Identifying Your Life’s Calling: A Guide for High Achievers Unhappy with Their Perfect on Paper Job
Are you a high achiever who has reached a point in your career where, despite external success, you feel a deep sense of dissatisfaction? Have you followed a conventional path, achieved notable milestones, and gained the admiration of peers, yet something feels missing?
This is often because you haven’t defined your true calling—work that aligns with your passions and values. This career change guide will help high achievers assess their current situation, explore new paths, and find a career that truly fulfils them.
Why High Achievers Often Feel Unfulfilled
High achievers, by nature, set lofty goals and work tirelessly to reach them. However, even with career success, many find themselves feeling unfulfilled and questioning their professional choices. Understanding why this happens is crucial to making a meaningful change.
The Pressure to Follow Conventional Success Paths
Society often defines success in terms of salary, title, and status, which high achievers feel compelled to pursue. Many professionals feel pressured to follow these traditional paths, even if they don't resonate with their personal values. As a result, they often find themselves climbing the corporate ladder only to realise that external achievements do not bring the deep satisfaction they crave.
How Societal Expectations Lead to Dissatisfaction
High achievers often seek validation from external sources like promotions, accolades, or financial rewards, but this can lead to long term dissatisfaction if their work doesn’t align with their personal passions, purpose and goals.
Disconnect between achievement and happiness
The singular pursuit of approval from others may come at the expense of other things you value from your career, such as purpose, passion, legacy, making a difference, etc.
Your definition of success may not be the same as society’s definition of success (and that’s ok!)
Spend time identifying what you want and define success in YOUR own terms because society’s definition of success may often not be aligned with your values and what you want in your career and life.
Recognising how societal pressures contribute to dissatisfaction is the first step towards a fulfilling career.
Discovering Your Life’s Calling
Finding your life’s calling requires deep introspection and a willingness to reassess what truly matters to you. High achievers, especially, must take the time to examine their values and passions to discover a path that will bring long-term fulfilment.
Assessing Your Passions, Values, Purpose and Long-term Goals
Before embarking on the journey of finding your career path, it’s crucial to take time for self-reflection and assess what truly drives you. Through this self-assessment, high achievers can move beyond the external pressures of conventional success and discover careers that truly resonate with their inner desires and ambitions.
1. Identifying your passions
Start by considering the activities, topics, or tasks that consistently energise and inspire you. These are the things you find yourself drawn to, even outside of work. Understanding your passions will provide valuable insight into the types of roles or industries that could lead to a more fulfilling career.
2. Clarifying your values
Think about your core values and what principles you want your work to reflect. Is creativity important to you? Do you value making a social impact? Identifying these values will help you narrow down career options that align with your ethical and personal beliefs.
3. Articulate your purpose
What problems are you interested in solving? What’s your life’s mission statement? What/who do you want to help? Identifying your purpose and north star will help you create a more fulfilling career.
4. Setting long-term goals
It’s also important to evaluate your long-term goals. What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? Where do you see yourself in the next 10 or 20 years? Reflecting on these goals will guide you toward a career path that not only meets your immediate needs but also supports your larger life vision.
Practical Exercises to Uncover What Motivates You
Engaging in practical exercises can help provide clarity on what drives and motivates you, ultimately guiding you in finding your career path.
Journaling and reflection
Start by journaling about your daily experiences, focusing on the tasks or activities that bring you the most joy and satisfaction. Writing down your thoughts can reveal patterns that highlight what aspects of work resonate with you most. You may begin to see which elements of your current role or past projects you enjoyed the most by reviewing your journal.
Creating a list of rewarding tasks
Another helpful exercise is to create a list of your favourite tasks, projects, or work environments. Identify common themes, such as teamwork, problem-solving, or creative freedom, that consistently stand out as fulfilling. This process can help refine your understanding of what types of careers or industries will align with your strengths and interests.
Personality and career assessments
Consider taking personality or career assessments to better understand your natural strengths and preferences. Tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or StrengthsFinder can offer valuable insights into your ideal work style and environments.
Strategies for Making a Career Change
Once you have identified your calling, the next step is to make a strategic career change. Shifting from a high-achieving but unfulfilling career requires planning, research, and a well-executed transition to minimise risk and ensure success.
