Welcome to episode 20 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode, we discuss "Four Reasons to Quit Your Job", "What Is Your Area of Destiny", and "Can You Find Your Area of Destiny".

Original Recording Date: 2018-11-27

Topics – Four Reasons to Quit Your Job, What is Your Area of Destiny, Can You Find Your Area of Destiny

3:00 Four Reasons to Quit Your Job

• Career Clickbait – Four Reasons to Quit Your Job by Jack Welch
  • Nick saw Jack Welch at Epicor Insights in 2015
  • It’s never a bad thing to reflect on current role / employer / environment
  • Here are some questions to ask to determine if you have been with the company too long. Answering them in the positive provides strong evidence to stay, but at the same time, use these questions when looking for other opportunities (I.e. imagining yourself in the new role)
    • Do you want to go to work every morning?
      • Excitement vs. Dread
      • Interesting / meaningful work
      • Learning and growing?
    • Do you enjoy spending time with your coworkers?
      • Bad team culture will eventually be a reason to exit
      • Check out episodes 16 and 17 on reasons not to pursue a career opportunity
    • Does your company help you fulfill your personal mission?
      • Personal / professional value match
    • Can you picture yourself at your company in a year?
      • Do we all think about this?
      • The article points out one year time frame usually needed to find a new, better job once you decide to move on
      • John thinks futures before joining a company but was fortunate to not need to take a job just to pay the bills.
      • Anything short of excitement = spinning your wheels
    • Disclaimer
      • Not suggesting quit at first inkling of discontent
      • There is no perfect job / environment
    • Do you feel trapped in your current role?
      • Change the "quit" to "get motivated to seek a change."
  • Is this article click bait or actually helpful?
    • John and Nick weigh in

12:59 Area of Destiny

• What is an area of destiny?
  • Jack and Suzy Welch borrowed the phrase and applied it to career
  • A career assessment process that focuses on a passion that could become a career
  • Visualize the Venn Diagram of overlapping skills, interests, and opportunities
• Are you suspicious of the word "destiny" like John is?
• Nuggets from The Real-Life MBA by Jack and Suzy Welch
  • What should I do with my life?
    • Too many people stay in jobs they really want to leave
    • Listen to Griff’s story. Would you make the same changes he did?
    • Would you agree that trying different jobs / industries before settling on a career trajectory is normal and necessary?
  • Area of destiny begins at the intersection of happiness and capabilities
• John mentions we each have hobbies in which we excel but that we really enjoy
• Nick mention’s Jimmy T.‘s post about Minecraft as a resume booster
• Think about things you are better at than most people; Be specific (Skills)
  • Examples
    • Terrific at math when it comes to analyzing cost and profitability of a new enterprise
    • Turning complicated scientific concepts into plain English
    • Defusing high pressure situations
  • You may need feedback from others
  • Take time to identify the skill / capability / trait or two that differentiates you
• What do you love to do / look forward to more than anything else? (Interests)
  • Narrow the list to only a few items
• What opportunities exist that fit into the intersection of what you enjoy and what you’re very good at? (Opportunities)
  • Listen to the story of an architect who loved music enough to make a change
• Getting to area of destiny can be tough
  • Don’t expect instant change, especially based on gap between where you are now and where you want to be
  • Take steps to increase the amount of opportunities you are exposed to through networking
• Suppose you achieve area of destiny…
  • Does work still seem like work?
  • This reminds Nick of the Tom Delicati episodes (13 and 14)
  • Reaching area of destiny does not mean all things will be wonderful all the time
  • What if your area of destiny was doing expense reports?
• Work-life balance / work-life choice
  • Are you willing to give up other time to work more? Think opportunity cost.
  • Make it a positive choice instead of a default choice

32:19 Can you find your area of destiny?

• LinkedIn Article – Can You Find Your Area of Destiny – Nicholas Alexander, Ph.D.
• There are more variables to consider when finding the area of destiny
• Advice is mostly for the college graduate / millennial generation
• Figure out who you’ve become based on life experiences:
  • Communicate with your network
  • Treat discovery period like a class or job (milestones and deadlines)
    • Joseph Griffiths recommends 1 hour per day (see episodes 18a and 18b)
    • Nick mentions a colleague who started with 15 minutes per day to use for whatever he wanted
• Take a digital detox and get outside to "reconnect with the world"
  • This is good focused time for deep thinking
• Commit to the journey, and start thinking in the short term.
• John and Nick weigh in on whether you can find your area of destiny
  • John says go through steps to determine whether you should make a change first.
  • John finds a way to work swing dancing into his comments (once again)
  • Nick talks through his education background and how it plays into his perceived area of destiny
• Additional resources
  • Finding your area of destiny
  • Three Life Questions – advice from Jack Welch
  • Read The Real-Life MBA
• Listen to the part where John beats Nick to the punch