Latest / Career Coaching with Fexingo: Professional Coaches, Career Counselors, and Guidance for Workers / How a Career Purpose Map Stops You Drifting
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're a product manager at a mid-sized software company — you've been there three years, you used to love the job, but lately every morning you open a ticket queue and feel like you're just moving items from one column to another. The product roadmap feels like someone else's vision. Sound familiar? Luna: I think that describes about sixty percent of the product managers I know. Honestly, it describes a lot of people in any role where your daily work starts to feel disconnected from why you took the job. Lucas: Right. And that's the gap I want to talk about today — the space between your professional purpose and your daily task list. Most of us fill that gap with busyness or compliance. We just do the thing that's in front of us. But there's a more intentional way to bridge it, and I've been calling it a career purpose map. Luna: Before you go deep — I want to say something quick. A handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many episodes. If we've helped you think through a career move or decision, it's a small way to keep this ad-free and independent. Lucas: Yeah, it makes a real difference. And we appreciate it. So — career purpose map. It's not a vision board or a mission statement you frame above your desk. It's a working document with three layers: purpose, principles, and priorities. Luna: Okay, let's unpack that. Purpose is the top layer — the 'why' of your career. But people throw that word around a lot. How do you define it practically? Lucas: I define it as the specific professional contribution that gives you energy when you're making it, not just when you've achieved it. So it's not 'I want to be a VP by forty'. That's a goal, not a purpose. Purpose is more like 'I want to help non-technical teams adopt data-driven decision-making' or 'I want to design systems that reduce waste in healthcare'. Luna: That's more concrete. And then principles are the middle layer — what does that mean? Lucas: Principles are the non-negotiable ways you work, regardless of role or company. They're the guardrails. For example: 'I will not work on products whose primary effect is addictive engagement.' Or 'I will only take roles where I have direct access to end users.' Or 'I need at least twenty percent of my week to be unstructured thinking time.' Luna: So principles are like your personal operating system rules. They filter opportunities and shape how you do the work. Lucas: Exactly. And the third layer is priorities — the specific things you're saying yes and no to right now, this quarter, this year. Priorities change. Purpose and principles should be relatively stable. But most people only have priorities. They're reactive. The map gives you a way to check: does this priority actually serve my purpose? Does it violate any of my principles? Luna: Let's go back to the product manager example. She's feeling disconnected. What would her map look like? Lucas: Let's call her Priya. Priya's purpose might be: 'I help cross-functional teams build tools that save small businesses time.' That's her core contribution. Her principles could include: 'I need to spend at least one hour per week talking to actual customers.' 'I will not ship features that increase complexity for the user without a clear benefit.' 'I operate best when I have ownership over the prioritisation framework.' Luna: And then her priorities — right now she's been told to focus on a new reporting dashboard. That dashboard — if she looks at it through the map — maybe it does serve small businesses, but it violates the principle of not adding complexity without clear benefit. So that's useful friction. Lucas: That's the whole point. The friction is information. She can decide: either the priority is wrong, or the principle needs revisiting because circumstances have changed. But she's making that decision consciously instead of just grinding through the dashboard and feeling resentful. Luna: I can see how this stops career drift. But I want to push on something — how is this different from a values exercise? I've done those. You list 'integrity', 'collaboration', 'innovation' on a Post-it and then you forget about it. Lucas: Great question. Values are broad and abstract. 'Integrity' could mean anything. Principles are specific and testable. 'I will not ship features that increase complexity without clear benefit' — you can evaluate every feature against that. It's a decision rule, not a label. And purpose is about contribution, not just being a certain kind of person. So the map is more action-oriented. Luna: So the map is really a decision tool. When you're offered a new project, a promotion, a lateral move — you run it through the three layers. Lucas: Exactly. And it also helps when you're already in a role that's drifting. You can audit your current priorities against your purpose and principles. Maybe you discover that your purpose is still served, but the principles are being violated — like you're not getting user contact. That's fixable. You can negotiate for it. Luna: Let me give you another example from a listener who wrote in, actually. She's a marketing manager at a consumer brand. Her purpose is 'I create campaigns that make people feel seen, not sold to.' But her current priority is a high-volume acquisition funnel with aggressive targeting. That's a direct conflict. Lucas: And the map makes that conflict explicit. She can then decide: do I need to reframe the priority so it aligns with my purpose? Or is my purpose no longer accurate? People's purpose can evolve. Maybe she realises her purpose is actually 'I create campaigns that drive measurable growth' — and the 'feel seen' part was a strategy, not a purpose. That's a valuable insight too. Luna: So the map is iterative. It's not set in stone. Lucas: Right. I recommend revisiting the map every six months or after any major career change. And you should share it with a trusted colleague or mentor. Saying it out loud reveals where it's vague or aspirational. Luna: Let's talk about building one. If someone's listening and wants to create their career purpose map this week, where do they start? Lucas: Start with purpose. Ask yourself: when have I been most energised at work in the past two years? Not when I was happiest — energised. What were you doing? Who were you doing it with? What problem were you solving? Write down the common thread across three or four examples. That thread is probably close to your purpose. Luna: And if you can't find a thread? If every example is different? Lucas: That's okay. It might mean your purpose is still forming, or it's broader than you think. In that case, write down what you suspect it might be, and treat it as a hypothesis. Test it over the next three months by taking on work that fits the hypothesis and seeing if it energises you. Luna: Then principles. How do you identify your non-negotiables? Lucas: Think about times you felt frustrated or resentful at work. What was the rule that was being broken? Maybe you hated when decisions were made without data. Or when you were looped into meetings without an agenda. Each frustration points to a principle. Write it as a positive rule: 'I require data before decisions.' 'I require agendas for any meeting I attend.' Luna: And priorities — those are more straightforward. What are the top three things you're working on right now? Be honest. Lucas: Yes. And then map each priority to your purpose. Ask: does this priority, if I do it well, move me closer to my purpose? If the answer is no for two out of three, you have a structural problem — not a motivation problem. That's useful data. Luna: I think the most powerful part is catching drift early. A lot of people wake up two years into a role and wonder how they got there. The map is like a GPS that pings you when you're off route. Lucas: Exactly. And the GPS doesn't tell you to quit your job tomorrow. It might tell you to have a conversation with your manager about your principle around user contact. Or it might tell you that your purpose has shifted and it's time to start exploring. But you're making that choice intentionally, not reactively. Luna: So how often should someone actually look at this map once it's built? Lucas: Weekly at first, just to calibrate. I keep mine in a note on my phone. Every Monday morning I glance at it before I look at my calendar. If I see a week full of meetings that violate my principle about unstructured thinking time, I block out that time before the meetings fill it. It's a proactive tool. Luna: And if the map reveals that your current role fundamentally doesn't align with your purpose and principles? Then what? Lucas: Then you have a clear signal that it's time for a change — but you also have clarity on what you need. That makes the job search or the transition conversation much more focused. You're not just running away from a bad job; you're running toward a specific fit. Luna: That's the difference between a career drift and a career pivot. Drift is passive; pivot is intentional. Lucas: Exactly. And the map is the thing that makes it intentional. So I'd encourage anyone feeling that subtle pull of disconnection — not burnout, not crisis, just a quiet sense that your work doesn't quite land the way it used to — to spend thirty minutes drafting your three layers. It's a small investment that can save you months of aimless frustration. Luna: And if you do it, let us know how it goes. We love hearing what people discover. Lucas: Yeah, drop us a note. We'll be back next time with another tool to keep your career pointed where you want it to go.