Tag Archives: career choice

Career Changes, Career Choice, Fulfillment in Life, What Should I Do With my Life?

The Next Step: Try out Your Career Choice in the Real World

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Try out your career choice in the real world.

In this post, I’ll talk about a very effective way to really get clear about your career choice once you’ve made your initial decision about what you want to pursue.  In my past few posts, I’ve described three key steps that will really help you choose a career that has the greatest probability of being truly fulfilling to you in the real world: exploring what you really want, creating a list of career possibilities and doing some informational interviews with people who are successful and happy at the work you are considering for yourself.

Try It Our Yourself

Once you become clear about a career you think you’d really like to pursue, it will really benefit you to look for opportunities to work with someone who is really enjoying your chosen path and is successful at it.

I recommend that you look for opportunities to work or volunteer at an entry level in the field that you are interested in.  In days past, people used to be able to become an apprentice in a field that they were interested in learning more about; that’s essentially what I’m recommending to you.  Unfortunately, the idea of apprenticeship is something else that we have let fall by the wayside in our modern culture.  There’s not really a system set up for people to learn from someone who is a master at what they want to do.  However, that doesn’t need to hold you back from having this valuable experience yourself.  You will just need to take responsibility for arranging an apprenticeship experience yourself.

How to Arrange an Apprenticeship

The question is, how to go about doing that?  Well, if you’ve done your informational interviews, you already have a great foot in the door in the field you’re interested in.  Contact the person or people that you interviewed in the field you’ve chosen.  Thank them again for the opportunity to talk to them and let them know that they were instrumental in your decision to follow the career you have chosen.  Then, tell them that you would like to get some hands-on experience in the field by doing some entry-level work or volunteer work in this area and ask if they know of any opportunities to do this.  These people are great contacts for you to begin networking with.  If they don’t know of any work opportunities, ask them if they can suggest other people that you might contact in the field so you can get this valuable experience.

Make the Most of It

Once you find an apprenticeship in your chosen field, make sure you make the most of it.  Watch the people who really love their work, connect with them, learn from them.  That’s how you’ll really discover whether this field is truly the right career choice for you.  Plus, you’ll be making invaluable connections for the future.

Know You Love It before You Go Any Further

By getting real, hands-on experience in the field you’re interested in right now, you will be able to make a much more informed choice about your future career.  For most people, they go through years of schooling and study before they actually get to the point of experiencing what it’s like to work in their chosen field.  By then, they have invested so much time and effort in their field that they often find it very difficult to make a change if they discover that they don’t really like it.  With the real experience that I’m recommending that you get right now, you will know if this career is right for you.  Trust your heart on this one.  After learning all you can about your potential career through informational interviews and through direct experience, if you find that you feel really inspired and excited about this career, you are ready to go for it.

In my next post, I’ll give you some final motivating thoughts to help you find the courage and inspiration to actually follow through with these steps.

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Discover your passion.  Live your dream. Your Inspiring Life

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Career Changes, Career Choice, EFT, What Should I Do With my Life?

Step Three: Making a Career Choice from What You Learned in Your Informational Interviews

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Once you have done a number of these informational interviews, you will have gathered invaluable information about what your potential careers are really like on a day-to-day basis.  By going through this process, you may have saved yourself years of study and effort in a field that ultimately would not have satisfied you.  Plus, these initial connections will become invaluable contacts for you in the future once you’ve chosen a career path.

It’s exciting, isn’t it?  You’re getting much closer to being able to make an inspired and informed decision about your future career.

Look at What You’ve Learned and See How You Feel About It

The next step in the process is to review all the information that you have gathered and see what it means to you.  Were there specific careers that really stood out for you and inspired you?  Move those to the top the list.  Was there a career that didn’t appeal to you at all once you were able to talk to someone who was doing it?  You might want to talk to someone else who’s in that field for a second perspective.  If, after this, that career still doesn’t appeal to you, then cross it off the list.  Was there one particular career that really stood out as something that you might want to pursue?  Put a star next to that one.

Listen to your heart as you go through this process.  Considering all the information you gathered, look for careers that really inspire and excite you when you think about doing them.  Again, don’t let your fears hold you back from hearing the guidance of your heart.  If you’re having trouble with this, use EFT to let go of the limiting beliefs and feelings that might be blocking you from making a decision.  Once you let go of the negative thoughts that come up, it will be much easier to trust that your heart is really guiding you to what will be most satisfying and fulfilling for you to do as a career.

What to Do If You’re Still Not Sure

If you’re still not sure which career would suit you best, there are a couple of possible things that you can do.  First, I would recommend you do some tapping about it.  Use EFT to let go of the feeling that you’re not sure what career path you should choose.  Tap on whatever underlying issues and limiting beliefs arise as you do.  Tap on any other issues that may be blocking you from making a choice.  These might include issues such as: I’m not good enough to succeed at that, I’m scared to make a choice because it’s such an important decision, I don’t trust myself to make the right decision, etc. Often tapping on issues like these will really help give you clarity and I recommend you give it a try.

