Mental Models for Career Changes
Embarking on a career change? Mental models can be your compass. They provide a framework for understanding complex situations and making informed decisions. Let's explore how these cognitive tools can guide you through the labyrinth of career transition.
Career changes are some of the biggest moves we will ever make, but they don’t have to be daunting
Using mental models to make decisions, we determine where we want to go and how to get there.
- The result is a change that aligns with the person we are, as well as the person you want to be
- A career shift will impact your personal life, and there are no guarantees.
Elements of planning
Global and local maxima and activation energy are models to help us identify what we need to plan
- Activation energy: amount of energy needed to see a reaction through to its conclusion
- Sometimes you have to go down a hill in order to climb up a new one
- Steps down can also be steps forward
After you’ve done all the work
When it comes to career change, there often is no perfect decision. Use probabilistic thinking.
- How much you’re willing to part with regarding a particular career choice says a lot about how good that choice is likely to be for you.
Get in touch with yourself
No change will be the right one if it doesn’t align with what you want to get out of life
- When it comes to changing careers, there are a lot of options
- Use the mental model of velocity to help you focus on and identify the best opportunities
- Work backward to where you are now – this is known as inversion
- Exaptation refers to traits that evolved for one purpose and then, through natural selection, were used for completely unrelated capabilities
- Take stock of the skills you already have – what else can those skills be used for?
Conclusion
Career changes are some of the biggest moves we will ever make, but they don’t have to be daunting
Evaluate the environment
It’s hard to know how great (or terrible) a job is until you actually do it
- We often have two types of maps for careers we wish we had: maps of the highlights, success stories, and opinions of people who love the work
- In order to determine if a particular career will work for us, we need better maps
- You give yourself a much higher chance of being satisfied with your career change if you take the time to learn as much as you can about the territory beforehand
- Do your research on as large a sample size as possible
- Talk to people doing the job you want
- People who work in the organization
- Try to get an accurate picture of what the day-to-day is like