Man, 2021. What a year that was for my career. I remember kicking off that January feeling a bit, well, untethered. It wasn’t a bad feeling, not exactly dread, but more like I was just drifting along in a stream, not really steering the boat. I’d been at my job for a while, doing the thing, but that spark, that real ‘oomph’, felt a bit dim. You know that feeling? Like you’re just going through the motions, and deep down, you know there’s gotta be more, something that actually lights you up.
I guess you could say I was looking for clarity, a bit of direction. Not some big, dramatic overhaul, but just a sense of purpose. I’d heard people talk about horoscopes and stuff, and while I never really dove deep into that, I definitely felt like I was in a phase of introspection, trying to figure out what truly resonated with me. It was less about chasing a title or a bigger paycheck, and more about finding that sweet spot where what I did every day felt right, felt authentic.
So, I started with something super simple, almost ridiculously so. I just grabbed an old notebook, one of those cheap spiral-bound ones, and a pen. I didn’t set out to write a grand plan or anything. I just started scribbling. I asked myself:
- What do I actually enjoy doing, even when nobody’s watching?
- What tasks, even if they’re small, make me feel like I’m actually good at something?
- What stuff in my current job just drains the life out of me?
- If money wasn’t the absolute first thing, what kind of problems would I love to spend my days solving?
I didn’t try to answer perfectly. I just dumped everything onto the page. I remembered one Saturday morning, just sitting with a cup of coffee, filling up pages. It felt a bit like therapy, actually, just getting all that swirling stuff out of my head and onto paper. No fancy frameworks, no online assessments, just me and my messy handwriting. This wasn’t about getting a new job instantly; it was about understanding myself first.
Shifting Gears: Learning and Building
From those messy notes, a few things started to surface. I noticed a pattern in what excited me. It wasn’t necessarily a new field, but a particular aspect of my work that I hadn’t really focused on. For me, it was around making things easier for others, streamlining processes, and explaining complex ideas simply. I realized I wasn’t doing much of that in my day-to-day.
So, my next step was to figure out how to lean into that. I wasn’t going to go back to school or anything heavy like that. I just decided to learn a specific skill that I felt could help me with this. I picked something practical, something that felt current. I won’t bore you with the specifics, but let’s just say it involved digging into how people use tools online and then trying to build something helpful with them. I just dove headfirst into free online tutorials. YouTube became my best friend. I spent evenings, an hour or two here and there, just watching videos, pausing, trying things out on my own computer.
It was all very hands-on. I didn’t just passively watch; I would copy the code, mess it up, fix it, break it again. I remembered the frustration when something just wouldn’t work, pulling my hair out for an hour over a tiny typo. But then, that moment when it clicked? That feeling was awesome. I even built a small personal project, nothing groundbreaking, just something that solved a minor annoyance in my own life. That little win gave me a huge boost of confidence.
Connecting the Dots: Real Conversations
While I was busy learning, I also started doing something I hadn’t really done in a while: reconnecting with people. Not in a formal, “lemme network” kind of way, but just genuine conversations. I started reaching out to old colleagues, even some folks I hadn’t spoken to in years, just sending a quick email or a text, asking how they were, what they were up to. I caught up with a few over virtual coffee or just a quick phone call.
During these chats, it felt natural to mention what I was learning, the little project I was dabbling with. No pressure, no “are you hiring?” just sharing what was on my mind. And it was wild how many interesting conversations came out of that. People started sharing their own challenges, things they were seeing in the industry. I wasn’t asking for anything, but I was picking up so much insight, so many different perspectives. It felt really good to just be part of that natural exchange again.
I remember one chat particularly, where an old friend mentioned a recurring problem their team faced, and it was almost exactly what my little personal project was designed to tackle, just on a much smaller scale. It got me thinking.
Taking the Plunge: Making a Move
Armed with these new skills and fresh perspectives, I started looking at my own workplace with new eyes. I saw problems that needed solving, inefficiencies that bothered me. Instead of just complaining about them, I started thinking, “Hey, I actually have an idea how we might fix that, or at least make a dent.”
This led to what felt like the biggest leap. I decided to actually propose a solution to my boss. It wasn’t a formal, polished presentation with graphs and charts. It was more like, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about X problem, and I’ve been messing around with Y tool, and I think we might be able to Z if we tried this.” I laid out my thoughts, showed what I’d built in my spare time as a proof-of-concept, and explained how I saw it fitting into our current workflow. It felt incredibly vulnerable, putting myself out there like that, but I knew I had to try.
It wasn’t an instant ‘yes.’ We talked it through, debated some points, thought about the risks. But because I came with a solution, and not just a complaint, and because I’d actually built something, even a rough version, it got traction. We decided to try a small pilot project. That project became my focus. I threw myself into it, debugging, iterating, talking to people, making sure it actually worked for the team.
The Payoff: Finding My Flow
By the end of 2021, that little pilot project had actually grown into something substantial. It wasn’t just a fix; it opened up new ways of working for my team. I found myself naturally stepping into a role where I wasn’t just doing tasks, but actively shaping how we did things, always with an eye on making it smoother, clearer, more efficient. My day-to-day felt less like drifting and more like I was truly navigating my own boat, with a clear direction.
It wasn’t about a massive promotion or a huge pay jump overnight, though good things did follow. It was about finding that feeling of alignment, that sense that I was actually using my brain, my creativity, and my initiative in ways that truly mattered. I’d started the year feeling a bit lost, and I ended it feeling purposeful. That whole journey, from scribbling in a notebook to taking that personal leap, really showed me that sometimes, you just gotta start small, keep learning, talk to folks, and then have the guts to put your ideas out there. It’s amazing what can happen when you stop waiting and just start doing.
