The Career Path

Navigating Your Next Professional Opportunity

“The mentor is not the one who walks ahead and says, ‘Follow me.’ The mentor walks beside you and says, ‘I believe in you.’”
— Simon Sinek

I’ve been very fortunate during the course of my career to work with some outstanding young people who have gone on to build tremendous careers of their own. Over 40 assistants that came through our program eventually became head strength and conditioning coaches or directors leading programs of their own. Watching that process unfold has honestly been one of the most rewarding parts of coaching for me.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to mentor young coaches through interviews, career decisions, promotions, setbacks, failures, and major life transitions. Along the way, I’ve noticed there are certain patterns that consistently show up in people who continue to grow professionally and personally. No matter the profession — coaching, business, education, medicine, hospitality, or leadership — there are principles that apply to everybody navigating their career path.

The reality is there are really three stages to every career: the climb, impact, and legacy. Understanding where you are in that process helps bring clarity to your next decision and where your focus needs to go.

Stage One: The Climb

“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.”
— Malcolm Gladwell

The climb is where mastery begins. It is where young professionals build habits, sharpen skills, learn professionalism, and develop the discipline required to separate themselves from the average. At this stage, there is really one question that matters when evaluating your next opportunity: Where will I grow the most?

That question simplifies everything.

Early in your career, money should not drive the decision. Titles should not drive the decision. Comfort should not drive the decision. Growth should. The best career move is usually the one that stretches you the most. You want to get around great people, great systems, high standards, accountability, structure, and leadership. You want to be in an environment that forces growth and demands more from you than you currently think you are capable of giving.

Looking back now, some of the best opportunities in my own career came from environments that challenged me daily. At the time, they probably didn’t feel comfortable or balanced, but that discomfort was exactly what I needed. Growth rarely happens inside comfort.

And during this stage, I think young people need to understand something that may not be popular to say today: work-life balance is largely a myth when you are trying to become elite. If your goal is to move to the front of the line professionally, there are going to be seasons where balance is simply not realistic. There are seasons where obsession is required.

You are trying to close the gap between where you are and what you are capable of becoming. That takes time, preparation, study, repetition, sacrifice, and energy. The people who become exceptional are usually the people willing to invest more into their growth than everybody else around them.

That does not mean neglecting your family or abandoning your values. It means understanding priorities during different seasons of life. Early in the climb, there are moments where your profession requires uncommon focus and commitment if you truly want uncommon results. The climb is not supposed to feel easy. It is supposed to challenge you.

This is where you learn how to prepare, how to communicate, and how to lead yourself before you ever lead others. It is where you make mistakes, get corrected, adjust, and continue moving forward. The people who maximize the climb are the people who stay humble enough to keep learning.

Stage Two: Impact

“The leader’s role is to create the conditions for success.”
— Stanley McChrystal

Eventually, if you handle the climb the right way, opportunities begin to expand. You now find yourself in positions where your voice carries more weight, your responsibilities increase, and your decisions begin impacting the organization around you. This is where all the years spent learning, preparing, failing, adjusting, and growing begin to create real value.

This is the impact phase.

At this point, leadership becomes a major part of the equation because you are no longer responsible for only your own performance. Now you are responsible for helping other people perform at a higher level. You are involved in decision-making. You help shape standards. You influence culture. You help create direction.

And with that comes responsibility.

Can you make difficult decisions under pressure? Can you communicate clearly? Can you bring stability when things get difficult? Can you elevate the people around you? Can you create an environment where others can succeed?

That is what leadership really is.

At this stage, growth still matters, but now the growth is different. You are no longer simply growing technical knowledge. You are developing leadership skills, communication skills, emotional intelligence, decision-making ability, and organizational awareness. You are learning how to lead people, and that is an entirely different challenge.

The best leaders understand leadership is not about control or ego. It is about service. It is about creating an environment where people can thrive, improve, and perform at their highest level. Your impact will always be connected to your ability to positively influence others.

Stage Three: Legacy

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
— Greek Proverb

The final stage is legacy, and this is where the focus shifts from building yourself to building others. If you reach this stage, chances are there were people along the way who invested in you. Mentors. Coaches. Leaders. Teachers. People who challenged you, corrected you, believed in you, and helped shape your path.

Now it becomes your responsibility to do the same for others.

This stage requires humility because you have to be willing to let young people stand on your shoulders. You have to be willing to share lessons learned through both success and failure. And if we’re being honest, many of the greatest lessons came through failure. Most experienced leaders have scars. Mistakes. Missteps. Hard lessons. Difficult moments.

That experience matters because now you can help younger people avoid some of those same mistakes moving forward.

Real leadership at this stage means being comfortable watching others surpass you. That is the goal. Just like a good father wants to see his children grow beyond his own accomplishments, a great mentor wants to see the next generation rise higher than they did.

In the legacy phase, your greatest satisfaction comes from watching others carry the standard forward long after you are gone. Legacy is not what you accomplish for yourself. Legacy is what continues because you were there.

Wrap Up

No matter where you currently are in your career, a few things always matter. Seek growth over comfort. Get around great people and great systems. Stay humble enough to keep learning. Understand that leadership is earned through service, consistency, and accountability. And remember that your greatest long-term impact will almost always come through the people you help develop along the way.

Every career moves through seasons. The climb teaches you. Impact stretches you. Legacy allows you to give back.

The key is understanding where you are, embracing the responsibility of that stage, and continuing to move forward with purpose. Because in the end, the best careers are not built overnight. They are built one day, one decision, and one opportunity at a time.