Man, 2021 was a weird year, wasn’t it? Everything felt like it was shifting under our feet. For me, personally, career stuff was just a constant blur. I remember waking up some mornings just feeling totally lost, like I was staring at a huge, blank wall and everyone else had a map.
I saw all these headlines popping up, you know, “Expert Career Advice for Your Sign!” or “Here’s What You NEED to Do in 2021!” And honestly, I even considered trying to put something like that together myself for a bit. My thinking was, if I could just organize all the “smart” stuff out there, maybe I’d figure out my own path too, and then share it. Sounded like a good plan on paper, right?
So, I started digging. I mean, really digging. I pulled up articles, watched those long-form talks, even skimmed some of those super serious-looking business books. I was trying to find that golden nugget, that one piece of advice that would just unlock everything. But the more I read, the more I got this massive headache. It was like everyone was yelling different things at once. One person said pivot, another said double down. One said follow your passion, another said passion is a trap. I just sat there, my head spinning, feeling more confused than when I started.
That’s when I realized something important. All these “expert” opinions, while maybe good for someone, just didn’t resonate with my actual life. My situation wasn’t a template. My skills weren’t generic checkboxes. And my dreams? They certainly weren’t in some bullet-point list in a “10 Steps to Success” article.
My Own Grinding Process
I shelved the whole “be an expert advice giver” idea for a bit. Instead, I decided to pivot my “practice record” inwards. I grabbed a fresh notebook – yeah, old school, pen and paper – and just started jotting down everything. Not what others said I should do, but what I’d actually done up to that point.
- I started by listing every job I’d ever had, even the crappy ones.
- Then, under each, I wrote down what I liked about it, and what I absolutely hated. No filters.
- Next, I moved to skills. What did I actually feel good doing? What did people usually ask me for help with? Not what I thought I should be good at, but what was real.
- I dug into my failures too. Oh man, there were plenty of those. I wrote down what went wrong and, more importantly, what I learned from each face-plant.
This whole process took weeks, maybe even months, of just chipping away at it, usually late at night after the day’s work was done. It wasn’t glamorous. It was just me, a pen, and a pile of messy thoughts. But slowly, painstakingly, a pattern started to emerge from the chaos.
I started seeing recurring themes. Certain types of tasks made me light up, even if they were tiny parts of a bigger job. Other tasks consistently drained my energy, no matter how “important” they seemed on paper. I began to understand my own rhythm, my own strengths, and more importantly, my own limitations.
The Real “Expert Advice” I Found
By late 2021, I had this thick notebook, full of my own scribbles, my own practical records. And looking through it, it hit me: this was the real expert advice. It wasn’t some generic horoscope reading or a slick motivational speech. It was the messy, personal, often uncomfortable truth of my own journey. It was the record of my experiments, my screw-ups, and my small wins.
I realized that the truly useful “advice” wasn’t about predicting the future or telling me what “Virgos” should do. It was about understanding my past, learning from my own experiences, and then using that knowledge to make informed, practical decisions about what to try next. It wasn’t about a grand, sudden leap. It was about tiny, deliberate steps, each one informed by the last.
I started applying this. Instead of chasing some ideal role I read about, I began looking for opportunities that truly aligned with those things I discovered I liked and was good at, even if they were smaller projects or a lateral move. I wasn’t afraid to say no to things that I knew would drain me, even if they sounded impressive.
And you know what? Things started to click. Not overnight, no magic wand. But step by step, the path started to clear, because I was finally walking my path, not someone else’s idea of what it should be. That’s the real practice record I took away from 2021, and honestly, it’s still what guides me today.
