The end of your studies is in sight—or you've already finished. People congratulate you and ask, "What are you going to do now?" You try to smile and come up with something sensible to say. Deep down, you have no idea.
Or maybe you’ve spent a few years on the job after successfully completing your apprenticeship, and you enjoy it. And here, too, the question of what comes next is becoming increasingly pressing.
You're standing in front of countless doors, but you don't know which one to open.
Back then. You made that decision early on
You had to make a decision early on, while you were still in school, between an apprenticeship and high school. And if you chose an apprenticeship, which one? You made your decision based on your gut feeling and on what others told you—teachers, parents, classmates. That was all you could know back then.
Since then, you’ve been on this path—with hard work, perseverance, and doubts along the way. Maybe you kept those doubts to yourself; maybe you shared them with your friends. But what no one tells you is this: That decision was never the answer to “Who am I? What do I want?” It was just the starting point.
Now. The question comes up again
You’ve invested a lot of time and money in your studies and in yourself, and now you’re holding a diploma in your hands and seeing opportunities as far as the eye can see. A master’s degree or a career start? A trainee program, starting a startup, moving abroad, traveling. Or something else entirely?
When it comes to your apprenticeship, the situation is different—and yet similar. You’ve learned your trade from the ground up, have been on the job for a few years now, and are good at it. Still, it feels like you’re just getting started. Continuing education, specialization, a leadership role, a career change. So what’s next?
So what's the right thing to do?
Everyone joins in
Back then, your parents and teachers gave you (well-meaning) advice. Today, there are many more voices, and they’ve gotten louder.
Social media shows you who already has their own business at 25. Who works remotely from the most beautiful places in the world. Who had the courage to just walk away from it all. And on the one hand, AI tells you that your career won’t really take off for a few more years. On the other hand, developments in AI show you that your job might not even exist in a few years.
But none of these voices really know you: The algorithm determines your feed. The AI knows averages. But neither of them knows what gets you out of bed in the morning or what drains your energy.
And because the other people on your screen always look so good and seem so sure of what they want, you see your own insecurity as a personal shortcoming.
But that's not true—you do care about which direction you're heading.
More choice does not mean more clarity
You'd think that having more options would make decisions easier. But it's usually the other way around. The more doors you see, the harder it is to choose one. You wait and hope that one of those doors will open on its own. Or you take the next one because it's close by and it just feels right.
Maybe the question “Which door is the right one?” is the wrong one to begin with. You can’t possibly know from the outside what lies behind a door. You won’t know until you open it and see how it feels. Questions that show you what’s behind a door for you are more helpful:
What gives me energy, and what drains it?
What do I stand for, even if no one sees it?
What would I try if I didn't have to worry about other people's expectations?
Neither the AI knows the answers to these questions, nor are they in your feed. But they're there—you've just rarely said them out loud.
Coaching can help you ask yourself these questions. In the process, you can open various doors, take a look inside, and begin to sense where you want to go. And from there, you’ll develop your own direction—I’ll accompany you for a little while on this journey.
Curious? Then let's get to know each other.