Fortnightly Review – Why do we choose our Job?
Why do we choose our jobs? How does it even happen, do you feel like it was by accident or are you unsure how you landed in the industry or job that you are in? Looking back through history, typically people didn’t get to choose a line of work, they did what their parents did! Today, the world of work has broadened, there are so many jobs to choose from and most likely the jobs that will exist in 10 years’ time, do not even exist today! How can we navigate career decisions in today’s fast paced world?
If you are not intentionally carving out your career and taking deliberate steps to get to where you want to go, you are simply letting life happen to you. Knowing who you are and what you stand for will allow you to take control of your life and you simply won’t settle until you are in a job that speaks to you, that allows you to shine and show up authentically. This is something I am particularly passionate about, it sounds so simple, yet so many people are in meaningless careers that offer nothing but headaches and Sunday fear!
If you are unsure what to do with your life, you may easily fall into the trap of following the crowd, your decisions will be based purely on the people around you and what they want you to do with your life! Trust me if you are guided by external voices and are led on a path paved by others expectations of you – yes you might get the degree everyone pushed you towards and you will most likely get the job that they wanted you to have! But if you are not happy doing this job and you have invested all that time into pleasing everyone else – the next 30/40 years in that job is going to be miserable! If you do not feel fulfilled in your career, chances are you will not feel fulfilled in your life. Dread and trepidation will feature heavily, and each working day will be filled with resentment towards those who pushed you onto this path and anger towards yourself for listening!
Okay so advice time guys, I promise I am not going to harp on about finding your career through your passion, although there is truth in that! Most people do not know what their passion is so how can passion guide their career decisions? However, it is simply impossible to make a good career decision without knowing ourselves, understanding what we want, what drives us, what makes us tick, what motivates us, what makes us want to use our voice? You need to start asking yourself these sorts of question and I bet your answers will help you write your own story, one that happiness prevails in! If you don’t know what you are looking for, how on earth are you going to find it, right?
Thinking back to my own Leaving Cert year and deciding what college and what degree, I know I spent more time picking my college accommodation than I did choosing my degree! To be honest that is a huge motivation for this article, my website, my business, and my passion – helping others on their career journey! Tune out the social pressure to find out what you love – you need to know who you are before you truly know what you want to do with the rest of your life. You are mistaking if you think you can immerse yourself in a career for 40 hours a week that you hate, it will affect every part of your life!
Don’t be afraid to try on many different versions of your passion, you need to figure out who you are before deciding about who you want to be! Ask yourself “What am I good at – what do I do, that I know I am good at, what do people tell me I am good at – what is the same thing that people ask me for advice on again and again?” If you pay attention, you will find you! When you’re doing something in your career each and everyday that makes your heart dance, that has purpose and gives meaning to your life, it will positively impact you as a person and it is a recipe for a life well lived!
Do you need help updating and managing your CV or preparing for an interview, check out our website WWW.TOWHOMTHISMAYCONCERN.COM
We offer online career focused workshops to help you get interview and CV ready. The advice shared through these workshops is knowledge you can take with you throughout your career.