Discover Your Life's Work

Everyone has a number of things they do fairly well but each of us have ONE or TWO things we can do exceptionally well. Discovering this uniqueness in us is the foundational key to a successful career. Companies and business owners are beginning to understand that getting the best man for the job is more than just an attractive CV and a prestigious university certificate. Every job or career field comes with its unique demands and it takes the ‘right’ person for the job to be creative enough to qualify as being employable.

This makes it absolutely important for each of us to consciously discover the unique career path for us. Many make their choices only to discover later that they were wrong. Then instead of finding a way to get back on track, they spend the rest of their lives trying to prove that they were right! You can’t choose a career based on a momentary frenzy. You can’t choose a career just because you ‘like’ it. Neither can you choose a career because someone –no matter how close to you- feels that it is what you should be doing. Your career must be a well informed personal assessment based on your innermost desires and natural inclinations.

There are five indicators that would best help you discover your ideal career path and I’ve tried to enumerate them through the FLARE acrostic model we designed at Richseed Consulting Limited not too long ago. FLARE is an acronym for the indicators-Fulfilment, Love, Abilities, Rest and Experience.

Now let’s discuss them:

FULFILMENT
What could you spend your life doing that would make you satisfied and happy while making a BIG difference in your immediate society? What draws out the greatest passion and energy in you? Everyone gets motivated by a joy-inducing cause, what is yours? If what you choose to do, does not promise you satisfaction and happiness for a good part of your working life, then you’re probably in the wrong place.

LOVE

The greatest force in the world is the force of love. Love would make you face and conquer the toughest challenges on your path. Love would make you persevere through your ‘capacity building‘season. What productive venture would you keep working at even if you don’t get paid for years? Identify what you genuinely loved from childhood; a field or profession where you could sacrifice your time, energy and money while productively contributing to your society. In a nutshell, love is what makes you stand out in a world full of wishers and talkers.

ABILITY

The key to success in career is uncommon expertise- your ability to do something creatively and exceptionally well. It would be a great tragedy to pursue a career for which you lack natural abilities to match. What skills have helped you excel in the past with little or no training? What have you been good at since you were a child? Which of your actions attract the most impressive comments from people? What skills have you used the most in your personal and working life? Find the productive dimension to it and pursue it.

REST

The most productive people of this generation are those who consider their heart when choosing their career path. Which of your dominant activities in the past is devoid of nervousness and unrest? A wrong career path will disconnect you from your innermost being-your heart- thereby hindering you from being exceptional productive at work. Therefore you must search your heart before taking a major leap into any career path. Every career can be a great money-spinner but that is only true if the right person goes into it. Your ideal career will guarantee you constant peace and rest all through your working life.

EXPERIENCE

What obstacles have you successfully overcome in the past and how? Which of your life experiences could benefit others? What are three things about you that are remarkable? I have seen people who feel they are totally worthless because they don’t have the kind of enviable education, status or influential backgrounds that their peers have. Yet some of the very negative experiences in your past are valuable enough to build a career upon. The Black American billionaire, Oprah Winfery built her career on her disgusting childhood experiences, through which she helps millions of hurting people today. So you may consider your experiences when choosing your career.

EMBRACE YOUR UNIQUE SWEET SPOT

Having jotted down your observations as directed by the above five indicators, locate where most of the indicators (fulfillment, love, abilities, rest and experience) intercept. That is likely to be your unique sweet spot (or ideal career path). Embrace it when found. Experiment with it. Start small so you can learn without much discouragement. Take a job or serve under a productive person in that field. This way, you can identify how best to establish your effectiveness and productivity as you develop. Everyone has a unique sweet spot. How well and how soon you locate it determines how great you excel.

The FLARE® model has helped me and several others, and I believe it would help you too, if you take it seriously.

Choose the wrong career and you have settled for struggles and mediocrity; discover the right one and you can be sure to become a leader in your field. I wish you the very best as you do so.

You will get there!