Listen to Your Inner Guidance

If you still feel unsure after all this, you may want to do some additional informational interviews.  Also, ask for your inner guidance to help you to choose a career that will really fulfill you.  Then pay attention to what comes up for you.  Journal about it and take some time to ask yourself what you really want.  Perhaps an answer will emerge that you hadn’t even considered.

This is an important decision so it’s worth it to take the time to get clear about what feels right to you in your heart.  By taking the steps I’ve recommended in the past few posts, you’ll be well on your way to discovering a career that will truly inspire and fulfill you.

Blessings,

Laura

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My self-help program has many resources to help you discover what you want and let go of the inner barriers to getting there.  Learn more about it here: YourInspiringLife.com

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Career Changes, Career Choice, Fulfillment in Life, Living an Inspiring Life, What Should I Do With my Life?

Discovering the Right Career for You in the Real World: Start with a List

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So, how do you discover what you really want when you don’t even know what all the possibilities are?  That’s one of the challenges of our modern world.  It’s wonderful that we have so many choices.  However, we just don’t have that many opportunities to be exposed to all the different fields out there in our everyday lives.  In this post, I’ll go over the first step to getting clear about what you really want:  making a list of possibilities.

In my last post, I gave you five simple questions to help you get clear about what might really inspire and fulfill you as a career.  If you still find yourself confused after exploring these questions and you still don’t really feel like you have a sense of anything you would like to do, then I have a little homework for you.

Make a List of Possibilities

To begin, make a list of all the different careers that you think might be interesting to you.  Search the internet for “list of careers” and make a list of all the ones that you have even a mild interest in learning more about.  Don’t judge your choices or try to narrow them down at this point.  Just have fun considering all the possibilities for your life.  Once you have the list, put them in order of what sounds most interesting to you. 

Don’t Listen to any Negative, Limiting Thoughts

Don’t worry about the negative, limiting beliefs you or someone else might have about a potential field, trust your instinct and know that your enthusiasm and interest are guiding you to the right path for you.  And remember to use EFT to tap on any negative beliefs that might come up about your ability to succeed at any particular field.  As I have said before, the key to fulfillment in life is to release your fears and follow your heart. 

Making a list of potential careers that you think might be fun and interesting for you is the first step.  In my next post, I’ll talk about what to do next with your list.  See you then!

Blessings, Laura

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Find more ways to discover what you want in Your Inspiring Life

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Career Changes, Fulfillment in Life, Prosperity

Making a Career Choice: Please Don’t Do It Just for the Money

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You can choose both fulfillment and prosperity in your life.

I know money is important, but please do yourself a huge favor and do not choose a career or life path just because you think it’s going to make you a lot of money.  If you do that and you’re not really passionate or interested in what you have chosen, you’re going to feel like a slave to your paycheck for the rest of your life… or until you quit and again find yourself exactly where you are right now. 

Cultural Pressures

I think we as a culture are still in a period of intense change and it’s not clear how things are going to settle out.  So many people feel dissatisfied in their work; unfortunately, I think that’s the norm.  I think that a big part of the problem is that we have been taught that we have to do something that makes us money regardless of whether we like it or not.  “That’s what a job is, right?  We wouldn’t get paid for it if it was fun.”  Cultural beliefs like these influence us all.  I think the answer to the dilemma begins with recognizing that this feeling of dissatisfaction comes from an awakening of the desire for a life that fulfills more than our monetary needs. 

The Dissatisfaction Points the Way

When we feel pressure to choose a career because of its future prospects and marketability rather than our passion for the field, more often than not, we’ll find ourselves feeling unhappy and stifled as we spend a significant amount of our lives doing something we just don’t like.  These feelings are telling us that there is some part of us that wants to break free and find our way back to something that really feels fulfilling and satisfying to us.  Of course, along with that, there’s a lot of fear and anxiety that comes up about leaving the traditional career path behind.  That’s part of the hero’s journey of our lives.  It’s part of the challenge that we must all embrace if we are to move beyond the current cultural norms and really live a life that fulfills us.

Follow Your Heart

So I say, go ahead and listen to your heart right now and go for what you really want.  As you begin taking steps toward your goal, your feeling of aliveness and enthusiasm for life will return.  I absolutely believe that there are plenty of ways to prosper doing what you love.  In fact, if you are really passionate and excited about something, there is a much higher chance that you will become very prosperous doing it.  Why?  Because you are going to put a lot of positive energy and care into what you do and you will probably be happy to spend a lot of time doing it.  That all adds up to an experience where it is very likely that you will shine in your chosen field. 

One of the remnants of that former way of living that I mentioned earlier is that we don’t have much practice listening to the passion in our hearts, the still small voice that inspires us and guides us to do what is most fulfilling in our lives.  If you’re not sure what your heart is calling you to do, don’t worry, I can help.  In my next post, I will give you five simple questions that will help you discover what will truly fulfill you in your life.

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Let go of your fears.  Follow your heart.  Your Inspiring Life

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