More Career Watch Blogs
- Choosing Careers ...when you have more than one interest
- Career: Radio Show Host
- Career Watch: Being a Life Coach
- Career Watch: Wedding Planner
- Deciding Your Career
- Career Watch - Life of an Art Director
- Career Watch - The Life of a Copy Writer
- Career Watch - Personal Trainer
- Career Watch - Construction Manager
- Career Watch - Stylist
January 2008 Blogs
- Real Girl - Isabella
- Global Warming and Our Planet
- What Did They Say?
- BROTHERS: why do some bully?
- Teen Stuff - Ultimate New Yeary's Party
- Zzzzzzzzzz... good night = good morning
- Snowboarding
- Boys! - Top 10
- Tuareg: The Blue People
- Cathy's Book, by Jordan Weisman and Sean Stewart
- Deciding Your Career
- Goddess of the Month - SOL
Deciding Your Career
CAREER WATCH, January 2008, by Jenifer Merifield
Deciding Your Career
Try This Exercise
How often do you hear: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Do you know or does that seem so far away that you haven’t given it serious thought? Some people will tell you what they think you “should” be... a doctor, a lawyer or maybe a teacher. Although those are great careers and perfect for some people, they may not be for you.
There are literally THOUSANDS of possible career choices, and they are all needed in this world for some reason or another.
When you think about what you want to do, day in and day out, for the rest of your life (or at least for your first career - it’s not uncommon to have several different ones these days) do you think about what you “should” be because someone said so? Do you think about what will make you the most money? Maybe you think about how many years of post-secondary education you will have to endure to get your qualifications.
What if the only thing that mattered was that you LOVED what you did every day? Would that change your mind in any way?
Imagine a world where people jumped out of bed in the morning, excited and happy about going to their jobs, eager to get started. Do you know anyone like that?
There is a saying that goes: “follow your passion and the money will come.” Now that doesn’t mean you don’t have to work at it and make smart choices. It’s not like you can say “my passion is watching TV on the couch” and then lie around and expect to get a cheque in the mail! But if watching TV is your passion, think creatively... maybe there is a career for you in the film industry or maybe you could open your own Movie Theatre chain!
Follow your heart. Everyone has special gifts. It may not be obvious to you yet, but if you think outside of the box and ask lots of questions, you will find your dream career and spend the working years of your life jumping out of bed every morning saying: “wooohoooo! This is going to be another GREAT DAY!”
Do the following exercise to get a head-start on coming up with ideas for your dream career. Don’t stop there... do some research; google things you like to do, ask people what they know, dream up your ideal career!
1. Write a list of all the things you LOVE to do (sports, social activities, school subjects, hobbies, holidays, events, etc.)
2. For each item in list 1, write down all the jobs or careers you can think of that would be needed for you to be able to participate in those activities. For example, if I loved gym class, some related careers could be coaching, sports event planning, fashion designer for gym clothing, retailer who sells sports equipment, equipment manufacturer, architect for sports facilities, and so on.
3. Make a list of all the people you know who have careers you would love to have or could answer questions about ones you love.
4. Talk to them! Interview them with questions about what it takes to get into that career, what they love about it, how they got started, how much money they make, what they would do to make it even better, and anything else you can think of.
5. Imagine yourself in your dream job, making all the money you need, being happy every day, doing what you love to do.
6. Make it happen: work hard and never give up on your dreams!
~Jenifer