Open your calendar and look at the week you’ve had. Pick one thing you were pleased to spend time on, and one you would rather not repeat. Stay with the actual work for a moment: the conversation, the problem you were trying to understand, the meeting that ran over. Before deciding what you want from the next five years, there might be something worth noticing in the last five days.
A job title won’t tell you all of this. You might want the recognition that comes with becoming a design leader, but be less sure about the work that would fill your calendar. You might enjoy helping colleagues develop and still want time to make things yourself. Wanting more responsibility doesn’t tell you which responsibilities you want to carry, or what you would be willing to give up to make room for them.
That is where I would start with a career goal. What are you hoping will be different? When you picture the promotion, the new employer or the change of profession, what happens after you have updated your profile and told everyone the news? There is a working day on the other side of that announcement. It deserves some attention.
Start with a week you recognise
Take the thing you were pleased to spend time on. Write down what you were doing and what made it worthwhile. If it was a workshop, was it having time with other people, being trusted to lead, or finally getting close to a problem you care about? Those are different things to look for in your next piece of work. They could also lead you towards quite different jobs.
Now look at the thing you would rather not repeat. Be as specific as you can. A meeting might have felt pointless because a decision had already been made, because nobody knew what needed deciding, or because you were expected to carry out work you had no say in shaping. Calling all of those experiences “too many meetings” leaves a lot unexplored.
One week isn’t enough to explain a career. You may have chosen an unusually difficult one. Look back a little further and see whether the same things recur. You are collecting observations you can question, rather than building a case for a decision you have already made.
As you do this, you may recognise something you want to protect. Time to think. A relationship with your team. Enough energy at the end of the day for the people and interests outside work. If you find it difficult to explain why something matters, exploring your values is another place to begin. You don’t have to rank everything neatly; there may be a real tension between two things you care about.
Give yourself something to find out
Imagine you are a designer considering management because you want more influence over decisions. Before making that your goal, it would be useful to understand what influence the role actually carries. Which decisions could you make? What would need somebody else’s agreement? How much of the week would involve supporting people, and how much would involve the design work you currently enjoy?
A conversation with someone doing that job could help you explore the difference between the title and the working week. Ask them about a recent day. What took their attention? What did they have to leave unfinished? Their experience won’t predict yours, but it gives you more to consider than a list of responsibilities in a job advert.
You could then choose one opportunity to explore further, within the time and permission you have. That might mean agreeing to support a colleague with a particular piece of work, then reflecting on what you enjoyed and what you found difficult. Keep the commitment small enough that you can learn without quietly taking on a second job.
When you return to your goal, ask what you now understand that you didn’t before. You might still want the management role. You might want a different kind of responsibility, or discover that the influence you wanted depends on changes beyond your own role. A personal development plan cannot give you authority your organisation has decided to withhold.
You are allowed to revise the goal. The time spent understanding it hasn’t been wasted because the answer changed.
Bring the uncertainty with you
If you would like company in thinking this through, you can read about how coaching works or book a free 30-minute consultation. We can talk about what you are looking for and whether working together would be a good fit. You don’t need to arrive with a finished career plan. We’ll discuss fees and possible arrangements before you decide whether to commit to paid coaching.
For now, return to the calendar. Find the part of your week you would like more room for, and the part you would like to change. You may not yet know the name of your next role. You can still begin to describe a day you would want to have.