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Career Paralysis
The Five Reasons Why Our Brains Get âHeadstuckâ When
Making Career Decisions
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Is this you?
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Got a busy job...
a âgoodâ job.
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Which you really should be grateful for...
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But which deep down you arenât.
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So youâre looking for a new job!
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But not just any job!
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You want a job that
actually uses your talents!
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Something you can believe in!
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And look back on with pride.
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(Big but)
BUT
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The jobs ads somehow donât
inspireâŠ
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And you worry about
stepping into the
unknown.
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Should you be taking more of a risk?
You think to yourself...
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If so, how big a risk?
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Some days you wonder where your life is headingâŠ
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You feel like youâre losing touch with who you really are...
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...and even the simplest decisions seem impossible.
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If so, you are not alone...
Nearly 70% of us do not feel engaged at work.
Over half of us would start over if we could.
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...itâs our
brains that are
to blame.
(They canât cope, bless âem).
But itâs not our fault...
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Let me explain...
This is me.
Iâm Rob from The Career Psychologist
We work with people who feel like this at work.
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Let me explain...
Sorry, this is me.
This presentation explains why âcareer paralysisâ happens, and what you can
do about it.
So, where to start?
Iâm Rob from The Career Psychologist
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Letâs start at the very beginning.A very good place to start.
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âOur brains evolved for a very different world from today. A world in which people lived in
very small groups, rarely met anybody different from themselves, had short lives with few
choices and where the highest priority was to eat and mate today.â
Professor Dan Gilbert
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The point is, the kind of problems our brains evolved to solve
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The point is, the kind of problems our brains evolved to solve
are very different to the kind of problems we face today.
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Career choice is a good example:
In the Agricultural Age you did whatever your parents did. Baker, Taylor, Butcher, Smith.
There was not much âcareer choiceâ going on.
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In the Industrial Age social
mobility increased. But it still
depended on social class and education.
So âcareer choiceâ was
only really an issue for nice chaps like William and Rupert here.
Top hole
!Rathe
r!
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In the Information Age our choices suddenly expanded.
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And computers came along to help!
We could now be scientifically matched to....... our lifelong soulmate ideal career!
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#Relief!
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But this approach had two assumptions: a static work environment and a static self.
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6. ...and both technology and the financial crisis have accentuated these trends.
1. The job for life is almost dead...
2. and the portfolio career on the rise.
3. People want meaning at work, not living for the weekend.
4. Jobs are being created in areas not even heard of 2 years ago.
And nothing is static any more.
5. More people than ever are starting their own business
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Your Ideal career
is:
Dental Hygienist
Mind, you, what would I know? The computer told me I should have become a
dental hygienist.
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So the good news is⊠historically
speaking, career opportunities have
never been greater.
Most of us could be whatever we want to be.
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But the bad news is...
Our brains are not
set up to deal with this new type of career
decision.
Understanding how our minds work is the most important
factor in making better career decisions.
What Iâve learned over the last 20 years:
It looks like mobile phones will catch on after all.
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The Five Reasons Why
Our Brains Get
âHeadstuckâ When Making
Career Decisions
Too much choice
overwhelms us1
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We usually think of choice as a good thing.
But Barry Schwartz showed
that too much choice actually stresses us out.
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Itâs the âParadox of Choiceâ.
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The paradox of choice also undermines the decisions we do
make...
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Result: we feel overwhelmed by the options open to us and scared of the loss that comes with making a decision.
... And we always wonder what might have been...
Weâre negatively biased
2
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Imagine one of your ancient ancestors sees a dark blob out in the
distance...
Is it a bear or a blueberry bush?
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An optimist might have seen a blueberry bush. If he was right heâd eat more of his 5-a-day than
his pessimist friend.
Our minds evolved with one priority: safety first.
âŠ.But if he was wrong...heâd be lunch!
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caution to creep
in
Result: When faced
with a difficult
choice, itâs easy to allowâŠ.
We prioritise short term ease over long term values
3
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For example, 90% of people support organ donation in principle. And yet, some countries
have far higher organ donation rates than others.
Why?
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âŠAnd because we generally favour the short term, easy option we end up acting against
our long term values.
Itâs because the countries on the right have an âopt outâ donation policy, whereas in countries
on the left you have to âopt inâ.
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was offering 3 types of subscriptionWe also make decisions through short term comparisons. Try this:
Which would you
choose?
