7 mistakes high achievers make when choosing their next career step (part 2)
We’re continuing with our series 7 mistakes high achievers make when choosing their next career step :)
You can read the introduction to the series here.
And you can read about Mistake #1: Thinking in terms of jobs and roles…Instead of thinking in terms of applications of their craft here.
Today, let’s jump into Mistake #2.
Mistake #2: Thinking in terms of industries and functions…
Instead of thinking in terms of goals, blockers, and problems to be solved.
In the last post, we worked on identifying your craft.
(And remember, you only need to get to a rough 50-60% clarity on what your craft is!
Don’t spin your wheels trying to get to 90-100% clarity.)
Today, we’re going to work on finding high-value applications of your craft.
This is your next career step, not your next hobby step :)
Whatever you do next, let’s make sure it plays to the strengths of the “base material” you’re working with…
AND let’s make sure it makes as much money as you want it to make, supports the lifestyle you want to live, and is something you’d be proud to tell people you do at a cocktail party.
We’re working toward a win-win here.
So how do we find the highest-value applications of your craft?
By thinking in terms of the goals other people want to achieve…
The blockers they run into as they try to achieve that goal…
And the problems they have to solve in order to overcome those blockers.
Because your craft creates value by solving problems for other people.
The more pressing, painful, or high-priority the problem is that you solve…
The more value you create.
The more value that you create…
The more value you can capture (in the form of a salary, a fee, equity, royalties, etc.).
The categories of “industry” and “function” often obscure what’s really going on…
Which is always: Goals, blockers, and problems-to-be-solved.
Let’s take two people who are both “tech product managers.”
They might look very similar from an industry and function perspective.
But when you ask them about their goals, blockers, and problems-to-be-solved…
Product Manager A could say—
The goal I’m working toward is establishing product-market fit with this new product or feature.
The biggest blocker to me achieving that goal is that I don’t really know what the customer wants.
So the problem I’m solving is: How do I figure out what the customer truly wants?
I’m using a mix of interviews, surveys, data analysis, and A/B testing to try to figure that out.
Whereas Product Manager B could say—
The goal I’m working toward is making customers spend more time on our app.
The biggest blocker to achieving that goal is actually getting resources internally to implement the ideas I have.
I have lots of ideas, and I’m pretty confident they’d work.
The challenge is getting them launched when there’s 100 other ideas in the company that I have to compete with.
So the problem I’m solving is: How do I get my ideas in front of customers?
I’m doing a mix of figuring out how to persuade and build alliances with teams internally to get my initiatives prioritized…
And also figuring out how to make my ideas faster, cheaper, and simpler to ship, so the burden to get them into customers’ hands is lower.
Both of these people are in the same industry and function…
But they are working towards very different goals…
Facing very different blockers to achieving those goals…
And are therefore solving very different problems day-to-day in order to overcome those blockers and achieve those goals.
And you can imagine that the crafts that are best suited to solving those day-to-day problems are very different.
Now let’s look at a criminal defense attorney and a wedding photographer.
Now I’m not going to pretend they are the exact same job — obviously they’re not.
But they might have more similarities than you think.
If you talked to them, they might both tell you…
The goal I’m working toward is getting my clients the outcome they want (whether that’s fantastic photos or a “not guilty” verdict), on the most important day of their lives.
The biggest blocker to achieving that goal is actually keeping my clients out of their own way.
I know how to get fantastic photos, or how to get the “not guilty” verdict. That’s not the blocker.
The blocker is, because this is the most important day of their lives…
My clients have a lot of ideas for what they want me to do, and they tell me those ideas very forcefully, and they can get quite mad at me if I don’t listen.
But my clients also aren’t the experts, and if I did everything they said, we might not get the outcomes they want.
So the problem I’m solving is: How do I keep my clients calm, reassured, and on track with my game plan, despite how (understandably) stressed they are?
So I spend a lot of time listening to their concerns, answering their questions about my approach, and explaining why it will work…
And also just providing emotional support and reassurance when they’re stressed.
And given that that’s one of the big day-to-day problems they’re solving…
A criminal defense attorney and a wedding photographer — despite being in totally different industries and functions…
Might actually be practicing the same craft every day.
So how do you start thinking in terms of goals, blockers, and problems to be solved…
Instead of in terms of industries and functions?
There are 3 things I want you to do.
Step 1: Take your first guess at what you might want to do next.
It’s okay if it’s based on industry and function.
It’s okay if you’re not that confident that it’s the right answer.
Just pick one thing you think you might want to do next.
We’re going to test that thing through steps 2 and 3.
Step 2: Go talk to people who do that thing and ask them 3 questions.
What are the goals they’re trying to achieve?
What are the blockers they’re running into, as they try to achieve that goal?
What are the problems they have to solve day-to-day in order to overcome those blockers and achieve that goal?
Step 3: See how your Automatic Brain reacts as it listens to them talk.
As you read the three Goal / Blocker / Problems-to-be-Solved breakdowns in this article…
I’m guessing your brain had some instant, automatic reactions.
These reactions weren’t well-reasoned, fully articulated sentences.
They were just feelings.
A sense of “ooh, interesting…” or “ew, no.”
A sense of warmer or colder.
A reaction kind of like the ones this dog has to different treats.
I just want you to notice the reaction your brain has.
Because the things your brain gets excited about — those things are a good fit for your craft.
And the things your brain gets turned off or bored by — those things are a NOT good fit for your craft.
As you do steps 2 and 3, you gather external data and internal data.
External data about what you’d REALLY be doing day-to-day in different roles…
And internal data about whether or not that real day-to-day work is a good fit for your craft.
And with that data, you’ll be able to prove or disprove your hypothesis about the particular next step that you were learning more about.
Sometimes, it can be helpful to talk through all that data with someone else.
So come talk to me and tell me what you’re finding!
You can drop by anytime for a no-strings-attached coffee chat ☕️
It’s not a sales pitch.
It’s just an opportunity for us to discuss whatever’s on your mind…
And I’ll offer some one-off coaching and brainstorming about your situation.
Or you can book a consult call, and we can map out a full coaching engagement.
So we can work through all the hypotheses you have about what you could do next…
Test them one-by-one through the lens of your craft applied to different goals, blockers, and problems to be solved.
Get clear on what your next step should be.
And get you into that next step as efficiently as possible :)
⬅️ Mistake #1 || Mistake #3 ➡️
What my clients have to say…
“I would really recommend Pooja to anyone who has imposter syndrome or is feeling a bit lost in their careers.
Anyone who feels like they need some guidance to get them out of a rut or generally needs a change.”
—Client | VP at Major Financial Institution
I help high achievers build their careers around flow.
This requires…
Internally, learning how to access your flow no matter what’s going on around you
Externally, designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve
Tactically, navigating the transition from where you are right now to where you want to be
Today’s article focused on #2.
For more writing on all 3 of these, check out my table of contents.
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