Struggling with a career move? Here’s the 3 questions you should ask yourself

Career decision making is tough.

We all know - often first hand - that an opportunity can look good on the surface. But it can be a disaster in reality.

So, when faced with a big career decision, how do you know what is the right move?

In 2017, I was presented with the opportunity to start a business in Australia (a country I had never lived in).

The opportunity seemed like a great one on the surface. 

But it was still a big risk.

I didn’t live in Australia.

I would have to invest money.

And, eventually, I would have to give up my job at Apple.

There was a lot riding on this decision.

So I went to my mentor and asked him how to make this decision

And he told me…

If you ask yourself these three questions and at least two you answer with a positive response, then this is the indication that it’s the right decision to move forward.

Because if 2/3 of these answers are positive, then even if the business fails, you will still have gained something.

The three questions

He told me to ask myself:

• Who will I meet?
• What will I learn?
• And where will this take me?

His reasoning was that if: 

• I meet people I wouldn’t otherwise meet, 
• or I learnt something new, 
• or if it took me in the direction I wanted to go

then even if it failed, it was not a waste of time.

So I took the opportunity.

And the worst happened. 

The company failed in the first 6 months.

But he was right. 

It didn’t feel like a failure.

It felt like the building blocks of the next chapter of my life.

And from that experience came the business I currently run.

This is now the framework I use for all decision-making

And I encourage you to do the same. 

It’s basically fool-proof. 

You always win.

And it has served me very well in my career.

I have shared this framework many times with clients on my Creative Career Level Up programme. The CCLU programme is filled with tactics, strategies and frameworks - just like this one - to help you level up your creative career.