Career ReDesign using the Work & Life Canvas
Embarking on a career change can be both thrilling and challenging. Whether you're feeling stuck in your current job or seeking new opportunities, a strategic approach is crucial to navigate the uncertain waters of change. One effective tool to help you explore and plan your future career is the Work & Life Canvas. In this article, I will explain the steps of how to create for yourself this powerful tool and how it can be a game-changer in your quest for a fulfilling professional journey.
Understanding the Work & Life Canvas:
A Work & Life Canvas is essentially a visual representation of your skills, interests, values and aspirations. It serves as a dynamic roadmap (it means you can always come back to it and readjust it to your current situation and context), allowing you to explore various career paths, identify gaps in your current skill set, and align your passions with potential opportunities. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create and use this Canvas effectively:
1. Self-Reflection:
Begin by reflecting on your current job, skills, and overall satisfaction. What aspects of your current role do you enjoy? What skills are you passionate about using? What values are important to you in a work environment? These introspective questions will lay the foundation for your Work & Life Canvas.
2. Define Values:
Clarify your values – the principles and beliefs that are essential to your happiness and fulfillment, basically what is important for you. Consider aspects like work-life balance, company culture, ethical standards, and social impact. Ensuring alignment with your values will contribute to a more meaningful career.
3. Identify Strengths and Skills:
List down your core strengths and skills. Consider both technical and soft skills. This could range from project management and data analysis to communication and teamwork. Highlighting your strengths will help you identify areas where you can excel in your new career. If you are still not sure about your strengths and skills, you can always ask a friend :) (peers, managers or other people who know you from different work experiences) or you can use a strength assessment (ask me if you’re not sure which one to select from the wide variety on the internet)
4. Explore Interests:
Identify your interests and passions. What activities make you lose track of time? What topics or industries captivate your attention? By aligning your career with your interests, you're more likely to find satisfaction and purpose in your work.
5. Keep in mind Personal and Professional Achievements:
With your self-reflection in mind, when did you feel proud or happy about your achievements? It doesn’t have to be winning the gold medal at the Olympics :), you can just think about every small win that made you feel proud or good about the way you managed it. This step is crucial for feeling confident about what brought you here.
6. Set Goals and Aspirations:
Envision your ideal career and your ideal work environment. How will your daily life look for you if you had that job? How does success look like for you? Set short-term and long-term goals, keeping in mind your desired outcomes. These goals will act as milestones, guiding your journey towards the career you envision.
7. Think about Work Motivators:
What drives you in the morning, what sparks your enthusiasm when you are working, what makes you engaged and fully immersed in your work activities? Even here, you can just ask, there are so many options of exploring this chapter of who you are!
8. Create the Canvas:
Now, it's time to translate your reflections into a structured representation – your Work & Life Canvas. Use a large piece of paper or a digital platform (I use Milanote app) to create the canvas. Place your strengths, skills, interests, values, goals, and all the other categories I have mentioned above (you can see below an example of this framework) on the canvas. This will give you a comprehensive overview of your career landscape.
Work & Life Canvas *created in Milanote
9. Adapt and Iterate:
A Career Canvas is a dynamic tool that can evolve as you gain new insights or experiences. Regularly revisit and update your canvas as your career journey progresses. Be open to adapting your goals and aspirations based on new discoveries and opportunities.
10. Bonus – Play with a Vision Board
Based on your exploration and the things you have written down on the Work & Life Canvas, you can pick up keywords and use your creative or playful self J and randomly create a Vision Board, you can do it using the same tool (Milanote in my case) and select free images that can help visualize your career map J
In the ever-changing landscape of the professional world, a Work & Life Canvas can be your compass, guiding you towards a career that aligns with your passions and aspirations and can be an enabler for the life you want for yourself.
If you still need some clarity on how you can use this great tool for your own career development, send me a message, would love to tell you more about it!
