Choosing a Career that Works for You

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if no one had to work for a living? No waking up early against your will, no commuting, no office politics, and no (fill in the blank) bosses breathing down your neck demanding sandwiches and coffee refills. Your days would be filled with nothing but free time to do the things you really enjoy in life. Who could ask for more?

Sure, it’s a nice daydream, but it won’t get you very far in the real world. The bottom line is that, unless you’re born into wealth, you need to make money to survive. Unfortunately, in the rush to pursue a steady income, many of us end up in jobs that are about as enjoyable as an ice pick in the eye.

Richard Nelson Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute?, the best-selling job-hunting book in the world, believes this is largely due to four factors: 1. nobody taught us how to choose a career, 2. many of us prefer to live securely as opposed to taking risks, 3. we are heavily influenced by suggestions from friends who know even less than we do, and 4. we simply don’t want to take time to figure it out.

So Where Do You Start?

Regardless of whether you’re just jumping into the working world or ready to make a career change, as with any big choice it’s wise to really think it through. “What people want is some quick and dirty answer,” says Bolles, but he warns that this doesn’t always produce the best results. To avoid falling into this trap, he offers several concrete steps toward finding the right job.

Bolles divides jobs into three basic categories: those that involve work with people, those that involve work with data and information, and those that involve work with things. “So,” he says, “first ask yourself, ‘Do I most enjoy working with people, things, or data and information?’ ” He says this often provides a clearer direction than simply brainstorming randomly on potential careers.

Next he suggests identifying people you admire. “These can be people you see in your life anywhere: at home, on television, at school, in the news.” Once you’ve identified your role models, you can then “use them as a mirror for your own wishes.” This will provide you with pertinent information about yourself that you can factor into your job and/or industry hunt.

Bolles also recommends taking personality-assessment tests. “But tests never measure you,” he qualifies, “they only measure the tribe the test inventor thinks you belong to.” So he advises using tests as a tool to provide insight, but not relying on them for final answers about anything. Tests on the Internet are a good place to start. “These are useful for those seeking inspiration. You can then eliminate those results that don’t intrigue you.” Two sites he suggests are www.self-directed-search.com and www.truecolorscareer.com.

Carol Adrienne, intuitive counselor and author of The Purpose of Your Life, a book about the role synchronicities play in finding one’s life purpose or ideal career, suggests exposing yourself to as much material as possible when trying to make a decision. “Research a field you’re interested in. Go on the Internet, read magazines, even the back of magazines. Open up to what your mind is paying attention to and talk to others about what you love to do instead about the problems you’re having.”

Also consider the skills you can offer an employer. Bolles breaks skills down into three categories: functional skills, special knowledge, and self-management skills. Functional skills are general skills that are transferable to many jobs, such as creative thinking, writing, and negotiating, for example. Special knowledge is specific skills or information you possess that others may not, such as computer programming, speaking a language, or possessing legal knowledge. Self-management skills have to do with how you conduct yourself–are you late, organized, shy, aggressive? And so on.

“If you know what your skills are, particularly your functional/transferable ones,” says Bolles, “there will probably be many fields in which you can operate. Then you let your interest dictate from there.”

Profitable Attitudes

While figuring out your career, you may have to take a job simply to make money in the meantime. It’s important to stay as positive as you can, though, particularly if your job is one you have no passion for. Bolles suggests calling this type of job a “stop-gap job.” “If you keep labeling it that way you’ll change the whole frame in which you’re operating, making it less likely you’ll become complacent.” He believes perspective is everything and suggests viewing the current job as a learning experience. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you respond to things that’s important,” he adds.

One thing that holds many people back is that they feel they have to make one choice they’ll stick to forever. “We tend to think of the choice we make about our job as something we’re going to do for rest of our life,” says Bolles. He feels a healthier and more realistic attitude entails telling yourself, ” ‘I’m going to do this for a certain term, and then reconsider.’ If people have the attitude that they’re going to have more than one career in their life–and that they can flourish in careers other than the one they’re currently in–it makes the decision much easier.”

Counselor Adrienne stresses the same point. “As far as picking a career is concerned,” she says, “it’s best not to think in terms of ‘There’s only one best choice,’ but rather, ‘This is a good one and I’ll learn certain things.’ What ties us up in knots is thinking we have to get this right. When we get into right or wrong thinking, or ‘I made a mistake,’ it isn’t very helpful and it doesn’t make you feel resourceful in the world.”

And once you accept a position in a field that intrigues you, you don’t need to feel locked into a particular job. Surrounding yourself with people in an industry you like can open up your mind to more–and better–job positions than you might have imagined on your own.

Adrienne says thoughts create reality, that it’s important to view situations in a positive light. “The main rule is to think more about what you want, not about what you don’t want. If you’re always complaining, you’re giving too much energy to that area of life. The more you focus on what feels good to think about, the more it opens your mind to the idea that anything is possible.”

