I was talking with a coaching client who is at the beginning of a job search. She has 25+ years in the IT industry and has led or heavily interacted with every area within the company as they built from a small company with intermittent growth to a mid-sized powerhouse.

She was ready for her new adventure and had, before we met, been crafting a list of the possible roles she could pursue.

And all of her ideas and options made complete sense based on her resume of experiences.

But I wondered about the nonsensical options.

I wanted her to put her Dr. Suess hat on and just start making up words.

We often make career decisions based on what makes sense given the path we have traveled to date.

We also will consider what our parents, friends and trusted colleagues and advisors think are good next steps for us.

We want to feel safe. We want to plan the steps to get us out of where we are at and into what is next as soon as possible.

We are uncomfortable sitting in the unknown.

But what about that wild and crazy part of us.

What about the part of us that dreams of ditching it all and living in a log cabin or joining an ashram or selling the house, buying the camper and traveling across the country with no clear plan.

I remember when I was in that place of a Career Crossroads. For me, the kids were launched, and I found myself with more time on my hands.

For you it could be that you were laid off. Maybe you are approaching retirement and thinking that the last 5-10 years of your career in corporate could be different. Maybe you are relocating, and this is prompting the change.

No matter what brought you to some form of the thought, “Huh? I am at a Career Crossroads. I can see what is behind me. I have some general idea of what I could easily do next based on what I have already done. But I also have another feeling. A quiet nudge in my gut that now is the time to do something that may make some sense but may also make no sense at all!”

3 Steps to Finding Your Nonsensical Next Career Move

To make sure you are considering both sensical and nonsensical options for your next career move try this:

Step 1: Write down the titles/roles you know you could pursue today that make sense based on your education, experience, skills. Consider what others would suggest as roles they see you in. For me it was:

• Become a Career Coach

• Work for another recruiting firm

• Coach recruiters

• Coach entrepreneurs

• Keep running my recruiting firm

• Sell software

• Become an internal recruiter for a company

• Run membership or programs and events for association

Step 2: What are the titles/roles that may seem Nonsensical to you (and you know if you told other people about what you were thinking they would think you had lost all your sense.) but they have you smiling from ear to ear.

TIP: Think back into your childhood. There is gold there!

For me they were:

• Novelist

• Screenplay writer

• Start an events company

• Detective

• Open a spiritual center

• Start a travel company that visits spiritual places

• Ambassador

• Direct films and documentaries

• Treasure Hunter

• Open the Museum of Small Collections

• Sell things on eBay

• Open up a booth at a permanent flea market

• Become a motivational speaker

• Get a job on tv interviewing people

• Rock Star

Step 3: Read through your lists. Sit with them for a moment, a day or longer. What titles/roles come to mind if you were to ask your brain to do a mashup of the sensical and the nonsensical? Tell your brain you would like it to come up with some titles/roles that uses what you already know AND adds in the nonsense. The more nonsense the better! For me it was:

• Start a Career Wayfinding Coaching company – doing today! Looking for a coach. Let’s Talk (LINK TO DISCOVERY CALL HERE)

• Build a low-cost membership community for women connected to tech – doing today! JOIN CAREER ALCHEMY ACADEMY TODAY

• Coach women in a career transition/transformation with a spirit-centered approach – doing today!

• Write at least 1 book – I have an outline!

• Write at least 1 screenplay – I have an idea!

• Start a podcast and interview people about careers, women in tech, spiritual tools and experiences. (Me??? Why not me? )

• Run spirited events and travel to places miracles have occurred and treasures may be found … (Make sure the events include Karaoke so Laurie’s inner rock star has a voice!) Stay tuned.

Cultural norms and logical career paths need to be challenged.

If we keep doing what we are doing we will keep thinking, feeling and living the same way. I am not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater. I am saying what if the bathwater was being drawn from a well in southern France near Lourdes!

Follow the nonsensical path a bit. Let it show you what else could be possible.

Use what feels like fun as your guide. Tap into your inner detective and keep following the clues to what lights you.

Why? Because nonsense can make the most sense of all!