Over the past year, through conversations with early-career consultants and as a former Crew consultant myself, I’ve observed that many of us are highly motivated, goal-driven professionals with big aspirations. Consulting offers great opportunities for rapid career advancement, but when you’re on a project that doesn’t seem aligned with your ultimate goals, it can feel like you’re climbing the wrong ladder.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to make sure every task and project fits within your broader career objectives. There’s also a lot of societal pressure to always be progressing toward long-term goals, a pressure I know I’ve felt at times.

That pressure can become even more intense when the projects you’re working on don’t directly relate to your long-term vision. For example, from the beginning of my time at Turnberry, my goal was to work in onboarding and consultant support. However, for over a year and a half, most of my work was focused on data spreadsheets, and at best, only 10% of my work aligned with my aspirations. Instead of fixating on the fact that I wasn’t immediately working toward my ultimate goals, I made a conscious effort to shift my mindset. I focused on finding ways to see how even the tasks that seemed unrelated were contributing to my career growth.

This mindset shift made an immediate difference. It boosted my satisfaction as a consultant and helped me realize that I was building the foundation for my career with every small task, even if it wasn’t part of my “ideal path.” It also made my clients happier.

I reminded myself that I was just in the first year of my career. That’s about 1/40th of the way through – just 2.5% of the journey. Even if you’re five years into your career, that’s still only 12.5% of the way through. It became clear to me that it’s perfectly fine to still be figuring out what truly excites me, what I want to do in 20 years, and what I definitely don’t want to do.

I actively sought opportunities to move closer to my goals – reworking onboarding documents, helping onboard new consultants, providing updates in stand-ups, and organizing team events. Even though these tasks still made up a small part of my daily work, they were valuable in getting me closer to my long-term objectives.

I kept asking myself key questions: If I didn’t do the “thankless tasks,” how could I provide helpful guidance to new consultants who would eventually take on those tasks? If I produced low-quality work, how would that impact my reputation when I eventually moved into a role that better aligned with my goals? And if I constantly focused on how my work didn’t seem meaningful, what kind of reputation would I build?

Ultimately, I chose to see these tasks not as obstacles but as opportunities to share my experience with future colleagues – which directly aligned with my career goals. I encourage you to do the same. If you’re stuck in tasks that feel disconnected from your growth, take a moment to reflect on how they might serve your long-term goals. Use this mindset to remind yourself each day how these experiences will help in interviews, future roles, and with future colleagues.

Lastly, these conversations are important to have with your manager, mentors, or peers. If you’re struggling to connect the dots between your current work and your ideal future role, don’t hesitate to bring it up with your manager. As a manager myself, I can assure you that we’d love to have these discussions with you!