Choosing a Career with Flow

Picture a person standing in the middle of a crossroads looking in all directions, trying to figure out where to go. There’s nobody around, only a sign with multiple arrows pointing in different directions – towards the sunset, the sunrise, the mountains, a forest, the desert, a cozy home, and an empty space. The person’s path in life has led them to this particular place. This is what it also feels like when we are trying to choose our career.

What if I make a bad decision? What if I choose the wrong career?

They start thinking about where to go. There is excitement and curiosity, though they aren’t really sure what the next step will be. They stretch their neck, trying to look beyond the sign and get a grip on what awaits them in the distance. They feel the possibilities of the unknown, that lie ahead of them in every direction; the mystery of the coming adventures and the opportunities each step might bring. Their eyes are awake, their ears are listening to the sounds around them. Their legs are light and energetic, ready for the journey ahead. The person notices a smell they love and  begins to walk toward it, interested in finding out what will come next.

The worst thing you can do is not choose.

If that person doesn’t choose to start walking – self-questioning and doubt will start to appear. The person walks a few steps in a certain direction, but then wonders if they made the right choice. They turn back, looking at the arrows again, calculating their next steps. They think of what they know about the different destinations written on the sign. Their eyes make an effort to see, their ears get irritated from any noise around them, and their legs become heavier. They know that there is a ‘right way’ and the person becomes preoccupied with thoughts about making a mistake – choosing the wrong way. The longer they stay at the crossroads, the quicker their options stop being perceived as opportunities and instead become heavy decisions that their life depends upon. At the end they sit down on a rock, waiting for somebody to come by and tell them where to go.

Being rich with options can appear as a gift or a curse. If you stay for too long at a crossroads or spend too much time calculating your different options, your excitement can quickly turn into doubt, and the energy you use in the act of choosing manifests itself into worries and concern. Worst of all, you may even find yourself years later standing in the same spot, still trying to decide which is the best way to go.

Choosing a career can be as simple as just walking in a certain direction.

Choose it with all your heart, as if it was the only decision you could make, be confident about it and give it your best. Naturally you’ll have to consider the different elements of your decision, but as soon as the choice is made, give it your all. Trust that your experience will tell you, quite quickly, if you made the right decision for your life.

I chose my career when I was just 20 years old. I had no real idea at the time what I was choosing, but something in it called me to it. I organized my time, gathered the money I needed, and arranged my life around it. Now when I look back, I think it was lucky that I didn’t understand back then that I had actually chosen my long term career. I was young enough to not think too much and to fully dive into a new adventure. I often relate to my choice of career as something that happened by chance, but at the same time it seems life also moved me in that direction, allowing all the right conditions to be in place for me to choose it.

But what if I choose poorly? What if I choose the wrong direction for me?

The beauty of giving all of yourself to a certain career direction is that as soon as you do it, you’ll know if it was the right direction for you or not. If I had never gone travelling, how would I have known if I would like it or not? There’s a gap between our ability to think about an activity and the way it feels when we’re engaged in that activity. I can read about dancing tango, I can watch others doing it, I can google about its history, but until the moment I actually dance – be physically doing the tango – I don’t really know if I like it or not. From that perspective, there is no bad decision. Even ‘bad’ choices – when made fully and with confidence – will often push you to the next step, to the next crossroads that might offer clearer options and more attractive possibilities that you hadn’t noticed before.

Your career is a big part of your life

So therefore the way you deal with your choice matters. If you’re at a professional crossroads in your life, trust that there is nobody that knows better than you, the right direction to go in – just choose! Don’t waste time doubting or questioning each step along the way.

Any direction is better than no direction or standing still. Any step you take brings you closer to your destination. Even if you end up making a great detour to get there, that takes much longer than you expected, at a certain moment in your journey you may look back to find that all the dots and places you visited mattered; they were all part of what brought you to where you are today and to the next step you are soon going to make.

By Vered Manasse