How to Choose Your Career

One of the most pivotal, yet sometimes dreadful questions that people have to answer not only for others but to themselves also is what do they want to do with their lives. And a big element of that question revolves around the choice of career. A great aspect of the career today is its diversity. Long gone are the days when your career was limited by conventional choices. The diverse world that we live in now has opened up thousands of avenues for millions of people globally. But at the same time, too many choices can leave you perplexed. This is where we come into play. Today, let us help you realize how to choose your career.

Getting a Grip of the Reality – How to Choose a Career Path?

One of the biggest reasons for people suffering through a career meltdown is they don’t essentially plan their career path. Most people start from whatever they stumble upon. They think that one random job to another, one company to another, one promotion to another will lead to a successful career for them. Alas! The reality is much different from it. At the end of the day, frustration and failures creep in, leading to more wrong decisions, ultimately contributing to an unhealthy, depressing life.

As we stated earlier, taking some time out to question yourself will be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful career. Time management is the key to success. But, don’t worry! These aren’t some deep philosophical, spiritual questions. These are some simple, basic questions that will help you know yourself.

Assessing What You are Good at

In your quest to figure out how to choose your career, first and foremost, you need to ask yourself which subjects you are good at. Just think about which subjects you enjoyed studying in your school and college days.

Follow this up by asking yourself which subject you performed well in, where you scored the most grades in. Now remember, for some of you, this may not match with your favorite subject.

Next, try to figure out what do you enjoy most – numbers, words, visuals, computing, physical activities, art, or something else. These are the basic elements that one learns in childhood.

Assessing what you are good at and what you enjoy may bring a lot of clarity to your thought process. You may even be surprised by the results because most of us don’t take the time out separately to answer these questions.

Prepare a List of ‘Dream Careers’

‘Dream careers’ are what we call the ideal job that you would want to have. Once you have narrowed down your choices after answering the aforementioned questions, list down the career options available for you.

Write down the business sectors or areas where your skills and interests might come into handy. It is always wise to start with a big list, let’s say, ten career options because, by the end of the process, a bunch of extenuating factors in your life will eliminate various options from the list.

While going through each option, you can decipher how much they pay, what academic or vocational qualifications you might need to get into that sector, what are the steps you need to take after leaving your school and college, among others.

Short Term Goals v/s Long-Term Goals

The next step in deciding how to choose the right career is laying out your short-term and long-term goals. To put it simply, what do you want to achieve in the next few months as opposed to where do you see yourself after 5-10 years.

We advise you to create a spreadsheet-type document, wherein you can list down all the steps you need to take to achieve both your short-term and long-term goals. To make the list more practical, assign a date by which you want to achieve each of the goals.

Some goals may seem silly, but what is important here is to giving yourself a target date so that you have a clear aim in front of you.

Understanding Your Motivation

It is a known fact that no one can sustain a job without motivation. So, you need to surround yourself with a work environment that inspires and motivates you to get ahead in life. Motivation is extremely subjective and differs from person to person. What may be motivating for you, may not be for someone else.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of motivation – prevention-focused and promotion-focused.

Prevention-focused individuals are those who prefer working in a more rigid structural framework where they are focused on making sure the status quo is maintained all the time. These individuals specialize in meticulousness, planning, thoroughness, highly-analytical skills, and reliability. However, they aren’t risk-takers and game-changers and lack in fluidity.
Promotion-focused individuals are your entrepreneurs. They are great at seizing every available opportunity. Not only are they great at working quickly, but they are also known for their ability to think outside-the-box. However, they can be over-optimistic and impulsive; vulnerable to making more mistakes.

A prevention-focused individual is suited for a corporate job instead of building a start-up. They would want job security and sustainability above anything else. A promotion-focused individual, on the other hand, will likely feel claustrophobic in a 9 to 5 job and will seek a more creative environment where there are bigger risks with bigger rewards.

Answering these questions will undoubtedly clear out a lot of confusion and help you plan your career, and hence life, accordingly.

Summary

In your pursuit of finding how to choose your career, you will come across a myriad of options floating in front of you. Yes, it is true to not leave any stone unturned while paving the way towards building a successful career, but it is also important to not get too worked up wherein you will end up hyperventilating about each step you take.

To pick a career that actually fits you is anyways intimidating enough. You don’t want to make it over worse by over-analyzing every little decision; you will end up driving yourself crazy. Be wise, take this process seriously, yet also don’t forget to have fun with it. Who knows you may end up in a career path that you didn’t ever think you would get into. This is why the decision behind figuring out how to choose your career is so enticing and exhilarating. Here’s wishing you a happy career!