What’s missing from career maps
When’s the last time you were so immersed in something you lost all track of time and the rest of the world fell away?
The NIH defines this “flow state” is the “intrinsically motivating state of optimal experience in which an individual fully concentrates on the current task.” Flow happens more often and more intensely when we’re at work than during leisure time, research shows, but it’s still rare. It’s the opposite of languishing, as described by Adam Grant in this brilliant article from the depths of the pandemic. In Pixar’s Soul, people in this zone are in “the space between the physical and spiritual.”
Flow is an essential component of navigating a fulfilling career. I’m not saying we’ll spend every moment of the workday in a state of immersed bliss. But there will be jobs that align better with our skills, interests and abilities. In general, they offer us more opportunities to find flow. I’m proposing we add an element to our understanding of progress in our careers, looking not just at where we sit in the corporate hierarchy but how we experience success in our work, too.
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Finding your flow
Those career moments when we enjoyed the greatest sense of accomplishment in our work with few barriers, when we found ourselves immersed in what we were doing and excited about the possibilities, are flow phases. Can you think of a project you worked on that was completely absorbing? Or colleagues who were so in sync it seemed they could read your mind? That’s flow.
When we’re not in flow, of course, we may face challenges or hazards. Challenges would be ongoing barriers to finding fulfillment in our work, anything that lasts for an extended period of time. For example, working at a company where layoffs mean more responsibilities are getting dumped on your desk without enough resources to handle them would be a period of challenge. Challenges could also be due to individual preferences. I worked in a marketing department and learned that I did not find that role fulfilling, so it was tough for me to find flow.
Last, you may experience hazards on your career journey. These may not last as long as challenging periods, but they have a major impact on your ability to find flow. Maybe you’re experiencing an emergency personal situation, or maybe you’ve been laid off. You may have a higher-up who is making it hard for you to be heard. Whatever these hazards are, they will impede your progress until you can get around or away from them.
🛶 Career River Insight 🛶
This is the crucial element that is missing from the career ladder that helps us understand how to navigate a fulfilling career. It is not only about progress, but about finding fulfillment in the flow of your work.
A new look at career progress and fulfillment
Adding these phases to your career river map brings a new perspective to where you’ve been and where you can go. For example, I started out progressing well at a newsroom, but as time went on the work went from challenging to filled with hazards. Some of the hazards were specific to the company — after several rounds of layoffs, my boss and I were doing the jobs that seven people had held when I started. Some were a result of my changing life circumstances — I had just become a parent, and the long, unpredictable hours were much harder on me than before.
So I took a step “back,” and moved into that marketing role, Role 3. As you can see, what first felt like flow — I’m no longer getting breaking news calls at 10 at night! — shifted to challenge as I realized I was not fulfilled by the work.
But that time was crucial for me to set the stage for what would follow. Because I gave myself the time and space to understand what kind of work I wanted to do, and because I used this time to build my skills, moving forward I was able to find roles that were a better fit for me.
In ladder terms, I still wasn’t as high on the hierarchy in my more fulfilling work as I had been at the newsroom. But as we can see from the river map above, that’s not the whole story.
A step “back” may ultimately be better for you. That was the case for me. You can also see how progress and flow can work for you at different moments. At times, you may embrace challenges if they’re necessary to move ahead to where you want to go. At other moments, you may prioritize flow over getting a promotion.
We are the experts of our own experiences. We know flow when it shows up in our work, and we can set the stage to find it more often. It just takes a new lens for looking at our career.
Happy navigating,
Bridget
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🔗 Links
Career River
Discover hidden themes by mapping your career river
Riding Your River: Unlock your next career move with this key question
External
Fostering flow experiences at work (NIH)
Feeling Blah During the Pandemic? It's Called Languishing (The New York Times)