You’re Asking the Wrong Career Question

Most people try to figure out their career by looking forward.

“What should I do next?”
“What role should I take?”

It feels logical.

But it often leads to more confusion than clarity.
“Career clarity doesn’t come from looking forward. It comes from recognizing patterns.”

The problem is not that you don’t know what to do. It’s that you’re not looking at the right data.

A better place to start is looking backward.

Not at your job titles.
At your peak moments.

The times you felt:
1. energized
2. effective
3. fully focused
4.  like time disappeared

Then ask:

What was actually happening in those moments?

Not the title.
The work.

Were you:
1. structuring something messy?
2. leading people?
3. solving a specific type of problem?
4. working alone or with a team?

Two roles can look identical on paper and feel completely different in practice.

Same title.
Different experience.

“Because what matters is not the role itself. It’s how you operate within it.”

Your direction usually lives there.

In the patterns behind what works for you.

Not in generic job descriptions.

How this shapes the way I coach

In my work, we don’t start with: “What job do you want next?”

We focus on:

1. Where you’ve felt at your best
2. What you were actually doing in those moments
3.  What patterns keep repeating

Because once that becomes clear:

Decisions feel simpler
Direction becomes more natural
And you stop forcing choices that don’t fit

Your career is not built by choosing the “right” job. It’s built by understanding how you work best.

Because in reality,

it’s never just about finding the next job.

It’s about understanding who you are and building your career around that.