You can move forward without a Will! How thinking in terms of Must→Can→Will makes things easier

"What is your Will?"
"Please tell me what you want to do in the future."

When asked this, there are times I can't put it into words well.

Of course, people who have clear goals and can move toward them are wonderful.
But honestly, it's not always possible to articulate things so neatly.

In fact, I sometimes feel a bit distressed when I try to come up with a Will first.
It's like, even though it doesn't have a shape yet, I end up trying to create "a plausible, impressive answer" just like in an interview... (I think this is a common experience).

Recently, I feel it's more natural to think in the order of
Must→Can→Will rather than putting Will first.

• Must (what is required of me now / the role I should play)

• Can (what I can do, which increases through experience)

• Will (the desire that emerges from where and how I want to utilize my Can)

I have articulated this way of thinking, which feels right to me, based on my own experiences.
I would be happy if this reaches people who feel, "I'm not good at deciding what I want to do first..."

First, start with Must rather than Will

I think what comes first is usually "Must."

For example,

• The work I need to do now

• The role I have been entrusted with

• The problems I must solve

• The response needed by the person in front of me

This might not necessarily be "what I want to do from the bottom of my heart." But whether you do this sloppily or carefully changes what comes next quite a bit.

Even with the same job, there is a difference in how you approach it.

• Just finishing it

• Thinking about how to make it even better

• Make it into a repeatable form

• Verbalize and record your learnings

This difference determines what you will gain next.

That is why I believe it is important to face the Must right in front of you before you go looking for your Will.

When you face your Must, your Can increases

When you face the work right in front of you, your Can (what you can do) gradually increases.

For example,

• You understand the patterns of how to proceed

• You get better at coordinating with stakeholders

• You learn how to identify issues

• You can see patterns that work and patterns that tend to fail

• You become able to change how you communicate to suit the other person

In other words, your experience doesn't end with just "having done it," but becomes usable assets.

As this Can increases, the way you see your work changes.

Even for things you previously felt were "difficult," you start to think,
"This isn't completely new to me,"
or "I think I can use my past experience here."

I feel that confidence is often born not just from spirit or grit, but from
this accumulation of Cans.

When you repurpose your Cans, your Will starts to take shape

This is where "Will" finally comes into play.

And it doesn't necessarily appear as grand words from the start.

• I could probably use this in other situations too

• I want to improve this issue from a more fundamental level

• I might be able to perform better when I'm in this kind of role

These feelings gradually accumulate, and
when you look back later, you can see, 'Oh, maybe this was my Will all along.'

In my experience, Will is not so much a 'sudden flash of inspiration,' but rather
a feeling of wanting to apply the Can you gained while doing Must to other areas as well is closer to it.

So, it's okay if your Will isn't clearly visible from the start.
In fact, I think it's sometimes more natural that way.

Example 1: Career support didn't start with a Will either

I currently share information and apply career support in my practical work,
but it wasn't like I clearly saw from the beginning, 'I want to do career support!'

Rather, it started by facing the Must right in front of me while engaged in recruitment work.

For example,

• Organizing the job seeker's situation

• Putting anxieties and uncertainties into words

• Thinking about interactions that lead to the next action

• Sharing information among staff to improve the accuracy of support

While facing these practical tasks,
I started to feel, 'I want to interact in a better way,'
and 'I want to handle this situation with reproducibility rather than just intuition,'
which led me to learn in order to expand my Can.

In that process, I learned, used, and tested career consulting qualifications and skills in the field.
Then, little by little, the dots started to connect,
and the outline of my Will became visible: 'Perhaps I am strongly interested in supporting people by putting their careers into words and helping them move forward.'

From there, as I articulated it and made choices,
the resolution of my Will for 'career support' increased.

In other words, rather than the Will existing first,
it's the feeling that the Will became visible as a result of facing Must and increasing my Can.

Example 2: Developmental support also started from Must and became a Will

This was the same in the field of developmental support.

While facing the children, I encounter various challenges every day.

• How can I communicate this so it gets across?

• Where are they getting stuck?

• Is my current approach right for them?

• Is this response lowering their sense of self-efficacy?

Just "trying your best" isn't enough;
you need to consider the quality of support and more precise responses.

In that process, while facing my Must (the role I needed to fulfill), I increased my Can one by one.

Knowledge and experience that were initially just dots
connected as I tested them in the field, reflected, and learned more.

It felt like the dots connected to form lines,
and the lines gradually became a surface,
and looking back, my Will began to emerge.

And in that process, while I became fascinated by the depth of the field of "development" itself,
the presence of parents and children struggling right in front of me kept my interest from ending as mere curiosity,
and I think it helped grow it into a major theme for me.

So, it's okay if you don't have a "grand Will" at the start.

Since I started thinking in this order, I've felt a bit more at ease.

Instead of panicking that you "have to clarify what you want to do right now,"
first face the Must in front of you and increase your Can.

Then, while looking at your increased Can,
think about "where you want to apply it next."

Then, Will isn't something you have to force out,
but something that grows as an extension of your actions as it comes into view.

A period without a Will isn't a period of stagnation;
it might actually be a period of building the foundation for your Will.

Three things I keep in mind when putting this into practice:

1. Put the Must in front of you into words

Instead of just ending with "I'm busy," try to put your current Must into words.

• What is being asked of me?

• At what point does this become valuable?

• Who is this work for?

Just by seeing this, your approach will change.

2. Leave behind one thing that can be repurposed each time

Don't just finish a task and walk away.

• Procedures

• Workflow patterns

• Checklists

• Decision criteria

• Learning notes

• Specific examples of how to reach out

Anything is fine, just leave it in a form that can be used next time.
This becomes the accumulation of your Can.

3. Will doesn't have to be fixed; it's okay to update it

I don't think Will is something that, once decided, must never be changed.

As your Can increases, the scenery you see changes too.
You might find yourself drawn to things you weren't interested in before, or conversely, realize that something wasn't right for you.

That's why it's just right to treat Will not as something you declare and finish with, but as something you
nurture and update.

Conclusion

Sometimes it feels exhausting when people tell you to "have a Will."
But it's not that you can't move forward just because you don't have a Will.

First, do your Musts carefully.
Increase your Can while doing so.
As you repurpose the Can you've gained, your Will begins to take shape.

For me, both in career support and developmental support, the outline has gradually become visible through this flow.

Rather than rushing to create a Will that looks like the correct answer, focus properly on the person or work right in front of you.

I feel that when you look back later, that accumulation will
create your own Will in the most natural way possible.

If you are currently feeling anxious because you cannot define your Will, I would like you to first try doing your current Musts carefully without blaming yourself.

That accumulation will properly lead to your future Will.