Coaching practices for How Do I Know What Career is Right for Me

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How Do I Know What Career is Right for Me, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I feel like I should already know my one thing and lock in, but honestly I’ve barely tried anything
• I’m pulled in a dozen directions and none of them is clearly the thing
• What I believe my work is for and what I believe my life is for seem to be quietly pulling in opposite directions, so every big choice feels like a coin-flip
• I’ve got the conversation booked but I’m staring at a blank page of questions, worried I’ll waste their time asking things I could’ve Googled
• There’s this other life I daydream about constantly, but it stays a fantasy in my head

Practices that may help

1. Sample widely before committing to a niche
   Premature specialization forecloses interests you haven’t discovered yet.
   Passion vs Interest: How to Actually Find Work You Love
2. Map your three circles honestly
   Separately answer each circle — passion, best-at, economic engine — before looking for the intersection.
   The Hedgehog Concept
3. Write your Workview and Lifeview
   Articulate what work is for and what life is for — then check whether they point the same way.
   Designing Your Life, Made Practical
4. Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
   An informational interview is a low-stakes conversation with someone in a role or field you’re curious about — you ask questions, they share experience, and no job is on the table. Richard Bolles’s What Color Is Your Parachute? popularised this as a career research tool; the evidence is largely observational and practitioner, but it consistently shows that direct conversation with insiders produces better career decisions and unexpected referrals.
5. Prepare questions you genuinely don’t know the answer to
   Ask about the unwritten realities of the role — the things no job posting reveals.
   Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
6. Passion vs Interest: How to Actually Find Work You Love
   Paul O’Keefe and colleagues found that people who believe interests are fixed ("find your passion") tend to abandon pursuits when they get hard, while those who see interests as developed through effort stay curious and persistent. The evidence suggests "follow your passion" is not just unhelpful advice — it may actively discourage the effort that transforms shallow interest into deep, sustaining work.
7. Prototype with conversations and experiences
   Test a possible path cheaply — talk to someone living it, or try a small slice — before betting on it.
   Designing Your Life, Made Practical
8. Listen for what isn’t in the job description
   Focus on the texture of day-to-day work, not the official narrative.
   Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
9. Practise your story before you need it
   Have a clear, genuine two-minute narrative about who you are and where you’re headed.
   Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
10. Use the bullseye to resolve competing values
    When two values pull in different directions, the bullseye shows you which domain is most neglected and most in need of attention.
    Values Bullseye, Made Practical

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