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“I can’t find a job.”

If that’s what you’ve been saying to yourself, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common things I hear from people in transition. What’s really underneath is that mix of dread and “oh no, what if I’ve peaked?”

Here’s the truth: often, the problem is that we’re looking for opportunities too narrowly — using what’s called foveal vision.

What Foveal Vision Gets Wrong

Foveal vision is the kind of eyesight you’re using right now to read these words. It’s sharp, detailed, and essential when you need precision. But it’s also extremely limited. The fovea covers just a tiny fraction of your visual field.

That’s exactly how many people approach a job search. They lock onto one title, one industry, one single path they believe is the “right” use of their skills. When that role isn’t available, their vision narrows even more. The harder they strain, the less they see.

The Wider Lens of Peripheral Vision

Peripheral vision is everything that sits just outside the little bullseye your eyes usually lock onto. It’s what lets you sense someone walk into the room without turning your head. It’s softer, more spacious, and it connects you to a bigger kind of awareness.

In your career, peripheral vision is what helps you soften your gaze and notice possibilities in the margins. It’s how you see your skills in new contexts. Think of it like flour. If you believe flour is only for bread, you’ll miss that it also makes cakes, sauces, playdough, glue, even shampoo. The same ingredient, countless applications.

Try This Quick Exercise

Pick one object in your space right now — maybe that plant you’re pretty sure is faking being alive.

Focus on it. Notice its color, shape, and the way the light hits it.

Now, without moving your eyes, soften your gaze. Notice what’s just outside of that object. Expand your awareness. Let yourself sense what’s above, to the side, maybe even slightly behind you.

That’s the difference between foveal and peripheral vision. It’s not about losing detail. It’s about widening the field so more possibilities can come into view.

How Job Seekers Get Stuck

Most job seekers default to foveal vision. They build their search around a single job title. They plug that title into LinkedIn or Indeed and hope something perfect appears.

If the market for that role is shrinking, panic sets in. They start telling themselves: I’ll never work again. I’m obsolete. But the truth is simpler — they’re staring too hard at the wrong thing.

Chris’s Story

Take Chris. He was a creative executive with some impressive wins under his belt. Then he got laid off. For eighteen months, he scoured job boards and reached out to contacts — but only for creative executive roles. The industry was quiet. With each silence or “no,” his confidence took another hit.

That’s the trap of foveal vision. Chris was staring so tightly at a single job title that he couldn’t see how versatile his skills really were.

Together, we broke his skills down: project management from idea to delivery, sales acumen in pitching properties, creative analysis of what works in a market, talent management and development, deep research abilities, and translating business objectives into creative outcomes.

When I asked what energized him most, Chris lit up at the mention of business development. He loved finding new buyers, building relationships, and positioning ideas for success. It wasn’t the “creative executive” title he craved — it was opening doors and making deals.

That realization changed everything. Chris shifted from foveal to peripheral vision. Instead of hunting only for creative executive jobs, he started looking at business development roles in other sectors. Once he softened his gaze, opportunities began to appear.

The Bottom Line

This is the power of peripheral vision. It doesn’t erase your expertise — it expands how and where it can be used.

Your talents are like flour. If you only see one recipe for them, you’ll stay stuck. But if you widen your gaze, you’ll realize you have far more options than you thought.

Sometimes your next chapter isn’t sitting in the center of your vision. It’s waiting at the edges — ready to be noticed the moment you soften your focus.

If someone came to mind while you were reading this—please send it their way. You never know the impact a well-timed message can have.

P.S.

As the holidays come speeding toward us, many people are feeling grief sneak in, energy dipping, and nerves starting to fray.

Join me Thursday, November 20 at 12:30 PM PST live on Substack for an “Ask Me Anything” on career grief and the holidays.

You can submit your questions ahead of time or come live and bring what’s on your mind. I’m here for you.

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Perks for Paid Subscribers

Moonshot Mentor paid subscribers get weekly journal prompts to spark personal and professional growth, guided meditations to help them center, reflect, and reset, plus exclusive career development and career grief workshops that build clarity, resilience, and momentum.

Journal Prompts

Here are three prompts for Moonshot Mentor paid subscribers to help you practice widening your own career lens. Think of them as a way to stop focusing on “one right answer” and start noticing what’s sitting at the edges of your vision.