Choosing the Right Career
Nowadays, almost everybody wants to be a doctor, lawyer, or stockbroker. The lure of big dollars and high prestige weigh heavily on young minds. Just ask any young college freshman and they will all tell you how rich they are going to be some day.
The right career must induce a certain amount of passion from an individual. You should feel connected to it in some way. For example, sales people love to talk to people and accountants love precision. You have got to find passion.
Finding passion is easy for small children, but becomes confusing as we get older. It’s because we are so concerned about doing the right thing instead of what makes us happy. The key to finding your passion is to look at what you do when nobody is around or watching you. Sleeping doesn’t count!!
Everybody wants to make a lot of money, but the reality is that most everyone makes really close to the same amount. There are anomalies like successful lawyers and surgeons and top sales people, but these are not the norm. Most jobs are based on what it takes to barely survive in the society. And, sadly, in today’s world that is based on two incomes per household.
You must, however, temper you passion with a little reality. For example, a love of something that has very few jobs may leave you doing something entirely different after spending years getting training.
Best Approach
Calculate the supply and demand of the top careers you would consider. Then spend a fair amount of time sending out resumes to see if it’s really possible to get hired with those qualifications.
This will whittle down your list to careers that are real options. Out of these options, match your passion and life skills you have acquired. At this point, don’t focus too heavily on money. A career should support you. If it makes you wealthy, that is an added bonus. Obviously, it’s nice if you can do both.
Money can be dangerous because I can tell you there are a lot of miserable doctors and lawyers and stockbrokers who simply drop out of the field. This leaves them in a worse situation. You really need passion to work at something 60 hours every week of the year.
Typically, the happiest people are in science and technology and teaching.
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