Deciding what to do next is only the beginning
This email is for you if you are trying to figure out what you want to do next in your career.
And I’m going to tell you what the problem is, what you think the solution is, and then what the solution actually is.
The problem is that you’re confused! You are not sure what you want to do next.
Whether you're thinking about starting a new business, or whether you're just trying to figure out what kind of job you want to do next.
Either way, you're lacking in confidence, in clarity and in conviction on what is that next thing that you should focus all your efforts towards making happen.
Now, here's what people tend to think the solution is.
People think they just need to figure out WHAT that next step is.
They think that as soon as they solve the equation and know, “This is the kind of job I'm looking for” or “This is the new venture I want to start” — Bam! Problem solved.
“I just need clarity, confidence, conviction and then I just have to go out there and make it happen. That will solve my problem.”
That is not really the solution.
I am here to tell you: that part is important! You DO have to figure out what you want to do next.
And.. that is where your work begins. It is not where your work ends.
Step one is figuring out what you want to do next.
And the way I suggest people do this is to develop a thesis in the form of: Problem, Solution, and You as the person to deliver that solution.
You need to develop clarity and conviction on the problem that you solve, and it being a high-priority problem, a problem with a lot of demand — people really want to solve this problem.
You need to develop confidence that the solution that you offer is awesome. That it solves this problem really, really well.
And you need confidence in YOU being the best person to deliver this solution.
Let’s look at coaching as an example. This is my thesis with coaching:
The problem
A lot of stressed-out overachievers (like me!) have gotten all the things they want.
They've racked up a lot of achievements. But they're still not happy.
And it is a high-priority problem. They want to be happy.
The solution
The solution is coaching! It’s to learn the mental and emotional toolkit that I teach people.
It’s understanding that circumstances are neutral, that your feelings are being caused by your thoughts, and then your actions are being driven by your feelings, and your results are created from those actions.
And if you want to have different feelings, different actions, different results, you need to learn the skill of being aware of your thoughts and changing them over to more helpful thoughts.
Me as the person to deliver that solution
I think I'm a good person to deliver the solution of coaching.
I've used a lot of coaching in my life. I am very familiar with this toolkit.
And it's a good fit for my skill set. I like advisory work. I love developing frameworks. I love writing, talking, teaching, and communicating. I’m very energized by talking to people.
Delivering coaching (AND marketing and selling coaching) are both a good fit for my skill set and my interests.
Let me give you another example that's not related to coaching at all. I’ll just make this one up.
The problem
You could imagine that companies have a problem where their legal department doesn't do a good job of communicating with the business department.
Legal is too in the weeds and too inflexible.
The business doesn't understand how to use legal in an efficient and effective way.
And this opens the company up to business risk, and that is a high-priority problem in certain industries. So there's a lot of demand to make that more efficient.
The solution
You need somebody to play a translator role and bridge the gap — somebody who understands the legal side AND the business side.
Someone who is very good at translating between the two and setting up structures and processes to help them work together more effectively.
Me as the person to deliver that solution
This hypothetical person could say:
I’m the best person to fulfill that role. I went to law school. I also worked as a product manager. I really understand both sides of things.
And I love communication. I love translating between groups. And I love thinking about processes and organizational structures that let groups work together more effectively.
So throw me in there and I guarantee in a year’s time, you'll have a legal and business relationship that is beautiful and efficient and generates tons of value.
So that is step one: get clarity, confidence, and conviction by developing your thesis in terms of problem, solution, and you as the person to deliver that solution.
And take the time to make that thesis as strong as possible!
Be thoughtful, be strategic, gather the data, do experiments.
I spent 9 months developing my thesis on coaching before I launched my business. (NOT by thinking and researching! By doing things and testing each component one by one!!)
This is one of the things I help my clients do in a structured way, so they can really figure out:
What kind of life am I trying to lead? What problems do I like solving? What's am I good at and I enjoy?
And then: How can I shape that so that it serves a high-priority problem and delivers a really effective solution to that problem?
Now, once you've done that, like I said, this is the beginning of the work. This is not the end of the work.
Because once you have that thesis really solid, you have to start doing it.
If it's starting a new venture, you have to start trying to get customers and get things off the ground.
Or if it's a role at a company, you have to start recruiting and interviewing.
And here's what's going to happen.
Either pathway, you're going to run into problems.
People will say no to you. People will tell you that's a stupid idea. Your marketing campaign won't work. You’ll get rejected in interviews.
And when you run into obstacles, your brain is REALLY going to want to change your thesis.
