Ways to Get Unstuck and Discover Your New Direction

Career fulfillment comes when your work aligns with your authentic self.

Some people choose their careers based on what they enjoy consuming or learning about – fashion, food, politics – only to realize that the reality of that work doesn’t suit them. On the way to a fulfilling career, people progress through three main phases – you can think of them as “lily pads.”

On the first lily pad, you have secured an OK job that pays your bills, but it doesn’t make you come alive. You’re actively looking for a better role, but may not be sure what sort of move that would entail. Career coach Ashley Stahl put immense effort into landing a counterterrorism job at the Pentagon after grad school, but, once there, Stahl discovered the work didn’t jibe with her sensibilities. 

For Stahl, career coaching was her second lily pad. On the second lily pad, you have found a career that aligns not primarily with your interests, but with your gifts: the skills...