Career Clarity Live Coaching Session (edit for podcast)
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Welcome back to Career Clarity Unlocked. If you've ever felt like figuring out your next career move requires an existential deep dive into your soul, you're not alone.
You've probably heard the usual advice, get clear on your values, identify your strengths, reflect on what lights you up. And that sounds helpful, right? Except, let's be real. Most of this career advice leaves you stuck in an endless cycle of overthinking.
Month of journaling, self assessments, personality quizzes, and you're still staring at a black screen, unsure what job to apply for next.
And after all that effort, you're left with a list of vague, feel good words like growth, impact, creativity, autonomy. Now what? What do you actually do with that information? So here's the thing. Knowing your career values and theory isn't enough to create real clarity. You can analyze your values all day long, [00:01:00] but if you don't know how to translate them into actual career decisions, you'll stay stuck in analysis paralysis forever.
And that's exactly why today's episode exists. I'm going to show you a faster, more practical way to figure out what truly excites you at work without spending weeks overthinking abstract values.
We'll break down a simple, three step approach that actually works. Identifying the work that lights you up, spotting patterns in your past experiences, and shifting your job search to focus on the work you love, rather than just chasing job titles.
I'm going to share a real life example of how one of my clients completely refamed her career direction just by looking at the moments when she felt most engaged at work. Spoiler alert, she didn't need to assess her values for months and months to get there. She just needed to recognize what was [00:02:00] already in front of her and by the end of this episode You'll walk away with a clear actual way to stop over analyzing and start moving forward in your career as confidence So, if you're ready to ditch the career values overthinking trap and finally get some real clarity, stick with me, because we're about to get into it.
By the end of this episode, you'll learn why overthinking your career values can actually keep you stuck, a faster, more effective way to figure out what really lights you up at work, and how to use real life experiences to uncover career patterns. Instead of chasing vague feel good words.
And then you will see how one of my clients skipped the endless soul searching and found her ideal career path by focusing on the work she actually enjoyed. So if you've been waiting for clarity to magically strike, I hate to break it to you. That's not how it works. [00:03:00] But don't worry, I've got you. I'm going to walk you through a simple, action based approach to uncovering your ideal career direction without spending months in analysis paralysis.
And if you're thinking, but what about passion? Don't I need to find my one true passion before I make a move? We're going to go there because that's another career miss that keeps people stuck. We'll bust that wide open in just a bit. So let's get started.
In this first part, we're going to talk about how to stop overthinking your career values and get clarity fast. If you've been in the career clarity space for more than five minutes, you've probably been told that before making any career moves, you must first embark on a deep, soul searching journey into your values.
This process often involves spending months filling out what matters most to me worksheets, answering 95 question long [00:04:00] personality quizzes that somehow conclude you enjoy collaboration and making an impact, or meditating in the hopes that your career purpose will just magically appear. Or analyzing your life choices to find deep patterns you never noticed before, as if your ideal job is hidden in your childhood love for dinosaurs.
So at the end of this grueling process, you'll probably have a list of values that sound something like growth, impact, creativity, and autonomy. Which, of course, that makes sense. But now what? And this is where most job seekers get stuck. Because knowing your values is great and it is important, but it does mean nothing if you can't translate them into a career direction.
So instead, here's a faster approach. First, ask the right questions. What work excites you? What projects have you loved? When have you felt most [00:05:00] engaged?
Then find patterns. Instead of identifying abstract values, look at real work you've enjoyed and connect it to potential roles. Then move beyond just the job title. You don't want to just look at traditional roles in your field, but you want to focus on the work you want to do.
When I worked with the client, who you'll hear from later in this episode, she was a research scientist and we did not spend hours philosophizing about her career values. Instead, I asked, what are moments in your work where you felt most engaged and fulfilled?
Her answer, you'll hear it later from herself, but it is about building an online forecasting system for a national environmental research institute. She loved seeing her work turn into a real functional tool that people actually used. That was the clue. She didn't need to spend weeks figuring out if she valued creativity or problem solving.[00:06:00]
The answer was already there. She thrived when turning data into real world applications. Knowing that she loved building practical, user friendly systems, I then asked her, What roles have you thought about that revolve around building online systems? At that point, her response was none. She hadn't even considered that the work she loved doing could be the focus of her next role.
