I’m a highly independent person and I don’t ask for advice easily. Some of this is my American upbringing. I come from Puritanical stock, people who pull themselves up by their bootstraps and suffer in stoic silence. It has taken me many years to recognize the importance of community and to realize that interdependence is a fact, not a choice. What I mean by this is that we are all in some sort of community that gives and takes, whether we recognize it or not. By trying to do everything on my own, I made my life more difficult and missed out on ideas, insights, and opportunities. I finally realized that life was too short to recreate the wheel when everyone else was buzzing around in cars and motorcycles.

In this vein, it’s important to think about the benefits of seeking professional career advice when you’re stuck or frustrated. In general, the most plentiful career advice you can get (friends and family) is full of bias, good intentions, and short-sighted results. Your immediate family, for example, has a LOT at stake in you being gainfully employed. The advice is also limited by a person’s experiences and not extensive data and research. And desperate Google searches can lead to a lot of data and listicles, but how much of it is relevant to you? How much of it is good? And how much is presented in a systematic way that you can easily act on? The answers are “very little,” “it depends,” and “not at all.”

Your career is a huge part of your life. It’s your livelihood, it pays the bills, it gives you a community, an identity, and something to talk about at parties. It can also give you meaning, fulfillment, and joy, but only if it’s a good fit for you. The average American spends over 1,800 hours a year–over 30% of their waking life–working. This is a lot of hours if you are doing something you don’t enjoy! And feeling disengaged at work is common, over 70% according to Gallup polls. This means that a majority of people have made career decisions that have led to poor outcomes. For something so important and so common to get wrong, career decision-making is ripe for professional guidance.

What type of career advice is for you?

Good, evidence-based, well-researched, and realistic advice is available to just about everyone. Below is what I recommend and offer.