Preview the Career Clarity Program

Take a Tour of the Career Clarity Steps

Finding, creating or building a meaningful career that allows you to express yourself, tap your passions, and feel fulfilled and productive on a daily basis is much like designing and building a dream home.

To get the soul-satisfying results you are craving, there's a multi-step process you go through to gather important information that will be synthesized into the final blueprint design.

Here's the process for designing a house.

Step 1: You begin by acknowledging you want something more than what you have.
Step 2: Then you assess your personal style, preferences, and lifestyle.
Step 3: In the next step, you take a look at the surroundings and property to understand what it offers.
Step 4: Here you take stock of what activities, interests, hobbies, and passions you want to incorporate into the ultimate design of your home.
Step 5: You use all the ideas, information, and impressions you've collected and you begin to brainstorm the design of your dream house.
Step 6: To investigate your favorite options you do some research, check out materials, and look at samples.
Step 7: In this step you take your favorite design ideas and your real life budget and find creative solutions to create what you want-coming to terms with the tradeoffs as you proceed.
Step 8: And finally, you build your house in a way that truly works for you.

The same process helps you create/discover your ideal career. The more you know about yourself, your needs, your preferences, and your passions, the more your new career reflects and suits you.

Overview of the 8 Steps

The following images represent the eight steps of the program. To get the best results, move through the Career Clarity Program step by step.

To understand the purpose of each step (and why the seasons change behind the house) keep reading.

In the images of the house, you'll find important clues about how the process unfolds. The progress of the house shows you the purpose of the Step while the state of the environment shows you the emotional process you may experience during that Step.

(The descriptions of the seasons are based on The Seasons of Change which is described in more detail in Additional Resources.)

Phase 1

Gather Information

Step 1 - Where Are You Today?

1. The Site: The first step in any building project is to survey the site. In this step you check in with your current situation at work and at home to see where you are.

1. Early Fall: The first sign of Fall is the awareness that a change is coming or is already in progress. This step allows you to acknowledge the change fully.

Step 2A - Your Personal Style

Step 2B - Your Lifesytle

2. Foundation: To work well, your career must be built on a strong foundation that takes your personal style and your desired lifestyle into account. The activities in this section help you define your personal style and your desired lifestyle.

2. Fall: As Fall progresses, you begin to let go of beliefs you've held about yourself and your situation that you find are no longer true for you. Letting go of old self-definitions creates room for new insights and discoveries.

Step 3 - Your Work Environment

3. Walls: The next step is to explore what you want to surround you at work: your work environment, your work community, and your work contract. Just as the walls of a house contribute to how it feels to be in the home, all of these factors contribute to how it feels to be at work.

3. Early Winter: As you begin to deepen your search, you may feel tired and drawn inward. By asking different questions and releasing more beliefs, the process may bring up more questions than it answers. Have faith. Trust the process. Remember your current goal is to collect as much information as possible. The answers will come in due time.

Step 4 - Your Passions and Interests

4. Roof: The final step in this phase is to explore the interests and passions that give your career its form and personality. What you do on the job is essential to feeling satisfied and fulfilled with your career.

4. Winter: For some this phase is hard because it is full of unknowns, for others it's like a winter wonderland full of sparkle and discovery. Allow yourself the time and space to reflect deeply during this Step. The more you can sit in a place of possibility and follow your insights where ever they take you, the more you will be rewarded with sparks of creative insights.

Phase 2

Synthesize Your Information

Step 5A - Brainstorm New Career Ideas

Step 5B - Synthesize Your Career Ideas

5. Windows: The brainstorming you do during this step sheds new light on your career. Stay open to new opportunities, new experiences, and new ideas.

5. Late Winter: This is the turning point. The information you've collected provides glimmers of new opportunities and ideas. You may feel a quickening in your spirit. You are not in any place to leap into action at this moment, but you do begin to see light on the horizon.

Step 6A - Investigate Your Options - Online

Step 6B - Investigate Your Options - Interviews

6. Door: The addition of the door symbolizes it's time to step out and explore your ideas. Take action. Experiment with your ideas. Try them out. See how they feel. Talk to other people. The more information you gather, the more you know about your future options.

6. Early Spring: Now it's time to start moving forward! Remember, however, that you are in a tentative place. You have new ideas, but you aren't yet completely sure what you want to pursue. Trust your own sense of timing. Ebb and flow with your own energy.

Step 7 - Refine Your Options

7. Landscaping: As you put the finishing touches on your career, your overall plan begins to take shape.

7. Spring: You may face some inner storms as you identify creative ways to work through inconsistencies between your ideal picture and your life. Don't worry, you are not back in Winter. Stay focused on the essence of what you want. As you continue to step forward, more and more clarity will come.

Step 8 - Take Action on Your Options

8. Sun and Flowers: Convert your increased energy into more training, look for educational programs that provide what you need. If you want a new job, start your job search. If you want to start a new business, take steps in that direction.

8. Late Spring Moving into Summer: You move fully into Spring as you act on your plan and implement your ideas. As you find your place in your new career, your confidence grows and Summer begins.

Remember:

Your house doesn't need to be a simple cottage, you can envision a castle, a log cabin, a mansion, a beach house, or any other house that fits your needs!