Career, my first love!

"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life."

- Confucius

We all have dreams, of what we must become in the future. When we were young, most of us wanted to be doctors or teachers and well, even rock stars. But as we grow our ambitions also change. When we dig deep and think the main reason for this shift, most probably the reason would be influence. As we grow we take to people and things based on the social circle we belong to.

When we seriously analyse this issue it has 2 facets:

• Herd mentality
• Living up to dad’s dream

Let us look into both the causes. The reasons are very common and often spoke of but rarely has anyone applied thought into it. Herd mentality is inevitable side effect of being a Social Animal. When there is a crowd in a restaurant we tend to assume that the food they offer is delicious. But the reason might as well be poor operations in the restaurant. We believe that if there are many people following something then it must be good. Well this is not always true in most cases. The same follow the crowd idea is followed in education as well. As human beings we tend to compare ourself with others and use our peers as anchors to measure our growth. In this process of running behind the crowd we lose happiness. All we dream of is being ahead, the sad fact is that the race is on a circular track and all those who are competing are just going around in circles.

Career decision is as important and at times more important than deciding on whom to wed. For in marriage we have an option of divorce but not in a career. So quit the herd mentality, go into a process of self-discovery. One must dig deep within oneself to find true love; this love will take the one who finds to great heights. The advantage of taking a profession one truly loves is, the outcome of any work will be immaterial the whole process by itself will be enchanting and satisfying. This is where intrinsic rewards come in. A man who is bad at a job he loves will be happier than a man who is the best at the job he hates.

The next big problem is making a bold career choice is influence of parents. India is a country that is strongly rooted in its family system. Children are connected to their parents irrespective of whether they are 5 or 50. This has a bad side. Parents pray and push their children to become something they are not. All children are gifted, not all can or should become lawyers, doctors and engineers. Based on one’s liking and skills profession must be chosen. Children must not try to live the life of their parents dream. We have only one life and we must follow our dream and chase it tirelessly.

Now having realized two main draw backs we have forgotten a main issue. So do all of us know what exactly our dream job is? Well sadly most of us do not have a clue of what we want. But that is ok we can learn. It’s never too late to start.

So for all those who feel that they are not happy with their career choices or those young minds’ who are pondering on what I want to be when I grow up all that I have for you are these 3 golden steps to well, I wouldn’t say success but HAPPINESS(This is a guarantee).

So here they are:

1.       Find out what you truly love.

2.       Acquire all that it takes to pursue that dream.

3.       Finally, enjoy running behind your true love, relish each success and failure.

For all those who need help in this process of self-discovery here are a few suggested readings:

—  “To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love”: by Marsha Sinetar

—  “Discover Your Passion : An Intuitive Search to Find Your Purpose in Life” Gail A. Cassidy

—  “Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Though the Secrets of Personality Type” by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron

—  “The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success” by Nicholas Lore

—  “What Colour is your Parachute?” by Richard N. Bolles

—  “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really want” Barbara Sher

—  “I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This”: by Julie Jansen

—  “Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood” by Marsha Sinatra

—  “How to Find the Work You Love” by Laurence G. Boldt