by J.T. O’Donnell

CREDIT: Getty Images

Several times a day, the phone rings at our company with people calling to discuss their career problems. We get ten times as many emails each day from people writing in about their career problems. By phone or by email, they always start with, “I need to explain my story, it’s pretty complex…” And yet, here’s what they have in common:

• All of them are experiencing a crisis of confidence.
• They’re all frustrated and unhappy.
• Each has a detailed account of what has led them to their current situation.
• AND, every single one is also making the same (false) assumption about their situation.

It’s Not Rocket Science, You Shouldn’t Treat It That Way

Over 15 years ago, I started studying and working with people who felt unsatisfied in their careers. I’m a logic girl. I like process. I went to school for engineering. I decided to set out to build a system for finding greater career satisfaction. To do that, I realized I needed to be able to diagnose each person’s situation so a plan could be put in place. To the untrained ear, it might sound like each person has a highly complex career problem on their hands. But, after listening to a large quantity of career stories, I noticed they all fell into four categories. No matter what the complexity of the circumstances surrounding their particular career problem, it still boiled down to one of these four major challenges. Read more…