Doing Work You Love

Here’s How To Choose A New Career (When You Have Multiple Ideas!)

March 2, 2022

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If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re not quite feeling the love for your current job or career anymore. Is that right?

So, you’re considering what else you could do with your career, and you probably have a few ideas, BUT here’s the thing: you feel like you’re going round and round in circles in trying to decide which one to go for…

Well, in today’s video I’ll be helping you figure out how to choose a new career path when you have multiple ideas.

At the end of this video, you’ll know exactly what to do to get more clarity, and make up your mind. 
Want to know more? Watch the video below.

Or if you prefer to read: scroll down!

How to choose a new career path when you have multiple ideas

Hey, it’s Iris Smyth, here to help you find a new job you love and care about, and build a career that works for YOU.

So if you feel that your current job or career isn’t quite right for you anymore, and you’d love love love to do something else, then you’ve come to the right place. 

In today’s video I’ll be helping you figure out how to choose a new career path when you have multiple ideas, and you feel like you’re going round and round in circles in trying to decide which one to go for…

At the end of this video, you’ll know exactly what to do to get more clarity, and make up your mind.

Now if all of that sounds like what you need, and perhaps you’ve watched some of my other videos, then make sure you like, subscribe and hit the bell next to it, so you’ll automatically get a little notification whenever I post a new video.

Over the years I’ve helped hundreds of people escape unfulfilling careers that left them feeling trapped, exhausted and hollow.  

Some of them had no idea what to do, but most actually already had a few ideas… I helped them figure out which path to pursue. 

In this video, I’m going to share some tips and strategies that have helped them decide which career path to pursue, and hope it’ll help you too.

Let’s not waste any time, and get to it.

The first thing you need to do is:

Test your assumptions

If you’re watching this, my guess is that you (obviously!) already have a few different ideas. and that some of these are WILDLY different to what you’re doing now. 

You might want to do something in the world of photography/videography. Or maybe you want to write a children’s book, or start your own food business, or open an agriturismo in Spain, or become a life coach, or open your own yoga studio, or get a job in the world of coliving and coworking…. 

The thought of this new career path excites you, BUT you have this preconceived notion that it might not work because you think that…

  • It doesn’t pay well – only the lucky few can turn it into a career

  • It’s pretty much impossible to get a foot in the door

  • You don’t have the right skill set or experience

  • You don’t have enough money to make it happen

  • You have to start all the way at the bottom, unpaid project work 

Here’s my question for you:

Are these assumptions you’re making based on narratives you hear in the media / around you, or have you personally checked to be true?

Look, just because an assumption sound right or plausible, doesn’t mean it’s actually the whole truth. 

So, please: check the assumptions you’re making!

The easiest way to do this is to speak with people who are already doing that thing that you’re interested in, and are considering.

The second thing you should do to help you decide which direction to move in, is ask yourself the following question:

How does this job or career path fit in with the bigger picture of how I want to live my life? 

I urge you to get a clear picture of how you want to live your life. 

If you could truly design your entire life (which, by the way, you can!), then what would it look like?

Set time apart to write this down. 

Here are some questions to get you going:

  • Would you want to live in a city or in the countryside?

  • Would you prefer to work for yourself or working for a company?

  • Would you like to work by yourself or working with others?

  • Would you want to work in an office or would you prefer to work 100% remote?

  • Would you want to do work to solve the world’s biggest problems, or would you rather do something that you truly care about and are interested in, even though it might not solve the world’s biggest problems?

  • Would you want your work to be an creative outlet or would you be happy to keep your creative endeavours outside of work?

I did this exercise waayyy back when I was still working in the corporate world, and I do this exercise with a lot of the people I work with, and it gives real clarity of thought and direction. 

It made me realise I ultimately wanted to work for myself + be location independent, and even though I was enjoying the industry I was in and the type of work I was doing, I knew it was pointless to progress within that world because it wasn’t aligned with the bigger picture of how I wanted to live my life. 

Once you’ve got that bigger picture, check if the job or career path you’re considering is a good fit with how you want to live your life or how you see it unfolding.

Finally…

Give it a go

If you’re considering multiple career paths or directions, one of the best ways to decide which one to pursue is to “try them on” and see what it feels like. 

What this means is that you:

  • Start a side/passion project in one of the things that you’re considering

  • Get involved with organisations or individuals who do what you’d like to do: offer your time, skills or experience

Let’s say: one of the things you’re considering is something in film/video production, but you’re not sure exactly what that looks like.
The best way to figure out is to just start doing it yourself.

You don’t need to buy fancy equipment, you can just start with your phone.

Just start with something

Shoot content for small local businesses, get involved with small local events, start your own YT channel. 

Get REAL LIFE, HANDS ON experience of this thing that you’re interested in. 

And whilst you’re doing this, ask yourself:

  • How much fulfillment or joy is this giving me?

  • Am I enjoying it as much as I thought I would?

  • Is this something I’d like to explore further, and potentially do for a living? 

If the answer is yes, good: keep going! Keep trying things. Build new skills. Build your network. 

If the answer is no, good: you’ve learnt something that you otherwise never would’ve known. You don’t immediately need to discard this option though. Maybe you’ll like this path more if you tweak certain things a little bit. Say, instead of shooting content for others, you focus more on presenting and creating stories.

The key here is to take action. Action breeds clarity. 

Inaction on the other hand, breeds confusion and stagnation. 

So counter-intuitive as it might feel, if you feel like you’re going round in circles, don’t stop. Keep on going. 

Take action. Reflect. Tweak if necessary. Then go again. 

Test assumptions that you’re making. 

Ask yourself if this path is aligned with how you see you’re life unfolding, and

Give things a go.

If you want to learn more about how to change careers, make sure you watch this video in which I’m sharing 10 things you MUST absolutely know if you want to successfully change careers. 

Finally, before you go, please like this video if you enjoyed this video, and hit that subscribe button if you never want to miss any of my upcoming videos to help you change careers, and build a career that works for YOU. 

Thanks for watching, and see you next week!


Ready for a career change, but not sure where to start of what other job you could or should do?

Watch the REPLAY of my LIVE class: How To Find The Right Job/Career (When Changing Careers)

Discover how to go beyond the confusion, and find a job or entirely new career that suits YOU – your strengths, your ambitions, your morals, the things you value and care about, and the way you want to live your life.

In this LIVE class, you’ll learn:
The 3 step process to work out what career of job suits you best
Where to start if you have no idea what you want to do
How to make the RIGHT decision if you’re already contemplating a few different jobs or career paths
A highly successful method to let go what you logically think you should be doing, and tap into your intuition to guide you instead

Watch it HERE.

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