Career compass to love your Mondays

Author

Alex Naidonova
October 20, 2024

👋 Just dropped a new video about finding joy in your work and aligning your career with your true self.

Some backstory: as a freelancer, I realized I hadn't taken a proper vacation in over a year. That constant feeling of needing to hustle, always fearing you'll lose momentum if you step away.

But here's what I learned:

  1. Sometimes, you need to disconnect to reconnect with yourself.

  2. There's immense value in having uninterrupted time to think (when you're not focused on how much your butt hurts from cycling! 😅).

In this video, I talk about:

  • Key questions to ask yourself for a more fulfilling work life

  • The Self-Aligned Career Compass: a tool to navigate your professional path

  • How to balance what you're good at, what you love, and what you want to learn

  • Practical tips for spending your work time more intentionally

Whether you're feeling stuck in your career or just want to optimize your current path, this video might help you look at your Mondays in a new light.

So, during those long stretches on the bike, I found myself pondering some big questions:

  • Am I truly enjoying my work?

  • How's my work-life balance?

  • What's my next growth opportunity?

Career Compass

As I had a lot of time to think about career development, this led me to create what I'm calling "The Self-Aligned Career Compass" — a simple tool to help navigate our professional lives more intentionally.

Here's the gist:

  1. Imagine three overlapping circles: "What I Can," "What I Love," and "What I Want to Learn."

  2. Where these intersect, you find your sweet spots:
    • Niche Expert Zone (Can + Love)
    • Growth Potential (Love + Want to Learn)
    • Practical Development (Can + Want to Learn)

  3. The center, where all three meet, is your Career Sweet Spot.

The aim is to spend your work time like this:

  • 60% of your time on what you love

  • 20% on necessary tasks you're skilled at

  • 20% on learning and growth

Personal example of Career Compass usage

As for me, I realized that PR was a major focus for me last quarter. It fell into the "I want to learn" circle because I knew it was an important skill to help my clients bring the brand strategies I create to life.

With more understanding of PR and some great cases I’ve shared before, I came to realize that I don’t enjoy doing it. It was valuable to learn and gain insights, but it’s not something I want to focus on long-term.

So, I’ve decided to keep PR in the Practical Development Zone. This means I want to optimize it for results but limit my time on it—keeping it within the 20% time frame.

After reflecting on my Career Compass, I made some decisions to stay aligned with my 20-20-60 rule for HOLYWATER:

  • I opened a position to expand my team and am now looking for a Global PR Manager.

  • I’ve also explored PR CRM services to automate tasks.

For this quarter, my new focus in the "I want to learn" circle is launching a brand in the USA. I hope to share more updates with you soon!

Check out the full video for a deeper dive into this concept and learn how to create your own Career Compass. It might just help you chart a course to a more fulfilling professional life!

More reading on this theme

I’m excited to explore this concept further! I started reading The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, but it didn’t feel practical for me. Rather than forcing myself through it, I decided to switch to Designing Your Life, which applies design thinking to career and life planning. I just started, but I’m already loving it! I’ll definitely share some insights here soon!

Also, I would love your thoughts. How do you currently approach career planning and development? Does this resonate with you?

Behind the scenes: Shimanami Kaido route

Let me know if you plan to go on this bike trip. I have some tips and tricks for you like:

  • Where to rent bikes

  • Where to stay overnight

  • Where to have dinner on the first night in the middle of nowhere

  • Where to stay and how to relax after the ride (I highly recommend visiting one of the oldest spring baths in the country!)

  • How to better plan the whole trip and get back to Tokyo in a couple of hours

See you next time,
Alex