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Most people went for the print AND online subscription.
84%
0%
16%
And not surprisingly, no
Economist reader chose the middle option.
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So what did these
rational people do when this option was removed?
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32%
68%
Most changed their minds!
Why? Because we make decisions based on short term comparisons, not on what we actually
value.
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How does this relate to career decision making?Short terms comparisons mean we are highly
influenced by what others do and say.
But they also lead us into a trap, which looks like thisâŠ
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Human motivation works in two directions:
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1. Move away from bad stuff
Human motivation works in two directions:
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2. Move towards good stuff
Human motivation works in two directions:
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Most people say they want to move this way in their career
Iâm heading towards my goals and values!
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Yet what usually then shows up is...
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Eeek!
Difficult and scary stuff!
Yet what usually then shows up is...
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Thatâs right..!The short term result of moving
towards our values is usually negative thoughts and uncomfortable
emotions...
So guess what most of us do next?
Oh, the humanity!Eeek!
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We move away!
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Phew!
#RELIEF!
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But...
If we make it a priority to avoid difficult emotionsâŠ
we might avoid our demonsâŠ.
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But we also avoid the things that make life worthwhile.
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By prioritising the avoidance of difficult emotions
Result:
over the things we really valueâŠ
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We lose control over our lives.
Our brains think in linear patterns.
4
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For example, here we see a
triangle where none
exists.
OK, so what?
Minds like making sense of things. They love certainty and familiar patterns.
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Psychologist Karl Duncker gave participants a candle, a box of nails, and several other objects.
He asked them to attach the candle to the wall.
How would you do it?
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Very few of them thought of using the inside of the nail box as a candle-holder and nailing this to the wall.
The participants were âfixatedâ on the boxâs normal function of holding
nails.
Duncker found that participants tried to nail the candle directly to the wall or glue it to the wall by melting it.
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In decision making, this is called âfunctional
fixednessâ.
And functional fixedness has subsequently been shown to apply to
our own identities.
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Result:
Linear thinking leads to a sense
that we can only do what weâve always
done.
We treat thoughts as facts.
5
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Our minds are incredible...Theyâve helped us leave other species far
behind.
But weâve seen our minds are far from infallible!
Bad with choiceNegatively biased Short term Functionally fixed
Our minds evolved to keep us safe, not find fulfilment or meaning!
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âI know whatâs best
for you!â
Yet we often forget this.
Instead, we tend to automatically believe what our minds tell us.
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âYouâre far too tired to go for a run!â
For example, we come home from work and our mind says...
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Result: No run!
We tend to behave as though our thoughts are
âtrueâ.
Even though staying healthy might be a long term value...
Even though tiredness does not physically prevent us from going for a
run...
âYouâre far too tired to go for a run!â
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This is known as cognitive fusion and it can affect all areas of our
lives - including careers.
âYouâre far too:old / young,
stupid / brainy, successful /
unsuccessful to change career!â
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Although this presentation may be light-hearted, there is no doubt the depth of anxiety and confusion caused by career paralysis. Iâve certainly been there and bought the T-shirt.*We trust our minds to fix the problem, but when it doesnât, we start to look for reasons why. We start to think itâs our fault â thereâs something wrong with us!
We often conclude that we need to try and âfix ourselvesâ before we do anything else.
* Disclaimer: I didnât actually buy a T-shirt.
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I used to tell myself:
CertainSecure
ConfidentMotivated
Knowledgeable etc....
I canât change career now because first I need to feel more...
A lot of people think this way:âOnce I feel better and get rid of these nasty thoughts / feelings THEN I can act!â
But research has shown that trying to avoid negative thoughts and feelingsâŠ
âŠactually increases their intensity
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and frequency.
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Treating our thoughts as though they are true means we get tangled up in our
minds.We become âHeadstuckââŠ
Result:
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The 5 Cognitive Biases That Cause Career Paralysis
We prioritise the short term over the long
Weâre negatively biased
Too much choice overwhelms us
We become âfunctionally fixedâ
1
2
3
4
5 We treat thoughts as facts
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Career Paralysis:
How to Get Unstuck And Find Your
Direction
So what now? Try Part 2...
Itâs full of practical tips, suggestions and free resources to help you get out of career paralysis.
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Thank [email protected]
@RobACareerPsych
thecareerpsychologist.com
facebook.com/thecareerpsychologist