A few years ago, I was slipping into mild anxiety at work; I was busy as a bee worker, chasing deadlines and last-minute deliverables, thinking to myself that work is great. You can’t blame me, really. This is pretty much the sum of great work for many of us. Activity, I later realized, is not the same as progress. And sadly, progress is not even equal to purpose.

Buried in the rubble of many of our work activities is the real purpose of our career. And we keep heaping the pile with more activities as we climb the corporate ladder, growing miserable as the years go, eventually sliding into the popular “sunk cost fallacy”.

Decluttering the mind when it comes to your career journey is so important. And in my experience, a series of questions that help you achieve clarity are:

Do you feel confident that you made the right career choice?

Reflecting on my answer to this question, helped me resolve the question of WHAT I should be doing with my career. Instead of getting rattled by the day-to-day pursuit of work, or the hurried experiences of each week, spend some time knowing if you are in the right place. If you reflect closely and honestly on this question, you may be called upon to take a bold step of quitting or a renewed confidence in your choice. Either way, you’ll find the clarity gained useful.

Next…

How will you assess your experience so far?

If you are in the right career path, do you feel satisfied in HOW it is going so far? This question probes your satisfaction on the experience so far, helping you distill genuine experience from mere activities. In highly demanding job roles, days quickly become weeks, and weeks, months, and before long, years go by. So, you may be too busy to assess your experience genuinely. This is why this question is important.

Lastly…

What single change can you make to turn things around?

Where your experience is below par, you can begin to trace the path to purpose recovery. You can begin to check what specific or broad item you can fix to give you a renewed experience. It could be an additional education in your chosen path, a new skill or responsibility to renew the freshness of your career journey. This question calls for your ACTION.

Your career is squarely in your hands. Don’t get buried in activities that will only churn out regrets in the end. Time is both your ally and your foe; keep your quest purposeful every day.

I’m rooting for you. Cheers.