Cannot Decide What to Do

Sometimes, one of the hardest tasks in a young graduates life is to decide what to do with their life. This decision can be made a lot easier if you have developed a keen interest in a subject or in a possible career. The decision, however, on what to choose, or what avenue to pursue can be, nevertheless, quite difficult.

Some people speak to friends about what it is they are going to do, and why they decided on this course. Others go out to work at some kind of employment in order to take some time off from school to get a better handle on what it is they really want. Unfortunately, some of these types of people find that they trap themselves from going further in any field because they make too many commitments that are difficult to get out of. For example, some decide that marriage, or a family, is what they wanted before pursuing a career but find that this leads to financial obligations that prevent them from attending school full-time.

On the other hand, some people choose to attend college or university in a general program hoping they will be able to discover their real interests, and switch to a more specific course of studies in their second year. From those I’ve met and spoken to, this option works on occasion but isn’t the best alternative. For the majority, the old adage applies, and that is basically if you don’t know what port you are sailing to you’ll most likely end up in one you don’t want.

One option to help you decide is to sit down in a quiet location devoid of any distraction. Take a pen and paper, or laptop, or computer and divide a page into four columns. The first column is for all those things you like to do. Don’t judge what you are writing – write everything you like to do. This can be such things like going bowling, playing computer games etc. The next step, right below what you like to do, is to write down the kinds of careers you may be interested in whether that is an artist, or a bank manager. The next step is to take time and thought to record beside each entry what you like about what you wrote down, and then after completing all of these, the third column is where you write down all the things you feel you wouldn’t like about each of the items you wrote.

The next step is to write in the last column what you feel you would have to do to make each one into a career or a related career. For example, if you wrote that you like to play computer pPC games, you may be able to plan a strategy that sees you work in a game related store with the intention of growing in the job to become a manager of the store. If you wrote down that you would like to design house plans, you could decide that you want to become an architect and what schooling would be required to accomplish this chosen field.

By completing this task, you may have a much better idea of what you want to do with your life. As the old saying goes, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. Give it a try.