Career Advice: Learn to Read the Tea Leaves

Is your career stalled? Not going as you planned? Getting the interviews but not the jobs? Just can't get that promotion to the next level? Or maybe you're an executive but job after job, company after company, it's just not working out.

Well, the sad truth is it's probably you. You may not want to hear this, but your expectations are likely inconsistent with your capabilities and potential. Put another way, reality simply doesn't agree with your self image or the vision you've set for yourself.

I know, I know, everyone told you to shoot for the stars. As Robert Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." Well, that's true enough, but at some point, it's a good idea to take a step back and pay attention to what reality may be trying to tell you.

No, I'm not talking about giving up, lowering your expectations, or resigning yourself to a life of regret and disappointment. I'm talking about reading the tea leaves and resetting your career goals to be more in line with the real you.

You see, one career size does not fit all. Here's how it really works:
I know a guy who spent 20 years rising through the ranks of a big, public company, finally running its biggest business. After failing to get the CEO job, he set out to find a company to run. For the next 10+ years, he got one CEO job after another, but they never worked out.

Now he's an advisor who sits on a few boards. Much better. Could he have avoided the decade-long lesson in his limitations? Maybe not. But some of us could see it right from the start. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Still, I give him credit for eventually figuring it out. Some people never do.

Contrast that with another guy who started out as an entrepreneur and successfully sold two companies. Then, in what would seem like a backwards move, he ran marketing for a couple of startups, helping them to build their businesses and go public. Finally, with all that experience under his belt, he became a partner at a venture capital firm.

That was 15 years ago. He's still doing it and loving it. That's one guy who read the tea leaves and followed what was right for him.

There've been several points in my career where I had my sights set on goals that just weren't meant to be. I didn't always know exactly what to do, but it does help if you keep these three things in mind:

1. If it feels like you're constantly beating your head against the same wall and it's really starting to hurt, pay attention.
2. Then stop and read the tea leaves. That means taking a break, asking yourself what's going on here, asking trusted people what they think, and really listening to what reality is telling you.
3. Lastly, there's a real dichotomy to life. On the one hand, it's short, so you should make every moment count. On the other hand, life is long, there's more than one way to be happy, and there are times when you should consider a change of plan.