I was never one of those people who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. Someone who could identify that ‘dream job’. I chose a university degree that “kept my options open” and took a “may as well give it a go” outlook to work opportunities.
This approach led me to a job within a venture capital company. However, after a year I found myself bored. My manager not wanting to lose me to the great resignation recognised this and empowered me to explore other options within the business. We arranged for me to complete three placements within portfolio management, investor relations and programs. The goal was by the end I’d know where I’d like to settle permanently.
A few weeks ago judgement day arrived. I needed to make a decision on which projects I wanted to pursue going forward. There were no obvious answers. I found product management an enjoyable challenge. I felt sales was a strength of mine. Within the programs I loved the human interaction. How did I decide?
I followed my Zest.
In Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans share an annoyingly simple framework that changed how I judged my work:. Rate every activity throughout the day on two scales. Engagement and energy.
Your engagement level is how focused you are on the task. A score of 1 equates to the type of boredom reserved when you’re counting down the minutes until it's over. A score of 10 signals you reached the divine state of flow.
Your energy level is how you feel during the exercise and afterwards. Do you feel drained by the task? Or as if you’ve been fed more energy? A score of 1 is when a coffee is your only salvation. A 10 is that blissful feeling of being high on life.
An activity that provides a 10 on both scales is when you find your Zest. Not only are you fully engaged in the task, you feel energy tingling through you.
Don’t assume the two don't go hand in hand. It's possible to be highly engaged, but feel the activity is exhausting. A product management project of mine was to build systems in Airtable. I map out a manual process and build an automated system that replaces much of the mind numbing grunt work.
I embrace the challenge of building these systems and find myself highly engaged. However, throughout the task I don’t feel fulfilled by the effort, only tired.
A direct contrast to how I feel when I create and deliver workshops. The experience of designing the learning journey and delivering the content leads to energy pulsing through my veins.
On judgment day, this perspective gave me a unique decision-making criteria. I ignored traditional methods such as what my strengths were, figuring out where I wanted to be in five years and what team I’d work within. I simply returned to my ranking of energy and engagement for tasks within each project.
The result?
A new project within the business which requires in-depth knowledge of angel investing, something I’ve never done. However, it combines two things that gave me zest. Learning and education design.
Is it my dream job? No, but I have an inherent belief that by continuing to follow my Zest, I‘m giving myself the best chance to stumble upon it. The cost in the interim? Projects that engage and give me an energy for life.
Making a career decision yourself?
Try following your Zest.
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