Years ago, after earning my MBA and building a successful career in corporate America, I made a decision that puzzled almost everyone around me.

I decided to become an aerobics instructor.

The reactions came almost immediately.

“Why would you do that?”

“You have an MBA.”

“You already have a successful career.”

“Isn’t teaching aerobics beneath you?”

At the time, I understood their concern.

In the 1990s, careers were expected to follow a fairly predictable path. Success was often measured by titles, promotions, and climbing the corporate ladder. Choosing to teach aerobics after earning a graduate degree simply didn’t fit the script.

Looking back, I realize they weren’t questioning the job itself.

They were questioning my judgment.

But today, the world of work looks very different.

Layoffs. Career transitions. Burnout. Retirement. Reinvention.

More people than ever are asking difficult questions about what comes next.

The question I hear most often is:

“What job should I take?”

I believe there’s a better—and perhaps more loving—question.

“What kind of work will best support the life I’m trying to build and the person I’m becoming?”

That one question completely changed the way I evaluate opportunities.

I’ve learned that one question isn’t enough.

Before making an important career decision, I encourage people to evaluate every opportunity through six lenses. Together, they provide a more complete picture of whether a job is simply a paycheck—or whether it’s helping you build the life you’re meant to live.

Six Questions Worth Asking Before Your Next Career Move – Click here to listen on YouTube. 

Position

Don’t begin by asking whether the title sounds impressive.

Ask where this opportunity positions you to grow.

Some jobs are destinations.

Others are bridges.

The right opportunity may strengthen your confidence, develop new skills, expand your network, restore your health, or prepare you for a future you cannot yet see.

Sometimes the position you need today isn’t the position you want forever. Sometimes it’s the position that makes tomorrow possible.

Ask yourself:

What will this position make possible in my life that isn’t possible today?

Perception

One of the hardest parts of making an unconventional decision is managing other people’s opinions.

People are entitled to their perception.

They are not entitled to define your purpose.

Their perception belongs to them.

Your purpose belongs to you.

If you’re constantly making decisions to satisfy someone else’s expectations, you’ll eventually lose sight of your own.

The people around you may never fully understand your decision, and that’s okay. They aren’t living your life.

Ask yourself:

Am I making this decision based on my values or someone else’s expectations?

Pressure

Let’s call a thing a thing.

Adult peer pressure is real.

It doesn’t sound like it did when we were teenagers.

Instead, it whispers,

“You’re overqualified.”

“People will think you’re settling.”

“You worked too hard for your degree to do that.”

Those voices are powerful because they appeal to our desire to be respected and admired.

Here’s the question I ask myself whenever I feel that tension:

Would I still choose this opportunity if no one else ever knew I accepted it?

Sit with that question for a moment.

Because once we recognize peer pressure for what it is, it begins to lose its power.

We stop making decisions to impress people and start making decisions that genuinely support the life we’re trying to build.

Ask yourself:

Am I choosing this opportunity because it’s right for me, or because I’m hoping someone else will approve of it?

Money matters.

It provides choices, stability, and opportunities.

But it shouldn’t be the only way we evaluate work.

Today, before asking, “How much does this job pay?” I ask another question.

“How is this opportunity paying me?”

Is it increasing my confidence?

Expanding my leadership?

Teaching me something new?

Introducing me to people who will shape my future?

Restoring my joy?

Strengthening my character?

Sometimes the greatest return on an opportunity isn’t found in the paycheck.

It’s found in the person you’re becoming.

Ask yourself:

What am I earning here beyond money?

Preparation

For years, I thought becoming an aerobics instructor was simply a side job.

Looking back, I realize it was preparation.

At the time, I thought I was teaching aerobics.

Looking back, I realize God was teaching me.

Every class strengthened abilities I would later use as a speaker, coach, author, minister, and leader.

I was learning how to read a room.

How to communicate with energy.

How to encourage people from different backgrounds.

How to help people believe they could do more than they thought possible.

What looked like an unconventional decision became preparation for opportunities I couldn’t yet imagine.

Sometimes the opportunity that doesn’t make sense today is quietly preparing you for tomorrow.

Ask yourself:

How might this opportunity be preparing me for something I cannot yet see?

Permission

This may be the most important question of all.

Does this opportunity give me permission to become more fully myself?

Teaching aerobics gave me permission to express parts of myself that had been quietly waiting to emerge.

It gave me permission to lead.

To encourage.

To create.

To laugh.

To connect.

To discover gifts that couldn’t fully develop inside my corporate role alone.

I wasn’t becoming someone different.

I was becoming someone more complete.

The right work doesn’t simply provide a paycheck.

Sometimes it gives you permission to become a more complete person and fully express who you already are.

Ask yourself:

Will this opportunity allow me to become more fully myself?

Closing Reflection

Looking back, becoming an aerobics instructor wasn’t beneath me.

It met a need during that season of my life.

It also prepared me for opportunities I never could have predicted.

What looked like an unconventional decision became one of the most important investments in my future.

The right opportunity doesn’t simply help you earn a living.

Sometimes it helps you build a life.

Sometimes it helps you become the person you were created to be.

If you’re standing at a career crossroads today, I hope you’ll give yourself permission to ask better questions before making your next decision.

The answers may change far more than your career.

They may change your life.

If Want To Continue the Conversation…

Share this article with someone navigating a career transition. You never know who may need a new way to think about their next step.

Listen to this week’s podcast, where I share the full story behind one of the most unconventional decisions I ever made—and why I’d make it again. Click here.

If you’re navigating a career transition, retirement, or reinvention, I’ve opened a limited number of VIP coaching sessions this month. I’d be honored to help you think through your next chapter.

My friend, remember, don’t choose your next opportunity because it looks impressive.

Choose it because it faithfully supports the life you’re building and the person you’re becoming.

And most of all…

Keep growing.

Keep trusting.

Keep becoming.

Dare to soar higher, because the best is still yet to come.

Blessings,

SharRon

Benediction

May you have the courage to choose work that aligns with your values instead of someone else’s expectations.

May you recognize opportunities that prepare you, even when they don’t impress everyone around you.

May you trust that meaningful work often grows quietly before the world recognizes its value.

May you become an even greater advocate for the life you’ve been entrusted to live.

And may you never forget that the goal is not simply to find another job.

The goal is to become the person you were always created to be.