A Better Way To Think About Your Career
Do you have a north star?
Hey, it’s Wamide. Welcome to issue #43 of OnGrowth&, a monthly newsletter on personal and career growth 🌱🚀
Work with me 1:1 to get hands-on guidance to switch your career faster than you thought possible.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend who was struggling with career fulfilment. My friend was feeling overwhelmed, unclear about the impact they were making, and unsure how to make their day-to-day efforts count.
I could relate.
In 2020, I found myself overwhelmed by a job I thought I loved and struggled to figure out how to get out of this career funk.
You know what eventually got me out of this funk.
My North Star.
In startups, a north star metric is a key indicator that provides the clearest representation of a business’s overall health and progress. It's a compass pointing the business in the right direction and keeping people focused on the primary goal of company growth.
If businesses have a compass, then we as individuals should have one too.
Treat your career like a business and have a north star.
Even when everything is not going in the direction you hope, your career north star will keep you grounded.
My career north star is usually simple - user-minded & growth-minded.
In 2020, what was important to me as an Operations Manager was to build a usable product and be a good manager. I simply wanted to hone my skills as a startup operator. So essentially, my north star was - deliver a good service-based product to users and build a solid team.
All was going well for a while, then I went on maternity leave in 2021, and by the time I returned, most of my team had been fired, and the business was moving in a slightly new direction I had no interest in. I knew then that it was time to leave – I wasn’t doing much, and with most of my team gone, there was nothing to build.
If you’re dealing with dissatisfaction at work or feeling slightly disconnected/overwhelmed, think about your career north star.
Often times, our dissatisfaction with work comes from a misalignment between our reality and our expectations (north star).
Think about it in terms of the things that matter to you, not the company.
A couple of questions to help you find your career north star:
What is that one thing that you want to do or become better at at this time?
What are the things you do not want for now?
Why is your work important to you? And which part of your work is important?
What impact do you want your work to have on the world?
Finding your North Star: 4 Tips to Consider
Reevaluate Regularly: Just as businesses revisit their strategies periodically, it's crucial to reevaluate your career north star regularly. What motivated you a year ago might not be as compelling today. Make it a habit to reflect on your goals and adjust them as needed. This year, my north star is to be better at collaborating with internal teams, building formidable partnerships, and managing up. I actively seek out opportunities to do this. I create frameworks and strategies as well as re-evaluate my methods by asking for feedback.
Embrace Flexibility: Your career north star should be a guide, not a rigid endpoint. The job market, your personal interests, and external circumstances will change. Be open to pivoting and adapting your goals to align with new opportunities or shifting priorities.
Balance Ambition with Reality: It’s great to have big dreams, but it’s also essential to ground those ambitions in reality. Set achievable milestones that lead you towards your ultimate goal. Celebrate small wins along the way to keep yourself motivated. See my best tips on how to celebrate your wins.
Seek Feedback: Sometimes, we are too close to our own experiences to see things clearly. Reach out to mentors, peers, or even professional coaches to get an outside perspective on your career path and how well it aligns with your north star.
And if you ever feel like you don’t know what you’re doing, remember that businesses evolve, and it’s okay for you to evolve too.
🛎️ Call To Action
Want to make a career change, but don’t know where to start or what to do next? Download my Skills Audit Template for free.
Feeling frustrated or stifled at work, consider my hands-on career coaching support, book a one-on-one career call to see how I can help you find clarity for your next move.