The arc of your career

I had a friend who once said, "The arc of your career often only makes sense looking backwards." It has stuck with me because for many it rings true. Perhaps you know people who studied law and became product managers. Or you've seen the story of the medical doctor who operates a fishing boat. Maybe you were a digital marketer who moved into data science. If you start at the end and trace your way back to the beginning, it often seems that each step is a logical one and it is easy to connect the dots.

But, if you had asked these people years earlier to predict where they would land in their careers it is likely that each would have been wrong. Maybe you feel unsure what the next step is for you in your career. You might have a hard time articulating what you want to pursue next. Take comfort in the examples above. Know that it is difficult to outline what you want to go and do. That is ok. Pursue the things that are interesting to you and the things at which you are talented. The path this leads you down may be unexpected but is very likely to be good.