Helping Young People Clarify Their Personal Purpose is Foundational to Helping Them Thrive
When I start my conversations with potential clients I always start with a conversation about first helping their young person clarify their personal purpose.
Sometimes this catches parents off guard.
“But my kid just needs help with their college applications.”
“We are just looking for help with career guidance.”
“How is this going to help my kid finally move out of my house?”
Why do I insist on grounding the work in a conversation about personal purpose?
I see many, many high school students struggling with their “why?” as they start their junior and senior years. Often they are dealing with burnout, a lack of motivation, and a lack of clarity about their future but feel like they still find themselves on a conveyor belt heading to 4-year college regardless of whether it is the best fit for them. As they move along on the conveyor belt through college and into career exploration and impending adulthood these same young people start to feel lost about what they should be doing next.
Helping a young person be clear about their personal purpose (their “why?”) helps create a path forward that feels authentic, joyful and meaningful to them. When a young person is clear about what they are passionate about, their personal values, what they are good at, what brings them joy, what they are curious about and what they see as their value to others, they create a guiding “North Star” that brings great clarity to their decisions about college, majors, alternative pathways to success, career and their life of independence. These decisions no longer feel like boxes to check on a checklist of things they are “supposed to do” and instead feel like decisions full of possibility.
At What Comes Next we give young people the space, the time and the tools to clarify their personal purpose so that the decisions that support their path to adulthood make sense to them.
Reach out to us for a free consultation if you are looking to help your young person feel like there is a path forward to college, career or adulthood that feels hopeful and right for them.
