Finding Clarity in Your Career Path

How did I get here?

It was 2020, year three of my five year career plan at Lockheed Martin (LM) as a Human Factors Design Engineer. I was fulfilling my life’s purpose of helping people through Human Factors Engineering (HFE) by ensuring that Designers design with the human in mind and being an advocate for users. But the population I was helping was small and highly specialized, astronauts. I had the desire to help a wider range of people in what why, I didn’t know at that time.

Honestly, I thought my next job would be in User Experience (UX), a shift from hardware to software. I realized back in 2016 the world is going digital and manual jobs will be replaced with automation. Meaning that the application of Ergonomics (Ergo) could significantly change, so I needed to begin to align my career with where society is heading. I was preparing for that UX job, until I was asked where I saw my career in five years. This is when the dominos began to fall to reveal my intended career path.

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First Domino Falls

I hadn’t thought that far out in any detail with two years left in my current plan. That question was the first domino to fall to begin to reveal how I got to this point, writing my first newsletter article. The idea of becoming a life coach was introduced to me. There was a leadership development program at work I was considering at that time of the question. I took the lack of an answer as a sign to investigate both. To satisfy the program’s mentoring requirement, I initially found a UX mentor. That relationship didn’t feel right, so it ended. I had a HFE job offer at the end of 2021, in another state, but it was a salary decrease and the work wasn’t interesting. I feel like that solidified that being a Human Factors Design Engineer was no longer apart of my career path.

In my life coaching research, I learned about the various coaching specialties. Reflecting on what I do well, my personal interests, and previous experiences, career coaching emerged as the main specialty I considered. I’m known to provide impactful career advice to anyone who asks me for it. I’d credit my knowledge to my trial and error period with internships in undergrad and graduate school. I paid attention to all the career do’s and don’ts that was shared each summer. What I wanted at that time was someone to have sat me down in college to develop a long-term vision for my career, so I won’t feel so lost. I decided that I was going to be that person for others. But I didn’t know what that could look like nor how to actually coach people.

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Second Domino Falls

Still needing to find a mentor before program graduation in July 2022, I decided that I wanted a mentor with coaching experience. Once I made my mind up, another domino fell. In my first mentoring meeting with Teri Graves, in April 2022, she mentioned the LM Space’s Guru Coaching program. The application deadline was the week prior, but she encouraged me to express my interest to the program lead. Three weeks later, I was sitting in a career coaching training.

While I was pursuing career coaching at work, at home I was flooded with initial answers to the question I ask God, “God, show me the truth of who I am.”

Side note, be care with what you ask God, Jesus, a Higher Power, Universe, ancestors, or whoever you go to for guidance because they can and will very much give you what you ask for.

The reason I asked that question was due to the wealth plan I created. Once I saw the possibilities of earning income through investing and trading in the stock market started to show me. I developed dreams to accomplish so much. I knew that I needed to be grounded in who I am at the core, so that I don’t sabotage myself.

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How do I describe who I am at my core? Who I’m meant to become? Any insight to what I’m meant to do this life time? I was led to rediscovering Astrology, learning about Human Design, and reviewing my Clifton Strength Finder results. Astrology pointed to the the subject in school that I hated most as my next career, English. I didn’t enjoy English class at all. I didn’t enjoy writing papers. At work, it took me hours to craft emails because I didn’t want to think through how to write what I need to say. I preferred face to face discussions or phone calls. I didn’t enjoy expressing myself. I didn’t enjoy presenting in front of people. Actually, it took a few years of bad presentations before I became a better presenter. So, I enjoy presenting in front of people now. My favorite phase to tell people was “I can’t spell because I’m an Engineer.” To me being an Engineer felt like an appropriate cop out to not be the best communicator because I was good at Math instead. I’ll tell you this. It’s been difficult to accept this new career path of being a communicator. But I’m leaning into this career in communication through public speaking, writing (hence this newsletter), teaching, mentoring, and coaching.

