Your career can help you solve one problem at a time. It benefits from having a primary focus. 

Here are some factors I have solved for, either through intuition or intention:

Learning: When I started freelancing and grew that business into an editorial studio, I wanted to learn the ropes of starting a business. 

Earning: Several clients approached me to join their business full-time, and the one I finally said yes to offered multiples of my salary. At the time, it was several months after I’d met the woman who’d become my wife, and I wanted to explore the possibility of earning more to build a future for us.

Exploring: Whether it was moving abroad to Hong Kong, or trying out a new project, I have spent years prioritizing exploration. I needed to shape my career to be more flexible during these years, which included working independently and with enough time in my schedule to try new projects (such as filming Prologue and writing Creative Doing).

There have been other factors too, such as stability, flexibility, or setting a foundation. Your life is dynamic, and you’ll want to revisit this every 6–12 months. 

Rohan Rajiv wrote a thought provoking post about this topic.