During yesterday’s discussion about the value of a college education, several people noted that it’s difficult to decide what to study when you don’t know what you want to do with your life. This reminded me of a recent question from the Get Rich Slowly discussion forums. Shaun wants to know: How do you find work that you love?
It’s been said, “If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.” But what happens when you can’t figure out what you’d love to do?
I’ve been trying to figure out “what I wanna be when I grow up” for over ten years, and I still have no idea. I’m driving a delivery truck now. No offense, but any dummy can do my job. I feel like I’m wasting away doing this. I could be doing so much more, but I don’t know what I want to do.
Going back to college for a four-year degree is not an option. I spent four years in college already, in which I tried three different majors. I have around $19,000 in student loans and no diploma to show for it.
Here’s what I do know: I like dealing with people. I like working with numbers. I really enjoy sitting down and making budgets and things like that. I’ve always done very well in math in school. I liked the accounting and business classes I took while I was in college, but hated any type of English class.
Any advice? I’m stuck in a rut.
Some people are lucky and know what they want to do early. For example, my wife always loved science. Kris majored in chemistry, and then found a job teaching at a nearby high school. She liked the work, but after eight years she decided to try something else.
She’d always wanted to be a forensic chemist, so she researched the job and decided it might actually be a good fit. She took a couple of classes, from which she was able to learn that the job did indeed match her strengths. Now she works for the state police crime lab. She loves her work.
I wasn’t so fortunate. I floundered in college, searching for something I truly enjoyed. I never found it. After working the worst job I ever had, I wound up selling boxes for the family business. This was safe, but it wasn’t fulfilling, and it didn’t call upon my strengths. Still, I stuck with the position for sixteen years. It was only when I realized that I could make a living through writing that I understood I’d been cheating myself. Now I, too, am moving toward meaningful work.
But how can you find meaningful work without spending sixteen years selling boxes? Or ten years driving truck? I don’t know. I’m not sure anybody does. In a fantastic essay entitled “How to do what you love”, Paul Graham writes:
Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail. Even if you succeed, it’s rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you’ll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you’re in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you’re practically there.
Surely some of you have found fulfilling work. How did you do it? Like Kris, have you always known what you wanted to do? Did you sort of stumble into it, like I did? Or have you given up hope of ever finding a job that you love? More importantly, what advice do you have for Shaun?
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I think that in a lot of ways, work is a tradeoff. I’ve never loved the work at my current job, which is now in its 12th year, but I do love the people and the security. Recently the work has been even worse, so I’m weighing staying vs. leaving, but there’s pros and cons on both sides.
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Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/
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I’ve been exploring this very topic for a few days now. In my opinion. most people aren’t capable of being honest with themselves about what it is that they truly love. Too many outside pressures — family expectations, peer groups, societal issues, and plain old “noise” — compromise our ability to really be clear on what we enjoy.
Overcoming these hurdles and fighting through the noise are the hard parts. Once you’ve got that handled, everything else will fall into place (including your income).
JAY
MotivatedPerformance.com
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At least you can take heart in that you aren’t alone in your struggles. I too have wandered aimlessly from one job to another not really liking anything. My current job pays well, but it doesn’t make up for the feeling that I need to be somewhere else. It’s an empty feeling that isn’t filled my the extra money I bring in.
I’m about to turn 42 and I’m still trying to figure it out, but I have it narrowed down to a few things and have starting taking small steps in each direction.
Here’s the only advice I can offer people:
Turn off the damn TV and get to know yourself. Partly because it sucks the creativity out of you and also because it doesn’t realistically portray a normal life.
Start reading, take a bike ride, walk, go to the mall. If you are watching TV you are letting people think for you. When you start thinking on your own, things will start to become more clear as to who you really are. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen and usually when you least expect it.
Good Luck!!
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[...] an interesting discussion at GetRichSlowly about how to find a job you love. It’s a good read, and I don’t want to steal their thunder, so I’ll just say the [...]
