The Paralysis of Choice: Finding Direction in a World of Career Options
Have you ever felt stuck in analysis paralysis, thinking about all the things you COULD do as your career next step, but unable to move forward with any option confidently? Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon.
I used to feel stuck in my career too, and I've seen it endlessly with clients over the past 6.5 years. You get cemented in option-mode, generating what I call a “dream jobs list” of things you could do next in your career. “Maybe I should go in-house and work on the client side…or maybe I should go to a supplier…or maybe I should leave the industry entirely and go start a flower farm….”
Sound familiar?
If so, you’re not alone, so let’s dig into what to do about it.
Why it happens:
This feeling is particularly common for high achievers, and there are a few main reasons why.
Your black and white thinking is driving you to search for the “perfect answer”
High achievers and perfectionists typically struggle with black and white thinking, which means they can get obsessed with their focus on making the “right” choice. Here’s the challenge though: the “dream jobs” approach to careers is a lie. There’s not one perfect choice that’s going to resolve your career doubts and ensure you never feel uncertain again. Sorry. That’s a rough realization, but an important one. I’m happy to explain why the dream job approach doesn’t work in another post, but for starters, begin by embracing this foundational knowledge.
As a result of this, this black and white thinking can drive analysis paralysis, because some folks are so scared of making the wrong choice that they’d rather make no choice at all! That leads us to point number two…
2. You don’t really trust yourself
A lot of high achievers struggle to trust their internal GPS when it comes to career decisions. Especially if they’ve gone through an existential career crisis, where they feel as if they’ve made a wrong choice in the past. They judge themselves for their past “mistakes”, worry about wrong choices setting back their internal timelines, and it compounds their fear of repeating the pattern. As a result, it can feel safer to take no action.
3. You don’t have a true filter about what is important to you
Many high achievers struggle to know themselves. They rely on what I call “professional people pleasing”, where they make career decisions based on what would impress those around them. They shape-shift themselves into roles, focusing on being what the organization needs them to be, versus being who they actually are. Because they don’t have a true filter of their priorities and needs, they get stuck when trying to decide the right opportunity for THEM (since again, they’ve never figured out what “for them” really means).
How to get out of it:
If you’re struggling with analysis paralysis in your career, this is the way forward…
1. Un-learn the dream job approach to careers and stop obsessing over 1 perfect job.
This is one of the most crucial lessons I work to instill in my clients, and it’s so dang liberating once they get it.
As this alum said, it’s helpful “Realizing there wasn't one 'perfect job' that I could find. If my current perfect job was no longer the perfect job, why would I think another one would be?”
2) Forgive yourself for the decisions you’ve made in the past. All you were doing in each situation was making the best decision for you based on everything you knew.
I know deciding again is not ideal, but if you can give yourself some grace I promise you will be so much better off in the long-run. As our alum, who we’ll call R, said, “I had so much pressure on myself to have a great job that people agreed was great. Sometimes jobs don't work, and I have my must-haves to feel more direction when moving on.”
3) Start getting to know yourself. Take time to let go of the pressures around what you should be doing in your career, and instead start clarifying what you actually want absent of those pressures. This work might feel hard, but I promise it’s so much better in the long-run.
If you’re feeling stuck in analysis paralysis, I get it. You’re definitely not alone. But even though the world is brimming with possibilities, what’s most important is to remember that you should be focusing on making the right decisions FOR YOU, based on everything you know right now. That doesn’t mean you’ll never have questions again, but you don’t need to. If you can instead learn the north star approach to careers, you can finally find peace. I promise. Just ask our alums:
“[Before] I was feeling as though I had completed my original "10 year plan" and arrived at a place I didn't want to be. I was feeling paralyzed on how to make decisions about where I wanted to go from there… [Now] I have named the fears and unhelpful thoughts that have led me to feel stuck in my career so I can be aware of when they are cropping up, and reframe them with new beliefs to push beyond fear and paralysis. I now have a personal purpose statement and an evaluation rubric for career paths that I can revisit as a decision-making guide when I feel uncertain.”
That’s the beauty of the north star approach to careers!
So, if you want to learn more about the north star career approach, you can always register for my free workshop on unlocking your career north star here. I’m sure you’ll find it eye opening.
And in the meantime, stop obsessing over making the right answer. Give yourself some grace, and happy deciding! I can’t wait to see what you create when you get un-stuck.
