What would life be like without metaphors? As Colorless as a crayon box full of white crayons. Actually, I think that one is the metaphor’s close cousin, a simile. But you get the idea. Metaphors bring our worlds to life. When I think of designing a career, I like the metaphor of a mosaic. A mosaic is a piece of artwork that uses tiles, or other kinds of materials, and puts them together in a way to create something special that the pieces alone would not convey.

The reason I find the metaphor of the mosaic so compelling when it comes to career design is that a mosaic gives you insight into the big picture (what you want for your future), while getting to know the little pieces of what makes up who you are.

Sometimes in a mosaic the materials are uniform but sometimes they have irregular pieces instead. I find the ones with the irregular shapes most interesting because when put into the artwork, they create a unique effect that could not be accomplished by another shape. 

Building your own mosaic.

When using My Career Design Studio you are building a metaphorical and literal mosaic. Each piece of your career design contributes to what you are searching for in the bigger picture of life. In the Raw Materials section of MCDS, the program examines those pieces of your career design that are important to you.

Career Essentials is where you bring together all the work you did in Raw Materials.

The exercise of Career Design Essentials is very straightforward. It provides the list of things you have identified as most important to your career then asks the question: Is there anything left that has not already been uncovered? The underpinnings of this process: What is going to help you feel happy and fulfilled in a job.  This is not an abstract job description but rather a culmination of all the day-to-day tasks, activities and responsibilities you have identified as desirable in your career design process.

Often when people are in the career design process, they focus on what they CAN do as opposed to what they WANT to do.

They look at an open position and ask themselves if they can do the tasks associated with that particular job. In the Career Design Essentials section, you are basically writing your own job description. It takes all of what you say you desire then turns it into a future job or business.

If these tasks and activities are not in keeping with who you are as a person, you will be swimming upstream trying to make that job work for you. In order for you to be happy in a job, you need to examine all these pieces and see how they fit together.

By permitting yourself to indulge in thinking about a wide range of career ideas in this way you are enabling yourself to identify real work with greater career fulfillment.  So, spend some time examining your Career Design Essentials in My Career Design Studio today to see if any patterns emerge for you. 

Next week we are going to be examining the Career Design Priorities exercise, which helps you turn the concepts developed in Career Design Essentials into concrete and tangible job options.

If you have not signed up for My Career Design Studio, take this opportunity to try our seven-day free trial and get started on your journey to a fulfilling career.