Your career still looks successful.
But you’re wondering what’s next.
You’ve accomplished a great deal.
But something has shifted.
The work that brought you here may no longer feel like the work you want for the next part of your career.
Nothing has to be terribly wrong for you to know something is changing.
Maybe you’re considering leaving a role you’ve held for years.
Maybe an opportunity is in front of you, but you can’t tell whether it’s actually right for you.
Maybe you’re wondering whether to stay where you are, make a significant career change, build something of your own, or move in a direction you haven’t fully defined yet.
Or maybe there isn’t one clear decision in front of you.
You just know:
You don’t want to keep making career decisions based only on what I’ve always done or what other people expect of you.
You have experience.
You have options.
You know how to succeed.
What you may not have is a clear way to determine which direction fits the woman you are now.
The decision isn’t where clarity begins.
When you’re at a career crossroads, the natural instinct is to focus on the decision:
Should I stay?
Should I leave?
Should I take the opportunity?
Should I do something completely different?
So you make lists.
You weigh the pros and cons.
You talk to people you trust.
You think about it some more.
And sometimes you still don’t know.
That’s because the decision itself may not be the best place to begin.
Clarity begins with Y.O.U.
(Your-Own-Uniqueness)
I’m Dr. Robin L. Owens
I’m the creator of the PurposeMAKER methodology, podcast host of Leadership Purpose with Dr. Robin, author, speaker, professor, and founder of the Leadership Purpose Institute.
I work with high-achieving women, accomplished, entrepreneurs, and corporate leaders at the VP level and beyond, who are outwardly thriving but privately questioning what comes next.
A different way to make career decisions
Before asking What should I do?, there is a deeper question:
Who am I now… and what does that tell me about what comes next?
I created the PurposeMAKER methodology to help women answer that deeper question.
At the center of the methodology is what I call Y.O.U.—Your Own Uniqueness.
Your Y.O.U. is made up of four Purpose Parts:
Your Passions
What consistently draws your interest, energy, and attention?
Your Values
What matters deeply enough that you want your choices to reflect it?
Your Natural Abilities
What do you do especially well—often in ways you may take for granted?
Your Service
Who or what do you feel drawn to contribute to, improve, support, or change?
Together, these give you a clearer picture of who you are… not just what you’ve accomplished.
And that changes the way you approach the decision in front of you.
You don’t find your purpose.
You align who you are… with how you live and work.
That is how you express your true purpose.
Purpose isn’t necessarily one perfect job waiting somewhere for you to discover it.
And clarity doesn’t require predicting exactly what the rest of your career will look like.
Clarity means learning to recognize what is aligned with who you are…and what isn’t.
So instead of asking only:
“Which option looks best?”
you begin asking:
“Which option is a better fit for who I am now?
That is a different kind of career decision.
That is a purpose-aligned decision.
And it can lead to a different kind of clarity.
Your answer may not be the same as someone else’s.
Greater clarity might help you decide to:
Stay in your current role, but change how you work or lead.
Pursue an opportunity you’ve been uncertain about.
Say no to an opportunity that looks impressive but doesn’t fit you.
Begin exploring a different kind of work.
Build something alongside your existing career.
Prepare for a transition rather than making one immediately.
Recognize that what you thought was the decision isn’t actually the decision you need to make.
The goal isn’t to push you toward leaving.
And it isn’t to convince you to stay.
The goal is to help you make a decision you can trust..
Wondering what comes next in your own career?
You may already have a specific decision in front of you.
Or you may simply know that something about your work
no longer feels the same…
and you’ve started asking yourself questions about what you want next.
What career question is on your mind?
Share the career question that is on your mind, what you’re considering, or what you are unclear about.
I personally review every response and will follow up with you. Then, based on what you share, I’ll let you know what I recommend as a next step.