But the problem is…your brain is going to want to do this with WAY too few data points.
And the problem with changing your thesis every time you run into a few obstacles is you get whiplashed around by random feedback and then keep restarting every week or month with a new thesis.
And that's how you go around in circles and don't make any progress.
So here’s the real solution.
Once you've developed your thesis and gotten started…
Every time you get a rejection or run into a problem, you need to go back to your thesis and reinforce it.
Don’t let obstacles weaken your thesis. Use each obstacle as an opportunity to re-center and reinforce why you’re doing this.
For example, if someone tells me: “Coaching is a scam. You’re just trying to do therapy without a license.”
That’s not a reason for me to give up on coaching.
That’s an opportunity for me to shore up my own thesis on coaching.
What IS the difference between therapy and coaching? How DO I ensure that I’m not “doing therapy without a license”?
I can take the time to answer those questions thoughtfully. Not to convince the other person but to get clear on the answers for myself.
And by the time I’m done, I’ll be MORE solid on my thesis than I was before.
That is the first thing you need to do when you run into an obstacle. You're not allowed to do anything else until you do that.
And once you’ve re-centered and reinforced your thesis then you can problem-solve.
And this is how I suggest people problem solve. It's three steps:
Are you talking to the right people?
Once you’re talking to the right people: Is your message as clear and compelling as possible?
Once you’re talking to the right people with a clear and compelling message: Have you gotten enough points of exposure? (Often your customers just need to see the message lots and lots of times before they take action.)
Those are the three things you need to problem-solve AFTER you have reinforced your thesis.
So, in my example, after I’ve gotten the answers clear on how coaching is different from therapy, I can problem-solve:
Was I talking to someone who just doesn’t want my product? How can I find the people who DO want my product? Where are they hanging out?
If I know I’m talking to the right people: What do they need to hear from me? What questions do they still have? What misunderstandings need to be cleared up?
And if I know I’m talking to the right people and my message is on-point: Have I given them enough points of exposure to my message to move them to act?
By the time you’ve developed your thesis, you’ve developed conviction that this is possible.
What you don’t know yet is the HOW. You figure out the how by doing things and problem-solving obstacles.
And what I recommend to people is that they pre-decide a threshold that they must hit before they change their thesis.
It could be a success threshold like:
I’ll keep going until I make $100k in revenue.
I’ll keep going until I get 50 customers.
I’ll keep going until I get 3 job offers.
A success threshold makes sense when you have high confidence that the thesis is correct, there are lots of examples of success already, and you just have to figure out how to execute it in your specific case.
(I set a success threshold in my own business — I decided to make $100k with my coaching offering before making any adjustments.)
Or you could set a failure threshold like:
I’ll keep going until I get 100 rejections.
I’ll keep going until I get 10 rounds of interviews without an offer.
I’ll keep going until I get negative feedback from 50 customers.
A failure threshold makes sense when you have lower confidence that the thesis is correct, there aren’t as many examples of success that you can see, and you’re still figuring out “product-market fit” (whether for a new venture or for a new job).
This isn’t about never changing your thesis.
It’s about making sure you gather enough data points before making a change.
And this is exactly what I help my clients do.
Because it’s easy to understand this in theory…and hard to execute when it’s YOUR career, and YOUR life, and your emotions are going wild.
Your emotions going wild is totally normal — mine go wild too!
AND you can get external support to make sure those emotions don’t cause un-thoughtful decisions.
So if you’re struggling to figure out what you want to do next…
If you keep choosing something, and then choosing something else a week later, and you’re spinning around in confusion…
It is time to bring in a coach.
The thing I always tell people is: If you're stuck for more than seven days, hire a coach, because that's the longest you'll be stuck when you’re working with me. We coach every single week :)
I help my clients figure out what their thesis should be. We take our time and strategically figure out: What's the problem that you want to solve? What's your sense of the solution, and why is it a great solution? Why are you the right person to deliver that solution?
You can take your time, experiment, gather data, and make sure you're really solid on that thesis.
And then, the real work just begins. You make doable plans. You take action towards making that thesis happen. You run into obstacles. And we use the process above to problem-solve them.
Give yourself the gift of structure and discipline as you figure out your next step.
A coach provides the space, dedicated time, expertise, and thought partnership to to help you ensure that you feel really good about the career decisions you're making.
Because I want you to look back and be able to say: I was thoughtful about this. I was strategic about this. I didn't make off-the-cuff emotional decisions. I made the best possible decisions that I could have.
That’s exactly what I help my clients do.
So come talk to me, and let’s get started today.
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