When you feel lost or a lack of career clarity, it can feel like you’ve arrived at a crossroads with no map or sense of where you ‘should’ go next. Que the anxiety, stress, overthinking and scattered action that doesn’t actually get us to where we want to go deep down. Let me start off by saying this is a very normal experience for people who wish to have a purposeful, fulfilling life and career. It’s not a sign of failure; it’s actually a very natural phase that many of us go through or will go through at least once in our careers.
Good on you for having the awareness to recognize that you’re not sure where you want to step next! Awareness is truly the first step to sustainable change. If you didn’t have this awareness, you wouldn’t be able to make a meaningful change that is in alignment with you. Awareness is everything.
Feeling out of alignment, a lack of clarity or sense of direction is a natural thing that may arise when you’ve gone through growth, burnout or when you’re desiring a shift. In this post, we’ll break down what to do next when you feel lost in your career path.
First, Remove The Pressure of Figuring It ALL Out
I am a coach who helps people discover and pursue their life purpose. And I’m saying this to you: stop putting so much pressure on finding your passion or ‘one thing.’ Stop feeling like you have to figure it all out now… You don’t! All you genuinely need to figure out right now is your next baby step. Simply removing the pressure of having to have it all figured out right away may already be soothing your heavy heart – but it’s true.
Also, we are not all designed to have one singular passion or purpose. For some of us, being multi-passionate is the norm, and bypassing that will not allow us to fully flourish.
Here’s the hard truth: for many of us, purpose-driven creative souls, we deeply tie our sense of identity with what we do. So, when we’re unsure about our next career move, it can feel even more defeating.
I utilize the self-awareness tool Human Design with my clients. Human Design teaches us a lot about ourselves, but one of my favourite elements within it is ‘authority’ – our authority is how we are specifically meant to make decisions.
For some people, leaning into your intuition is correct, while for others, clarity only comes with surrendering the timeline and awaiting emotional neutrality.
Knowing this is helpful because it shows us:
- We’re not all meant to make decisions in the same way.
- We all process things in our own way
- Clarity isn’t necessarily some ‘lightning bolt’ but more an overall sense that arises with time and emotional neutrality.
Explore all about human design authority and how you’re meant to make decisions in this post.
What Doesn’t Work When You Feel Lost
Another thing that human design teaches us is that no one is meant to make decisions from the mind. This likely goes against the way you were raised. But the wisdom within us is so much more valuable and ‘real’ to what is actually in alignment with our soul than what our minds try to tell us.
It will also not support you to…
- Compare yourself continually to other people and how they ‘have it all figured out’ – you likely don’t have the full story in terms of how deeply fulfilled they feel inside. Also, just because someone you know may feel very clear and have it ‘all figured out’ does not mean they haven’t felt (or won’t feel) lost in their own career at some point in their own journey. Remember: we’re all walking our own path.
- Thinking that there’s only one “right” decision
- Bypass your nervous system and what it’s trying to tell you.
What Does Work When You Feel Lost
Okay, so what does help us restore clarity?
- Regulating Your Nervous System – you can’t tap into what your body is trying to tell you if your nervous system is dysregulated. Meditation, yoga, breathwork, tapping or other somatic exercises can all help with nervous system regulation.
- Allowing for Play – Engaging in writing, painting, or play without expecting a specific outcome can help you step out of your head and reconnect with your playful, creative spirit.
- Journaling – Explore 70 prompts designed to help you cultivate clarity and resilience.
- Meditation – Embracing the type of meditation that works for you – I personally find sitting in total stillness harder than allowing myself to take a quiet walk
- Embrace your Human Design to understand your actual energetic capacity, your soul gifts and how you specifically are meant to make decisions that will feel in alignment for you.
- Understanding that we all have seasons of our creativity, feeling a lack of clarity or direction could simply be your inner winter and a time to cocoon
- Brain-dumping in your journal on intentionally open questions – here are some you could pull from:
- What am I craving more of?
- What feels fun and easy lately?
- If I knew no one was watching and I could not fail, what would I do next?
- Whose approval do I feel like I need?
- Cultivating your sense of self-approval and self-worth
Clarity is a Practice (Not a Destination)
Trying to force creativity is a fruitless venture – trust me. Sometimes you need to simply surrender to the practice, trusting that clarity will come with time. At the same time, stop waiting around for some divine road map to unfold in front of you. You don’t have to know your whole plan to take small, intentional action steps.
You are exactly where you are meant to be – you can’t be behind on your own journey.
Anchor Yourself Before Trying To Figure It All Out
Anchoring yourself in your human design allows you to really know who you are, what your gifts are and how you’re meant to use them. Uncovering your unique magic in this area can be an excellent first ‘baby step’ in figuring out where you’d like to step next. Download this free guide to explore more about your type.
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