By Lisa Rouff, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and Highlands Ability Battery Consultant

When Career Questions Become Personal

At some point in life, most people begin asking quiet but persistent questions: What am I good at? Why does this work feel so hard? Why did something I once felt drawn to leave me drained instead of fulfilled?

Our own abilities and motivations can sometimes feel mysterious. We make educated guesses—often based on perception rather than objective data. When those perceptions prove inaccurate, the consequences extend beyond practical concerns like changing jobs or fields of study. The experience can be deeply discouraging, shaking one’s confidence and trust in oneself, and making it even harder to identify a new direction. In these moments, people often feel stuck, confused, and uncertain about how to move forward.

This was the place my client Beatrice found herself before we began working together.

Recognizing Misalignment Beneath the Effort

Beatrice found me through an advertisement for my Highlands consulting services in a school newspaper. When we first met, she appeared withdrawn and discouraged. At the same time, her intelligence and articulate manner were immediately apparent. Though somewhat introverted, she possessed a quiet warmth that made her engaging.

Beatrice had a history of being an excellent student. She attended a rigorous private high school and later a highly selective Ivy League–type college, where she performed well academically. She found psychology fascinating and chose it as her major. After graduation, however, she hit a wall. Despite applying to hundreds of jobs across multiple fields, she was unable to secure a position. The prolonged search took an emotional toll. Feeling discouraged and depressed, she took a retail job to support herself, but hated doing it.

Beatrice shared that she had always envisioned herself earning an advanced degree. Because she had long been interested in both sports and psychology, she decided to pursue a graduate program in sports psychology. With optimism, she moved across the country and began the program.

From the very beginning, Beatrice sensed that she had made a mistake. Although she enjoyed the academic coursework, she absolutely hated her practicum experience, which required working directly with teams and athletes. Each day she went to her placement, she felt an increasing sense of dread. As the semester progressed, it became clear that she could not continue in a program with such negative feelings about it. Ultimately, she decided to withdraw, returning home feeling even more demoralized than when she had left. In addition, she had to deal with the practical challenges of breaking her lease and formally withdrawing from school.

Through the Highlands Ability Battery, Beatrice hoped to better understand why the sports psychology program had felt so wrong for her, and to gain insight into what might be a more suitable direction moving forward. She completed the assessment over the course of several days.

What the Highlands Ability Battery Reveals

It you aren’t familiar with the Highlands Ability Battery, it is an assessment that identifies enduring cognitive and perceptual strengths by observing how individuals perform a series of structured, time-bound tasks. Rather than relying on self-perception, which is frequently less accurate, the assessment captures patterns in how a person processes information, engages with complexity, interacts with others, and responds to different work demands.

Decades of research indicate that these core abilities remain largely consistent from adolescence forward. Tasks may include recalling visual designs, working with spatial relationships, and organizing information into meaningful order—offering objective insight into the abilities that come most naturally.

This type of data often reframes past experiences, illuminating why certain environments feel energizing while others consistently feel draining.

Replacing Self-Blame with Understanding

When I first reviewed Beatrice’s results and her bar chart—one of the ways HAB results are displayed—it became immediately clear why she would not enjoy working as a sports psychologist. Perhaps more excitingly, I could also see that she possessed strengths in areas she had not previously explored, strengths that pointed toward a much more promising and well-aligned career path.

Her HAB results confirmed that she is an introvert, which was not surprising. They also indicated that she would be better suited to working behind the scenes rather than in roles that require constant, direct interaction with others. As a sports psychologist, Beatrice would have been expected to work closely and continuously with both individuals and teams. From the outset, this aspect of the role did not align well with her natural strengths.

The results also showed that Beatrice does best in moderately paced environments, with only the occasional crisis thrown in for variety. As a psychologist myself, I can certainly tell you that psychological practice—particularly in applied settings—often involves managing frequent, unpredictable issues that arise rapidly and require continual cognitive shifts. For Beatrice, this pace would likely feel overwhelming rather than stimulating. This was another important mismatch with the demands of sports psychology.

Another notable finding was that Beatrice thinks most effectively in visual, spatial, and concrete ways. In practice, psychology rarely involves working with visual structures or tangible representations. Instead, it requires the ability to take abstract theories and concepts and quickly apply them to complex, emotionally charged situations. For Beatrice, this type of abstract, verbally driven work would not come naturally.

