6 Ways to Pinpoint Your Perfect Career
The term "perfect career" is subjective and there are an infinite number of ways that each person can define what makes their perfect career. What if you could have 6 different ways to find your perfect career? You could have a ton of fun trying them all out and making the best decision for you!
In this blog post, we'll cover how to figure out what you want in your life (hint: think outside the box). We'll also go over how to do your research, try on different careers at work, find the right fit for you at school, and think about higher education.
We'll then put all of the information together to help you find your perfect career.
You Are What You Think
One of the keys to finding your perfect career is knowing what you want. The first step to accomplishing this is thinking outside the box and ignoring all traditional rules about choosing a career. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying you should do something reckless or harmful for yourself or others. That's never a good idea. Instead, I'm talking about thinking outside the box in how you define your perfect career and how you go about finding it.
Let's say that you want to be an actress. If you follow the normal route, you will join the local community theater and start taking acting classes. As an actress, you would audition for various plays (which is really hard and competitive) in order to get your big break doing a guest star on a primetime TV show. After a few guest roles and some small parts in movies, you might land a multi-million dollar movie deal.
Or…you could think outside the box.
You could create a web series, do a YouTube channel, or start a blog to become a Youtuber. You could write scripts, make your own short films or documentaries, or try to become an author. There are so many other ways to get your name out there and hopefully land some acting roles. Plus, you wouldn't have to put in all of the time and effort that you would for the stage plays.
So think about it—what is the typical way of thinking about what you want to be when you grow up? What do people tell you that you should know about your "future"? How would you define your perfect career? Think outside the box and figure it out!
Safety vs. Adventure
Life is full of choices. Each choice has a possible outcome and a consequence. More often than not, we make our choices based on the safe route. We choose the road most traveled even when it's failing to take us where we really want to go. This can end up in a career that you feel trapped in, you're unhappy with, or you don't even like.
It can also result in a completely random and spontaneous career that you didn't plan on taking until you stumbled upon it. Maybe it's the form of art you've been exploring since birth, or maybe it's something completely new that you discover while living your life. Whatever the case may be, your life will be less boring if you try on different possibilities and see what works.
Here's an example: You're 21 years old and want to travel the world for a year. You want to go abroad for a year but are not sure where you'd like to travel. You could just go with the flow and choose to travel somewhere like France, Spain or Italy. You could also pick a random country out of the world's 194 sovereign states like the Republic of the Gambia in Africa.
Your Perfect Career Search Continues at Work
The next step on your journey to find your perfect career is to figure out where you enjoy working. You can tell yourself that you are going to take some time off from work until you get it figured out, but I am going to encourage you not to do that for two reasons: time and money.
If you are taking time off from work, your money will start running low after a few months of living expenses. You'll be on the verge of bankruptcy. If you are not in the mindset of figuring out what you want in your life and career, then this might happen.
So, instead of taking a year off to figure out what you want, take some time off at work to learn about different careers that are available to you. After doing some research about different types of careers that match with what you're looking for (or think will be fun), go to your workplace and find something that looks interesting and fun.
Find a Career You Like
When you find something that is interesting and fun, it doesn't mean that you are going to end up liking it. You are still in the process of figuring out what your perfect career is, so this is just another step on the journey. Be open-minded and let yourself have fun with it. It might not be your perfect career, but keep it in mind for later as another type of career for you to try.
If you decide that this career isn't for you, then don't get too upset about it. You will never know the career for you if you don't try a wide variety of different jobs. You can quit, get fired (it happens), or start looking for another career path.
Think About School
The next step on your journey to find your perfect career is to look into going back to school and trying out different majors that interest you. I've talked about the importance of school before in my college blog post. School is not just for learning a trade or a career-oriented major like business or medicine. You can also go to school to learn about who you are and what you want out of life.
Let's say that you are interested in psychology. You could take classes on human nature, cognitive science, social skills, and help others with mental health problems—just to name a few.
Another example: maybe you have a passion for sports and exercise. You could start with the requirement basics like kinesiology (the study of human movement), anatomy and physiology, biology, and chemistry.
Conclusion
I'm not saying that you will enjoy all of these careers, but you will learn more about what interests you and what your body is made of. You might find a hobby or a possible career path. Or maybe you'll just realize that it's not the perfect career for you after all. Either way, now that you know what interests you in the career world, you will be better prepared to make your next choice with more confidence knowing that it's the right one for you.
11 Things I Wish I Knew About My Career Before I Started it was originally published on John P. Hayes' blog Curious About Life! and was reprinted with permission by Lifehacker Books .