Up until that point, she had only looked at job titles that matched her academic background, like data scientists, rather than focusing on the work she actually enjoyed. That realization immediately shifted her career search. She started exploring roles in product focused data work and discovered opportunities she had never considered before.
The key takeaway here, your career clarity won't come from endlessly analyzing your values in a vacuum. It comes from looking at real, concrete [00:07:00] moments of engagement in your work, and using that information to guide your next step. If you're stuck in the career values overthinking trap, I want you to try this.
Now write down three to five past work experiences where you felt most energized and fulfilled, where you just loved doing what you were doing. Then, identify what specifically made those experiences exciting. And third, look for patterns. What kind of work was involved? What skills were you using? Once you have those insights, use them as a guide to explore roles that align with the actual work you enjoy.
Not just vague, abstract concepts. All right, now that we've tackled the myth of overanalyzing career values, let's move on to another comment trap.
Ah, the infamous career advice, find your passion. It sounds so great in [00:08:00] theory. Until you're spiraling down a rabbit hole, desperately searching for the one thing you're meant to do for the rest of your life. The truth? Passion isn't something you find. It's something you develop through action. And people get stuck because they think they need to uncover a singular, all consuming passion before making a move.
Or if they don't feel obsessed with something, it must not be their true calling. Or that their career needs to be perfectly, 100 percent aligned with a deeper life purpose. Here's the reality. Most people don't have just one big passion. And even if they do, it's often shaped by experiences, not by deep reflection.
I worked with a client, Gabriella, for example. She had worked in non profits, finance, and real estate. At first, those seemed like completely different industries, which made it really hard for her to [00:09:00] pinpoint a singular passion. But when we looked at the actual work she loved doing, A very clear pattern emerged.
In non profit, she loved creating order in chaotic event planning. In finance, she enjoyed bringing order to complex budgets. In real estate, she found excitement in managing all the moving pieces of a transaction. Her passion wasn't actually tied to a specific industry. It was about solving complex problems and creating systems that made things run smoothly.
Once she saw this, she stopped obsessing over finding one passion and instead focused on roles that aligned with her skills and interests. That shift gave her immediate clarity. So if you're stuck trying to find your passion, I want you to try this instead. First, identify work that energizes you rather than drains you.
Then, again, look for those common themes across different jobs or [00:10:00] industries. And finally, take action. Passion grows when you actively engage with new experiences.
When people are trying to find career clarity, they often get to this point where they've gone through an exhausting mental marathon of self reflection, values assessment, strengths identification, and alignment analysis. And what happens next? The inevitable existential crisis. At this point you realize you've done infinite self reflection, you still don't know what job you should apply for, your savings account is crying, and you're more confused than when you started.
So what does your career coach do if you did decide to hire one? Maybe offer you another session to explore your limiting beliefs instead of actually telling you what to do Yeah, cue the mental spiral of indecision where you feel stuck between too many options and start questioning every insight you've gained.[00:11:00]
So here's the truth. You will never feel 100 percent certain about a career move. That's just not how clarity works. Clarity comes from action, not overthinking. The people who actually move forward, don't let uncertainty stop them. They take the next step anyway. So start by making a decision and then test it immediately.
If you're interested in a role, talk to people who are doing that work. Then use informational interviews to cut through the uncertainty, stop guessing, and get real insights from professionals. And then keep in mind that no decision is permanent. If a job isn't the right fit, You can pivot again. I worked with a client recently, Olivia, a social worker, and
she wasn't sure if product management was the right fit for her. Instead of spending [00:12:00] months guessing, I told her, find people doing the job and ask them what it's actually like. By setting up conversations with professionals in her target roles, she could learn what the day to day looked like.
and see if that excited her. Then get clarity on which skills she already had versus what she needed to learn. And stop guessing and start getting real information. In the end, within six weeks, she had clear insights into whether the role was a good fit and she didn't have to waste months stuck in analysis paralysis.
The bottom line? Overthinking keeps you stuck. Taking action moves you forward.
Alright, by now you know that clarity comes from action and not overthinking. Let's take things one step further, because you're about to hear a real life glimpse into what happens during a Career Clarity Coaching [00:13:00] session.
You will hear how in just 10 minutes, my clients experienced major breakthroughs, shifting from confusion to clarity faster than they ever thought possible. So, if you've ever wondered what it feels like to finally see your career path clearly, stay tuned. You're about to hear firsthand how just a few questions can unlock the direction you've been searching for.
