and tailored questions. The generic questions will help you discover who they are as a person, while the tailored questions will help you uncover why they’ve chosen a certain career path or life direction.
Example Questions to Ask Your Connections
- [general question example] What do you like and what don’t you like?
- [general question example] What have you been reading, watching, and consuming lately?
- [tailored question example] I see that you’re currently a [role title], do you think studying [major] prepared you for this role and the industry?
- [tailored question example]You recently worked on [what did they work on], do you think that working on passion projects like this also helps you with your current work as a [role]?
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𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗞 #2: 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗
TRAVEL is the only real way to break free of what you thought you knew. People live differently than you, experience different roadblocks, and ultimately have different solutions to their problems. Seeing this all unfold through travel is a really good way to step outside of your comfort zone, build grit, and even unlock new passions within yourself. And hey, you can take what you learn on your travel journeys back to your local communities and your workplaces!
Simple & Quick Travel Ideas
This is an excuse-free zone. So, before you say that you can’t afford to travel to faraway lands or take expensive trips, I’m going to help you out. Here are a few ways that you can travel quickly!
- Take a day trip to a town or city that is 1-3 hours away from your hometown.
- Go to the nearest college town, and spend the day at all the popular college spots.
- Try authentic ethnic food from a culture that is prevalent in your city (for example, my city has one area that is famous for its Mexican and Chinese food!)
- Invest in a staycation. Rent out a room at a boutique hotel, buy a day pass to a hotel pool, or book a spa day!
Travel To-Do’s for the Curious
When you do travel (because I know I’ve inspired you to do so), do these things:
- Eat something that you’ve never tried before. You get bonus points if you try something that you swore you’d never eat.
- Talk to a complete stranger about something random. Don’t even think about talking about the weather… that doesn’t count!
- Go somewhere artsy. This could be a museum, an art gallery, an art walk, a painting class, etc. It doesn’t matter, just make sure it’s something that gets your creative juices flowing.
- Go somewhere nature-y. My go-to is to find a local mountain range to hike, find a local trail to walk, or find a group of people to ride bikes with.
- Do an Airbnb Experience. Every time I travel, I have to do an experience, and I always have a blast. Pick your poison, you can do anything you choose, but just choose something!
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𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗞 #3: 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧
Last but certainly not least, you have to focus on YOU. How will you know which career is right for you, if you don’t even know what your passions are?
Self-awareness and reflection will always help you achieve your personal and professional goals faster and more accurately. Figure out how often you want to reflect (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) on your journey, and try to stick to it.
Reflection Questions to Ask Yourself
- What do I like to do? Like really do?
- What am I doing when time flies by?
- Outside of work, who am I?
- What topic am I talking about/researching when I go down a rabbit hole?
- What drains me?
- What energizes me?
Give Yourself Constraints
Pressure makes diamonds! So give yourself a few constraints to see what you come up with. See a few examples below.
- Set a 2-minute timer and write down all the things that come to mind. Then, start exploring those things over the next month.
- Write down the first 10 things that come to mind. Don’t erase anything! Do the same thing next week, and compare your two lists.
Summary: Unlocking Passions, Careers & Opportunities with Curiosity
Remember this: We live in an abundant world.
But even then, it can be difficult to find opportunities that you feel align with your passions or desired career paths. So, the only true way to find what’s meant for you and discover what’s out there is to get curious!
How to Get Curious
- Connect with people to learn about their career journeys and form deeper connections through generic and tailored questions.
- Travel to learn about how people approach the challenges that they face and also unlock new ideas within yourself.
- Do some self-reflection to discover what you enjoy and what you’re good at. Use what you learn to guide you along your path.
What’s Next: DIY Your Career With the Tools Below!
