Why You Should Think of Your Career Like a Dartboard

Figuring out what I want to do with my career has consumed a lot of my time. 

I know I'm not alone in this. Career questions, goals, and uncertainties occupy the minds of most people who haven't "figured it out" yet, or gotten where they think they want to go. This used to bother me a lot, not having a clear goal or plan for what I want to do for the next twenty or so years. But over time, it's bothered me less and less, as I've changed how I think about career success. 

In college, I used to think that a successful career meant something that I loved doing and could happily do for my entire life. I also thought I had to find it fast. I believed (and still do, to some degree) that retirement would never be for me. I'd find the thing I want to do and keep doing that until the day I die. Some people work to live, while others live to work. I like to think I fall into the latter bucket. I couldn't imagine spending 10-15 years lounging around by a pool or playing golf with all of my free time in retirement. There's nothing wrong with that, but I know it wouldn't suit me. I need to always be doing something, always feel useful. 

The problem is, I haven't found my forever-career yet. I've bounced around and changed career paths quite a lot for someone who hasn't been working all that long. In college, I thought I wanted to be a Registered Dietitian. Then, I thought about pursuing physicians assistant or medical school. After a two-year stint working in an emergency room, I realized the clinical life was not for me. Still, I loved science and human health. I pursued a master's degree in Nutrition and Metabolism, where the career track after graduating would have placed me in a laboratory or a PhD program. But due to a growing interest in business and tech, I dropped out and took an internship with a startup accelerator, which helped me break into the field. I spent three years working with startups, first in business development and then product management. Now, I'm back to looking for my next thing, still unsure of what that might be.  

In the past, this would have kept me up at night. But out of a necessity for more peace of mind, I've changed how I think about career success. Instead of needing to hit the bullseye on my next try, landing the career I'll stay in for the rest of my life, I now realize that I only need to get closer to it. 

This has taken a tremendous amount of pressure off of my career decision making, and has instead made the whole endeavor a lot more fun. I've started thinking of my career as a dartboard, with a bullseye in the center, representing the "perfect" career. Each "throw" of a dart is a new experiment in figuring out what I want to spend the majority of my time doing. I get as many throws as I want--it's really up to me. The number of throw's I get is all dependent on how many experiments I'm willing to run, how many new experiences I'm open to trying. 

What's important to realize is that a throw doesn't have to mean quitting your job or taking a new one. Simply starting a new hobby, taking a class, or moving to a new part of the world can lead to more accurate throws. 

I'll give you an example. When I lived in Philadelphia, I performed my first open-mic comedy set. I had no allusions of pursuing stand up comedy as a career, it was just something that I wanted to try. What I learned from that experience was a few things that have since been helpful in figuring out how to get closer to my own personal bullseye. 

One, I'm a lot better at public speaking than I thought. I got on stage, in front of a room full of strangers, and told jokes that until that point only the walls of my apartment had heard. And it went well. I got laughs, I didn't freeze up, and I felt invigorated and excited being up on stage. Two, I learned how important creativity is to my well-being. I had never considered myself to be a creative person. I was never good at drawing or music, and have always had pretty vanilla tastes when it came to art. But joke writing was a whole new kind of creativity that I had never expressed until this experience. I found the whole process of thinking, writing, and telling jokes to be an incredible creative outlet for me, and one I enjoyed very much. I now consider myself a creative person, and know that I need some form of creativity in my life. Three, I'm way better at making observations and connections than I thought. Joke writing is all about observing yourself and the world. Jokes are funny when they make connections to things that the audience wasn't expecting. Cycling through all the possible connections, and looking for the funniest ones, is one of the most exciting and gratifying parts of writing a good joke. 

These three things--public speaking, creativity, and careful observation--are all components of what I now know I want out of a career. If I can do something that meets even one part of that criteria, I've gotten closer to the bullseye. So, that's what I'll be looking for in my next move. 

Looking at career success in this way has helped focus me. I don't feel like I need to get my next career move 100% right. I just need to be partially right, along at least one of many dimensions. And while I'm experimenting in my next career, I'll also learn new things on the job and in my free time that will help me get even closer to where I belong. 

Another advantage of taking this approach to figuring out your career is that it becomes difficult to explain what you do. That might not sound like an advantage, but it is. The more nuanced and unique you become as a professional in your given field, the harder you become to replace. If I end up becoming the guy who gives lighthearted, witty public presentations on how technology is transforming our relationship to nutrition and medicine, good luck finding someone else to do that job. 

By maximizing the number of throws I get in my attempt to hit my career bullseye, I'll not only get closer, faster, but I'll carve out a niche for myself that is uniquely my own. From there, I could start my own business, consult others, or become an irreplaceable piece of a larger whole. Those are options worth spending time and energy to have, and they're what I now find myself spending most of my time trying to get. 

You don't need to have it all figured out when it comes to your career. In fact, I don't think that should be the end goal. Because if done right, your career will keep evolving as you learn more about yourself, what you're good at, and what you value. You might never hit the bullseye, but you'll get closer with every throw. 

Getting closer is all that matters. Keep throwing.