Are you trying to decide what you’re going to do next in your career? If so, my guess is that you’re experiencing some degree of overwhelm.

The overwhelm is because you have freedom of choice with multiple choices in front of you. This freedom is both blessing and curse, as best exemplified in this film clip from Moscow on the Hudson. Yes, it is easier to have someone tell you what to do. But what fun is that? Here’s how I approached freedom of choice during my (ongoing) career.

In 1943 Abraham Maslow identified a hierarchy of needs. You can’t move up the pyramid until you provide for your needs below. For example, you can’t reach the top of “self actualization’ —full realization of your potential— while you’re struggling to simply survive.

I transformed Maslow’s pyramid into my own first-survive-then-thrive guide toward career decision making.

Let me flip this pyramid on its side to tell you how I made my decisions.

In the world of many choices, my first priority was SURVIVE: find a job that I was good at and enjoyed AND that also moved me toward financial independence. This filter helped winnow out many options and narrow down my list.

My second priority was THRIVE: find a job that aligned with my passions, which included my desire for the road less traveled.

I realized that I needed to rely on my gut feel when making the THRIVE filtering decision and learned over time that the only way to develop a good gut feel was by having many experiences.

I also learned over time that in the world of THRIVE there is no “right” answer. The thought that there was a right answer tended to paralyze me early on.

I finally realized that the path forward with THRIVE was to simply begin by making a choice, because not making a choice was itself a choice – – – a choice to stay put – – – and that’s not what I was up to.

By making a choice, I was able to move forward and also generate a new experience in so doing. This helped prepare my gut feel for my next decision.

The role of gut feel in this process can not be overemphasized. I learned to go with the option that triggered a positive sensation in my body, one that originated not from conscious thought but from a subconscious realm that didn’t need to be understood to be trusted.

Final thought, building on this gut feel discussion. If you are having trouble deciding between two options at the THRIVE decision point, consider this coin flip approach. Assign each side of the coin to each of the two options. Then flip the coin. While it’s still in the air, you’ll immediately know which option you want. It’s the one you’re hoping lands face up.

That’s it for now! Thanks for listening : ) This is part of a larger talk on thermodynamics that I’ve given to university undergrads and grad students.

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