{"id":8395,"date":"2013-12-16T07:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=8395"},"modified":"2015-02-17T13:26:27","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T20:26:27","slug":"how-to-build-a-career-worth-having","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/how-to-build-a-career-worth-having\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Build a Career Worth Having"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your career is not just a way to earn a living<\/strong>. It\u2019s your chance to discover what you\u2019re here for and what you love. It\u2019s your best shot at improving the world in a way that is important to you.<\/p>\n

We live in a time of chronic dissatisfaction in the workplace.\u00a0Gallup\u2019s 2013 State of the American Workplace study<\/a>\u00a0found that as many as 70% of working Americans were unfulfilled with their jobs, 18% to such an extent that they are\u00a0actively undermining<\/em>\u00a0their co-workers. This is a marked increase in workplace dissatisfaction from 2010, when\u00a0Conference Board found<\/a> that 55% of Americans were dissatisfied with their jobs.<\/p>\n

We live in a society where it is not clear how to design a satisfying career<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How can we explain this? Certainly factors like the\u00a0sluggish economic recovery<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0stuck wages<\/a> play a role, but I believe the real answer is even more straightforward: We live in a professional society where it is not clear how to effectively design a satisfying career, especially if part of your goal is to have your work impact the lives of millions of people.<\/p>\n

I run a company called ReWork<\/a>, which benefited immensely from going through the 2011 Unreasonable Institute. At ReWork we connect talented professionals to meaningful work opportunities at companies that are making substantive social, environmental, and cultural progress. Based on our conversations with over 15,000 professionals and hundreds of hiring managers, we\u2019ve gained insights into what\u2019s lacking in the traditional approach to career planning, and how professionals can create careers with an ongoing sense of purpose.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my advice to professionals whose ambition has less to do with getting ahead, and more to do with feeling fulfilled in their career:<\/p>\n

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  1. See your career as a series of stepping stones,\u00a0not\u00a0a linear path or ladder.<\/strong>
    \nThere\u2019s an unstated view that careers are still linear. Though most people do accept that the \u201ccareer ladder\u201d metaphor is broken, the majority of professionals still attempt to somehow increase the \u201cslope\u201d of their career trajectory, causing them significant stress. (How do you increase the slop of a line that doesn\u2019t actually exist?\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The \u201ccareer ladder\u201d metaphor is broken<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    People tend to wait until they are unhappy, look around for opportunities that seem better than their current job, apply for a few, cross their fingers, and take the best option that they can get. Then, they toil away until they are unhappy again, and the cycle repeats. Though this approach can increase your salary over time,\u00a0the learning cycles are so long that it doesn\u2019t lend itself well to finding fulfillment (which requires testing and experimentation!).<\/p>\n

    Because of this pattern, many people end up with a career path composed of somewhat arbitrary gigs that, at best, is a gradually improving wandering path, and, at worst, is just a series of unfulfilling jobs.<\/p>\n

    The solution to this dismal cycle? Let go of the idea that careers are linear. These days, they are much more like a field of stepping stones that extends in all directions. Each stone is a job or project that is available to you, and you can move in any direction that you like. The trick is simply to move to stones that take you closer and closer to what is meaningful to you. There is no single path \u2014 but rather, an infinite number of options that will lead to the sweet spot of fulfillment.<\/p>\n

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