I love this
post from the ever-insightful Pamela Slim of Escape of Cubicle Nation fame
because I get asked all the time how to do a self-assessment exercise that
results in a clear direction in which to take your career. Says Pam:
I
spend a lot of of my time working with people who are trying to figure out what
to do for a living. I usually start by
sending them on an internal expedition, examining the nuances, thoughts and
feelings of their body, mind and spirit for clues about what interests
them. They carry around notebooks in
which they furiously scribble insights, create vision boards, bookmark websites
like crazy, make spreadsheets and stuff files with pictures and magazine
clippings. Then they get back in touch
with me, feeling a bit perplexed and overwhelmed, sharing a summary list which
looks something like this:
My interests: old rugs, Pittsburgh Steelers, organic farming, my family, writing code, speaking Russian, salsa dancing, old episodes of Friends, small business marketing, photography.
They
say “I sure love all these things, but how in the world can I make a business
out of them?” To which I reply: You are ingredients in search of a recipe. Or perhaps many recipes. A common misconception about the process of
entrepreneurship is that you have to fit all your interests into one neatly
tied up and integrated business which will allow you to express all of your
passions. Instead, I like to think of
skills and interests as ingredients to use selectively in different business
models, depending on the opportunities and market.
So
you could say: “I think I want to use salsa dancing as the main
staple for my next venture. I will round out the flavor with a bit of
coding, by creating a killer website that hosts great instructional videos for
novice dancers, and will sprinkle in a little bit of photography so I can take
stunning photos of professional dancers to use in their promotional materials.”
OR...
“I
would love to spend some time in Pittsburgh
Looking
at your interests this way, you can see that you don’t have to use all the
ingredients at once, in the same measure, in the same recipe. All you need to do is to continually refine
your list of ingredients, and combine them in ways that interest you and taste
great.
Wonderful
and more importantly – clear and useable – advice!
Listing and defining your interests is a necessity, but there also needs to be a list of skills. I've found that people usually miss a number of their skills, at least they don't think of them in terms of business opportunities. For example, the issue of my family. Are you effective at organizing, planning, managing, relationship bulding? Those skills can readily translate into business competencies--once you switch context. Digging into interests can often enable you to come up with skill sets that are significantly transferable into a business. It can also give you insight into what will be difficult for you, or even what you don't like.
Posted by: Dan Erwin | June 06, 2009 at 09:31 PM
hi, great post Alexandra... combining purpose, passion, and interests.
If more followed your advice, there'd be fewer living for the weekend and loathing the week!
-jef
www.deceptionsecrets.com
Posted by: Jef Nance | June 06, 2009 at 11:11 PM
@Jef: Thanks, and I love your niche. DeceptionSecrets.com is an intriguing URL and I wasn't disappointed when I got there.
@Dan E: GREAT addition to take this metaphor even further!
Posted by: Alexandra Levit | June 08, 2009 at 09:12 PM
Listing and defining your interests is a necessity, but there also needs to be a list of skills. I've found that people usually miss a number of their skills, at least they don't think of them in terms of business opportunities. For example, the issue of my family. Are you effective at organizing, planning, managing, relationship bulding? Those skills can readily translate into business competencies--once you switch context. Digging into interests can often enable you to come up with skill sets that are significantly transferable into a business. It can also give you insight into what will be difficult for you, or even what you don't like.
Posted by: eveisk | June 18, 2009 at 05:48 AM
@Eveisk: Dan E said the same thing. Seems like I need a follow up post, huh?
Posted by: Alexandra Levit | June 18, 2009 at 02:19 PM
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Posted by: Alex | August 24, 2009 at 02:02 PM
@Alex: Thanks so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to write, and great name, of course!
Posted by: Alexandra Levit | August 26, 2009 at 02:45 PM
It's really a good posting. I like it. It's pretty much impressive to me. i think others will agree with me.
webroyalty
Posted by: Nick | January 06, 2010 at 11:42 PM