To say I didn’t like writing and expressing myself, this article is real long… 😂 I’m almost done y’all. Keep reading. 🙂

Final Domino Falls

There are moments when I choose fear over faith. How I’m going about this career path is through entrepreneurship rather than traditional employment? I crave stability, consistency, and security, but so far when I read through the job responsibilities sections of applications I immediately think to myself “I don’t want to do any of that shit.” I believe those reactions was the next domino to fall. Causing me to focus my energy on developing my communication skill set, stock market trading skills, and career coaching business.

As someone who enjoys learning before doing for most things, I’ve spent the past two years taking all types of writing, grammar, and storytelling courses and performing in front of people. I even took comedy improv and stand-up classes as a fun way to improve my writing and public speaking skills. Here I am writing this newsletter, applying all the knowledge I’ve learned thus far as I pursue this communication career path.

What the Dominos Reveal

This newsletter, Knowledgeable Generalist, is me aligning to the truth of who I am and my intended career path, a communicator. Sharing what feels to me random but insightful information I learn about to help you, the reader.

Welcome to my mind! I promise it’ll be a good time. I plan to discuss topics such as productivity, the financial markets, communication, personal development, emerging technology/innovation, problem-solving and identification skills, and decision making skill. I’ll discuss these topics through the lens of Astrology, Human Design, Industrial Engineering, Human Factors Engineering, Futurism, Storytelling, and my personal experiences.

The format of the newsletter will be my insights on a topic mentioned above, a career coaching tip, related resources, and a call to action for you.

My goals of the newsletter are the following:

• Share my insights and view of the world to help you make sense of the world around us
• Provide tidbits of information that will help you thrive and excel in life
• Think more deeply about life and all the mysteries that surround it
• Provide an article twice per month
• Build a community of Knowledgeable Generalists who puts no limit on what they learn or do

If you identify with the full quote “Jack of All Trades is a Master of None, but Often Times Better than a Master of One,” then consider yourself a Knowledgeable Generalist. I always like considering myself a jack of all trades because I like learning about many different things. That explains why I enjoyed my undergraduate major, Industrial Engineering, so much. I learned about different aspects of a business (manufacturing, operations, production, engineering economy, design, etc.) through the technical lens of how to improve it.

I define a Knowledgeable Generalist as someone who:

• Enjoys satisfying their curiosity about life by learning, experimenting, and teaching
• Has the ability to explain and synthesize complex topics in simple terms through storytelling
• Seeks to make connections between ideas, thoughts, and concepts
• Employs active listening skills to help people move through their fears to find clarity and peace amongst the uncertainties of life
• Finds themselves thinking deeply and holistically about life’s mysteries

Career Coaching Tip

With all the emerging technology and it’s potential impact on the global society, it’s time for us all to pursue the career that we love. Pursue a career doing where we lost track of time. Pursue a career that provides the greatest impact to the world around us.

Have you experienced the negative effects on being in a job or career that you either hate or disliked a lot? If not, bless you!

We all have experienced people that are experiencing that and suffered from the poor customer service being in a job you don’t like gives you.

Find the career that’s meant for you!

Call to action

Questions for you to ponder and note what comes up:

1. Are you seeking clarity in your career path?
   1. A session could provide you with the insights and guidance you need to gain direction and confidence in your next steps.
2. Would working with someone who honors your need to feel deeply into decisions give you the space to understand and embrace your process?
   1. Imagine a session where the timing feels right, allowing clarity to unfold naturally.
3. Are you feeling the pull to spend time with a coach who can help you see your true direction?
   1. A session could offer the mirror you need to gain clarity on your most efficient path forward
4. Do you feel that having a space to discuss your instincts with a coach who understands could give you the grounding to trust yourself even more?
   1. Imagine how a session might help amplify your inner voice.
5. Could having time to share your thoughts in a supportive space help you find alignment with your authentic direction?
   1. Imagine a session where your voice and self-expression guide you to clarity.

If you answered YES, to any of those questions instantaneously or a few days later. I’m offering free sample coaching sessions to a limited amount of people.