In combination, these factors made it clear why the sports psychology program had felt so challenging. In my professional judgment, I supported her decision to leave the program and cut her losses. I also shared how my own HAB profile differs in these areas, making me well-suited for clinical psychology but poorly suited for many other professions.

As I explained this, I could see Beatrice’s face relax, and she professed that she felt some relief in realizing she wasn’t lazy or disinterested in things, but that the requirements of the sports psychology field worked against her strengths.

Moving Forward with Clarity and a Sense of Footing

After we discussed why sports psychology was not a good fit for Beatrice’s abilities, we turned our attention to her many strengths.

One of the first things that stood out was how effective Beatrice is when working on a team with people who have different styles. She has a natural ability to translate between those styles and help others work together more smoothly. Although she is quiet, she is also a strong leader—able to communicate clearly and to sense what her teammates need in order to be successful.

Beatrice also demonstrated strong visual-spatial abilities. She is drawn to working with tangible outcomes and prefers producing something concrete and “real,” rather than operating primarily in abstract or theoretical realms. In addition, she is highly creative and artistic, both visually and musically. Collectively, these strengths suggested to me that she might enjoy a career that allowed her to express creativity, collaborate with others, and produce visible results.

When I mentioned fields such as marketing and advertising, Beatrice’s reaction was immediate. Her face lit up as she recalled enjoying her psychology of advertising course in college and wondering at the time whether that type of work might suit her. As we reviewed the profiles and career options suggested in her Career Exploration Report, she found herself drawn to roles that combined teamwork with creative problem-solving and the opportunity to produce meaningful end results.

Beatrice left our meeting with the assignment to explore several of these career paths in more depth and to reflect on how they aligned with her strengths. More importantly, she left her debrief feeling energized and reassured about her ability to succeed in the world. As a psychologist and Highlands Consultant, there are few things more gratifying than watching someone regain their footing through self-understanding.

Why Alignment Changes Everything

As part of her ongoing exploration, Beatrice is now focusing on ways to combine her interest in marketing and advertising with her long-standing interest in sports—an interest that initially drew her to sports psychology. Fields such as sports marketing and sports management would allow her to use her creative, visual, and teamwork abilities while staying connected to an area she finds meaningful.

Since she does not yet have formal training in these areas, she is currently researching graduate programs that could help her establish herself in these fields. I am excited to continue my work with Beatrice as she explores these options and uses her HAB results to discover where she is most likely to thrive.

This is one of countless examples of how the Highlands Ability Battery has helped individuals find their best fit careers.  Without taking the HAB, Beatrice would not have a true understanding of her strengths, or how she might apply them in the professional world to be successful and happy.  I can’t wait to see what direction she ultimately chooses, and I’m so glad that she will have the HAB by her side throughout her career, helping her navigate her choices with clarity and positivity.

If you’d like to learn more about the Highlands Ability Battery, please feel free to reach out with questions or to schedule a free consultation with me, where we can further discuss how the HAB can help you find your own best path.

About the Author

Dr. Lisa Rouff is a clinical psychologist and Highlands Certified Consultant with more than 30 years of experience helping individuals and families gain clarity around their natural abilities and make well-aligned educational and career decisions. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and has spent her career using assessment-based insight to support meaningful, strengths-centered planning.

Through her work with the Highlands Ability Battery, Dr. Rouff helps individuals understand how they are wired to think, learn, and work best, and how that self-knowledge can inform confident, intentional choices across life stages. She believes that deep self-awareness—grounded in objective assessment—is the foundation for fulfillment, resilience, and effective contribution.

Dr. Rouff is also the author of a recently published book,  The Calm College Method, which brings a strengths-based, reflective approach to college and career planning by helping families slow down, understand the individual first, and make decisions that align with who they truly are.

Dr. Rouff remains deeply committed to helping individuals trust their strengths, gain clarity, and move forward with purpose.

Contact Dr. Lisa Rouff- Lisa@thecollegeadmissionscollective.com – Thecollegeadmissionscollective.com.

Together, we’ll simplify the path to college success.