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As we all know, people are really different. I think some need to love their job, and others don’t, and it’s not a commentary on either type of person, it just is what it is. However, be aware of what YOU want to get out of your job. Whenever I read advice that says “you must do what you love” I wonder if there’s some element of keeping up with the Jonses there. It certainly leaves me feeling dissatisfied with my job, when if I just look to myself to assess how I’m doing, I feel better about it.
For me, the most helpful guide has been experimentation and frequent gut checks. During a period of unemployment (which I enjoyed..can’t I retire now?) I tried to consider what aspects of all my previous jobs were most enjoyable and fulfilling to me, and I used that to guide me in what I wanted to try to do.
Right now I’m in a challenging and stable job, but it’s not exactly what I pictured doing when I went to grad school, though at least it’s tangentially related to my degree. However my job has reasonable hours, good benefits, smart coworkers, and my interactions with the people I help are largely positive. That’s good enough for me for now!
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[...] 11, 2008 After reading a post by the same title in the “Getting Rich Slowly” blog, I wanted to respond, but my response is lengthy so I decided to post on the subject [...]
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I work in a job that I love, for me life is too short to waste my time each day being unhappy. If I get bored with a job or want a change to learn something new then I move on. I have never had any problem getting work because people know I am passionate about my work so I work hard. Doing what I love has given me a lot of freedom.
Job security is a myth that often stops people making changes. It’s a myth. Most people have 2-4 weeks security in thier job.
One aspect of my job is helping people make career changes. First thing I do is get them to tell me all the things they love to do, things that they can just lose time doing, things that they would do for no pay.
Then we look at what beliefs they have that are stopping them from taking action. Job security and belief in thier own abilities are the major ones. Often we really challenge those and look at who or where they cam e from, and if they want to keep them.
Then we work on how to bring the thing that they love to do into thier life more. Take a class, join a group, do some training. Get Involved! once they get involved they meet others like them and then the vision for what is possible begins to expand!
It’s exciting when people begin to see the possibilities instead of the obstacles! thats one of the things I love the most about my work:)
It’s worth the effort to make changes, I could not stand to get up every day and hate going to work.
Lastly do the Rocking Chair Test. Ask yourself when your old and sitting in the rocking chair looking back over your life what will you regret?
Cheers
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[...] Ask the Readers: How To Find Work That You Love? at Get Rich Slowly – Both me and my husband are in the same position trying to find out what we really like to do. Both of us are in the tech industry. We both feel that there is something better out there that we want to do. We don’t know what it is yet. [...]
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Tech is a tough business and I often find myself wondering if it’s my passion.
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WARNING: This is a super long comment, kind of on both this post and the one before it about college
I haven’t read the comments on the previous post, but the topic certainly relates to this one. I wish I had gone to college, or at least grad school much later in life than I did. At 18 I had none or almost none of the world knowledge I needed to make the type of decisions I needed to about majors, careers, finances, etc. What does an 18 year old know about these things really? Some do of course, but I find that really takes a certain type of lifestyle growing up or just a burning undeniable passion that many people don’t have.
Certainly none of what I did know was from experience, in most cases, and experience, as well as observation are great teachers. I had no idea about how much pay would be taken out for taxes, the lifestyles different salaries provided, how much real estate costs, the massive difference is salary between certain fields, the tremendous amount of work required for certain fields, that certain jobs even existed or were possible to make a living from, and on and on.
There was way too much i didn’t know and what I thought I did know was often just what my parents knew and had been pressuring me to believe as well (it worked, but with poor effects in the long run). My parents and family never shared their struggles about finances, jobs, careers, etc.
I didn’t have the advantage of parents who had the time or in many cases the experience to properly guide me. I was discouraged from pursuing my interests and led to studying subjects my family insisted were good fields, but that held no appeal for me and that I was dreadful at. The only thing I really did right it turns out was choose a major (English) based on my interests and not any of that family pressure or what seemed like the right thing to do.
