If you are young and thinking what should you do when you are “big” and grown up. You are wondering, “How to Choose the Right Career for Me?”
Or maybe you are fed up with your current job and you are thinking about the same question. How could you determine which career path is just right for you?
Today, I will tell you truthfully how I made and many other people make their career choices. I believe that my examples can give you some inspiration to help your own decision.
Most of the people choose the career path based on the example of their, parents, relatives friends and from the other examples what they get from their environment.
You probably know some people who decided to choose exactly the same job as their parents. One of my friends’ father was a doctor so she always wanted to become a doctor herself. Now she is studying her third year in a medical school.
When I was a kid people asked me, “What will you be when you grow up?” I guess that many people asked you the same question when you were younger. I just answered, “Taxi driver” because my uncle was a taxi driver. My mother or father didn’t have a permanent profession for a long time so the closest example that I had was from my uncle.
Then I ended up driving a taxi on weekends during my studies. The choice became stronger also because I knew other friends who were taxi drivers.
During the last year of high school (or vocational school) you must decide what will you continue studying, at least in Finland. Will you go to the university, university of applied sciences (or college) or start working??
How on earth could someone know what they want to do rest of their life when they are 19?!?!
That’s why I wrote this text to help you to choose the right career path just for you.
After high school, I saw advertisements of universities and colleges. Universities seemed to be theoretical and boring. It seemed that you just sit there on the lessons and read some books. Then ads from colleges said that studying there is very practical, down-to-earth and there are lots of internships so you will get your first work contacts and networks easily.
I also figured out that I want to help people to have a better life instead of calculating some boring mathematical functions in my office.
So, I decided to start studying social services in College (or you can call it University of Applied Sciences). Some of my friends and my mother asked, why didn’t I go to study something more challenging as I always got some of the best grades at school. I had always been one of the best in my class.
Well, I wanted something practical and at this point, I wasn’t thinking about the salary. But later on, I realized that my mother and friends had a good point.
Now I have finished my studies and I am waiting to get my “graduation papers” at the end of this month (30.9.2016 is my official graduation day).
Sometimes one crucial question flashes in my mind, “Did I choose the right career path?”
I have been thinking that I want to do something great and big during my life. I want to influence on thousands and millions of people. I want to help people to have a better life, get to know God and live happily. If I would go to work to a local kindergarten with 20 children, how could my dream become possible? Of course, I could affect there some people but not something very big that I am dreaming.
I figured out that I would also need some money in order to develop something big.
For example, if I would want to help homeless people to get their life on track again, it would require money and effort. I couldn’t do it alone. I could start an organization for helping people in need but it always requires some money. Money to rent/buys the building, food, furniture, employees and so on.
Let’s say that you work as a bachelor of social services and a typical salary is 2,500€/month (before taxes). It makes 30,000€/year. As a doctor, you will easily make 5,000€/month after graduation. It makes double as more as a bachelor of social services. Of course, after reducing taxes the difference is not so big but it’s still remarkable.
After taxes 2,500€/month in Finland makes 22,000€ and 5,000€/month make 37,500€. The difference is 15,500€. In 10 years the difference is 155,000€ and in reality, it’s much bigger because doctor’s salary will rise faster than a social counselor’s salary.
I didn’t take these things into account when I was thinking about my career path. But I should have.
I am not saying that money is the only thing that matters in a job but we cannot deny that it’s still a big factor. If you earn double income, you could work for example one year, and during the other year do whatever you want. For example, help the people in need or go to travel around the world.
The cold truth is that many things in life require some money. But if you would be doing a job that you don’t enjoy then you probably won’t endure long.
I love learning and discovering new things. So, I have figured out that an optimal job for me is where I can learn something new, have challenges and get paid for that. What are your passions? When do you feel the excitement in your body?
Even though I probably don’t become a doctor I am very glad that I found an opportunity influence people’s life through the Internet. And in addition, I could do it anywhere in the world.
There are more than 3,3 billion people online and I have an opportunity to reach them. AND YOU HAVE THE SAME OPPORTUNITY TOO!
