A 30-minute trial run before you decide
A short guide to turning a big question about your working life into a small trial run that gives you real information.
Part of the Proa Nova free library: short guides for when something in your working life is changing, or asking to change.
This isn't a trial run to decide. It's a way to find out something you only imagine today.
For when something about your work no longer fits, or you've already started to move, and you've been turning a possibility over for weeks (another role, another field, a conversation you've been putting off, a change you want to ask for) without anything moving, because it's all still happening in your head.
You have a question that won't go away, but no decision ready.
Researching without touching reality, until the doubt weighs more than the possibility.
A half-hour trial run and a note on what turned up.
1. Pick what you want to find out
One thing, phrased as a question you can answer with facts.
"What does a normal day look like in that job?" you can check. "Should I switch?" you can't, not yet. That question asks for a verdict, and you don't have the information to give one.
Some trial runs that fit in half an hour:
- Read five real job postings for that role and note what they actually ask for.
- Message someone who already does that work and ask for a short chat.
- Look at the portfolio or public profile of someone doing something similar.
- Spend half an hour on a small sample of that work, to see how it feels.
2. Make it fit in 30 minutes
If it doesn't fit, shorten it. If it still doesn't, split the question and take the first half. Put it in your calendar with a day and a time. A trial run without a date stays an intention.
3. Decide what you're looking for
Before you start, write one line: what would have to come out of it for it to be worth your time? Any of these will do:
- an answer,
- a meeting you set up,
- an option you rule out,
- a better question than the one you started with.
Ruling something out counts. Often it's the most useful result.
4. Do it, then write three lines
When you finish, before rereading or drawing conclusions:
You don't have to decide anything from this. If it goes differently than you expected, that's information too, not a verdict on you.
Look at what unsettles you most about the possibility, and ask which part of it you could see with your own eyes this week. There's usually a small version.
After a trial run, it's hard to read what happened without embellishing it. "Reading what your trial run showed you" picks up from here.
If the question is still alive, take the Quick Map.
If you're not sure which question is worth testing first, the Quick Map gives you a first read on where you are and helps you choose where to start.
It's free, it's four questions, and it doesn't decide for you or put a label on you.
Quick Map: /en/career-transition/quick-map