Bronnie Ware, a former palliative care nurse and well-known author, spent many years by the side of people nearing the end of their lives. She was curious about what people regret most when they are faced with death.

She discovered that when people look back on their lives, they often regret the same things. At the very top of the list: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

That’s why it’s so valuable to explore how you can stay true to yourself. The same applies to your career. How can you do the kind of work you truly want to do, rather than what those around you expect of you?

I would like to give you 3 tips.

Tip 1: Go back to your childhood

Children often have a strong sense of what they enjoy and what they don’t. But as they grow older, they tend to adapt more and more to the expectations of their family, school, and society as a whole.

Looking back at your childhood and reflecting on who you were as a child can help you make meaningful career choices. What truly made you happy back then? How would you describe yourself as a child? What was truly unique about you? To refresh your memory, it can be helpful to look at childhood photos and talk to family and friends who knew you when you were young.

A personal example: as a child, I loved playing “store.” I could spend hours organizing all the groceries, working the cash register, and counting coins. Now that I run my own “little business”, something that brings me a lot of joy, I can clearly see the connection to those early days.

Tip 2: Know your talents

There’s a difference between being able to do something and actually wanting to do it. You can be very good at something without enjoying it. At Dynamisch Bureau, we believe that true motivation only comes from work that aligns with your natural strengths, inner drives, and talents, in other words, your true nature.

How do you find out what truly excites and energizes you? Think about things like having influence, helping others, gaining knowledge, earning money… Start by keeping track of the good moments in your life for a while , both at work and in your personal life. When did you have a great moment or a really good day that left you feeling energized and happy? Chances are, you were doing something that aligns with your inner drives, the things that truly matter to you. Do you notice a pattern over time?

If you’re finding it hard to figure this out on your own, it can be helpful to map out your drives with the help of an analysis. At Dynamisch Bureau, you can complete online questionnaires to gain more insight. During the follow-up session, a lot will become clear to you.

Tip 3: Get insight into “musts”

At the beginning of this article, I wrote about the expectations of others. But just as often, we carry expectations of ourselves — and these can just as easily pull us away from staying true to who we are. I often notice this difference in my own life: between what I truly want and what I feel I have to do. The latter is usually driven by my own expectations of myself as a mother, a friend, a career coach, an entrepreneur, and so on.

Staying true to yourself mainly means doing what you want, what gives you energy. I’m becoming more and more aware of this myself. One thing that really helps is making two lists: one of your energy boosters and one of your energy drainers. Can you either shift or eliminate some of those energy drainers from your life?

Good luck with being true to yourself in your career. With these tips it will certainly work!