To figure out your next step: Stop thinking 💭 Start excavating 🦴
I want you to imagine that you’re a paleontologist.
You’re at a dig site.
You’re pretty sure there’s a dinosaur fossil here.
And you can just start to see some glimmers of bone through the dirt.
It’s just a little flash of white here and there. But you can tell there’s something there.
What should you do next?
Should you halt all digging…
Stare at those little glimmers of bone…
And think very, very hard about what kind of dinosaur it might be? 💭
Or should you keep digging? 🦴
The answer seems very obvious when it’s paleontology :)
Stop thinking and just keep digging!
Stopping the dig and spending days or weeks guessing what kind of dinosaur it might be is a total waste of time.
You don’t need to know ahead of time.
The answer will inevitably reveal itself to you — with incredible detail and clarity — if you just keep digging.
What if I told you that figuring out your next career step is exactly the same as uncovering a dinosaur fossil?
You’re not creating something new from thin air.
You’re uncovering something that is already there.
Right now, you can only see “glimmers of bone.”
Aka: All you have right now are feelings.
A vague sense that this isn’t where you’re supposed to be.
A wordless pull toward something that you can’t quite define.
A flash of jealousy when you see the life someone else is living.
A sense of ‘warmer’ when you get closer to it and ‘colder’ when you get farther from it — even though you can’t really articulate what “it” is.
People often shrink away from these feelings.
They feel confused that they don’t know what they want anymore.
Or embarrassed that they can’t explain what they’re looking for.
Or annoyed at themselves for feeling this way when life is great and everything is technically fine.
But these feelings aren’t a problem to be figured out and cured.
They’re an opportunity to make a new discovery 🦕
And here’s the big secret that will save you years of pain 🤫
You don’t have to know what “it” is ahead of time.
You just have to dig.
Let me tell you what digging looks like.
💭 This is thinking:
I spent 10 years thinking about what kind of writer I wanted to be — and made very little progress.
🦴 This is digging:
I spent 5 weeks writing 2 pieces a week and sending them to a small group of friends — and gained immense clarity on what kind of writer I wanted to be.
💭 This is thinking:
I spent 12 months thinking about what kind of course & coaching program I wanted to build — and made very little progress.
🦴 This is digging:
I spent 6 weeks running free pilot program with friends and longstanding clients — and gained immense clarity on what I wanted my program to look like.
💭 This is thinking:
Someone saying: “I think I want to be a VC investor! But would I be good at it? Do I have the right qualifications? What does their career path look like? Should I take a crash course in finance first?”
🦴 This is digging:
Someone saying: “I think I want to be a VC investor. Okay, let me be a VC investor for a week! What would my thesis be? Where would I find companies to invest in? Let me go to three networking events for startups, talk to as many founders as I can, and think about which companies I think are compelling vs. not.”
You don’t have to commit to something forever.
You just have to run small, bounded experiments that “brush dirt off the bones” and reveal more of the fossil you’re trying to uncover.
You might strike gold and uncover a big leg bone that tells you exactly what kind of dinosaur you’re dealing with.
Or you might just find more dirt and realize you have to dig somewhere else.
Both are invaluable.
And if you just keep digging around where those glimmers of bone are, uncovering the fossil is inevitable.
(If you’re wondering “But Pooja, what kinds of experiment should I run??”
Check out my series: 5 quick career experiments you could do this week)
Now here’s why this advice might be difficult for you to implement.
Thinking is comforting but dangerous.
You’re good at thinking.
Your research and strategizing skills are top-notch.
You can make elegant and complex arguments for and against any possible proposition.
So thinking feels busy and productive and smart and GOOD.
But it’s very, very dangerous.
It gives you the illusion of progress when in reality, you’re just spinning your wheels and wasting your time.
Digging is scary but not dangerous.
Doing new things is awkward.
You don’t know really what you’re doing.
You’re not even 100% sure WHY you’re doing it, and you’re hoping to god that no one asks.
You’re afraid you’re going to fumble and say the wrong thing and cringe at yourself.
And as awkward and embarrassing as it feels — it’s very, very safe.
That awkwardness fades within the first couple reps…
And soon, all you have is momentum and excitement as the fossil you’re uncovering gets clearer and clearer, and you can’t wait to get it fully out of the ground.
Here’s how my one-on-one coaching program helps you get that fossil out of the ground 🦕
It gives you structure and accountability.
When you have calls on the calendar and a person you have to report back to, your chances of getting this done skyrocket.
It helps you make each dig small.
We can work together to figure out how to make each dig…
Small enough to be doable with your busy schedule.
Small enough to be tolerable to your nervous system.
While still brushing a meaningful amount of dirt off the fossil.
It helps you distill the learnings after each dig.
What data did you gather?
What does it mean?
How does that adjust the plan for the next dig?
These are all questions we can dive into on our coaching calls.
It helps you learn how to calm yourself down and get back into flow even while doing things that scare you.
You don’t just have to grit your teeth and power through.
In fact, I don’t want you to do that.
Learning how to truly calm and re-ground yourself in the middle of an emotional storm is a key skill for this process and for life.
And it’s one of the skills I teach inside my program.
Learn all about how my program works here…
And then book a free consult call with me.
We’ll talk about what you want to work on in coaching, how I can help, and which package might be the best fit for you :)
What my clients have to say…
“Pooja always has suggestions and ideas, which is fantastic.
But she doesn’t tell you, ‘You should go do this.’
And that’s a good thing because she teaches you how to make these decisions for yourself and feel confident about it.”
—Client | VP - Global Product, Visa
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! :)
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