Redefining the term career path
The first time I flew with Phil we went for fun. I didn't realize people flew for fun, but this is Phil's idea of a good time just like I love to go skiing.
I've been conditioned to believe flying is something you do when you have a destination in mind. It turns out, that's not the case.
REDEFINING THE TERM CAREER PATH
My next book is slowly coming into focus. All I know at this point is it will be a continuation of my research on professional identity.
While the full idea brews, the terms career and career path have been giving me a hard time. We use them frequently and casually, almost without thought as to what they really are.
What does a career mean anymore? Why are we seeking to build one? How do we define a career? And, what have we been conditioned to believe about it?
For some, you've been told career paths are straightforward growth trajectories,
for others, it's a winding journey with twists and turns where unexpected things happen,
and for still others, it's a series of steps headed towards a certain goal.
You're told you can build it. You can follow it. You can design it. You can change it. Heck, you can even hybridize it.
These phrases raise an unspoken premise that a career path is outcomes-based, a "cause and effect" model. If you do X or prepare for Y, then you'll be more likely to achieve Z.
Is this advice outdated?
How many of you have tried this "if/then theory" of career logic, and it feels flawed in today's workforce?
Now, be honest, are you even on a career path?
I don't think so.
A large swath of people are experiencing nonlinear, multidimensional, unconventional "career paths." (I'd argue this aligns to their professional identity, especially if they are a jack-of-all-trades or hybrid. This is why professional identity and career navigation and career belonging are part of my new book research).
So, what is this phenomenon I'm hinting at? What do we call the next version of "career paths?"
FROM CAREER PATH TO CAREER PATHLESSNESS?
When we let go of being on a path, then the opposite is pathlessness.
Immediately, your mind might turn to thoughts of wandering, being lost, sense making, or feelings of being in a rut when your career has stalled. That's not the kind of pathlessness I'm referring to.
There's another kind of career path experience people are having, one that has not yet been named.
This phenomenon is somewhere between being on a path or being pathless. What exists between heading towards a goal or being lost and confused?
The betweenness has its own unique (and valuable) properties.
It's a real space. A third space.
Instead of naming it, I'm using my senses to feel into it.
For me, it feels a bit like being a pilot of a plane, soaring through the air...which leads me back to flying.
FROM CAREER PATH TO CAREER FLIGHT?
Being in the sky with Phil reframed my experience of flying. We didn't have a destination. We moved in any direction we wanted at any time. We could see for miles. Our perspective was vast. There was no well-trodden path. There wasn't any path at all.
We glided through the air. The sky was truly our limit.
For people like me who are...
not lost,
not wandering,
not under-qualified,
not unmotivated,
not unfocused,
not untalented
and certainly not unemployable,
(but others perceive you to be any of these)
and you're also not measuring up to standards or norms of the workforce, climbing a career ladder or following traditional career path advice...the feeling of flying is becoming a better metaphor to articulate what I'm feeling/doing in my professional life.
Flight has the properties of freedom, autonomy, and infinite possibility. You're not lost, unmotivated or under-qualified while flying, but you're also not found or seeking to prove yourself.
You're in the sweet spot between.
I'm struggling to figure out what to call the space in between career path and career pathlessness.
When I write it like that, it feels binary, either/or. Although, I'm trying to carve out what happens in the middle (you know my knack for that).
For now, I'm using "career flight" but that's a placeholder.
Here's a rough idea of how I sense career flight when compared with a career path:
LATELY I'VE BEEN QUESTIONING...
...a lot! To wrap things up, here's a list of questions that are cycling through my brain. They're in the order my researcher hat is unpacking them in.
In today's world...
What is a career?
What is a good career?
What is a successful career?
What does it mean to reach career success?
What does it mean to reach your career potential?
Are career potential and career success related or separate?
How does career belonging versus career fit play into this?
How does ikigai (your reason for being) mesh with career path?
How do various stages and ages of adulthood factor into career transitions?
Finally, how does professional identity fit into all of this?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
If you have a better term than "career flight" to name the space in between career path and career pathlessness, then please share it with me. I really want your ideas.
If you think I'm bonkers about my metaphor of career flight and you want to push against it, I'm all ears. Email me back.
And if you have answers to any of the list of questions above, well be on the lookout. I'm creating a survey and a focus group in the coming weeks, and I'd love for you to be a respondent or participant.