5 quick career experiments you could do this week (part 1)
Yesterday, we kicked off our 5 quick career experiments you could do this week series!
Check out the introduction here if you haven’t already.
I told you…
The best way to figure out your next career step is to conduct small, bounded experiments
And over the next few days, I’m going to give you 5 quick and easy career experiments to help you gain clarity and momentum on your next career step.
Here’s experiment #1—
Experiment 1: Listen to podcasts where people “talk shop” about that industry
The great thing about everyone and their mother having a podcast these days…
Is that there are a TON of niche podcasts about every possible angle of every possible job or career path that you’re considering.
Let me show you what I mean.
If you’re thinking of being a lawyer…
Law School Toolbox gives people tips for law school and the bar exam
Thinking Like a Lawyer takes non-legal topics and examines them through legal frameworks
How I Lawyer with Jonah Perlin features a Georgetown law professor interviewing a huge variety of lawyers to show people all the things you can do with a JD
Strict Scrutiny features three three constitutional law professors providing analysis of the latest news on the Supreme Court
I found all of these podcasts in a few minutes of googling.
There are dozens more — this is barely scratching the surface.
And by listening to a few episodes of each of these podcasts, you can test-run thinking about the kinds of issues and problems you would likely have to think about as a lawyer.
You’ll have to think about law school and the bar. Try that on for size while you listen to Law School Toolbox.
You’ll have to learn how to think in terms of legal frameworks and analysis. Give that a try while you listen to Thinking Like a Lawyer.
You’ll have to think about what the heck you want to do with in your legal career. Test-run that thinking while you listen to How I Lawyer.
You’ll have to think about the major news and issues in your industry. See how that feels while you listen to Strict Scrutiny.
1% of the experience of being a lawyer is telling people “I’m a lawyer” and feeling good about yourself while they look suitably impressed.
99% of the experience of being a lawyer is actually…doing the work of being a lawyer.
And most of that work (in the law or in any field) is solving problems, wrangling with issues, and figuring stuff out.
The real difference between different jobs or career paths…
Isn’t that some are easier than others.
It’s that you have to solve different problems and wrangle with different issues and figure different stuff out.
So do a trial run of this career path’s particular flavor of problem-wrangling…
By listening to those niche podcasts and trying some of that problem-wrangling in your own head for an hour or two.
See if you’re interested in these kinds of problems.
Notice what bores you and what pulls you in.
Are you energized at the end of a few episodes, or feeling drained and needing a break?
Are they wrangling with the problems you thought they’d be wrangling with, or with something you didn’t expect?
(Maybe you thought lawyers would talk a lot about cool trial strategies…but they mostly talk about how to settle as quickly as possible.)
Where are the places where you’re like, “Ooh, I have an opinion! I wish I could chime in!”?
Where are the places where you’re like, “Dude, who cares”?
A few hours of exposure to the real day-to-day issues in this career path…
…is worth more than years of abstract theorizing about whether or not you’d like it.
And that’s it! That’s Experiment #1.
Super fast. Super simple.
You can do it while you get ready in the morning or commute to work :)
And you’re going to have so much more clarity afterward.
Here, in my newsletter, I can give you experiment suggestions.
Together, in my coaching, I can help you customize those suggestions to fit exactly what you’re trying to figure out.
I can give you structure and accountability to make sure the experiments get done.
And we can dive in together to interpret the data, figure out what it means, and decide what to do next.
These experiment suggestions are just the starting point.
Book a free consult call, and let’s make a plan to get you over the finish line.
What my clients have to say…
“I realized that I wasn't alone in a lot of my situations. In fact, what I was going through was very common.
And that there were tools and I could use to get out of this, and that I wasn’t the first person in the world to go through and I’m not going to be the last.
And that Pooja has seen this before and that she is very well equipped and familiar with how to troubleshoot these things. That helped so much.”
—Client | VP at Major Financial Institution
Did you know I have a full table of contents, where all my work is categorized by topic, so you can easily find what you need right now? Check it out below! :)
⬅️ Introduction || Experiment #2 ➡️
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