Why are people searching for career clarity everywhere except their own past experiences?

Here's how I navigated 10 years of non-linear moves.

I studied engineering by default but I knew early on it wasn’t for me. I also wanted to explore business. I’ve experimented with different companies/startups, tried different paths, felt the pressure to make it all make sense. I’ve had days where I felt like I was behind in life, doubting my value, wondering if I’d ever figure it out.

If that’s where you are right now, please hear this:

The best way to overcome career confusion is to treat it as a data problem. You have to look within your past experiences to understand better what you want to do next. They are actually clues. What helped me most was stepping back a bit from doing too much research and trying to to understand myself better. Here’s the simple framework I followed:

1. Reflection: Write or talk out loud about your past experiences. What energized you? What drained you? What did you avoid? Just open you voice recorder app on your phone and do a braindump and then analyze.
2. Discovery: Look for patterns. What values or themes keep showing up? What did you really liked vs hated in your past roles? What types of work or people spark your curiosity? You don’t need to commit at this point, you're just exploring...be extra curious!! I realized I really like being close to stakeholders/users and translating business to tech and I hated not seeing the direct impact of my work or giving recommendations without being involved in the end solution (this is what led me to consider product management).
3. Action: Run small experiments, reach out to someone in a new field, take a short and free online course, attend an event in your desired industry or even shadow a friend. One experiment leads to the next.

This loop gave me back a sense of control. I didn't get instant answers, but every step gave me a bit more clarity. It allowed me to move from engineering -> business analysis -> tech consulting -> product -> startups -> independent tech consulting

I think a big mistake people do when they want to pivot is to choose a random career and then trying to fit in. When you treat career confusion as a data problem, you see patterns emerging and understand better your interests and transferable skills before jumping into career paths.

You already have all the data in your resume. You just need to take some time and digest all that info. Hope this helps!