[Decision Making] How to Decide on the Work to Master

Is this really the right path? When you start facing this question, many people begin to think about the direction of the work that occupies most of their daily lives. I would like to share a way of thinking that allows you to start moving forward even without having a clear answer.

An event from when I was wandering

“What do you want to develop from here on out?”
When my boss at work asked me this, I was at a loss for words.

It wasn't that I had absolutely nothing I wanted to do.
However, there was nothing I could clearly state that I wanted to master.

I had found some meaning in the work right in front of me, and I had properly carried out what was entrusted to me by those around me. But I think that was closer to the feeling of 'responding to what came my way' rather than 'choosing' it.

When I was drifting along aimlessly, my boss proposed a different option: work oriented toward management, and I was entrusted with it.
The content involved setting objectives, managing task schedules, defining achievement requirements, coordinating with other departments, and allocating work to team members.

Honestly, I had my doubts.
This was because it was not in the direction of deepening my own expertise.

At first, I wanted to push back, but I decided to accept it. That was because I felt it was a necessary role for the current situation of my team members.
This role is not yet complete, and I am playing an ambiguous, intermediate role that cannot be called either a specialist or a manager, but for now, it is somehow working.

Through this event, a question arose: 'Is the work you master determined only by what wells up from within yourself?'

Realizations that emerged while moving forward

Until now, I had always thought that 'work to master' was something you decide on from the beginning with a strong will.

The company's upper management communicates to employees the importance of 'working with a sense of purpose.'
They even actively engage in activities to boost employee motivation by picking out people who are working with a sense of purpose and publishing them on the company website.

Therefore, I felt negative, wondering if I was somehow half-hearted because I couldn't make a firm decision.

However, in reality, it seemed that even among the people who were active around me, they hadn't clearly decided from the beginning.
When I read the articles on the website carefully, I could see that they were struggling, worrying, and sometimes even opposing things, just like me.
Rather, I felt that their own core was formed while they continued to face what they were entrusted with.

In other words, perhaps the work you master is not only something you 'choose,' but also something that 'grows.'

Furthermore, another realization is that there seems to be a hint for long-lasting work in the overlap between 'what you are good at' and 'what is required of you.'

Doing only what you want to do, or only what you are evaluated for, will eventually lead to strain somewhere.
It is in the area where both overlap that there seems to be room to naturally continue deepening your work.

Hypothesis

Those who already have a sense of purpose should just push through and see it to the end.
However, I believe that for those who do not have one, the work they master is determined by the overlap of the following three elements.

First: 'Things you can continue without a sense of discomfort'

Things you spend time on without realizing it, where you have little sense of putting in effort.

Second: "Things requested by others"

Things you can do naturally that others value and appreciate.

Third: "Things required as a role within an environment"

Positions that are naturally entrusted to you by the flow of the times or within an organization.

When these three elements overlap, perhaps people can continue to produce results without strain. And perhaps they move closer to a "state of mastery."

Rather than deciding on one thing from the start, I think an approach of "taking the time to find the area where these three overlap from among the things you have been entrusted with" might be more realistic.

A question for the reader

So, what will you master from here on out?

If my hypothesis is correct, deciding what work to master is not about narrowing it down to one thing, but perhaps about "being consciously present in an area where you can continue to provide value."

If that is the case, the question changes to this: Where do you want to continue providing value?

I believe that continuously increasing the resolution of the answer to this question is what shapes a career.