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  • Stuck in Your Career? Here’s What That Feeling Really Means

    Stuck in Your Career? Here’s What That Feeling Really Means

    There Has to Be More to Life Than This

    I was on a walk in the mountains with some guys the other day and somebody said, referring to their existing career, “There has to be more to life than this.”

    He was referring to having a mortgage to pay, family commitments, and how he’s providing for his family, but shoveling away doing something he doesn’t really like. It pays well, so he just needs to keep his head down.

    Like many people who head for this mirage on the horizon, it’s like, “I just need to get to X. I just need to get the mortgage paid or reach retirement or whatever magical solution will be in the future. Then there’ll be an escape route.”

    And I recognize this — there must be more to life than this — because I’ve felt it myself. This quiet despair. This dread.

    It’s not ever-present. It’s something that pops up on a Sunday afternoon.

    (more…)

  • Personal Energy as Your Career Signal

    A Simple Energy-Based Technique for Better Career Decisions

    I’d like to share with you a decision-making technique. In this context, I’m focusing on careers and how to find more fulfilling work or align with your purpose. But this method can be used for many areas of life.

    If your career feels off or you’re feeling restless, this technique can be surprisingly powerful in helping you find clarity.

    It’s simple: ask yourself, where’s my energy at?

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  • Why Following Your Passion Alone Can Backfire in Your Career

    Why Following Your Passion Alone Can Backfire in Your Career

    Follow your passion.

    This is common advice given to people from friends or colleagues because they want somebody to find something they love or their passion, right?

    But I suggest that that’s actually a really bad idea and can actually be counterproductive to your career.

    In this article, I’ll describe what to do instead.

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  • Your Career Calling Won’t Arrive in a Brown Envelope

    Your Career Calling Won’t Arrive in a Brown Envelope

    The official-looking letter from the taxman looks formal, black-and-white, and decisive. That’s how many people think their career decision is going to arrive: like ding! — here it is, in writing.

    You’re going to be an astronaut. You start Monday. You’ll earn twice the salary, and you only have to work a four-day week.

    People expect that level of perfect clarity just to turn up. And in the absence of it, they do nothing.

    But the reality? It doesn’t show up like that.

    (more…)

  • The Silent Fear that Keeps Talented People Playing Small

    The Silent Fear that Keeps Talented People Playing Small

    Every big decision in your life is set on this pair of weighing scales, and the scales tipping determine whether you proceed or not. In order to change, to grow, to take the next step, whatever that might be, the scales need to tip. And on these scales, you’ve got the fear of failure on one side, and on the other side you’ve got the fear of regret.

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  • The psychology of career calling

    The psychology of career calling

    Video: Mid-Life Restlessness: Job, Career or Calling – The psychology of career calling

    Video Transcript

    “So if you’re feeling a little bit restless in mid-career, not sure what to do next, this will explain the psychology behind all of this. Why you’re feeling restless, why you’re maybe yearning for something else. It’ll also describe why you should take that seriously, what to do about it, and the barriers you’re likely to face along the way.
    (more…)

  • Exploring Calling – the identification, pursuit, and effects amongst mid-career professionals

    Abstract – Exploring Calling

    This study explores the concept of calling at work. It begins by looking at the definition of a calling, reflecting on motivation at work, the religious background of the concept of calling and the constituent parts of a calling: inner drive in a particular direction, the prosocial contribution and alignment with one’s strengths or issues one feels are important.

    Career change and behavioural models are explored to understand a sense of calling. Measurement scales are also reviewed to identify those who might benefit from following their calling, how they are motivated and the need for intrinsic meaning. The study reviews the benefits of following a calling, the challenges individuals face, and the techniques scholars recommend in its pursuit. (more…)

  • A three-hour workday because of AI

    A three-hour workday because of AI

    In the 1930s, the economist John Maynard Keynes suggested that in a hundred years’ time, we’d all be working 15-hour work weeks or a 3-hour workday because of advances in productivity. Keynes predicted that we’d all have a lot more leisure time due to our material needs being met.

