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- [00:07]
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This is Help Wanted, the show that makes your work work for you. I'm Jason Pfeiffer, editor in chief of.
- [00:13]
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Entrepreneur magazine, and I'm money expert Nicole Lapin. On Tuesdays, Jason and I answer the helpline and help callers solve their work problems.
- [00:21]
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And on Thursdays, I give you one way to improve your work and build a career or company you love.
- [00:26]
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And it starts now.
- [00:29]
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Do you ever wonder if you went down the wrong path? And I mean that maybe as existential as it sounds, but like, you made a decision a while ago to start a business or to pursue a specific career or to start a relationship, or like, whatever, you made some foundational decision. And now, as a result, your life is not always exactly what you want it to be. And you wonder, did I. Did I choose wrong? Did I go down the wrong path? A listener named Vanessa recently asked me that. She works at a startup, which is exciting but also exhausting, and she emailed me and said this. She said, the highs are high, but the lows are low. I truly love what I do, but sometimes question the risk and wonder if I should have taken a more traditional career path. How do I square that? Well, Vanessa, here is my answer. Don't question your past. Instead, take what you need from it. Think of it like this. Vanessa's choice is not Vanessa's current path versus a path that Vanessa did not choose right, like what she's doing right now versus what she could have chosen many years ago. Because that choice just leaves you stuck. It's like creating an original sin, you know, a decision that you cannot escape, that. That controls your future. So instead, Vanessa's choice actually is this. Vanessa's current path versus what Vanessa's path sets her up for. Next. In other words, don't think of your past as a mistake. Instead, ask what your past has provided you, what has it taught you, what has it prepared you for? And how can you put that to amazing use? Next. Today's episode is for people looking for new paths, but also people looking to grow in their current path. You don't need to abandon in what you're doing in order to make a useful change. Either is good. So let's go find those answers. Here's how to use yesterday for today. The core idea here is simple. No time is wasted. When we believe that we wasted our time, we discount the growth and transformation that we experienced along the way. Are you in an industry that you no longer love, for example, or are you doing something that drains your energy? Are you in a relationship that no Longer fulfills you. If any of that describes you, let us acknowledge that sucks. You should make a change, but that does not mean the time was wasted. You learned something valuable and transferable. Better yet, that gives you an advantage wherever you go next. So let's identify what that advantage is. I want you to ask yourself two questions. Question number one. What am I really good at today that I was bad at before? I like this framing because it's about progress. Think back to the start of your journey. If you regret working in startups, for example, what were you like before you joined your first startup? And now measure your distance traveled. What are you definitely better at today as a result of that work? Now let's ask question two. Question two. How can my skills be applied in powerful new ways? You have skills. Maybe you worry that they're only useful in your current role or your current industry or whatever, but you're wrong. Your skills are transferable. And in fact, the skills from one part of your life could make you even more valuable in another. They'll give you a competitive advantage in industries where most people don't have your skills and allow you to stand out in unique ways. I got to thinking about this recently because I was reading my friend Jonathan Goodman's upcoming book, which is called the Obvious Choice. And in that book he calls this, this concept, one plus one equals ten. When you combine two unexpected skills, you become ten times more valuable. For example. Let's apply all of this, these two questions to Vanessa. Vanessa, who has worked in startups and is wondering if she should have taken a more traditional path. All right, well, let's see. Question one. What's she really good at today that she was bad at before? I don't know Vanessa, but I can imagine that she learned all sorts of skills in startups, like a high tolerance for risk and ability to pivot quickly. Maybe she didn't know that stuff before, maybe she is faster and has much thicker skin and thinks 20 steps ahead today because of all this time she's worked at startups. And then, okay, well, how can those skills be applied in powerful new ways? That stuff can be applied anywhere. Vanessa gets to choose her path now, armed with the hard won advantages that she picked up by spending her career as she did. In fact, by the way, this is also what propelled my career. So I'll make this personal. Look, I'll be candid. As editor in chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, people think that I have a cool job, you know, and they're right, I guess. But it has caused me a lot of anxiety. I have often questioned whether I made the right choice. And this is why I spent my career in media, Going from small town newspaper reporter to national magazine editor. But as I rose, the industry shrank. Layoffs were everywhere. Salaries plummeted. For a long time, I was wondering, did I take the wrong path? Or like, am I an expert in a dying field? Then I realized something incredible. So let's look at it through the lens of my two questions that I just mentioned before. Okay, again, number one, what am I really good at today that I was bad at before? The answer is this. By learning to edit magazines. I didn't just learn to edit magazines. Instead, I'd become great at digesting complicated information and then sharing it in simple and easy to follow ways. So now question two. How can my skills be applied in powerful new ways? Well, we just established that I have become great at digesting complicated information and sharing it in simple and easy to follow ways. So I have started to apply that skill to business. I'm supporting founders. I'm speaking to corporate teams. I'm creating products like this podcast where I stand out as a communicator. I became the guy who can simplify business because I'm combining the skills that most of my competitors don't have. In other words, my time in media was not wasted. Even if I never work in media again, it was the preparation that I needed for the next phase of my journey. So are you ready to stop second guessing yourself? We do ourselves no favors by second guessing past choices. We made the best decisions that we could at the time. We acted on what we knew or what we wanted or what we were capable of. And we learned a lot as a result. There was no right answer. You couldn't have made a perfect decision back then, like leading to some perfect life. It didn't work like that. In fact, every path might have just led you to the exact same place. Like here. Now, let's think about Vanessa, who wondered if she should have chosen a more traditional path. Well, when she chose her startup path, here's what happened. Vanessa learned a lot, found some parts satisfying, found some parts unsatisfying, and then wondered aloud whether she'd made a mistake. All right, well, and if Vanessa had chosen a more traditional path, what would have happened? Here's my bet. She would have learned a lot, found some parts satisfying, found some parts unsatisfying, and then wondered aloud whether she'd made a mistake. All roads lead to now. You're further down that road than you think. So stop for a moment, take inventory of what you have, and instead of looking backwards, go forwards on the road that you choose. Help Wanted is a production of Money News Network. Help Wanted is hosted by me, Jason.
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Pfeiffer, and me, Nicole Lapin. Our executive producer is Morgan Lavoy. Do you want some help? Email our helpline@helpwantedoneynewsnetwork.com for the chance to have some of your questions answered on the show. And follow us on Instagram @moneynews and TikTok MoneyNews Network for exclusive content and to see our beautiful faces. Maybe a little dance?
- [08:46]
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Oh, I didn't sign up for that.
- [08:47]
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All right, well, talk to you soon.