Your career does not exist independently from the rest of your life. Many factors influence what careers we pursue, why we pursue them, and how successful we are (and how we even define success). The Chaos Theory of Careers, a framework developed by Robert Pryor and Jim Bright, encourages you to reflect on how our families, community, faith and spirituality, environment, and values, among other things, impact our career decisions. You have experience thinking about careers and what your career should look like. You also have family, friends, or colleagues who have changed career paths. Think about how you have been influenced by the people around you and your environment as you have made career and academic decisions. Below are questions to prompt your reflection as to how these different factors have influenced your career, no matter where you find yourself thus far: -What messages (either explicit or implicit) have the people in your life shared about careers, and what is considered 'good' or 'bad'? - Share an example of someone in your life (yourself or someone you know) who has changed careers or gotten a job. How did they learn about the opportunity? What was hard or easy about the transition? - Which elements from those listed above (families, community, faith, spirituality, environment, and values) have impacted your career and academic journey thus far? Why and how