7 mistakes high achievers make when choosing their next career step (part 5)
Today, 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.
You can read about Mistake #1: Thinking in terms of jobs and roles…Instead of thinking in terms of applications of their craft here.
You can read about Mistake #2: Thinking in terms of industries and functions…Instead of thinking in terms of goals, blockers, and problems to be solved here.
You can read about Mistake #3: Discounting the value of your craft because it comes easily to you here.
You can read about Mistake #4: Prematurely accepting tradeoffs here.
Now, let’s jump into Mistake #5.
Mistake #5: Being in Execution Mode instead of Exploratory Mode.
Exploratory Mode and Execution Mode are two different phases of achieving a goal.
Neither is better or worse, or smarter or dumber.
They’re just Phase 1 and Phase 2.
Both work great! As long as you use them in the appropriate phase.
Let’s actually start with Phase 2, Execution Mode first.
Imagine a corporation trying to hit its quarterly goals.
They know exactly WHERE they’re trying to go.
They know exactly HOW to get there (or at least, they have a very strong guess, based on prior experience).
And because they have lots of information about the destination and the pathway…
They make the overall plan.
They lay out the weekly roadmap.
They set interim milestones and checkpoints to make sure things are on track.
They block out distractions.
They fully commit.
And they put their head down and get it DONE.
Now imagine a startup that’s still figuring out product-market fit.
They don’t know 100% WHERE they’re trying to go. (Or they might have a broad idea like “we want lots of revenue” but they don’t yet know the details.)
And they also don’t know HOW to get there. (Because how can you know the “how” when you only vaguely know the “where”?)
And because they have very little information about the destination and the pathway…
It doesn’t make sense to set a quarterly revenue target.
And then make a plan. And lay out a roadmap. And set interim milestones. And put their head down at get it done.
I mean, they could do that if they want.
But the target and the plan will probably be wrong — it’ll be total false precision.
Because they lack the information to be able to do all that accurately.
So their #1 priority is not setting a goal, making a plan, and executing it.
Their #1 priority is gaining more information.
Talk to lots of people about the product and see how they react.
Set up 10 sales calls and see if you can get anyone to commit to be a free beta user.
Do a pilot and see what happens.
There will probably be lots of dead ends and failures.
But that’s okay — in fact, that’s great!
Because every dead end is new information.
And once they have enough information, the destination and the pathway will become clear.
This is Phase 1, Exploratory Mode.
High achievers have usually spent a lot of time in Execution Mode.
They’ve been in a lot of situations where someone else has already done Phase 1, Exploratory Mode.
And they just hand you the Phase 2, Execution Mode plan.
This happens in school.
Destination: A great college or a great first job.
Pathway: Study hard and get good grades. Lead a few clubs and initiatives to show leadership. Win some awards. Don’t get too distracted by your young adult social life.
You probably didn’t have to figure out that destination and that pathway from scratch.
People told you, broadly speaking, that that’s what you should do — and you did it.
This happens in the early part of your career.
Destination: Here’s the first job and/or grad school combo that will set you up just great in business, law, finance, medicine, etc.
Pathway: Prep for those interviews. Apply for those schools. Work hard, build your skills, and get your first few promotions.
Again, you probably didn’t have to figure out that destination and that pathway from scratch.
People told you, broadly speaking, that that’s what you should do — and you did it.
But at some point, the well-trodden Execution Mode pathway ends.
Maybe you’re at the end of the prescribed path, and now you get to decide for yourself what you want to do next.
Or maybe you just don’t want to be on the path anymore, and continuing on feels like drudgery.
You’ve been kicked into Phase 1, Exploratory Mode.
Possibly for the first time, or in the most intense way, ever in your life.
Now here’s the critical mistake I see too many high achievers make at this point.
Don’t approach Exploratory Mode like Execution Mode.
Don’t be in a rush to set a destination or lock down a pathway as quickly as possible.
Don’t commit to an arbitrary or B+ destination and pathway just to get out of the discomfort of the unknown.
That’s like a startup putting pressure on themselves to lock down their product strategy before they have enough information from the market.
Or a startup committing to a “meh” strategy and destination just to have something to work towards, instead of taking the time to figure out the A+ strategy and destination.
Instead, recognize that you have entered Phase 1.
