Reese Witherspoon is supposed to be proof that the “follow your dreams” directive works: She’s an Oscar-winning actress with a hit production company, a $400-million-plus net worth, and a Nashville mansion.
Yet when a young woman recently asked her for career advice, the Legally Blonde star bluntly told her to stop chasing her dreams.
Instead of the usual “Do what you love” speech, the 49-year-old Academy Award winner revealed in a new Instagram reel that she advised her (and other Gen Zers watching) to start getting brutally honest about what you’re actually good at.
“Chase your talents, not your dreams,” Witherspoon said.
Not knowing your talents is a huge red flag, Reese Witherspoon warns
In the video that has racked up over 245,000 likes and thousands of comments, Witherspoon explained that the young woman she spoke with is unhappy in her job and looking to career pivot, but when she asked, “What are your talents?” There was a long pause. And that, Witherspoon said, is a huge red flag.
“This is very, very important. You don’t chase your dreams, you chase your talents. Everybody has dreams,” Witherspoon explained. “It doesn’t mean you’re gonna be that thing. You are supposed to do what you’re talented at.”
That doesn’t mean settling—it means being strategic. Witherspoon’s advice is a reality check for the millions of unemployed Gen Z NEETs. It’s on you, she said, to work out which skills you have that align with your passions—and pay.
“It’s your job in life to figure out what your specific unique talents are and go chase them.”
How Gen Z can find their talents
As a psychologist commented on the video, plenty of people—“women especially”—struggle to see any talent in themselves at all. That’s the snag in Witherspoon’s advice: Telling Gen Z to “chase your talents” is only helpful if they can actually identify what those talents are.
Career coach Kyle Elliott tells Fortune the first step is to stop trying to do that work entirely in your own head. “Don’t feel like you need to know your talents on your own,” he says, adding that you can always tap family, friends, and colleagues. “Ask them for examples of your strengths and notice what themes emerge. You might be surprised by the talents others notice in you that you haven’t recognized in yourself.”
And you can do the same for your career. “Ask them what careers they can envision you thriving in,” Elliott adds. “It’s often easier for others to connect those dots.”
If you’re already employed, you can look at positive feedback in previous performance reviews to look for themes. Alternatively, if you’ve never worked before—or your skills don’t align with your current career—Elliott suggests looking way back to when you were a child. What did you enjoy then, that you also happened to be good at?
“Recall the natural talents others pointed out when you were younger, before you felt pressured to choose a career.”