If you’re like many people, you may know that your current job or career choice isn’t right for you… yet, you may not know what else to do.

So in an effort to help you find the “ideal” job or career you may ask yourself, “what do I want to do?” But that question may do more harm than good. Unfortunately, you may not be able to come up with an answer that really helps you… if you think of an answer at all. This may be because you don’t know what you want to do… or because there are just too many things you want to do… or because it’s a loaded question: it implies that there must be one answer, which you just can’t decide on.

Perhaps, if you’re struggling with knowing what you want to do career-wise, it’s time for another question: what do you want to learn? That being the case, here’s an exercise to help you determine what your next career move should be (whether it really is choosing a new career, or somehow modifying your current job or career): find some paper, or load up Notepad on your computer, and make a list of all the career or job-related knowledge and skills you want to develop. Once you’ve done this, assign a priority to each item. Finally, consider what careers or jobs will probably teach you what you want to know in the priority you want to know it.

Just keep in mind that you may not be able to learn everything from one career, job or company. And what you want to learn may change too.

However, for the time being at least, you know what you want to learn now… and which jobs or careers will allow you to learn it.

Now, the assumption behind this process is that what you want to learn is the best indicator of your next career move… and will ultimately help you find the right job(s) or career(s) (remembering that there might be more than one “right” job or career over the course of your professional life). However, I think it’s a fair assumption to make when it’s a matter of making the leap from unsatisfying work to a truly rewarding job or career.

Therefore, stop trying to find an answer to the question of what you want to do. Go through the fun exercise above and let your answers as to what you want to learn guide you towards the right job(s) and/or career(s) for you.

Author: Anna Johnson