What Kind of Work Suits Me? Know Yourself, Find the Environment Where You Thrive

1. Changing jobs often may simply be who you are

When I hear "I've changed jobs several times and never stayed long," the first thing I look at is the natal Career Palace. If the Career Palace holds a star of change, such as the Tian Ji Star, or a combination like the Tai Yang Star and Tai Yin Star in the same palace, this person naturally finds it harder to stay in one place for long.

This is how they are by nature, not a flaw. People with a tendency toward change like to keep learning and keep moving. This is their essence. If they want to stay longer, what they need to look for is a work environment that lets them move, such as sales, field work, or a job that brings them into contact with different people and things.

So the real question to ask yourself is: Is my problem "I keep changing jobs, but I don't like it this way," or "I keep changing jobs, but it's hard to find one I like"?

If it's the latter, you need to work out why you don't like it. Is it the work itself? Your manager? Not getting along with your coworkers? Or are you actually very capable, and you just don't like that much pressure? Different reasons can be looked at through different palaces in the chart. (Where to look for each one is gathered at the end of this article, in "If You Have Your Chart.")

2. Doing well and enjoying it are two different things

Doing well is about the pattern of your Career Palace, which shows your capacity and ability at work.

Enjoying it is something else. For that, look at the Life Palace and the Fortune Palace. The Life Palace represents your personal values, and the Fortune Palace represents your state of mind.

If you're doing well but not enjoying it, how you choose is, in the end, a personal trade-off. But if the person were right in front of me, I would advise choosing "enjoying it" first. When someone is very capable at work but doesn't enjoy it, over time it turns into work fatigue, and the results keep getting worse.

3. Same position, different environment, different person: the Tian Tong Star in the Career Palace

People with the Tian Tong Star in the Career Palace want work to be happy, comfortable, relaxed, and simple, like a child.

You might think people like this don't stand out much at work, or aren't very driven. Not necessarily. When they find the environment comfortable, for example when they like their coworkers and the atmosphere at work, they become very proactive, because they want to work harder to keep that comfortable feeling.

But if work is just work to them, not an environment where they feel comfortable, they feel a lot of pressure. Pressure that comes out of nowhere, unexpected and sudden, changes them the most. In the same position, doing the same job, they may become completely different.

Sudden pressure is probably something nobody likes, but with different star structures, the differences in how people respond are actually very large and very clear.

4. Is this what I want, or what others expect of me?

Who doesn't want to be themselves? But sometimes other people's influence is simply stronger, and that's a different matter.

The chart can show this kind of influence through the Four Transformations. This is one way to read it, not the only option. Quan (Power) represents control and authority. When Quan comes into your Life Palace, it means that palace has a very strong influence on you, for example your parents' expectations. Ke (Fame) relates to society's expectations: wanting not to be judged by others, wanting to look like you're doing well in other people's eyes.

5. Why start with "knowing yourself" instead of "a job"

The chart can show career directions, but I tend to go back to the person's personality first. It's personality that decides what kind of work environment someone wants to be in and interact with people in.

When you know yourself first, you can work out, from the inside out: Is my current job what I want to be doing? What is it that I actually want to do? And what kind of work environment do I want?

6. What the chart can't tell you

The chart can't tell you whether your company will go under or lay people off. That depends on the boss and the core employees.

Whether your ability, education, and experience are enough for something is also a question only you can answer. From what I've seen, if you want to do it, go do it soon.

As for whether to quit, the chart can give a general reading, but why you're quitting, whether it's to study abroad, for a better opportunity, or for another reason, needs to be weighed from many angles.

What you care about can be seen through the Four Transformations, for example whether right now you care most about your state of mind, your family, or your partner. But this actually changes over time. Your true passion, I believe, is something only you know best.

What You Can Do

1. Ask yourself: Do I like changing this way? First, work out whether it's "changing and not liking it" or "not being able to find one I like."
2. Start with your Life Palace to understand your personality. The Life Palace represents your values and your essence, and it also affects the other palaces. Being clear about what you're like matters most.
3. Layer your personality onto your Career Palace. The Career Palace is the main focus of your life. It may be work, or it may be caring for your family or studying. From here, work out what kind of things suit you. For example, if your Career Palace holds the Zi Wei Star with the Qi Sha Star, it means you want to charge ahead and break through. This is who you want to become.
4. To look deeper, check your decade cycles. A decade cycle is the change that comes every ten years. Through these changes, you gradually come closer to what your natal chart shows, and you can also see roughly how your path at work unfolds over your life.

Finally, have a little more confidence in your choices. Even if you change jobs a few more times, that's fine. Some people need to change this many times to find out who they are. If you want to shorten that distance, the chart can help, but following your heart matters more.

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