But though I didn’t pursue my true career goals (though I thought I was), I did choose work based on what I thought would be own enjoyment level and based on value to society. Because I kept money out of the equation (I was never taught to value money but to value contribution to society and to others) I had a very difficult but rewarding career. It was hard but I enjoyed my job. I didn’t make almost any money though, that part wasn’t fun.
Eventually I started doing work on the side that I liked more and moved into a field I liked more (doing editing). But that career wasnt quite the one for me either or at least the jobs I had and settings I worked in weren’t quite right for me).
I still haven’t quite gotten there but I’m much closer now. Like JD, I think some sort of writing job is what I may enjoy best. The thing is I was raised to never consider anything creative, artsy, etc. as a possibility for work. Yet that is what drives almost everyting in my life. I love art and my intersts, activities, etc. are based almost always on art in some manner. Yet it was the one thing I was raised to not even consider doing.
I didn’t know about many jobs or about many opportunities when I was young. I didn’t know one could lmake a decent living as a journalist, or other type of writer. I had no clue that internships even existed! oh, if only reality tv and internet existed when I was growing up. Today, I find it’s much easier to learn about a wide range of careers and opportunities bc we are much more exposed to toher’s lives through these forms of media.
Many people don’t have the support needed to pursue creative careers. I know I was one of those people. Always working around reading and writing (as an english teacher and editor, etc.) but never actually doing the writing myself.
I still can’t be sure I’d be hapy with it and that I wouldn’t have the exp. others have had where working for pay would destroy the passion for the work, but one thing I am certain of is I needed a lot more life experience and a whole different upbringing if I wanted to be able to make a good career decisioin early in my adult life. I didn’t have either of those things, so I’ve spent many years trying to find the answer. It’s not easy but it is certainly worth working on.
For those who are interested in creative pursuits and art but have been discouraged from pursuing those fields, I recommend the book The Artist’s Way.
I know I would give almost anything to be able to go back now, study art and writing and journalism. In my case, college was in many ways wasted on the young. I can only imagine what an amazing exp. it would be for me today to go back and study the fields I love for four years, plus maybe even grad school. If I had the money, I’d at least be taking some classes now!
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Great article! I’m actually going to be taking next month (February) off to take some long awaited vacation and use the remainder of the month to look around the area for job opportunities.
My job as a programmer is an excellent money making vehicle, but I’ll have to agree with some of the other commenters. Doing anything for 40 hr/week for 8 years gets a bit old.
I plan to try a variety of things, and while I haven’t found my passion yet, it’s going to be a fun journey looking for it
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A friend of mine highly recommends the book What Color is Your Parachute? to help people find jobs and careers that meet their interests.
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The best advice I’ve heard:
“The people you choose to work with are the most accurate predictor of job satisfaction I’ve ever found.” (Jeff Atwood)
Combine that with many of the above insights
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I have to say that ‘telly’ (comment #14) has hit the nail on the head for me. Doing what I am passionate for a living, with a bottom line held over my head, would probably kill my passion. For example, I love personal finance and I really like blogging. I know that the minute my financial well being depended on it the fun would stop and the grind would begin. I have also strongly considered switching fields to become a CFP BUT I know in reality it will be Sell, Sell, Sell, Work, Work, Work and I would no longer enjoy it. The same would be true of any hobby or amusement I try to turn into a full time job. I am perfectly happy with a (well paying) job that doesn’t get me fired up inside on Monday morning. Instead I have a well balanced life that include a number of things I am passionate about outside work and my job provides the funding. I am a cubical drone straight out of Office Space and I’m O.K. with that.
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CArol Lloyd’s book ‘Creating a life worth living’ has got lots of excellent info and tips about day jobs to suppport a creative life.
