Hope, community and the planet

My Christmas message at the end of last year was about creating hope and joy in a world that is uncertain, in a state of constant change, interconnected and interdependent. For me, hope is not a wishy-washy thing, staring off into the sunset dreaming of what could be. It’s a living and breathing, doing pragmatic thing - something I do every day, otherwise I would not be a career practitioner, walking alongside my clients to change their lives!

Last year, I did some training on a career practice tool for young people called CareerPlanet. This is no ordinary tool based on an egocentric view of the world. What’s unique about its approach is that it balances individual agency with development of a purpose that has a collective impact on the wellbeing of the community and planet. It involves identifying personality strengths, career skills, career motivators, career interests, enjoyed experiences and aligns those to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It considers what difference young people would like to make in a world that needs them. How cool is that?!

Young people say that the impact it has is that it creates a sense of purpose and hope for the future through identifying the contribution they would like to make in their whānau, community and world. Through identifying their purpose, young people can more easily identify what they want to pursue in terms of ‘career constellations’ (or fields of career interest) and how to get there.

I know that a version for adults is in the making and in my view, bring it on! We could all use a hope filled pragmatic approach that will not only make a difference in our lives, but to our families and our community. Woohoo! Welcome to 2025!