"Just Do What You Love" is Terrible Career Advice
There are three major stages in everyone’s career:
Stage 1 is about discovery and building “career fuel.”
Stage 2 is about finding your sweet spot and really standing out.
Stage 3 is about going far. It’s about having a sustainable, long-term career that can last you into your 50s, 60s, 70s - perhaps even beyond that.
Each of these stages requires a slightly different strategy, and each can last 15 years or longer.
The most interesting, and often the most difficult of the three is Stage 2. This is the prime part of a career, where using the knowledge, experience and “fuel” from Stage 1, you can attempt to find your sweet spot as well as stand out from the pack.
Part of finding your sweet spot involves figuring out what it is that you would love to do. However, some of the worst career advice you could get is: “Just do what you love.”
It’s not that doing what you love is not important, but it’s completely insufficient. Let me give you an example: You know what I love to do? I love playing harmonica and watching hockey. Trust me, that’s not good career advice. A lot of people are encouraged throughout their careers to “just go do what you love”, but it is not sufficient.
A real career sweet spot is the intersection of three things:
- What you love (yes!)
- What you’re really good at (which is competitive differentiation)
- What the world values (in terms of respect, or money, or authority)
You need all three of those things to happen in order to find the career that’s right for you. It often takes us quite a long time. You will not leave school knowing what your sweet spot is. It’s not defined by your first, or second or even third job. It tends to happen in the middle and you really need to work at it. For example, I did not discover my career sweet spot until the age of 42. I had a career in marketing and advertising, and was running Ogilvy in Canada. I had a chance to come to the United States and work on the global stage, and after a couple of years I found that I really hit my sweet spot, which was working within a global scope, integrating and connecting with international brands.
Ask yourself: What do you love? What are you really good at? What does the world value? When you find that sweet spot, take advantage of that platform which will help you develop to your fullest, propelling you to reach high in the second stage of your career.
For more advice on how to build your long term career strategy, read The Long View: Career Strategies to Start Strong, Reach High, and Go Far.
Digital Marketing Content Strategist | B2B and B2C Content | Health, High Tech, SaaS
3 年Great read Brian. Sometimes we follow a career we love and become good at it. Then the marketplace changes and we find ourselves adapting to it. The best thing we can do is become lifelong learners willing to adapt with our environment and accept the inevitable bumps in the road.
" If I weren't a SALES EXPERT - I'd run an Agency for Female Assassins ! " (Quotation by famous artist)
4 年In the 90's I got the advice " Imagine how good you could be if you'd be doing what you really love! " The man who said this to me is now an entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor & billionaire. I think he was right.
Q Grader | Coffee professional, con énfasis en Marketing | Branding | PR para negocios en la cadena de café
5 年I′m kind of stuck between Steps 1 and 2. Loved the article ;)
Account & Project Management | Helping the biggest brands get better.
5 年Mafaz Rouf?Reza Rouf?Monif Aydeed
Account & Project Management | Helping the biggest brands get better.
5 年Interesting piece!?