How to choose a profession?

Profession is one of the spheres that definelife quality. Profession is your occupation that brings you enjoyment, satisfaction and earns your living. It is a good option when your favorite occupation is your work and you earn your living by doing what you like. If it is not so, then as the saying goes, you will have to love what you do. Whether it is good or bad is a controversial topic. However, career choice and the sphere of your future occupation determine your mission, i.e. your destination and your vision of who you want to become in the future. They are the basis for setting your SMART goals. This choice defines what you want to achieve and leave behind. Career choice is an uneasy task and we all have to solve it during lifetime and find ourselves in various occupations. Constant changes in us and the world around demand new competences for labor activity. Sometimes it happens involuntarily, for example, as a result of traumas. Scientific-and-technological advance changes technological wave and many professions are doomed to become outdated in the near future. So, we need a reliable tool for career choice and development of new professional competences.

Currently, there are many methods, techniques, means and tests suggested by psychologists, teachers, coaches and advisors. All this is interesting but may well be totally useless unless a person starts to use a good tool for the purposes of professional self-determination.

The Diary of High Quality Life is a tool for professional self-determination.

So, let’s start right now!

Step 1. Ask yourself the following questions:

What do you like to do?  What do you do best? What are your physical, intellectual and psychological peculiarities? What do you want most and what do you wish? What motivates you most of all? Write down the answers and make a list of professions that are close to what you would like to do. If you find it difficult, seek advice from your close and competent friends.

Find general characteristics in every chosen profession, and understand your interest in these professions: working with people, animals, equipment, information, nature, or physics, math, chemistry, biology, geology, foreign languages etc.

Then you need to understand what exactly interests you in a certain profession and define your requirements and expectations regarding working conditions: working in an office, at a factory or at home, full time, constant business trips, travelling or flexible work schedule. There are professions which imply long field seasons or travels, duties, higher risk to life, work in extreme conditions also including wars and emergency recovery.Career choice should be conscious and base on its clear understanding.

Step 2.

As the Diary of High Quality Life suggests, act in decision making points, asses you strong and weak points in relation to the requirements of professional competences. Then assess your opportunities and risks regarding your surroundings. This is your SWOT analysis for career choice. Ask the people close to you to assess your choice for the sake of objectivity. It is important to listen to their views, in particular your parents. Physical abilities may be critical in certain professions. It should be taken constructively. Many gurus of personal development insist that your abilities are unlimited, and you can do everything if you want to. However, this is not quite true. Why? Find the answer on our website, download and read HQ Diary Handbook!

For instance, physical strength and strong will that satisfy the requirements for a certain kind of sport are your strong points, whiles non-compliance with such requirements are your weak points. Labor dynasty, i.e. following the beaten path, is your opportunity, whiles beaten paths leading nowhere in the future, outdated family business or occupation are your risks. Find out what profession is in-demand today and will be highly demanded tomorrow and understand its role and place today and in the future. Profession is kind of work which serves as a source of existence. Find out about the income of the people working in the sphere interesting to you. High-level professionals in each sphere earn money and live comfortably. However, the truth is that a huge number of the population has limited earning potential, defined by their profession and sectoral affiliation. So, career choice and your professional competence determine your level of income.

 

Step 3.

Once you have made your career choice, try to find out as much as possible about it, visit places of work and meet professionals. Read, watch the news and assess what is going on in the world. Study the materials about your profession, tests to be undertaken to enter the corresponding educational institutions, their location, environment and living conditions, the cost of studies, and so on. Choose the best option for yourself, for example, studying in your native city erases many problems if your resources are insufficient.

 

So, you have made your choice and your Diary of High Quality Life contains a SMART goal for the next period of your life. Now plan your actions for goal achievement yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. One needs to move towards his goal step by step, as the previous article about Kaizen says. It is better to anticipate the occurrence of undesirable events at the stage of decision making, for instance, in case your health and your choice are incompatible. However, there is nothing to worry about. Just always assess the situation and take corrective measures. Having a qualification, one may always take advanced training or opt for professional conversion and obtain one or more professions, say, in the center under my management. Visit cdo.GEO.ru. Moreover, a human being may grow both vertically, i.e. moving up the promotion ladder, and horizontally, improving professional skills. Therewith, when working remember about your private life, loved ones and your family.

 

I wish you and your loved ones have a successful trajectory of professional and personal life!