Career Decisions & Self Knowledge

Why the Best Career Decisions Start With Knowing Yourself

Jamie Daniels April 2026
5 min read
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We all know how to make career decisions and when to make them right?

"I need to find something that pays well or has great benefits..."

"I think I know what I'm good at, I should find a job where I can use this..."

"Surely I've been doing this long enough to ask for a raise or a promotion."

Which one are you asking yourself?

Whichever one it is, the best answer will only come from you, and that's exactly where the work begins.

Which one sounds most like you right now?

Are you considering a career change?

Would you know where to start?

I've found myself in that very position several times, moving between employers and within the same company. In my early years the desire to change was because something just wasn't sitting right.

When I worked in retail it was the need to find something more long term. Something I was willing to put my time and effort into. After 6 years in my first engineering job, it was the feeling that I had more potential than my employer could realise. At my current employer it was the intrigue of progression, seeing how far I could move within a large organisation. And now it's wanting to share that experience and knowledge with others.

Knowing myself and what I was seeking (not necessarily what I wanted) was the key to unlocking every single one of those decisions.

Have you changed career or roles thinking the next move was going to be the last?

The change to fix all previous changes?

I know that feeling well. Covid lockdown was a real time for reflection for everyone. I was 7 months into my 4th role with my current employer, a role that had me travelling to Italy and Germany, managing engineering relationships with key suppliers. Then covid hit.

I found myself working from home, on my own (my wife is a nurse), left with a role that no longer had the excitement of travel and simply required me to push paper. I could have stuck with it. I'd taken it as a development opportunity after all. But now the real job was exposed, and I didn't enjoy it.

It made me take a hard look at what I'd thought the job was going to give me, and why it was never really going to deliver.

Are you just starting out?

Recently finished education or coming close to deciding what direction you're going to go in?

My career advice at school left me thinking that the career I picked would be the one I'd have forever. And I had no idea what would fit.

2 years at sixth form, another 2 years at Tesco's, and then my first job as an engineer. Day release to college and a full time post started the journey that has led to where I am now. But it took my mum to push me to apply for it.

Why would I want a job as a spring designer? That must be well boring! I was still being driven by the same "what do I want to do" process. My mum pointed out the engineering education aspect to the job and I thought "if nothing else, I'd be getting a free HNC."

That job opened my eyes to what a real career, in a subject I actually liked, could mean.

Fast forward 19 years since my first day in that first engineering job and I've realised the decision isn't "what is THE career I'll do forever?" It's "what am I going to throw myself at to get started?" Because figuring out where you'll end up is part of the journey.

What does "best" actually mean?

We've all been taught that "best" means the bigger salary, the better title, the benefits package, the company name that people recognise when you tell them where you work.

And there's nothing wrong with wanting any of that. But if those are the only things driving your decision, you might end up somewhere that ticks every box except the one that actually matters: does this feel right for me?

The best career decision isn't the one that impresses other people. It's the one that still feels right 6 months down the line, without that familiar knot in your stomach telling you something's off.

Not "what should I do?" but "what do I actually need?"

Getting to that answer takes knowing yourself. And that's what most of us have never been taught how to do.

How do I know myself?

Knowing yourself sounds like one of those things everyone says but nobody actually explains. So let me keep it simple.

It means understanding what you need from your work, not just what you want. It means being honest about what gives you energy and what drains it. It means recognising your strengths without waiting for someone else to point them out.

It doesn't mean having all the answers. It means being willing to ask better questions of yourself than "what job should I do?"

Something to try right now

Think about a career decision you're facing right now. It might be something big like whether to leave your job. It might be something smaller like whether to put yourself forward for a project or have a conversation with your manager.

Now, instead of asking yourself "what should I do?", try asking these three questions:

What do I need this to give me?

What would I regret not trying?

If I trusted myself to make this decision, what would I do?

Sit with those for a moment.

Don't rush them.

The answers that come up first are usually the honest ones. The doubt that follows is just noise. Your first instinct is more reliable than you think.

Those three questions work because they shift you from "what does everyone else think I should do?" to "what do I actually know about myself?" And once you start thinking that way, career decisions stop feeling like guesswork and start feeling like choices you can own.

That's not something you figure out once and forget about. It's something you come back to every time you're at a crossroads. The more you practise it, the sharper it gets.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You don't need a five year plan or a perfect CV or someone else's permission to make a move.

You just need to start with yourself. What you need. What you value. What you know to be true when you stop second guessing it.

Every career decision you've made has taught you something, even the ones that didn't work out. Especially those ones. They're not failures. They're feedback. And the fact that you're here, reading this, thinking about what comes next, tells me you already know more than you're giving yourself credit for.

The only thing missing is someone to help you see it clearly, line it up, and move forward with it.

Remember, I'm here to help you move forward. Not by telling you something you don't already know, but by being the voice that helps you hear it clearly. If that sounds like what you need, let's talk.

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