Test, Test, Test
If you are trying to find a new career that inspires you and that you can put renewed energy towards, one way to approach the identification process is to test and prototype different options.
Herminia Ibarra is a well-known professor of organizational behavior who specializes in leadership and professional development. In 2004, she wrote a book, “Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career,” in which she highlights the importance of not simply talking to people to identify new opportunities, but to test things out and try them on. At the time, this was a radical approach very different from other career advice. Here's a link to a Harvard Business Review article by Ibarra that summarizes the book's intent at a high level.
In the book, Ibarra gives examples of how testing a new career path out gave people a clearer view of what the work might really be like for them and if they’d realistically like it. By doing so, she suggests, you’ll get a real-world sense of its fit for you. Her guidance is to first identify “possible selves” (what we call Alternate Futures) and then create experiments that allow you to test those possible selves. Ultimately, through the learning, you can craft a story that explains your new identity.
The Insight: Test, test, test. Do you hear yourself? Does it sound like you? Does it feel like you? Does it feel like the right path? Find your next thing through experimentation and trying on the new career identities and futures you are exploring.