Are you planning five steps too far ahead?
|
A friend was staying with us this week, and at some point we ended up on the couch talking through a business idea she’s been working on. I won’t give it away, but it’s a good one. The more she explained it, though, the more arms it grew. It started as one clear thing, but every time she talked it through, another feature got added. At some point it became an app with personal recommendations, and then a weekly digest email was added to the list too. Before long, she was thinking about pitch decks, investors, how to set up the company, and which version of the product she’d even pitch. At one point, she admitted that all of it was probably why she kept freezing and couldn’t go any further. That’s when I brought up the song “The Next Right Thing” from Frozen 2. Anna’s alone in a cave. Everything has fallen apart, and the whole picture is too much to deal with. So she decides to do the next thing in front of her. I know that’s a slightly ridiculous place to pull business advice from, but it helped my friend see that she’d been trying to answer her questions in the wrong order. Investors could wait. The first question was much more basic: Will people actually use this? We landed on a simple beta, just enough to put in front of real people. If they use it and keep coming back, she’ll learn which parts of the idea matter most. And if she eventually sits down with investors, she’ll have something better than a daydream. She’ll have proof. The same thing happens when you’re trying to make a career decision. You start wondering if you should leave your field. Ten minutes later, you’re worried about how to explain it in an interview, whether you’ll have to take a pay cut, what your parents will say, and how the change will look on your resume. But the question in front of you might be much simpler: Do I even like this work? Thinking harder from your couch won’t answer that. Getting closer to the work might. This is where a career beta helps. You try a small, real version of whatever you’re considering and pay attention to what happens. When you’re choosing what to do next, run it through two questions:
If you’re curious about a new field, talk to one person who works in it. If you’re thinking about starting something of your own, offer it to one person and see how it feels to actually do the work. Before you start, write down what you hope to learn. And then when you’re done, write down what you actually learned. That gap usually tells you where to go next. My friend went home with the same big idea and one thing she can start Monday. That’s enough for now. She can let the beta tell her what deserves to happen next. If you’ve been circling a big move, pick one thing you can test this week. Let that answer the next question. Take care, Tara P.S. Sometimes another person on the couch helps you figure out which question actually comes first. That’s exactly what we do in the Career Reboot Strategy Session. I’m retiring these soon, and I have three spots left. If you want one, you can grab it here. |