Jamie: Can you give me, just again, a snapshot of your career, where you currently are, and the questions that you are, that are on your mind. Sure. So I'm a research scientist , and I've been working at universities pretty much my whole life.
So, uh, in university world, I'm sort of an early career scientist, but I think outside of academic life, I'm probably mid career at least. And I'd like, I'd like to pivot outside of academia to an industry position, probably something like a data [00:14:00] scientist, but I have lots of interests. And as a relatively new mom, I also have all these new constraints and priorities that I never had before.
There's a lot going on in my head and I've done a lot of informational interviews and sort of I'd say like 70%.
Theresa: I'm like, oh, I could do that. I could do that. But then the question is, would it be the right fit ? Yeah. But I don't know.
Don't know where to go and what to do and, um, yeah, I just feel a little bit, I did get to watch part of this last video your example of your previous job, where you just had this itch to do something else, but you didn't know what really resonated with me.
Oh, thank you so much for sharing that. So you took the Sparketype assessment and your primary Sparketype came up as the maker, your shadow, the maven, and the anti Sparketype, the advocate.
You already shared that briefly in the message, but first question, did it resonate with you? [00:15:00] Yes, I think it was exactly what was said in the first session, like it kind of validated some things that I didn't realize. I've, I've been doing a lot of reflecting and a lot of things would fall under that maker that I identified.
Like I really like making dashboards and maps and things like that, but I never would have come up with that broader term. Yeah. Uh, so that was true. And then the maven is diving into knowledge. So that, that is like what I do every day. So that one was kind of obvious. Um, the advocate was both expected and surprising somehow.
We all have something that drains us. First of all, there's nothing wrong with it. And I share the same anti sparkitype.
My anti sparkitype is the Advocate as well. And just to give you a little bit of an insight of how I work with it, is It's just for me, it doesn't come natural. So when I, I always share the story that when I was in recruiting, one of the problems we were trying to solve is more [00:16:00] women into leadership. Now, someone who's an advocate would have stepped in and advocated for them, give voice to them, champion that cause.
I am the scientist. I love solving problems. I care equally much about. The issue that we want to solve, but the way I go about it is, I much more solve the problem. Like, how can we figure this out? So, it might be the same case for you, is you care about it a lot, but your natural instinct is not about, like, being the one who gives voice to it and advocates for it.
You much more do the research. Does that resonate? Yes, exactly. So that's a big, um, always a big important distinction that it doesn't mean we don't care because we very much do. It's more about the way we want to approach The work that we want to do now.
You already said there's for the maker. So the [00:17:00] maker for everyone that is someone who loves to make ideas manifest. So the maker loves that often the ideation of coming up with ideas and then turning those ideas into something that exists physically, digitally.
Experientially in any form or shape. What are some of the moments that come to mind for you when you think about moments where you really enjoyed turning an idea into something that is? So a project I worked on previously was working with, um, NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, and we were developing this forecasting system for coral reef health.
And I was actually the one building this online system that was going into production. And I just really enjoyed that whole process of every time I made like a small code difference, The, you know, the website changed and seeing that come out and then people using it was really, really fulfilling. And it wasn't [00:18:00] actually the type of thing that's really promoted in my line of work, like that's not actually the outcomes that people care about.
And so as I got really excited, that was one of the reasons I realized sort of, there was a little bit of misalignment in terms of what was valued in my industry versus what I really wanted to be spending my time on. So that is awesome. So you got to build this online system and take it from the idea to now something that people are actually using and benefiting from.
Exactly. So what roles have you thought about where that revolve around this of building online systems? Not really. And I think because Before taking this test. That's not really what I was maybe queuing into. I was thinking more of the so I guess there's two lines of thought and the way I see this, even though I was building these online systems.
I don't actually [00:19:00] have a background in like full stack. Development, there's some other real technical skills that is not actually part of my skill set. Um, and I do a lot of sort of statistics and mathematical modeling. So I've been focusing more on those type of roles, but within industries. That I guess produce sort of climate products or public health, uh, but I haven't really, I think this actually changes the way I should think about looking for role.
Yeah. And there's, I mean, those are all interesting areas to explore and building online systems isn't the only thing you could build. It's just. A very recent example that comes to mind, um, with the tech skills, you have incredible experience. First of all, If you needed to learn it, you could. I have no doubt, like, from this 15 minute conversation with you, I'm like, I don't think there's [00:20:00] much you cannot not learn.
