How to Find Your Career Sweet Spot

Inside: Learn how to find your career sweet spot and enjoy more fulfillment and joy in your work. Keep learning here with this free video training: How to Land a Fulfilling Job You Love Without Giving Up the Flexibility You Need.

What do you want to be when you grow up (next)?

That’s right. This growing up business doesn’t stop automatically at a certain age and stage! We all have the opportunity to continue growing and evolving and find our career sweet spots

How do you find your Career Sweet Spot?

Let’s start by defining it, with a little help from my tiny Career Coach helpers.

Defining the Career Sweet Spot

The Career Sweet Spot is when you’re exactly where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing, and doing it well.

We might recognize that in our children, like when my 5-year-old daughter, Norah, is sitting at the kitchen table coloring a picture for us and singing Moana. Or when my 6-year-old son, Jack runs for a touchdown in flag football and high fives his teammates.

Think about your kids. Have there been moments when you watch them doing something they love and they are just so “in it” you have to stop and stare with pride and joy?

It feels great as a parent to watch your kid be totally in the zone and feel like their stars are aligning. It feels great to have that for YOURSELF too!

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How to find the perfect career for you. Career Sweet Spot exercise.

Where’s My Career Sweet Spot?

Finding the career sweet spot as an adult can feel a little more complicated. How do you even start to think about what your career and life equivalent of a big coloring book and Mom jumping up and down celebrating your athletic achievement is?

Let’s loosen the proverbial pickle jar on this for you and break the career sweet spot down into three areas skills, passions, and value add.

Skills

This one is super simple. What are you good at?

Let’s start with your book knowledge. You were an accounting major, you’re good with numbers (and I’m incredibly jealous.) Or you studied psychology and you understand the human psyche. Perhaps you were a history major and because of some pretty epic papers you wrote on the Byzantine Empire you can research and write like a pro. Those are well-developed and well-earned skills.

And then, of course, it’s important to note your street smarts. Are you the hostess with the mostest always throwing great parties for your friends? Do you bake a mean chocolate chip cookie? Are you an active listener? Run a marathon? Start a campfire? Train a dog?

Make a list and don’t be stingy with it. Just because no one is paying you $45 million dollars to tell jokes doesn’t mean you aren’t funny. If your current job doesn’t require your creative juices, that doesn’t mean they aren’t flowing. Give yourself some credit. Write ALL your skills down.

Passions

Some passions are going to roll right off the tongue. Maybe it’s your family, your faith, your sports team. Or it could be volunteerism, world cultures, art. If this is easy for you – awesome. Write them down.

But sometimes the word “passion” feels too heavy. I mean, I like things, but am I “passionate” about them? So let’s try something different.

Make a list of all the things that you ENJOY doing. ALL of them. Yup, I’m talking about putting “watching Real Housewives” on your list. I’m saying put “singing in the shower” on your list. Don’t hold back or be embarrassed. This isn’t your passion list yet. And you don’t need to show this to anyone.

Now take a second pass, and without any judgment, try to pull out some themes. Love watching The Bachelorette, reading the Skimm, and texting your friends? Why do you like those things?

Maybe a theme here is that you like to feel connected with others. Talking about the show the next day at work, reading news highlights, and catching up with your friends helps you do that. Maybe it is that you love the live-tweeting audience of The Bachelorette, appreciate the funny movie quote Skimm subject lines, and like hearing your friend’s latest hilarious story about the time she tried goat yoga. The theme here? Humor!

Try to come up with several themes that tie together a few of your interests. There’s the start of your passion list. Your CURRENT passion list. It can change!

Value Add

What you are good at is important. What you love doing is important. When you combine those two things then you get close to the sweet spot. But I think the value add piece is the secret sauce.

Now you don’t need to be building houses with Habitat for Humanity, or donating blood every other week, or curing the world of horrible diseases to add value. Not that you shouldn’t do those things – do those things too! Please! But there are a myriad of ways that you can add value to others.

Let’s say you are a stay-at-home parent considering taking on another job, but you don’t know how your experience translates to working outside of the home. In the time you’ve spent with your kids you know all the ins and outs of cloth diapers, or researching preschools, or navigating food allergies. Maybe you found a great way to convince your kids to eat their vegetables or have been to every playground within a 20-mile radius.

Think of how much value you add to your family’s life. Think about how much value you can add to new parents in your area, a local business trying to attract parents of young kids, or a company that needs a multitasking pro.

SO. MUCH. VALUE!

A person can add value by making others feel comfortable, sharing their knowledge, offering a service, building a product, listening intently. Get that pen and paperback out and make a list of the people or companies who would value what you bring to the table.

Your Career Sweet Spot – It’s in the Overlap!

The Career Sweet Spot is where your skills, passions, and value add overlap.

It’s where it feels like your worlds are colliding and you can get into flow. The work you do is challenging but in a way that gets you fired up because it’s rooted in your passions, what you know you’re good at, and contributing something to the world.

For me, writing this book and writing my book is my sweet spot. I’m a strong writer, I’m passionate about humor, my family, and helping others succeed, and I can add value to other moms thinking about what they want to be when they grow up next by sharing what I know about career development through relatable parenting stories.

Finding that sweet spot? It’s AWESOME.

Career Sweet Spot Inspiration

Need some more career sweet spot inspiration?

Lyndsay found her career sweet spot in photography. She loves taking pictures, she is skilled in working with people, and she offers a unique perspective that results in beautifully captured memories for the families she works with.

Scott found his sweet spot in creating Quinn’s Cookies. He loves to cook and bake, he has honed his entrepreneurial skill sets in several different ventures, and he has created something delicious that helps women who are struggling to produce enough milk when breastfeeding.

Lindsay found her sweet spot in writing her recently published book. She is a very skilled writer, is passionate about her faith, and can share her experience raising four kids with others who are learning this parenting gig as we go.

Your career sweet spot is there – promise! Just like Norah’s coloring book or Jack’s touchdown. You simply need to do the work to uncover it, and then go for it.

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