Circle One: What you loveWhat type of work do you like doing? Are you a hands-on, check-it-off-the-list kind of person or do you prefer more unstructured and creative types of work?
Don’t just think tasks, but also the kind of environment and culture you enjoy functioning in (e.g. team-based vs. individual, behind-the-scenes vs. in the spotlight, etc.).
Circle Two: What you are good at
You’re not good at everything, but you definitely have some skills. What have you learned to do well? What have others affirmed and seen in you?
You can start with what comes naturally to you, but you are not limited to that. You can always expand this circle as you learn new skills in the future.
Circle Three: What the world needs
If you want to do work that is meaningful and valuable, you will somehow be meeting a need or solving a problem for people. You can’t solve all the problems in the world or meet everyone’s needs, but you can solve some of them.
Which would you like it to be? A physical need, a relational need, an emotional need, a spiritual need, or maybe something else?
This could be a global issue such as poverty and the need for fresh water, or it could be as simple as, “People need houses, and I would like to meet that need by building homes.”