But also, you might work with a team of developers who can do the heavy lifting on a tech stuff. Um, but. Being in a role where you get to build something that others use seems to be really fulfilling. And that can be a part of like, right? So the statistics and modeling can still be a part of that, but not leaving it as, okay, now we've had that data done, but now we make something with this, we are building something with it.
Does that feel like that is the missing piece in your current role? It does. I don't know if that role exists. I mean, it probably does. But, uh, from what I see there, there tends to be sort of more distinct groups and not the middle man that like dips their feet on both sides of like doing the analysis and building.
There tends to be people who build sort of the more software engineers and the [00:21:00] people who do the modeling from. My little bit of exploration. It often does fall, but a super important role is actually the person who can communicate with both teams. Because we need to take what the research team finds into what it's being built.
And a lot of times, I don't know if you know that from, or if you have made that experience, is they don't necessarily talk the same language. So that bridge position is actually really, a really important one.
I'm taking some notes, that's a great thought. And another thought that I have, and this is just something that I see with similar Sparketypes to your, you a lot, is there are roles, and that's just something to watch out for. There's roles where you gonna research and then you build something, and then for the, for your rest of the life, your life, you're going to maintain this.
And this is where a lot of times, [00:22:00] especially mavens, they have such a drive for more, and makers, they want to build. So they don't want to build once. And then maintain that for the rest of their lives or for however long you're going to be in that position. Um, and I see a lot like mavens, they tend to be super excited getting into a new role because there's so much to learn.
And then you get to build something. It's beautiful for about six months. And then something is missing. You get bored. Yep, that's me. I've already been through that a few times. Yes. So, I would encourage you to look for roles where the process of making is a consistent one. And being very intentional when you have, I love that you're doing informational interviews.
So, having those conversations with people. Maybe it could be more on a project basis of like, okay, what are, where do we build something? And then once that is done, someone takes over to [00:23:00] maintain, and I'm going to be on a new project that is going to be built. That will be likely more fulfilling in the long term than in the short term.
Then, short term fulfillment, and then, that means stage setting in. Oh, that's great. Thank you. Yeah, and the last thought I'm, I want to add is that as you explore this further, and if you feel like that role, that, that bridge role between the technical team and the team that's building could be a really good fit for you, then that can become your superpower, that you speak both languages.
You speak the language of the developers who are building and you speak the language of the statisticians and the researchers and who do the modeling and you can help translate and bring that knowledge they discover into the product that's going to be developed.
Great. Thank you. You're [00:24:00] welcome. Was this helpful? It was so helpful. I mean, it's amazing. You know, you spend so much time on your own trying to figure these things out and just one conversation, you know, puts on a lot of lights. Thank you. You're welcome.
Wow. What a powerful shift. You just got a firsthand look at how quickly clarity can happen when you ask the right questions. And if you're now thinking, yeah, I need that level of clarity for myself, I've got great news for you.
If you're tired of overthinking your career moves and second guessing every decision, it's time to stop spinning in circles. I help professionals like you cut through the noise and get career clarity fast. No more endless worksheets or vague value lists. Just real, actual insights that move you forward.
So, here's your next step. [00:25:00] Book a free consultation call with my team. In just 30 minutes, we'll help you discover what is important to your dream career, what fits your skills, values, lifestyle, and makes you feel alive. Then we'll identify the main roadblocks and blind spots that keep you stuck, help you boost your confidence and ease the fear so that you can move into a new fulfilling career, and of course, guide you in getting clear on your best next step.
To book your free call, head to career bloom coaching.com/consultation and grab a time that works for you. Don't let overthinking keep you stuck any longer. Take action today and let's get you moving toward a career that actually excites you. All right, that's a wrap for today's episode.
I hope this helped you see that career clarity isn't about overanalyzing your values. It's about recognizing the work that energizes you and using that [00:26:00] to guide your next move. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you know someone who's stuck in the career overthinking spiral, Send this their way.
It might be exactly what they need to hear next time We're going to be talking about something very special career advancement for introverts My guest shares how being overlooked for a promotion taught her that success isn't just about hard work, it's also about visibility and strategy. We'll cover personal branding, executive presence, and how introverts can thrive without changing who they are.
Until then, keep taking action, keep moving forward, and remember, career clarity is closer than you think.
