Finding the Career to Maximize Your Happiness

Originally when I came up with this saying, 'washing dishes' was replaced with something much more vulgar and inappropriate for LinkedIn (you can use your imagination). But the point is the same: don't base your career only on what you're good at. There are several other critical factors to consider to find the career that will maximize your happiness.

It seems obvious that washing dishes is a chore and wouldn't be anyone's first career choice. But these feelings are much less obvious when you have a highly respected and sought after position. Example: After three years of science writing, I was very good at it. I was consistently praised for my work and recommended by my clients. But after a while, writing felt like a chore. I thought I would love it because I have a passion for technical communications, but every assignment felt like a huge weight on my shoulders. That's when I knew that I needed to make a career change.

It can be fairly easy to identify the factors of your job that feel like a chore even though you're good at them (western blotting anyone?). What then should you focus on to decide the next step in order to achieve more career satisfaction? Here are four categories to consider:

1. What you're good at
2. What you like to do
3. What is valuable
4. Your lifestyle needs

These are the things that need to overlap to find what is going to make you happy at your job. Only having 2 or 3 is not enough. This reminds me of this poor girl I saw on a reality dating show once. She had an immense passion for singing, and if you're a great singer it can pay the bills, but unfortunately she was a terrible singer! She was missing the critical #1 in deciding her career path. 

#3 is also something that can be easily missed. Say you love washing dishes, and you're really good at it too...unfortunately it's not a skill that's highly valued and therefore would not be a viable career path if compensation is at all important to you.

Start with defining categories #1-#3. Here's an example of how I used this approach to lead me to my next career step. (black = non-overlapping, green = overlapping):

Sometimes, it may be difficult to identify the things you like and are good at if you've never done them before. Like if you were never in a position to manage a group (which I have not been), or sell a service, how would you know that you would be good at it, or if you'd like it? The answer is that you don't, but you should guess. What this will do is lead you to your next position that will expose you to that new feature, where you will then decide how it works for you. Don't be afraid to make a move that you're not 100% sure is the right one. As much as people feel stuck in a job, you never are.

From my example above, my overlapping categories lead me to positions with these qualities:

• Learning new things about biotechnology
• Communicating complex topics
• Networking & relationship building
• Convincing people to trust me
• Going to trade shows and conferences
• Selling
• Managing people

This approach gives you a list of attributes to look for in your job search. But how do you know which jobs are out there that fit with your desires and needs? The answer is that you must ask around and read through lots of job listings. Networking groups are a great place to start finding out what’s out there. Don't be lazy about it or have a defeatist attitude.

If you're unhappy with your current career, there is undoubtedly something better for you, but you've gotta put the time and effort into looking.

Since I’ve been in the industry for a while and know the various types of positions that are out there, I recognize that the skills I like and am good at would fit with these jobs:

• Business development
• Sales
• Scientific Collaborations Manager
• Business Owner

Now we bring in Category #4, our lifestyle needs/desires with respect to a career. These could be critical priorities, such as working from home (maybe you are disabled), or they could be flexible priorities, like an option to work from home if it would be nice, but not necessary.

4. My lifestyle needs (bold = necessary):

• Flexible hours
• Positivity
• Little/No travel
• Mentorship
• Good compensation
• Respect

My lifestyle needs are what drove me to choose to start my own business. Typically in business development or sales positions, there is a need to travel, which at this point in my life I’m not able to do. Also, as a scientific collaborations manager, I doubt that it would give me the flexibility that I need. Starting a business allowed me to have the flexibility I needed and use all of the skills that I like. There are of course a few tasks that I don’t love about being a business owner (like invoicing and taxes), but in the next step of my career, I will work on unloading those tasks (in my case, by hiring an admin and accountant).

This process of finding the best career to maximize your happiness is iterative and should be updated often. As you go through life you will find that you gain valuable skills and also hone in on what you like and don't like. Furthermore, as you age, your lifestyle requirements will also change.

Four years ago, I took a chance on writing professionally. I thought I could become good at it and since I liked communicating complex ideas, I thought I'd really like it. But turns out that even though I got good at writing, it felt like a chore to me. And that's ok, it's great even, because I learned a great deal about strategic writing for marketing and learned the great value there was in science writing which led me to where I am today.

But what if you find that seemingly perfect position, but you're not yet qualified? Well find out what kind of experience you need to become qualified, and take a position that is less perfect but will act as a stepping stone towards your goal. We've all gotta put in our time doing the chores that nobody wants. This is a journey through life, not a sprint to the end. Appreciate the failures with the successes, the boring with the fun, and the stressful with the relaxing. We are constantly learning. The key is to take what you've learned and apply it to make changes for a better future.

And what if none of the items on your 4 lists overlap? Perhaps you only have 1 valuable skill, and making money is an important lifestyle factor, but you don't like doing that 1 thing. Then what? Then you must work twice as hard to work at a job you dislike while gaining a new skill to lead you to a more satisfying career. Part-time MBA courses, a second job, a side-business, asking for more responsibility….aka hustling. I've learned to

embrace the hustle, appreciate the hustle, and lean in to the hustle.

Bettering yourself and your situation takes time and work, but it's worth it. You're investing in your own future happiness.