“And when you can’t make a decision,” says Bolles, “it simply means you need more information. Many people start beating themselves up when this happens. The solution is not to agonize, but rather to simply say, ‘I need more information.’ “

The Ongoing Battle of Head vs. Heart

When it comes to making major decisions, it’s essential to pay attention to intuition, to what’s in your heart as well as in your head. If you don’t connect with this inner wisdom, you’re liable to sway with whatever advice you hear from others. What your intuition tells you may not always sound logical, and sometimes your fear of change (your head) overshadows its presence. So how can you determine when it’s your head or your intuition doing the talking?

“Usually your head–which is pretty much synonymous with your ego–will tell you what you should do,” explains Adrienne. “It’s involved when you’re reacting out of guilt, trying to look good to the outside world, trying not to rock the boat, or trying to meet the expectations of others. If you’re operating from a place of scarcity, fear, or rationalization, your mind is in the driver’s seat.”

Adrienne isn’t suggesting that you shouldn’t listen to your head; its role is necessary and valuable. “But your intuition has some information for you that’s really pertinent, and it’s really important to listen to that and check it out,” she says. “The head trip makes you anxious and tends to go around in repetitive cycles. You feel there’s too many words and you hear yourself justifying. But when you get a strong intuition, you know it. It comes in a clear, direct sense. It makes you feel more calm and peaceful, and comes in one thought at a time. Some hear it, others get an image, and some just have a sense.”

Intuitive messages, according to Adrienne, don’t typically try to guard you against something (as your mind often does), but rather they tend to inform you of something that’s good for you. “Your intuition will generally move you out of your comfort zone and into a more evolved place.”

The Curse of the Artistic Personality

In her book Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People, Carol Eikleberry acknowledges that creative, artistic personalities tend to have the most difficulty deciding on a career. “An artistic person is one who likes an unstructured work environment where there’s an opportunity for self-expression,” she says. “They have creative talent as well as unconventional values and interests.”

“The conventional type of work environment requires and expects an artistic person to be somebody they aren’t,” she continues. “To be confined in an office from 8 to 5 and have a very structured and prescribed routine with repetitive tasks is something like the death to the soul for an artist. That’s because it’s tapping into them where they’re at their weakest, have the least interest, the least value and motivation, and the least talent. It’s very depressing for them.”

Eikleberry advises artists to seek positions in which there is not only an opportunity for self-expression, but also a level of autonomy in how to accomplish tasks. She also emphasizes the importance of working with or around other creative people. “I think for everybody, but especially for creative people, it helps if you’re working with birds of a feather. If you’re creative and those around you aren’t, chances are your values are very different too. So the sorts of activities that they’ll esteem and reward will probably be things you won’t. You may end up feeling like you don’t fit in and that your values aren’t respected.” The simple truth is that you’ll be happier when you feel you’re understood and accepted as part of the group.

Research, Research, Research

“The most valuable information one can gather is about oneself, not the job market,” Bolles says. However, he feels it’s important to conduct interviews with people who have the job you’re considering. He suggests asking them for only 20 minutes of their time, and to ask the following questions: How did you get into this career? What do you like most about it? What do you hate most about it? Do you know of anyone else in your field who may be willing to talk to me about their job? and, What other jobs or occupations can you think of that would use the same skills besides the one you’re in?

He also urges people to “shadow” such a person on the job whenever possible. “Ask them if they would allow you to follow them around to see what their daily routine is like.” Watch them from a distance and don’t say anything. “Be like a ghost,” Bolles says. “If more people would do this, there would be a lot less people maladjusted in the wrong careers.”

Going for It

How important is it to pursue work you enjoy, as opposed to punching a clock and holding your breath until the weekend? Bolles, Adrienne and Eikleberry all believe it’s crucial to happiness. But making changes can be scary, and many people resist it even when they know it would benefit them. So how do you shake off the chains of fear?

“The left side of the brain tends to operate as a very cautious, self-preserving side of our nature,” explains Bolles. “The right side tends to love risks and experimental things. We need to encourage the right side of our brain more–give it more credence, strength and support by doing little things every day.” His theory is that by making slight changes that put you just outside your comfort zone, you’ll begin exercising your right-brain, risk-taking self, which he compares to a muscle. “If you get that muscle going by first taking baby steps, then eventually you won’t be so reluctant to launch out into a new career.”

And what about money? Perhaps your ultimate career would be as an actor or actress, but you know the odds of making a steady income in that field are stacked against you. Should you pursue it anyway? This really depends on your personality type as well as your drive and values. Some people are more comfortable with an unpredictable future; others need to have everything laid out neatly in front of them before taking action. To figure out where you lie on this spectrum, you’ll have to tune in to your intuition and possibly do more soul-searching.

But whatever you do, see your career choice for what it has the potential to be: not just a moneymaking endeavor, but also an opportunity to fully express your true self and share it with others. When you’re working at a job that allows for that, money is just the salt in the soup.