work out: to be successful or develop in a particular way
I hope your new job works out.
work out: to have a particular result or type of result
It works out cheaper to have the books printed in India.
I am aware that "work out" also has other meanings in the Cambridge Dictionary, though these two is close to what it means in the following example.
Although I’ve never had a problem finding work (even if it was in a factory or shearing sheds), I do know what a struggle it can be to work out what you actually want to be or do, or worse, when you get so far down a certain path and then realise it’s not for you.
From "Get The Job You Love Work Book by Nicole Coggan"
However, the quotation doesn't seem to fit the example well.
To me, it seems more like the meaning of "figure out", "to understand or solve something"
... to figure out what you actually want to be or do ...
Is my understanding correct? Do they mean the same thing?
Note: I've also gone through the post work out meaning in context, which seems to make a complete list of all the meanings of "work out".
This post is just to discuss whether "figure out" and "work out" are interchangeable in this particular situation.
