Tag Archives: career choices

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

The Wonderful Informational Interview: Time to Connect and Start Talking

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Once you have created your list of possible careers as I described in my last post, it’s time to go talk to some people who are happily working in the careers you’d like to explore and discover more about what they are really like.  If you don’t know how to connect with people in these careers, ask your friends and family if they know anyone who’s in these fields and enjoys it.  Post questions on Facebook.  Search your local phone book and the internet for people in the fields that interest you.

Once you find someone, ask if you can talk to them about their career on the phone for a while or via email.  It’s important to make sure they like their work before you go too far into the process of connecting with them.  If they do, ask them if you can interview them in more detail about their work.

What to Ask

Ask them questions like these: Do you like your work?  What do you like about it?  What are the best parts of it?  What are the challenges?  Are there any parts that you don’t like?  What is a  typical day like for you?  What kind of education and skills do you need to succeed?  What’s the key to your success and fulfillment in your career?  What would you recommend to someone considering going into this field?  And ask any other questions you might have as well.

The Next Step

If you like what you learned, ask if you can shadow them for a while and go in and watch them work for a few hours.  Or, do some volunteer work with them and see what it’s like day to day.  I know this is going to take some effort, but it is totally worth it.  You need some real input to inspire you and help you get clear about what you want.

Don’t Let Your Fears Hold You Back from this Invaluable Step

I know this can sound scary or intimidating to do, but it will really help you get clear about what career you want to pursue.  You need to know what the careers on your list are really like on a day to day basis.  Do some EFT to let go of any anxiety about reaching out to people like this and go ahead and do it.

You Don’t Have To Impress Anyone

Remember, no one expects you to be an expert in the field when you’re doing these initial informational interviews.  I know from experience that most people appreciate being asked to talk about what they do.  It’s nice to be seen as an authority in their field and someone who is doing something that somebody else might want to do.  For most people, it will make them feel good to help you.  And if for some reason somebody doesn’t want to talk to you, I’d say it’s probably because that person is not inspired in their life and they are feeling dissatisfied and grumpy about it.  You don’t want to talk to that person anyway.  If that happens, you might suggest that they come and read this article and then find someone else to talk to.

These informational interviews will give you a ton of valuable information about what these careers might be like for you in the real world.  In my next post, I’ll talk about what to do with all the information you’ve gathered.

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Have a career that truly inspires and fulfills you.  Your Inspiring Life

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

What Should I Do with My Life? Five Simple Questions to Help You Discover Your Passion

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So many choices... what inspires you?

So you’re trying to figure out what you should do with your life, right?  When it comes down to it, there really are just a couple of possible reasons why you’re having difficulty with this question.  And for each one, there are a few ways to go about discovering what it is that you should be doing with your life.

First, the issue may be that you actually do know what you want to do but you just haven’t given yourself permission to trust this instinct and embrace what you are being inspired to do.  The other alternative is that you are feeling a desire for a more fulfilling life, but you truly haven’t yet discovered what really inspires you.

Either way, the starting point for both is the same.  First, you must give yourself permission to really explore the possibilities for your life.  To begin, ask yourself what would truly be fulfilling and satisfying to you.  I’ll give you five simple questions below to help you answer this question for yourself. 

But Read This First…

The key here though, is to give yourself permission to play with the questions I’m going to ask you in a moment.  No judgments are allowed.  What I mean by that is, you’re not allowed to knock something down just because you think it’s “impossible,” unrealistic, that your family wouldn’t approve, that you can’t really make money doing it, that you don’t see where your answer is taking you, etc.  So before you answer these questions, promise me that you will do your very best to write down everything that comes to mind no matter what you think of it, no matter how realistic you think it is, no matter whether you think it’s silly or insane or whatever.  Just write it down.  If you need to, do some tapping on the resistance and then answer the questions.  Okay, as soon as you agree, you’re ready to get started.

Discover What Your Heart is Calling You To Do

Answer the following questions and let yourself play around with them and just have fun.

1.  What are your favorite things to do?  Make a list of everything you do that you really enjoy doing.  Write down your hobbies and all the things you really love spending time doing in your time off.  Include things you’ve enjoyed in the past that you may not have time for right now as well. 

2.  What kind of books and magazines do you like to read?  What kind of topics do you like to spend time exploring on the Internet?  What kind of TV shows do you really like?  Look for general themes in these things that point you to your key interests.

3.  Is there something that you have always wanted to do but you never gave yourself permission to do it because you thought it was unrealistic, impossible, or that you weren’t good enough to do it?  Think back and give yourself permission to just write those dreams down. 

4.  What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

5.  What would you do with your life if you won the lottery?  After you bought all the stuff you want and took a few awesome vacations, what would you do with the many years of life that you have before you?  Without the pressure of having to make a living, what would you want to do with your life?

Okay, there are a lot of other questions you could ask yourself to get yourself started in this process.  My self-help program includes these and shows you a number of additional ways to get clear about what your heart is calling you to do.  But these will get you moving in the right direction and may uncover an answer for you.  Look over your answers and look for themes, look for clues about what you really want to do.  Often, the answer will become very clear as you look at your answers to this exercise.

If you still feel stumped after exploring these questions, perhaps you need to give yourself permission to further discover and explore what really might inspire you.  In my next post, I’ll talk about a powerful way to get clarity about your options and then whether the career that you’re considering will really fulfill you.

Remember to Use EFT for Any Resistance

Remember though, once you have some clarity about what you want to do, it’s likely that there will be negative beliefs, resistance, and anxieties that arise within you.  EFT is a wonderful tool to release these.  Again, my program includes 22 EFT processes to help you do just that.  You can learn more about my program at Your Inspiring Life.

I hope these questions have been helpful to you.  Let me know if you have any comments or questions by leaving me a reply to any post on my blog.  Blessings and I’ll see you next time.

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