Not everyone has a complete notion of how they want their life to pan out as soon as they leave childhood or adolescence. Many people struggle to find out what their personal goals are and end up pursuing careers that aren’t suited to them due to external pressures such as family or finances. While it’s important to be grateful for what we have and learn to appreciate the little things, it’s also important to know yourself and find somewhere your innate skills and talents can be put to best use. Here are a few simple steps to guide you if you don’t know what kind of career you want or how to go about starting it.
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Connect With Your Intuition
Although at first you might believe that you have no passions or interests that you could use to point you in a particular career direction, this probably isn’t the case. Take time to truly dig down into yourself and write a list of whatever sparks your interest. Even if they seem small or unlikely to lead to a career decision, it’s worth writing down. Use this list to compare and notice similarities between each interest. Whatever connects them is likely a trait within you that could be appreciated within a particular industry or role.
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Add to Your Skills
Even if you aren’t yet sure in which direction you think your career path might take you, it’s always a good idea to add to your education. By building up your skills, you make yourself more employable. If you aren’t particularly interested in the sciences or technologies, you can take humanities courses and increase your knowledge about a subject. It might seem vague at first, but becoming more knowledgeable and skillful will make finding your ideal career that much easier.
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Meet New People and Maintain Good Relationships
You never know who might lead you to your next exciting opportunity. Be willing to network and engage with people you wouldn’t normally come into contact with. Even someone with a very different background or skillset to yours could have something to offer.
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Stay Open to Unexpected Opportunities
While it is possible to create your own opportunities to a certain extent, it’s vital that you keep your eyes open for the ones that life just throws at you. Use your best judgement to assess whether or not an opportunity is worth taking.
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Consider What You Hate
If you find it impossible to write down anything that interests you strongly enough, it can be useful to turn to something you dislike or even hate. This might sound extreme, but everyone has something that annoys or upsets them about the world. Maybe a certain political issue always angers you or you wish someone would fix what appears to you to be a glaring problem. Find a way to redirect this energy into a practical form. For example, find groups that align with your beliefs and put your skills to use making the world a better place.
