I’m not going to sugarcoat it, finding career direction is difficult. Knowing what to aim for is often harder than knowing the steps to take to get there. There are so many ways to make a living, and so many great jobs in sport, but the paradox of choice often leads to overwhelm.

So, if you don’t know what to do with your career, here are two mantras to find a dream job that will make it almost impossible not to excel, and keep you far away from a soul-crushing 9-5:

Let’s dive in.

1. Follow your curiosity

2. Say ‘yes’ until you can start saying ‘no’.

What happens if I follow my curiosity?

If you look at all the ‘greats’ in any industry, one thing they share in common is they deeply enjoy what they do every day. Their success comes from the enjoyment of solving the types of challenges they like to solve. These people who love what they do continue to think about what they do all the time. All the greats are obsessed.

When you become obsessed, and you can’t stop thinking about the thing you love to do after 5 pm and on weekends… nobody can compete with you.

This is why Steve Smith is the greatest batsman in the world cricket. Nobody thinks more about cricket than him. There is literally no extra time in the day for others to catch up. When you find the thing you love to do, nobody can compete with you.

What happens if I don’t follow my curiosity?

On the flip side, if you pursue things you think you should do, but don’t really care about, you’re going to stop working, thinking and problem-solving the second you’re told you can.

For example, if you think you want to be a Player Agent because you like the idea of working closely with athletes but then once you’re in the job you realise you can’t wait for the clock to hit 5 pm, you’re never going to be able to compete with the Player Agent who loves to find the next sponsorship deal, who loves finding the next big talent, who loves helping the individual with their personal development, because their mind doesn’t want to switch off. You can’t compete with people who love what they do.

If you want long-term career success, pursue the things you’re genuinely curious about.

How curiosity helped a Grad win the Super Bowl

Armaan Ahluwalia is now the Director of Global Partnerships Business Operations & Insights at BSE Global which operate the Brooklyn Nets. When Armaan was in the early stages of his career, following his genuine curiosity led him down the path of Business Analytics.

“[I’ve] always been really curious about how to solve big problems… I love thinking about the way sport influences business”

As a fresh grad, because Armaan was genuinely curious about analytics…

He read blogs while others scrolled Instagram.

He took additional courses while others were at the pub.

He started his own projects while others chilled on the weekend.

He met with analytics professionals while others kept to themselves.

He spent his nights learning analysis techniques while others watched Netflix.

This is why Armaan rapidly climbed from MBA (Sports Business) Graduate to Intern, to Coordinator, to Manager to Senior Manager, to Director in 8 years across two of the biggest NFL and NBA teams. He even became a Super Bowl winning Business Analyst during his time at the Kansas City Chiefs.

Because Armaan hustled early, he found his pocket of the sports industry quickly, which put his career on a sharp trajectory… This means he can now happily scroll Instagram, go to the pub, watch Netflix and more, knowing his career is under control.

How to find the work that feels like play to you

Armaan has found the thing that feels like play to him but looks like work to others. Here’s how you can to:

1. Follow your curiosity

Here’s Armaan on what it looks like in practice:

“When you’re trying to pick the direction to take your career… lookout for times when you see something and think “I wonder how they did that”. Because if you want to know how a specific problem was solved, you’re more likely going to enjoy solving it yourself.

So look out for those cues that your brain is telling you, as opposed to what you think the ‘glitzy’ job you think you want is.”

2. Say yes until you can start saying no

Say yes to volunteer roles, casual positions, and coffees with people, even if you’re not sure how they can help. Eventually, you’ll fill out your calendar with opportunities to collect data on what you like and what you don’t like. Once you are maxed out, remove the things you don’t like and do more of the things you do like.

For example, I tried being a Chef, a Personal Trainer, a Game Development Officer, a Social Media Manager, and a Commercial Partnerships Specialist before I realised I like being an entrepreneurial Career Coach and Podcaster.

When you finally arrive at the thing you’ll happily spend your weekends thinking about, that’s when your results take off exponentially.

How do I find my ‘thing’ but quickly?

The more data you have, the more informed your career decisions are, and the more people you know, the luckier you become. Here are some steps that will guide you down the right path with fewer U-turns, less money wasted on unused education, and less sunk cost investing time in the wrong places. 1 step in the right direction is closer to your goal than 1000 in the wrong direction.

1. Steer yourself in the right direction by asking better questions

The quality of your questions determines the quality of your career. One I love is: ‘If it were impossible to fail, what would I do with my life?’ Another: ‘If I could do this job anywhere in the world, where would it be?’ or ‘What do I spend my spare time doing that someone might pay me to do?’ Think deeply and avoid shallow questions like ‘What job is going to get me closest to professional athletes?’ Serious thought gets serious results.

2. Collect more data by learning from experts

Podcasts are free Universities. We created the SportsGrad Podcast to give people as much information as possible about the sports industry. We’ve done over 240+ episodes roughly 45 minutes each. If you listen to one a day, in 8 months you’ll know 100x more about the sports industry than the average person who just wants a job in sport because they’re “passionate”.

3. Increase your surface area for luck by meeting more people

Networking increases your surface area for luck. That’s why we created the SportsGrad Community where over 550+ Members are at your fingertips. When Lachlan Croft met Nathan Perrone on a Community Speed Networking night, Lach didn’t know that there was an opportunity to work at the AFL until he got paired with Nathan. 3 weeks later, the AFL hired him, meanwhile, his friends were dumbfounded at how he joined the largest sports organisation in Australia. The more people you meet, the more you learn, the more opportunities you become aware of, and the faster you understand what direction to take your career.

Finding a job you absolutely love is difficult. Most people never get there. Most are not prepared to go down the mountain to find a new path to get to the top. But if you’re bold enough to take on that challenge and avoid the temptation of any ordinary well-paid job, I applaud you.

Getting there is a combination of data collection and knowing what to do with the data you collect. Following your curiosity will help you collect better data. The information is all out there, it’s up to you how quickly you want to collect and synthesise it. And if you ever need a hand to get there, SportsGrad is always here to help you speed up the process.

You can’t compete with people who love what they do.

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