Theory of Career Chaos

An Integrated Framework:

This framework integrates existing theories and models of the career development. The proposed framework of Career Chaos, deep dive into the most relevant literatures – Circle of Concern and Influence by Steven Covey and Wellbeing: Five Essential elements by Tom Rath, to help people to identify how the career wellbeing is integrated with other wellbeing factors and how chaos is formed that impacts long term goals/aspirations.  

The integration is done with following specific objectives

  • Examine how workplace and expectations creates Career Chaos
  • How the External & Internal chaos will result in impacting Career Goals and Personal Values

Career” is defined as what you do each day and how you occupy your time, including home and family care, volunteer work, community participation, school, or other activities. – ASTD

Chaos are the situations that creates complete disorder and confusions. Unlike the previous era, the new workplace presents, ongoing uncertainty, instability which demands workforce to be agile and adapt faster to the changing environment. These creates stress and tensions. Human mind is a tricky place and our ability to switch between thoughts become paralyzed. At workplace we call them Chaos.

On the other side, as career fulfillment is the result of a person’s well-being factors like, Social, Family, Wealth and Health, the chaos created by disruptive or radical changes in the workplace will directly correlates with internal well-being factors. People behave badly when they don’t have the inner resources or ability to behave differently in a given instance. They are unable to de-associate from the factors that will push them into chaos. Identifying the factors will help them to behave in expected manner. Identifying the factors also require strong inner maps

 When people are posed with chaos, these three questions will help to create clarity

  • Can I do something about it?
  • What can I do differently in this situation
  • If I cannot do anything, how can I make peace with the situation?

While developing this 3 questions, I was able to come out of my own limiting factors. I realized these three powerful questions can help people to move from confusion to contentment

  • What happens when you are in career chaos?

You will be dissociated from the richness of life. They operate at effect rather than cause and will respond passively or very reactively. You operate in continuous chaos without realizing the burnouts and depleting energy to achieve your goals. You will reach a point where you started questing the very purpose of your objectives and goals

  • What are Internal Chaos?

Internal chaos is something completely under your control. We are wired to envision future catastrophes and spend our days worrying about what might happen, creating a chaotic mind triggering emotional imbalance within ourselves.

Symptoms:

  • Constantly weary, over –anxious
  • We expect others to solve our problems
  • We tend to blame our actions, decisions and our objectives

Interestingly we will not be able to identify the chaos situation within ourselves.

When you are in constant internal chaos, we operate from a belief system that we don’t have the right sets of skills to solve our chaos

What are external chaos?

External chaos is something that happens at the workplace or in the labor market or with the economy on which you don’t have any control. For example redundancies, Skill delisting, shut down of business, pandemics etc. can cause absolute chaos.

Symptoms:

  • Rejected and dejected
  • Ambiguous and confused state, un- resourceful state where we don’t know what to do
  • We don’t trust anyone at the workplace anymore since the entire space is uncertain
  • We start doing things that may be a non – priority at the moment

 How could you stay out of the chaos?

  1. Write down the career goals
  2. Write down the factors that are not in your control under external chaos
  3. Write down the constant thoughts you have under internal chaos
  4. Ask the powerful three questions
  • Can I do something about it?
  • What can I do differently in this situation
  • If I cannot do anything, how can I make peace with the situation?
  1. Specify how the internal chaos is affecting your career goals
  2. Create an action plan using the answers from 3 powerful questions
  3. Identify the factors that are in external chaos, but creating internal chaos
  4. Label them and detach from the career goals
  5. Work on your action plan and sustain the results