If you feel a little adrift in your career and maybe a bit dissatisfied it might be worth asking yourself three crucial questions to bring a little clarity to your thinking.

1. If your career was a vehicle what would it be?
2. Who is in the driving seat?
3. Where are you going?

1. If your career was a vehicle what would it be?

A Lamborghini?

A designer mini?

A truck?

It may be that the vehicle is exactly the right one for you or maybe it has some of the features you want but not all of them.

It’s important to appreciate the benefits of all sorts of different vehicles. Not everyone is happy driving a high-performance car. Some want a safe, robust, reliable car.

Personally – I want to drive a bus that takes a lot of other people where they want to go.

2. Who is in the driving seat?

If you find yourself doing a job because other people said “You should do this – you’d be good at it” then maybe someone else is sitting in the driving seat.

Relying on your boss to figure out where you should go next is akin to expecting them to drive your vehicle when most of their attention is likely to be taken up with driving their own.

Or if you drifted into a job because it happened along then maybe no-one is driving!

3. Where are you going?

In some respects this should be the first question you ask.

You may feel like you are currently going round in circles, stuck in a traffic jam or wandering aimlessly up a motorway without really knowing where you’re going.

This can happen if you’re not clear about your ideal destination.

People often mistake the vehicle for the destination.

For example, thinking “I want to be a HR Director” rather than “I want to help people develop to their full potential”

The destination is your life mission. Your job or career is the vehicle that (hopefully) takes you there.

A simple way to start to explore your life mission is to think ahead to your retirement celebration.

• What sort of things would you like people to be saying about you?
• What would you like to have achieved?
• What would you be most happy about?
• What would you like your legacy to be?
• And why?

When you have answered these questions you might be able to start shopping for the best vehicle to take you there or working out what modifications to make to your existing vehicle to make it suitable for the journey.

You may also be able to work out what is required of you as the driver – putting yourself firmly in the driving seat of your career.