The thing about your perfect job is that it (probably) doesn’t exist. I use brackets there because I also know it does.

Only, it exists in your head, in the hypothetical, in the beautiful future world of an idealised life.

I know this to be true, not only because I’ve spoken to hundreds of career shifters about this over the years but also because there really isn’t one role out there that meets all your carefully crafted criteria.

And to explain why, I’m going to start with some ancient Greek. (Yeh I’m going there).

The same applies to your criteria and any given role.

Your criteria are by their very nature a little fuzzy, a touch imprecise.

Influenced by how you feel on a given day, whether it is sunny outside, whether you had a coffee recently, and whether you are thinking long term (how will this work when we extend our family) or short term (will this mean a slightly longer commute). And because of that, they drift with time.

And the river? Any role will evolve and shift over time too. As you grow in skills and experience and can deliver more, the demands of the work will change. Finally, as the organisation you are contributing to responds to the ever-changing environment, then your role will necessarily shift. This is especially true in the climate and sustainability sectors, as jobs are often evolving to address urgent global challenges.

The point is that while it is incredibly important to invest time in setting out your criteria and doing the research to investigate options and test your thinking, at the end of the day a perfect 10 out of 10 myth might be holding you back from taking action.

How Waiting Holds You Up

You might find yourself facing analysis paralysis. With scorecards and careful analytical approaches to each role after hours of careful research.

You might constantly be expecting the next role to be “The One”. Forever stuck in your current position like a hopeless romantic waiting for a perfect partner to arrive and sweep you off your feet. Meanwhile, you wait by the phone. (Did that metaphor work for you?)

On top of that, this belief that “The One” is out there can exacerbate the curse of “Buyer remorse” (The post-decision fear that you made the wrong choice)

What you can do to get unstuck

Here are four reframing exercises to help you take positive action and feel more confident about taking a step toward your climate career, sustainability work or greenjob (And yes, that sentence is a cynical SEO tag line)

Recognise The Journey

Your career is a journey, not a destination. (Did I really just write that sentence, urgh?!). Let me try again.

Once you acknowledge that your goal is to ‘respond’ to your shifting criteria, rather than ‘complete’ them then you can visualise your future more usefully as a series of steps that progress over time. A constant evolution of roles that periodically take a step toward your new criteria. Rather than one final step that will forever keep you happy.

Take The Pressure Off

Related to the above, your next role is unlikely to be your last. Few things are ‘forever’.

Knowing that this move is a step towards rather than away from an idealised version of your work can be enough. Consider seeing it as a stepping stone. This is especially true if your ideal future role is something you might need to build experience, qualifications, or skills to be able to do.

You might find setting a “Yes Until” criteria for the role helpful. For example “I will take this role until I have delivered a project of sufficient significance that I can leverage that for my next step and I anticipate this taking 18 months.” Making something definitive, with a time box can help lower the sense of risk and commitment.

Treat Your Career As A Protoype

If you have a more engineering or design background, perhaps framing your career as a prototype helps. In design thinking, prototypes aren’t meant to be perfect—they’re meant to be tested, refined, and improved. Approach your career the same way by viewing each job as a stepping stone that helps you refine your skills and mission.

Don’t Sweat The Detail

recognise it is the bigger picture that will determine whether or not your choice is meaningful. Study after study point to the importance of ‘contribution’, ‘purpose’, or ‘cause’ being the most significant factor in people being happy in their career choice….

• A study conducted by McKinsey in 2021 found that people who report living their purpose at work are 4 times more likely to be engaged and 5 times more likely to stay with their organization. Moreover, 70% of employees said their sense of purpose is defined by their work. This highlights how purpose, especially in meaningful sectors like climate and sustainability, directly correlates with higher satisfaction and engagement.

• Research published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2018 explored the relationship between meaningful work and employee well-being. The study showed that when employees perceive their work as contributing to a greater good or a sense of purpose, their psychological well-being and overall job satisfaction significantly increase.

The takeout of these studies is twofold.

1.Be clear on your cause.

Who or what is it that you want to help. What is the contribution you want to make to the world. (Re)Read “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Victor Frankl if you are unsure as to why this is important.

2.Don’t sweat the small things.

If your next role helps you contribute to that, you might want to consider the rest as nice-to-haves, that you can refine on the way.

Remember your career is an evolving prototype, and progress comes from iteration, not perfection.

Which of these reframes resonates most with you?

As ever, if you want to learn more tools and techniques to help pivot your career toward climate, sustainability, social impact, or a greenjob, hit the “Let’s Talk” button top right.