No throughline? Think like a toddler 🧸

“What if I don’t have a throughline to my career? How do I make it make sense?”

When I was asked this question during a workshop the other week, I immediately thought, “Challenge accepted.” I firmly believe that we can connect even the most far-flung experiences into a coherent career story. It takes digging beyond what we do into why.

Toddlerize your story

You may have used the “5 Whys” exercise, which is designed to get beyond surface issues to the root cause of a problem. I think of it as toddlerizing — just keep asking why until you get to an answer that makes sense.

In my heart of hearts, I’m still motivated by the curiosity I had at 4 years old. I remember listening at the door where my mother was playing back interview tapes while she was working on her first book. As I stood there listening to the muffled voices behind the wood, I thought, “There’s a job where you get to listen to stories and share stories? I love stories!” 

From my first job as a newspaper reporter through consulting with newsrooms to right now writing this newsletter, that curiosity helped me solve a problem: connecting people to information. On LinkedIn I describe it like this: "relentlessly curious to find gaps between what people know and what they need to help them 'Bridge It.'" (Hey, I'm not above name wordplay.)

I don't expect everyone to follow the interests they had at four years old.But beneath all the skills, the resume bullet points, the credentials and certifications, at its core each job is solving a problem. Dig deep enough, and you’ll see many different jobs solve the same or similar problems. Whether you’re a journalist, teacher, librarian, archeologist or sommelier, for instance. your work connects people to information. 

The next time you're having a hard time finding a throughline to your work, you can pull out your Career River map, look at the seemingly unrelated roles, and ask yourself why each job exists to find the root problems they solve. Even if they don't exactly match, you may find enough in common to make a clear case for the type of problems you're equipped to solve.

Happy navigating,
Bridget