Exercise 1: Compare your current options
Pick two career paths you’re considering. Score each from 1-5 on:
- Engaging work (autonomy, variety, clarity, feedback)
- Helps others
- Potential to become skilled
- Quality of colleagues / social support
- Absence of major negatives
- Fit with your life outside work
Don’t expect any option to win on every dimension. Look for the best overall balance.
Exercise 2: Mine your past for signal
Your memory isn’t perfect, but ignoring your experience entirely is foolish. Answer these:
- When have you felt most fulfilled in the past? What did those experiences have in common?
- If you found out you had 10 years to live, what would you spend your time doing?
- What kinds of people do you work best with?
- What specific conditions (environment, pace, structure) make you thrive vs. drain you?
Exercise 3: Build your personal criteria
Combine the six research-backed ingredients with your own insights from Exercise 2.
Write down 4-8 factors that matter most to you in a fulfilling career. These become your decision criteria going forward.
When evaluating any opportunity, run it against this list. Not to find perfection, that doesn’t exist, but to find the best available option on balance.
Exercise 4: Identify your contribution path
Ask yourself:
- What problems in the world do I actually care about?
- What skills could I develop that would be valuable in addressing those problems?
- What’s the overlap between problems I care about and skills I could realistically build?