You being here doesn’t mean that you lost your ambition, screwed something up, or that something has gone wrong.
It just means that you’re finding yourself in Phase 1 for a change, instead of Phase 2.
This is incredibly normal.
Everyone finds themselves in Phase 1 about something, at some point in their lives.
We can’t always rely on other people’s Phase 1 work forever.
At some point, you have to do a little bit of Phase 1 work for yourself.
So it might be unfamiliar, but it is totally normal.
You are more MORE than smart enough to handle this.
Phase 1 is not rocket science.
You literally just have to gather more information.
You can do it. You’ve done WAY harder things in the past.
There IS a game plan here. It’s just different than the one you’re used to.
In Execution Mode, the game plan is:
Set your destination
Carefully plan and lock in your pathway
Put your head down and execute
In Exploratory Mode, the game plan is:
HOLD OFF on setting your final destination and pathway
Gather information. Do experiments. Collect data. Learn things.
When (and ONLY when) you’ve gathered enough information to set your destination and pathway with confidence, switch over to Execution Mode
And if you’re not sure what you should doing, tactically, to gather information and learn things…
I’ve written a whole series on quick and easy career experiments to help you do just that.
Now here’s why switching from Execution Mode to Exploratory Mode can be a bit hard for high achievers…
Even if they get it in theory.
Exploratory Mode requires a different identity.
Execution Mode often comes with the identity of:
“I’m a smart, fast executor who does things well and gets everything right.
My self-worth and identity is tied to ‘getting an A’ in whatever I’m doing.”
Exploratory Mode often requires the identity of:
“I’m a smart, fast investigator and figure-it-out-er who learns quickly from every situation.
My self-worth and identity are rooted in my belief that I’m a smart person who is 100% capable of figuring this out.”
Exploratory Mode requires different success metrics.
Execution Mode success metrics are:
Be committed to the goal
Have a clear plan
Do things well
Stay committed and disciplined when things gets hard
Exploratory Mode success metrics are:
Stay open and unsure about the goal
Keep the plan loose and flexible
Fail a lot (every failure is more data)
Pivot fast when things get hard or you get stuck
There’s a weird kind of moral judgment that can happen between these two modes.
When you’ve spent a lot of time in Execution Mode, you look at Exploratory Mode and say:
Stay open and unsure about the goal ➡️ That feels loosey-goosey.
Keep the plan loose and flexible ➡️ That feels like not preparing enough.
Fail a lot ➡️ That feels like doing a bad job and not even caring about it.
Pivot fast when things get hard or stuck ➡️ That feels flaky and like being a quitter.
And the insults get slung the other way too!
When you’ve spent a lot of time in Exploratory Mode, you look at Execution Mode and say:
Be committed to the goal ➡️ That feels rigid.
Have a clear plan ➡️ That feels close-minded and limiting.
Do things well ➡️ That feels perfectionistic.
Stay committed and disciplined when things gets hard ➡️ That feels masochistic.
But neither way of operating is morally superior to the other.
They’re just two phases of the same process.
Phase 1, when you don’t have enough information yet.
And Phase 2, when you do.
You need both phases to ultimately succeed.
And if you’ve spent a lot of time in Phase 2, Execution Mode…
You probably need to build your mental operating model around Phase 1, Exploratory Mode…
So that you can get it done and lock down a killer destination and pathway for yourself…
Without totally stressing yourself out in the process.
All of this is exactly what I help my clients do.
So come talk to me if I can be helpful on your journey :)
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 get clear on what you DO know, as well as where you need more information.
Then work together to build the tactical plan to get that information…
And do the mindset work required to be exploratory without feeling like you’re totally lost or doing a bad job all the time…
Until you’re done with Phase 1 and can go trucking along happily in Phase 2, Execution Mode :)
⬅️ Mistake #4 || Mistake #6 ➡️
What my clients have to say…
“I was afraid coaching was going to be weird or fluffy.
That concern went away completely after our very first conversation, because in our very first conversation, I felt more validated and heard and understood than I ever had with any other professionally trained therapist.
And I felt like I had a better understanding of how we were going to work through everything I was facing, than I ever had gotten from any other type of professional support. So that concern went away literally from session number one.”
—Client | Head of Business Development at MedTech Company
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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