Ask yourself these questions:

• Values: What do I like to do? What brings out my best?
• Vision: How do I want to grow? What do I want to create for myself?
• Competency: What do I bring to the table? What value do I have and how should this grow over time? What do I need to get to the next level?
• Relationships: Who’s supporting me? Who’s in my posse? Who gives me resilience and validation? And who can I learn from?

We tend to only do something about our careers when we have a problem. But if you wait until you’re laid off or dissatisfied, you may take action but it won’t feel authentic.

A better way is to look at multiple factors and work on them consistently even when you feel satisfied at your job.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.  Incremental efforts do add up.

Like compound interest, if you make steady progress of your goals, you can get somewhere.

We learn through experimentation, not by pondering.

We can’t really think our way into the right answer. We just have to try different things and then see how well we learn from those.

Ask a friend: "What do you see in me? What patterns are you detecting?"

Often, that will identify some of your core values.

If you are uncertain about your next step, but you have 5-6 job possibilities in your mind, chart out these options and ask:

• How interesting would it be? Use a 1 to 10 scale to rank it. 
• How easy or difficult would it be to make happen? 
• How much do you actually know about this as a career? How deep is your knowledge? 

Add up the points and see where each job falls on the chart.

Every career has transitions and cycles. Accept that.

Don't try to avoid them, rather think about what we can do for that cycle and move forward.