Instead of treating life as a puzzle that needs solving, follow your instincts, writes Jim Bright.

This week, I want to address a group of readers facing similar problems.Many people who seek careers advice have tried hard to fathom what they want to do, what will satisfy them or how they might best fit into a job. Often, they feel disconnected, confounded and confused. They want to be able to think through their best options and devise a plan.

Therein lies a problem. Too often we are encouraged to see our lives as puzzles that can be solved.Each new bit of information, each learning experience, represents another piece in the jigsaw that ultimately reveals the solution.

The puzzle is such a seductive  metaphor because it holds out the promise of completion, wholeness, solution and certainty. The trouble is the puzzle we are playing with is like a jigsaw inherited from an absent-minded relative living in an earthquake zone.

There are lots of pieces missing and scattered in the most unlikely of places. And then we discover that brand-new and unexpected pieces are continually being added to the puzzle as well. The picture keeps changing.

People and their careers are not  puzzles to be solved; they are mysteries to be explored. This perspective fundamentally changes the approach to considering questions such as: Who am I? (Answer: I can never be entirely sure but I’m excited to see how I
turn out next.) What do I want to do? (Answer: I’ve got a few ideas but I’m always open to new ones.)

A career is not something that can be completely nutted out and planned in advance by rational thought. Sure, careful consideration and reliable information are important factors, but the reality for most people is that things have happened in their lives that they never thought possible and most people have experienced career altering, unplanned events.

These realities did not occur as the result of thinking but emerged as the result of immersing oneself in the world and acting and interacting with others and the environment more generally.

Because the reality is always different to the idea, at least in some respects, taking action is likely to throw up new insights, inspirations and experiences that can be fed back into our deliberations. Action complements and feeds thought, as much as
thought may motivate action.

For people feeling stuck in their  careers, reinforcing the idea that there must be one ideal occupation out there for them merely increases the sense of frustration that they have yet to find it and might well reinforce inaction lest anything they do takes them in the ‘‘wrong’’ direction.

I think it is helpful to encourage people who are feeling stuck to take a series of small steps, to try things out, seek experiences, take some calculated risks, reach out to others and immerse themselves in activities.

However, I do not want to encourage people to think that they know exactly where they are going. Rather, I want to encourage them to explore the mystery in a sensible and realistic fashion and to be excited and ready to take advantage of the unexpected when it inevitably arrives.

Just because you are not entirely sure what you want to do or why, it does not mean you should do nothing on the one hand or act recklessly on the other. So another approach to career decisions that can complement the think-before-you-act school of
thought is to act before you think.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once remarked, nothing will be achieved if first all objections must be overcome. And exactly why she said that is a mystery to me.

Jim Bright is professor of career education and development at ACU and a partner at Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy. Email marked clearly ‘‘FOR PUBLICATION’’ to brightside@jimbright.com.