Icky What???

I was having coffee with my lifelong friend Dan Brown last week (really, we met in 9th grade). He’s an amazing leadership coach, and, of course, with me being an organizational psychologist, it didn’t take long before the conversation turned to the number of people we know who are going through career upheavals. My passion is healthcare, and it feels like healthcare professionals are taking a hard hit due to downsizing, burnout, payment complexities, and so on. Of course, that popular question came up: “If money weren’t an issue, what would you want to do?”

You know, it’s a great question in theory. In reality, most people don’t have the luxury to even begin thinking about a dream like that. We have children, bills, aging parents, and so many other obligations that make the question feel almost insulting when you’re in the middle of a career transition.

So instead of dreaming, most of us default to what we’ve always done. More of the same with a different company. The org psych term for this is “opportunistic employment”. Taking whatever opportunity is in front of us because we don’t have time, energy, or space to imagine anything else. Not to mention, the further we get in our careers, the more confined those choices feel.

Dan mentioned the Ikigai Test, and heaven knows I like to spend hours overthinking things. So, I went home and decided to dust off my paper copy from grad school.

I pretty much stared at it and felt completely overwhelmed…and I study this stuff for a living!!!

So, I thought I would share this resource: https://ikigaitest.com/

It’s a free, interactive tool that guides you through each section and produces quite a bit of information on what matters to you, your differentiator, leadership style, and several other topics that might help you think a bit differently about your next step.  

That’s it! I wish you all the best and, please know, I am cheering you on!