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Forge Course Day 3: Find Your 3Cs
This brand-building approach can help you ignite your purpose at work
This is day three of a five-day course on finding what you’re meant to do. Read our introduction post, day one, and day two.
Today, we’re identifying the skills and tools in your arsenal that you can eventually apply to the job you’re meant to do. You’re laying the foundation for the big questions you’ll answer by the end of the course: What do I want to do? Who do I want to do it for? Why am I the one to do it?
Taking inventory of your professional assets and achievements is like searching for a favorite sweater buried at the bottom of your closet. Once you find it, you dust it off, appreciate how it makes you feel when you wear it, and wonder how you got so caught up in shiny new trends when the things you love have always been right here.
The 3C Self-Discovery is an approach I’ve designed to build brands, but it can just as effectively help you figure out how to activate your purpose at work or shake up your career. Your 3Cs are your company (you), your customer (your client or boss), and your competition (your peers or co-workers).
This exercise is about more than pulling out your résumé and scanning the last few jobs you’ve held — rather, it’s an examination of your entire career, including the skills and expertise that brought you to where you are now and any unexplored opportunities worth pursuing.
Today’s worksheets will provide guidance and structure. When filling them out, be honest with yourself. Don’t write what you think you should do. Explore without expectation. Be open to surprises.
The idea is to see everything in one place so that tomorrow you can revisit your past, widen your lens of perspective, form connections, and spark ideas.
Today’s exercises
Complete these worksheets, and then return to this post for more inspiration and resources.