Researching Career Paths That Align With Your Calling
The first step to successfully make a career change is to thoroughly research career paths that align with your passions, purpose and values. Look into industries or roles that excite you, even if they are different from your current career. Consider talking to professionals in those fields, attending workshops, or listening to podcasts and interviews.
Gathering information and doing proper due diligence is essential to ensure that the new path you choose is the right fit and you aren’t just rushing into it because it’s a trendy new industry. This process is key to successfully finding a perfect for you career path that you’re building for the long term and avoiding the pitfalls of jumping from role to role without sufficient knowledge.
Creating a Transition Plan to Minimise Risk
Transitioning to a new career can feel overwhelming, but having a well-structured plan can help reduce potential risks and make the process smoother.
1. Pursue part-time or freelance opportunities
Maintaining your current job while exploring building a side hustle in your desired field can provide valuable experience and help you build relevant experience. This approach allows you to test the waters and gain relevant skills before committing fully to a new career.
2. Build your personal brand
Having a strong personal brand is critical to helping you successfully switch careers and starts to position you as an expert (even if you might not feel like one!). So share publicly on social media about the podcast you’re working on, the freelance work you’re doing, or the product you’re building. Even if it’s a work in progress, people love seeing your journey.
3. Build a network in your new industry: Networking is key to successfully convincing your new employer to take a chance and hire you even if your resume doesn’t show “relevant experience”. Attend industry events, connect with professionals in your field, and seek out mentors who can provide guidance. With a strong network and a solid transition plan, you can confidently embark on your new path with minimal setbacks.
4. Evaluate your financial stability
Think there’s no way you can do a career pivot because you need the money? Before you rule it out, spend time assessing your financial situation first - you might be surprised that you actually have more financial leeway than you thought you did. Getting clear on your financial health and financial goals will give you peace of mind and allow you to focus on the career change without financial stress.
How to Grow Your Network in the New Industry
Building a network in a new industry is crucial when transitioning careers, as it helps you gain insights and access to new opportunities.
Attend industry events
Conferences, webinars, and meetups are great ways to connect with professionals in your desired field.
Utilise online social media platforms
LinkedIn and other social networks allow you to join relevant groups and stay updated on industry trends.
Seek informational interviews
Reach out to experienced professionals to learn from their insights and expand your connections.
Build and maintain long lasting relationships
Relationships are built over time so don’t think the work is done after you’ve gotten their business card! Grow these relationships over time by sharing useful articles, sharing your connections, and keeping them updated on a regular basis.
Test Drive Different Career Paths
Before fully committing to a new career, it’s critical to test out different roles to see what truly resonates with you. Consider shadowing someone in the field, taking on part-time or freelance work, or building a side business in the industry. This allows you to explore various options without making a full-time commitment and helps you determine if the path aligns with your skills and interests.
In this process, you’ll also be able to differentiate between a career path that’s true to you and a career path that sounds cool because it’s in a trendy new industry.
Testing out different career paths gives you a clearer perspective and reduces the risk of making a career shift that doesn't suit your long-term goals.
How to Stay Committed to Finding a Fulfilling Career
The journey to finding your life’s calling will be full of challenges and imposter syndrome and limiting beliefs will inevitably creep in. Here are three things you can do to stay dedicated to this process.
1. Building Resilience Against Setbacks and Doubts
When setbacks occur, remind yourself why you chose this path and revisit your long-term goals. Use each challenge as an opportunity to grow, and remember that setbacks are part of the learning process. Strengthening your mental resilience will help you stay focused on your passion and ensure you continue moving forward.
2. Finding a Supportive Community
Surrounding yourself with a supportive network is one of the most important steps you can take when navigating a career change. Seek out mentors who have successfully made transitions similar to yours. Additionally, finding a community of like-minded professionals who share your passion can provide encouragement and help you stay committed during difficult times.
3. Seek out the help of a career coach
Going through this journey can be lonely and overwhelming, and a career coach can help guide you step-by-step to success. A career coach helps you break free from your limiting beliefs, see past your blind spots and expand your horizons beyond what you’re familiar with.
Start Your Journey Toward a Fulfilling Career Today
Want more help? Take the first step toward a career that brings both success and personal satisfaction by booking a free discovery call with me and my team of career change coaches! We’ve helped hundreds of clients from McKinsey, Google, Goldman Sachs and more build a “perfect for you” career.