Before, I didn’t know how to build a website or almost anything about reaching people online.
Then I found Wealthy Affiliate that taught me for example
I realized that building an online business would be a wonderful way to
1.Do what I like
2.Earn big income
3.Live anywhere I want
4.Help millions of people
If as a bachelor of social services I would be able to earn 2,300€-3,000€/month while working in Finland, doing online business I would be able to earn 10,000€/month or much more while living literally anywhere in the world.
The answer is: Probably not.
I read about a guy who was earning good money online. He started his online business while working in a regular job and then after work a few hours for his online business. He was earning +$3,000-5,000/month online.
Then he quit his job to focus more on his online business and something strange happened. Before, he had been usually max.3 hours/day time for his online business. Now when he had 14 hours/day. But he said that most of the time he achieved to do less in a day than before!
Despite having 14 hours, instead of 3, it didn’t guarantee better results. He always thought, “Well, I have so much time so I can do it later.”
I think that’s what would happen to many people. Even though they would have hours and hours of time they wouldn’t get the things done because they would
1.Sleep late
2.Check Facebook
3.Check a few Youtube videos
4.Eat
5.Exercise because it’s also important
6.Call friends and chat how easy life is
7.Have some fresh air because being inside it’s not fun.
And eventually at 7pm they would realize that the day is almost gone and they decide to work on their online business tomorrow. The Same cycle repeats tomorrow.
When you are starting an online business, you just need to be smart an efficient. 2 hours a day is more than enough if you focus on important tasks. -Edy (3 Steps to Make Money FAST? by Singaporean guy)
First, just concentrate on progressing consistently. Even 30 minutes a day is progress. Watch a short video and put the principles into action.
If you don’t have 30 minutes a day, then try to concentrate more on weekends when you probably have a bit more time.
First of all, think long-term. What do you really want out of your life? What do you want to be remembered for when you die?
“Dig down, dig deep down. Who do you want to be? Not what, but WHO?” -Arnold Schwarzenegger
The truth is that when you will be working 40 hours a week, that’s a huge amount of time! Would you like to spend your time and your life doing something that you don’t want?
I always recommend to pray and seek God’s guidance in your life.
5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6.
Ask many people for advice too. Not just your mother and father but tens of different people. You don’t need to know all of them personally because you can scroll different opportunities online.
Check for example a list of professions. Read some description of the most interesting ones. Then search more information from Google.
Even though you would have read many descriptions and heard experiences about a certain profession, you still may don’t know if it fits for you or not. The best way to find out if you’ll like it or not is to try.
I have worked for example
My thoughts about different works have changed after my own experiences. You may have illusions of different jobs.
However, note that at some point you just need to commit and stick with one profession. Probably you will have ups and downs but commitment and consistent effort make you better.
You may not have an opportunity to try everything yourself before committing to it. But at least visit different places, ask from other professionals and really get all the information that you can get to make a good decision.
Based on my experience and observations, most people make their career choice without thinking too much. Brian Tracy has said that the best-paid profession in U.S.
Einstein stated, “Thinking is hard work; that’s why so few do it.” I encourage you to dedicate lots of time thinking about your career choice. It is one of the most important things that you will be doing during your whole life.
I have decided that I want to build my own online business although I am working on a normal job as well.
I am in a process of building my online business and one of my dreams is to commit at some point 100% doing an online business. But I love working in general. I am not like people who hate the 9-5 job. But still having an own online business has so many like listed before:
1.Do what you like
2.Earn big income
3.Live anywhere I want
4.Help millions of people
5.Learn something new every day
6.Choose who you want to work with
7.Opportunity to be creative
If you are interested in starting your own online business (or developing a current one), I recommend you to start a free training in Wealthy Affiliate. I will give you also my 1-on-1 help on all the issues that you need. In addition, there are dozens of other successful online marketers who are already making big money online. Feel free to join.
I really hope that you enjoyed my article and it’s helpful to you. If you have any comments or questions, don’t hesitate to leave them below and I will be more than happy to give you a response.