Yul Kwon, the winner of the 13th season of Survivor, is quite accomplished. He's a graduate of UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Yale Law School. He's worked as a law clerk to a federal judge and as a legislative aide to Senator Joe Lieberman. Most recently he's worked as an independent business consultant and a business strategist at Google. Quite a resume for a 31 year old!



And yet, according to his friends, he's still searching for his true calling...a way to make a difference.

Since filming ended he's been taking time off to connect with friends and explore his interests. Although this may provide him with clues to his true calling, a random exploration of possibilities may not lead him to his dream career.

Just as Yul used strategy to win Survivor, there's a strategy he can use to discover his true calling. You can also use these seven strategies to identify your future career.

Strategy #1: Make sure you are striving for the right goal.

When most people decide to find their dream career, they think their primary goal is to narrow the field of ideas as soon as possible. Ironically, this strategy dooms their quest to failure because they rush from one idea to the next poking holes in each one! At some point during the process they give up because they don't seem to be making any progress at all.

Instead, focus your attention on creating a long list of potential career ideas based on your passions and interests.

Strategy #2: Focus on the skills and interests that make you feel the way you want to feel: happy, fulfilled, challenged, etc.

Although it makes practical sense at this point to focus on your most marketable skills and experience, I don't find this strategy to be very effective. As soon as you focus on practical options you cut your creativity in half and you decrease your chances of identifying your ultimate dream career.

To create the list of potential career ideas mentioned in Strategy #1, you must start by creating a list of at least forty skills and interests. Don't worry about how they are all going to fit together. Don't worry about how you'll make money with them. Just focus on the heart of the matter--the skills and topics you enjoy.

Finding a dream career is like going on a treasure hunt. It's only after you have all the clues in front of you (your list of favorite skills and interests) that you can find the right way to put the pieces together to solve the puzzle. (Did you ever see a Survivor Immunity Challenge or Reward where the contestants tried to solve the puzzle with just one clue? No, they always collect all the pieces they need first and then they solve the puzzle at hand.)

Strategy #3: Brainstorm careers that blend your passions and interests.

One of the common strategies that can kill a quest for a dream career happens when people think they have to select one of their skills or interest to focus on. This decision, and the commitment it implies, paralyzes them because they can't figure out which of their many interest to leave behind.

Most dream careers are a combination of the person's unique skills and interests. If you force yourself to choose between a couple of strong interests, you are likely to loss track of the out of the box combinations that makes you unique and marketable.

The other common strategy that backfires is using logic, and logic alone, to find your dream career. If you don't like what you are doing now, it's highly unlikely that a logical extension of your current career is going to be your answer.

This is where brainstorming comes in. Brainstorming is a process that steps out of the box to record any and all ideas that come to mind. In this case, your goal is to randomly select 3 or 4 words from your list of favorite skills and interests to see what careers, jobs, projects, businesses, or tasks you can think of that combine as many of the words as possible.

For example: If you selected graphic design, writing, organization, and teaching from your list, you might brainstorm the following career ideas: teacher, web designer, creating a publication, teaching writing, teaching web design, developing written materials to teach a topic.

Don't limit yourself. Don't think about the money. Don't think about training you'll need. You don't even need to want to do the ideas you come up with. For now, just generate up to 10 ideas for each combination of four words. Keep going until you get a total of 40-50 career ideas. Sometimes the best ideas come when you have to push your mind to think in a new direction, so when you feel stuck, stick with it to see what you can discover.

Strategy #4: Pinpoint your top two or three career ideas.

After you have created a pool of viable ideas to work with, you can safely narrow your focus to your top two or three career ideas. Begin by reviewing your list and pulling out the ten ideas you like most. Then start to look for your top two or three ideas. Do you see any themes, trends, overlap? It may be that your favorite ideas are a combination of a few of your original ideas. That's fine. You just want to make sure your top two or three ideas are indeed your favorite contenders at this point in time.

Strategy #5: Verify your ideas will work for you.

The riskiest action at this point is to jump into action with one of your ideas ...without verifying that it will work for you.

Before you initiate your job search or start your own business, invest the time to confirm that your ideas are in fact a good fit for you and your life. Do some online research, talk to people in the jobs, connect with others in the profession. This due diligence at the front end means that you are comfortable with your career ideas before you start trying to implement your plans.

In many cases this investigation will also open up possibilities you didn't even know existed. Keep a record of the websites you visit and the people you talk to so you can come back later to review everything and synthesize what you've learned.

If your ideal career idea seems like too big a leap at the moment, look for possible stepping stone jobs or opportunities to help you prepare for your ultimate dream career.

Strategy #6: Take the first action in front of you.

Don't expect to have 100% clarity about your future at this point. If you wait for that moment before you make a move, you'll have a long wait.

Each step you take in the direction of your goal will open up new connections, possibilities, and opportunities. Take the steps one by one and let your career unfold as you go. Talk to a contact, go to a professional meeting, take a class, accept a volunteer assignment that helps you build key skills. Keep your vision of what you want in your mind and let the pieces fall into place as you start walking in that direction.

Strategy #7: Realize that dream careers evolve.

It is highly unlikely you will land your dream career and stay there for the rest of your life. Our economy is such that most people will have 8-12 careers in their lifetime...not jobs, but careers.

Your career is not a static event, it is an evolving one. Keep your eyes and ears open to changes in your industry, changes in your life, and changes in who you are. Just as a kaleidoscope changes as you rotate the viewer, your career is likely to change form and continue to evolve as you grow and your life changes.

Don't be afraid of the fluid nature of your dream career. By always staying in touch with your needs and dreams you can continue to move your career in the direction that will be most meaningful to you.

Understanding these seven strategies for finding your true calling can give you the edge you need to succeed. Don't try to investigate every possible career idea; focus instead on the career ideas that reflect your favorite skills and interests. In investigating these ideas other opportunities may come into view.

Searching for your true calling is a journey and an adventure similar to Survivor. Just as Yul and all the players needed strategy, passion, perseverance, and patience to succeed, you will do well to incorporate these elements into your quest for your dream career.

Good luck on your journey of discovery.

Copyright (c) 2006 Transition Dynamics Enterprises, Inc.