Finding fulfillment in your career

Our middle child, Nicola, has just moved back home after spending 4 years away at University. It seems like only yesterday she was packing up her room and moving out. She's now finished her degree and like her brother and sister, has started her career.

I'm at a stage in my career where I'm closer to the end rather than the beginning. When providing anyone with advice it's so easy to see it through our own lens rather than the person we are talking to. Because we all come from different backgrounds, have different values and expectations from our careers, I'm generally reticent providing career advice. However after almost 40 years of working, in a broad range of roles, across different industries, and being fortunate to work with so many successful people here's my top 3 suggestions for people starting their careers.

1.Be patient. It takes time to find what suits you and your personality. Often much longer than you realise. I didn't start NRG Solutions until I was 37. After leaving school, and getting my business degree, it took me 20 years to appreciate where my strengths lay. I worked in different industries in different roles, slowly appreciating what suited me and what clearly didn't suit me. I played professional cricket, sold mobile phones, chocolate for Cadbury's, radio advertising for MMM and taught PE and Asian Studies at an elite selective school in Sydney.

We are living in times of instant gratification. With just three clicks you can apply for a new role, order new shoes and set up a hot date for this evening. Social media influencers (the most least trusted profession) will have you believe that you can become a star overnight by signing up for their latest offering. The most successful people I've worked with have achieved success through grinding on and getting through the tough days. Grit and resilience are not necessarily glamorous, yet more often than not they hold the keys to success. The ability to get through the tougher times separates you from the pack. Hang in there. I've always liked the quote, "80% of life is just turning up". If you keep showing up, with a positive attitude, stay patient, and appreciate your career is more of a marathon than a 100 meter sprint, you'll be surprised what might unfold for you.

2.Notice what you like doing and are pretty good at. You can burn up an enormous amount of time working in roles you don't like and are probably not good at. Whatever you do, don't stay in a role to please others. I once worked for 3 months as an assistant payroll officer (it's a long story). As an extrovert, I couldn't have been less suited. Stuck in an office, mostly alone, grinding my way through excel spreadsheets and pivot tables each day wasn't my idea of fun. The only upside was knowing what everyone was earning, which as a relatively young man, sure was an eye opener for me.

Discovering your strengths might take 10 or so years. It doesn't matter. Just be careful re changing your plans every 6 months, heading off on "gap years" to discover yourself.

Most of the time there is a strong co relationship between what we like doing and what we are good at. One big question you'll need to consider is, if you like doing something, say painting, and are pretty good at it, should you make that your career? This again will really depend. How good are you and what is the likelihood that you can turn this into a career. There are a lot of very talented artists, musicians and actors who spend years waiting on tables and are now excellent Uber drivers. You will need to receive independent feedback about the likelihood of making a career out of your passions. Forget what your parents and Aunty Julie say. Seek out people who have walked in your shoes and can call it as it is. As a personal example, when I was in my 20's I liked playing cricket and I was almost a half decent player. Certainly no star. I tried for almost a decade to make a living out of playing the game, and just scraped by. This involved a lot of commitment, including 7 seasons playing in the UK and moving from my home state (WA) to live in Tasmania. Only when I turned 30 and saw that once again I had been dropped and was playing in the second team, did I bite the bullet and decide it was time to get a real job.

It's always a good idea to have options. Get something behind you that demonstrates tenacity and a willingness to learn. Putting all your eggs in a creative basket is a high risk strategy. If creativity is your calling (Athlete, Artist, Author, Entrepreneur, Poker player) why not give it a red hot go? After a certain amount of time, reassess. Are you really making progress? If so, double down. If not, re set your plan. Look for the magic 3 things. You enjoy it, you’re good at it and you can make a decent living from it. Then apply yourself, knuckle down and slowly move from good to great in your chosen field.

3. Build relationships with a broad range of people. Unless you are planning a career working as a Trappist Monk you will need to develop the art and skill of building relationships. For some of you meeting new people and being friendly is not hard. For others' it's very difficult and tedious. As the years go by you realise that it's the connections you have and the people you have known for many years that are so important to your career success. When you learn how to connect with different people, who may have different values to you, things can start to happen. Remember the platinum rule. Treat people the way they would like to be treated. Learn to adapt your communication style. Who needs bullet points and executive summaries? Who prefers long stories? Who responds best to written as opposed to verbal communication. Adjust the medium you use to communicate with people, whether that be phone, text, social media or face to face. Understanding how to connect and build quality relationships with different generations is a very important skill.
My parents are now in their late 80's. Learning how to communicate with them at this stage of life is a new challenge. As their hearing and memories slowly start to fade, I need to continue to adapt and adjust my style to maintain healthy adult relationships with them. The upside is, I can normally tell them the same stories I told them last week, as they can't recall hearing them.

That's the best I have to offer to anyone getting started in their career or getting frustrated with where they are at. Combine patience and finding your strengths, with relationships skills and you'll be well and truly on your way.

When you near the end of your career, you don't want to have too many regrets. Fasten your seat belt and enjoy the journey. It goes by very quickly.

Posted 1 December 2025 by Steve Herzberg