2. Let’s Talk About Your Future Career!

3. Today’s Topic: Thinking about “How”
Today’s Plan:
Refresher on the second step in the Golden Circle – the “How”
Your parent’s “How”
Famous “Hows”
The “How” of an Olympic Gold Medallist
Your “How”

4. The Golden Circle What How Why
You have probably been asked about WHAT you want to be when you get older. Most students spend quite a lot of time thinking about this in their final years of school.
How
Some students know HOW they’re going to get there. Maybe you already have plans to go to university, do an apprenticeship or start working straight out of school.
- After contemplating the “why”, the next step is to start thinking about the “how”. Students will be encouraged to think about how they are going to go about following a career path that fulfils their reasons behind why they want a career in the first place.
Why
Very few students spend much time thinking about WHY they want to do what they want to do. WHY is not about making money; that’s a result. WHY is a purpose, cause or belief. It’s the reason that you’re passionate about your career choice.

5. Your Parent’s “How”
How did your mum and/or dad get to where they are in their career today?
Ask students about what their parents do and then ask them to explain how they got there.
Highlight that there are many, many paths that can be taken to achieve ones career goals.

6. Some take more direct path than others
Try and match each “how” to a famous face
Studied law at university
Left their job and travelled to India to seek spiritual enlightenment
Opened a record shop (after dropping out of high school)
Moved overseas at 14 to pursue their career full time
Studied electrical
engineering at university
Explain to the students who each of these people are if they’re unsure: Steve Jobs (founder of Apple), Richard Branson (founder or Virgin), Torah Bright (Australian Olympic snowboarder), Rowan Atkinson (Actor - a.k.a Mr Bean), Julia Gillard.
This slide highlights that some people have more direct career paths than others. The earlier students start along a career path that fulfils their “why’s”, that motivates them, that they’re passionate about, the less time and resources they’ll have to spend following an unfulfilling career path.
- Emphasise that there is no set path that will be put in front of the students to get them to where they want to go with their careers. Many students will likely be unsure about what they want to be and those that are sure may well change their mind at some point in the future. Reassure them that this is ok. If they take career steps that aren’t necessarily aimed at reaching a career role or title but that move them toward fulfilling their “why’s”, toward a field of expertise or endeavour that they’re passionate about, then they’re on the right track.

7. How an Olympic gold medallist did it
Simon Fairweather
9 years of waking up at 5am
Running 5km per day
Lifting 65 pounds up and back 600 times a day every day for 9 years
Never drinking alcohol or eating chocolate
And much more...
These are the things YOU need to do if you want to succeed!
...Just kidding. Those are his “how’s”. What are yours?

8. Your “How”
How could you go about working toward a career that fulfils your “Why’s”?
First, brainstorm examples as a class
Then, think about your “how” individually
There may be many different paths you could take – explore all possibilities before ruling anything out!
First, ask one or two students to share a couple of the “why” statements that they listed in the previous lesson, then as a class, brainstorm how they could go about achieving a successful career that fulfils each “why”. Encourage students to be creative, think outside the box and suggest possibilities even if they seem unconventional or unrealistic. By taking this approach students may consider a method for pursuing their career that they hadn’t previously considered.
Ask students to then think back to their own “Why’s” which they listed in the previous lesson and ask them to list as many ways as they can think of as to how they think they could go about achieving a successful career that fulfils these “Why’s”.
If anyone is struggling with this task, encourage them to share their “why” with the class and see whether other students can suggest any options for achieving their “why“ that are available to them that they may not have previously considered.

9. Thanks for listening and participating!
That’s all folks!
Thanks for listening and participating!