Episode Transcript
You’ve navigated through the academic phase and the job-hunting process. And now you’re well on your way in your engineering career.
Although, you still don’t feel like you’ve arrived yet. It’s an on-going search.
A quest for whatever it is that’s gonna inspire your next step and lead you to your dream career.
You search for direction from other people. You seek ideas in different places and jobs.
But the reason you can’t seem to find the guiding star for your career is because you’re not looking in the right place. You’re looking outward when you should be looking inward.
Your own inner energy is what gets you where you want to go.
Your Energetic Center Leads You in Your Engineering Career
You have an energy that’s made up of your values, skills, strengths and passion. I call it your energetic center. And that’s what drives you.
I introduced the concept of your energetic center back in Episode 22. So you might want to go back and listen to that one.
Your energetic center shows you the right path. It leads you to your dream career.
Once you define your energetic center you can find the opportunities that align with it. And choose a career pathway that maintains that alignment.
Let’s review the process of defining your energetic center and you’ll see how powerful it is.
The 4 Elements of Your Energetic Center that Power Your Engineering Career
Your energetic center is where your values, skills, strengths and passion meet.
Take a minute to think about those 4 elements together. And you can feel the energy they create.
Here’s how you can define your energetic center, element by element:
- Values are the ideas or concepts that you live by.
To define this element of your energetic center, identify the values that are most important to you today.
If you haven’t done this before, start with a list of values that you can find online. They’re available from several sources.
Choose the values that resonate with you. Then narrow your list way down to 2 or 3.
To see how your values affect your energetic center, ask yourself “What am I doing today, and how does it relate to my values?”
You’ll see how they connect you to your goals, your decisions and your interactions with people.
- Skills are what you know how to do.
To define this element of your energetic center, simply refer to your education, work and life experiences to come up with a list of your skills.
To ensure synergy with your energetic center develop and strengthen your skills with intention.
And what I mean by that is: don’t just learn a new skill, but learn more about what you love to do.
And don’t just take training, but choose specific experiences or training resources that are motivating for you.
- Strengths are where you excel.
You already know what some of your strengths are. But you might not realize all of them.
To define this element of your energetic center, identify your strengths through self-assessment or through other available strengths assessments.
Ask colleagues and other people who know well what they see as your strengths. Because they’ll see some that you can’t see.
You’ll charge your energetic center when you:
- Consciously select work that involves your strengths.
- Seek ways you can apply your strengths in your tasks and assignments.
- Make your strengths known so the right kind of opportunities come to you.
- Passion is what drives you.
Your passion may already be obvious or it may take time to develop. To define this element of your energetic center, pay attention to what you love.
Notice what people seek your input for. And what ideas you seem to keep coming back to.
Further fuel your energetic center by bringing up your passions often.
Use meditation to expand on them. Write about them and talk about them with others.
Allow Your Energetic Center to Guide your Engineering Career
Now that you have an idea of what the 4 elements of your energetic center are, bring them all together. And use that power to guide your engineering career.
I have a whole workshop on your energetic center and I often teach my clients a version of it in my signature program. It gives people a spark of inspiration – every time.
The idea is to take the time to define your energetic center and keep it in focus. Allow the energy within to be your guide. Let it lead you to a fulfilling and impactful career.
I’d love to help you define your energetic center and find the opportunities that align with it.
You can learn more about my signature program here.
Here are my tips for applying your energetic center in your engineering career:
Tips on Using Your Energetic Center to Navigate Your Engineering Career
- Remember the elements of your energetic center to help you navigate. Like when you’re:
- facing a difficult problem
- deciding on a job offer
- taking on new and challenging responsibility or
- planning your long-term leadership role.
- Tell people – like managers, mentors, team members and coworkers – about your strengths and preferences.
This helps attract opportunities that align with your energetic center. And helps ensure you have support for it.
- Have a goal to work at your energetic center most of the time. Go where you can do this without struggle.
Focusing on your energetic center is a shift from the way you’ve learned to approach your engineering career.
It’s at the heart of your goals and vision.
It defines your work in terms of what is meaningful.
It doesn’t allow your work to define you.
Make your career decisions based on your values, skills, strengths and passion. You’ll love what you do because your work is aligned with you.
You’ll feel motivated to pursue your career because you are the power behind it.
Next time on Her Engineering Career Podcast we’ll reaffirm your confidence and all the ways you are a capable engineer and leader. I hope you’ll join me for Episode 117.
