Picking Between Two Things

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In my opinion, binary decisions are the hardest decisions. Do you want the red pill? Or do you want the blue pill? I just want to know why I can’t have purple. It’s usually because purple isn’t even an option. So you have to choose. This decision can apply to your career a couple ways, first - do you keep your current job or go get a new. Second, you have two job offers and you don’t know which to take.

I admittedly just went through the second scenario and while I should have approached it as a positive, I felt AWFUL about it. Both of the opportunities were amazing and I truly wanted to do both. But as luck would have it, I couldn’t. So I had a really hard decision to make. The decision was compounded by the fact that all of a sudden, there was an “opportunity cost”. If I take X, then I don’t get Y - and I know what that cost was both in dollars and experience. So naturally, I reached out to my all important and all knowing network because surely someone would tell me what to do.

Yeah, no one told me what to do but I got a lot of mental prompts and things to think about. Here a couple of those things:

  • You do not want to be in a position where you resent your pay

  • Do not think of it as opportunity cost/loss, think of it as opportunity gain

  • What factors in a workplace matter most to you

  • Work subject aside what are your must haves

  • Do you want to learn exponentially or incrementally?

  • If one is your “dream” job - is it the right time to take the job? Will you be able to take it later?

  • Which job enables you the life you envision for yourself now and 5 years from now

I bolded the last one because it was such salient advice given to me by one of my long time mentors. When I thought about my life, which duh prior blog post talks about how I feel about work and life, the answer was CRYSTAL clear. I simply wrote out what I wanted my life to look like now, in the near future, and further out. My decision was made on a 20 minute train ride when I had spent literal WEEKS agonizing. Granted, I will give myself huge credit for getting out of my existing environment - I went all the way to Europe to think for 20 minutes but I think the change of scenery really helped.

I would advise anyone that is thinking of a big change in their career, especially between two options, to really think about that broader life question. Work is just one part of life so you’d better make sure it enables the life you want.

Also there’s a shortcut! Flip a coin. Seriously. Assign each role to one side of the coin. When that coin is in the middle of the air, all of a sudden you’ll find yourself praying/hoping in lands on one side. That’s likely the role you should take :)

How have you decided between two big things career wise?