    Interestingly, he also referred to the “Man’s dilemma” of knowing what to do with oneself when you have so much leisure time. A “sense of dread” because people were so busy striving and not used to the “age of leisure”. How does one occupy oneself when working only 3 hours a day? (more…)

  • 17 questions that unlock your personal values

    17 questions that unlock your personal values

    My previous article discussed how values could make or break your career. In this follow-up article, I will cover identifying your values.

    First of all, it’s worth reflecting on how our values develop. Your personal values can be shaped by your culture, family, upbringing, friends, community, education, personal experiences, media, influencers or role models. (more…)

  • How clarity over values can make or break your career

    How clarity over values can make or break your career

    When embarking on a career transition or considering what career to pursue, I believe assessing your values and strengths is the first foundational step.

    In this article, I’ll outline the power clarity over your values can deliver for your choices – potentially making or breaking a career. In a follow-up article, I’ll cover how to discover your values. (more…)

  • Little-known ways to harness your intuition

    Little-known ways to harness your intuition

    When I started my mid-life awakening in October 2021, I remember receiving two standout pieces of advice:

    • “Carve out time in your diary to think,” said Dan Stanley.
    • “All the answers you need are inside your head; you just need to be quiet enough to hear them,” said Jonathan Edwards.

    Wow, Looking back, how spot-on these guys were. (more…)

  • Motivating people at work, time to rethink carrots and sticks

    Motivating people at work, time to rethink carrots and sticks

    We’ve covered how people are motivated at work in previous posts. External things that happen as a result of work (Salary, perks, recognition) drive some people, whilst the satisfaction of the work itself guides others. See “Jobs, Careers and Callings” and “How to harness true inner direction and ignore ego-driven goals”.
    So I was keen to read Daniel H. Pink’s 2009 book “Drive – the surprising truth about what motivates us”. (more…)

  • 10 ways you are held back from changing careers and going after what you were REALLY meant to do

    10 ways you are held back from changing careers and going after what you were REALLY meant to do

    If you are a mid-career professional in an established role, don’t be surprised if you face a little resistance to changing careers!

    The 10 elements below might prevent you from pursuing a calling and ending any frustration you might feel with your current role.

    Some common challenges include: (more…)

  • How to harness true inner direction and ignore ego-driven goals

    How to harness true inner direction and ignore ego-driven goals

    In a previous post, I mentioned how a person’s occupation can be a job, career, or calling. In summary, I said that a job is something you do for money, a career offers recognition and progress, and a calling involves a strong sense of purpose, it lights you up. Read more about the three types here:  https://northstarlabs.co.uk/jobs-careers-callings/. 

    Within these three roles, it’s important to understand the underlying motivation. Psychologists refer to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation about why we are driven towards such work. (more…)

  • Book Review: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

    Book Review: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

    The world observed Holocaust Memorial Day this week. A day chosen, on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.

    As the world reflects on this savage event in history, I recalled “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl. It is one of my all time favourite books, a deeply personal and profound exploration of the human experience of suffering and the search for purpose and meaning in life. (more…)

  • Jobs, Careers and Callings

    Jobs, Careers and Callings

    Whether your work is a Job, Career or Calling is very much down to your point of view. One man’s calling is another man’s drudgery.

    Jobs, Careers and Callings – What’s the difference?

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  • From Abatoir to Free fall, the power of your Why

    From Abatoir to Free fall, the power of your Why

    University of Bedfordshire, 1994

    The power of your Why

    It’s my first semester at University when I stumble across a noticeboard advert for a charity parachute jump.

    Signing up for it would have meant eating into about a month’s worth of my meagre living allowance. So I had to find a way to scrape the money together.

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  • Poking the bear

    Poking the bear

     May 2021, Swindon, Dent Zoom Call

    I’m on a zoom call with fifty-odd other entrepreneurs enjoying a business accelerator.

    It’s an excellent experience, but something isn’t sitting right.

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  • Finding your calling with Venn diagrams

    Finding your calling with Venn diagrams

    For the maths minded like me. There is nothing like a good Venn Diagram to help understanding.

    A Venn is used to describe how concepts intersect, described below via the wonderful medium of pancakes!

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  • What failing at school taught me

    What failing at school taught me

    Winter 1993, Basingstoke, UK.

    I did ok at secondary school but generally didn’t pay enough attention and drifted along.

    I ended up with mediocre grades, just enough to scrape into A’ Levels.

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