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Why is it so hard to choose a Career?

Take action and gain clarity.

There are three assumptions one can make of you as you open this article.

1. You may be lost?
2. You need career guidance and well… I’m trying to dismantle the whole issue here, so sure, you can stay.
3. Lastly, you genuinely want to understand why, because you’re uncertain. Welcome, we are reunited by our collective hatred towards a singled out career dream that just does not exist.

Jokes aside, if you’re lucky (smart) enough to have thought about your goals and vision early on, things might not be as bad for you, but for the ones who’ve procrastinated and are clearly in shambles, well maybe we can answer why that happened in the first place.

I’ve listed some common reasons why students and adults alike find themselves in sticky career decisions, usually hating where they’re headed or just simply never starting.

1. “I’m interested in so many things, I don’t know how I can possibly focus on any direction.”

Well, we’re often told to try as many options early on before finding our passion in one of the “many” things…well if it were that easy, we wouldn’t be here now, would we?

Forbes stated in its article on ‘The Too-Many-Passions Problem’,

When overwhelmed with options, we often choose none.

…and that’s quite the problem. We’d rather gaze at the innumerable career avenues and never quite make it past the welcome carpet in fear of failing miserably or not liking the overhyped journey.

The quickest solution to this issue would be to follow the one thing at a time approach, believe me, it works. If you stick around for over a month and still seem to wake up wanting to do more of it, you’ve found your piece of cake. If not…well there are other options, right?

Give yourself generous amounts of time to explore, that way you will at least have tried most of the things you thought you would like and hey…there will be no room for doubt! Note: The keyword here is try. Unless you experiment, things will not become clear. Besides, forcing yourself to fit in will just make it worse. Follow your intuition when it comes to your career because you’re going to pursue it to retirement, maybe even longer. Let’s not let our jobs mould us into angry old people.

2. “I’m no good at anything. Can I get paid to survive?”

See that, that’s a toxic mindset. You can’t possibly be “not good” at anything. It’s just that you’re okay at some things and making it past that threshold requires dedication and consistency…which doesn’t necessarily come naturally, you’ve got to inculcate that mindset.

So you’ve listed the things you’d like to try this year, for various reasons they’ve made it on your top 10 suitable careers list, what’s next? Pick one, and stay fixated on it until you know for sure that’s not meant for you. Now once you do have a career vision that was just tailored to be yours, start living it. No genuinely, live it, breathe it, visualise it and work towards it. Sure you’ll be crappy in the beginning but work your way up.

Consistency really is the key here and a quick fact before you shrug this ‘ever-so-obvious’ suggestion, talent may have propelled some people to the centre stage, but hard work kept them there…just that you’ll have to start working hard early on!

3. “A choice was made. Now, how do I know it’s right?”

Well…how do you feel? Work most definitely shall feel like work and not a holiday. Don’t let the quotes fool you. There will be the highs (satisfaction), which you should definitely look out for and keep a tab on — it’ll determine if you’re down the right path — and also notice the lows (not that you’ll have to try), but also attempt to decode why it made you feel miserable. The answers lie in those two scenarios and in between the extremes lies consistency, the key to expertise and eventually career success.

By now I hope you know that money is just not it here. People have dedicated years of their lives earning money and running behind jobs that pluck them out of creative and personal freedom, all for what? You’ll see that when passion meets work, money eventually follows.

4. “Do you advise expert advice?”

Okay…now who are these so-called “experts” you’re seeking advice from? Answer that, verify if the background holds relevance to their suggestions and choose what you want to take away.

1. Ask what worked for them and how they reached their eureka moment or if they even saw it coming.
2. If they are exactly where you want to be, ask them about the positives of the work and the sacrifices; oh yes, they exist.

Choice in itself doesn’t just mean the act of picking out what stands out the most but is the act of sacrificing a million other things for the one thing that seems right to you. You’re basically choosing one path, by leaving behind a million others, so be wise.

5. “What will they say?”

May this be the last time you ask yourself or anybody that question.

1. Do these people who “say ” pay your bills? If yes, know that your decisions are based on the understanding of your abilities and not on mere trends. If you’re unsure, convey it. If you’re sure, also convey it. They can choose to respond or react, whichever they prefer. Sit back and work.
2. Do these people themselves have jobs they like? If yes, tell them you’d like to like yours too.
3. Do these people care about you or your status? If it’s about you, consider their observations, again take what you want and don’t waste time explaining. Just work on yourself.

To the above questions, if even one answer is no, don’t even bother. Just move along, there are very many things to achieve.

Well…I told you I wouldn’t be giving career advice, these are mere nudges. In the end, you will reap the benefit of your choice.

Hands-on is the need of the hour, work on things you seem to have an inclination for, toss around, spend some money all in good time, but with a set goal of figuring it out. Then wait and you’ll find your answer like the last piece of your puzzle. That’s all I have for you.

We at TCE would love to help you join hands with your career too! The future for sure is technology and if you are someone who’s had a liking towards IoT, Data Science, ROS, AI & ML or Web Dev, do check us out here!