What is one essential ingredient in an exciting, energizing, engrossing legal career? Or in any satisfying career? You have to be engaged in something that really grabs your interest, that really catches your attention—everyday. If you are toiling away at some job that does not match your interests, I am betting you will not be happy. In evaluating your career, knowing your strengths (aptitudes) is important as is knowing your values. But so is discovering your interests. Here's a five-step process for going on the interests hunt. The steps are adapted from Don't Waste Your Talent: The 8 Critical Steps to Discovering What You Do Best.
1) Start an Interest File.
Get a file folder or box and put it someplace where you will see it. Use your file to collect notes about anything that gets your attention: articles, pictures, or even random thoughts about what really interests you in life. You don't have to be choosy here. You are not wedded to anything you put in this file; the more you play with it, the better. What looks like fun? What would you like to find out more about? What has always fascinated you?
2) Keep Your File for at Least Three Weeks.
Longer is better. Don't look in it. Just keep throwing stuff in. If a picture catches your attention, toss it in. If
an article is intriguing, throw it in. If a person (or anything you cannot put in the file) seems interesting, make a note and throw the note in.
3) Don’t Try to Make Sense of It Right Away.
Give yourself time. Time is one of the most important secrets of creativity. Just add to your interest file; you don't have to explain, justify, or make sense of what is tossed in. You want to get as wide a sampling as possible of everything that gets your attention all day long. (You are looking for things that actively get your attention, not things you have to do.)
4) After A Few Weeks, Open up Your Interest File.
This is where it starts to be the most fun. Pull out what you have been collecting and spread it on the floor. Arrange it in piles. Sort out all the items into groups. Start to ask questions: What interested you about the story? What was fascinating about this picture? How are they related?
5) Name Your Groupings.
Identify some categories for your interests. You will need a name for each of them because you want to start focusing on the categories; they hold the gold. Make a list. Put them in order of things that interest you most.
And there you go! You have discovered the invigorating fuel and pull you will need if your career is going to be one that calls to you each and every day. A career without interests is like a day without sunshine.
Image credit: broken1498 at photobucket
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