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My personal experience has been that literally taking what you love and doing it for work is a disaster, and the surest way I’ve ever seen to make what you love not what you love anymore. You have to be really careful that whatever commercial ugliness may exist in that industry is something you can live with. You also need to be positive that if your illusions about something are shattered, you’ll still be happy in the job.
For example, I plan conventions. I got into this because I was always having unsatisfactory job experiences in theatre which was “what I’d always wanted to do.” Since an extremely young age. Conventions were enough like theatre that I was still happy, but I didn’t have an innate love of something that was being challenged by reality.
Even from there I did what should seem logical, I started planning conventions for things that I loved. Things I did in my spare time. This was also terrible. I couldn’t do things that I enjoyed (reading certain things, watching certain things, going certain places) because they reminded me of work, no matter how much I liked the work. Also, I had illusions about idols shattered because I got to work with them, escort them, deal with their assistants, have promises broken by them. I needed the mystery in order to be happy. You don’t want to look at your favorite book and be reminded of work, and some icky thing that happened while doing work. Then it isn’t your favorite book anymore.
So for me, the recipe has been finding work that uses my skills, that I find challenging and innately interesting. But if I originally loved anything about it, it’s BAD! So now I plan conventions about things I find interesting in an environment that I love, with people that I like, where I have authority and a very good boss. I love my job, I love my work, I love what I do. But I need a disconnect between what I love as a person outside of work and my paying job.
For books, I love (so I should never do work revolving around it) Po Bronson’s What Should I Do With My Life?
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[...] Rich Slowly has an article about How to Find Work That You Love after which dozens of commenters offer share their frustrations with that search and offer tips on [...]
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I echo the person who said “JD! Why ask this question on a Friday!” It’s been picking at my mind all day. And I’ve come to an important realization in regards to this question. And pardon if I do repeat someone, but I didn’t catch it in my skimming.
What is the purpose of you having a job?
Kinda stupid question isn’t. Like stupid obvious. But I’m not kidding – Why do you go to work? Everybody here can say I work to live, that easy. And ya living requires food and shelter. These we know. My response is then “And……”
How you answer, dictates how you should look for your job.
Your answer could be “I want make a difference in the world.” Nice solid answer! And lots of people do that everyday, most in professions that are typically considered underfunded : Teachers, Nurses, Environmental, Police, etc. And most acknowledge the “costs” of this choice.
Your answer could be “Something I am good at and enjoy”. This seems to be the most common answer. And one that makes people alot of money. No not just you employed stiff but book writers.
Its ‘easy’ to make lists and questionnaire. Its hard to rank real priorities.
Here’s mine – “To be able to travel when and where I want and provide an ever increasing level of comfort and security for myself and family.” Nice and wordy, aint it. But concrete. It doesn’t say what I want to do, but does place limitations on my choices. As for your answer? No concern of mine or the worlds. The only people you have to defend the statements are those who are beholden unto you. Children. Spouses or Significant Others.
So why don’t I follow interests. Cause I find those can change over time. Over my life so far, I’ve wanted to be a farm hand, outdoor guide, astronaut, game designer, IT guy. And that’s if I’ve followed my passions. I’m done better at building up my knacks. Things I either have talents in or built up experience doing. And using those knacks, I’ve gotten jobs. Each an improvement over the last. If I followed my interests, which have a tendency to be vastly different, I would have to start back over at ground floor and work my way back up. And that goes against the security part of my statement in a long term sense.
Now again this is all based off of how you answer that question – What is the purpose of you having a job?
Am I saying stick around if you hate your job? Not just No but Hell No. I would say find your pleasures and enjoyment elsewhere. Be it sports, arts, family, church, whatever. There is a difference in seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. In relation to that I think a sub question needs to be asked here, :
Do you define yourself by what you do?
Deep Philosophy I know, but bear with me. How do you identify who you are? Are you a sport fan? A follower of ______ religion? Or an Elk/Bear/Moose/Squirrel? And its not an easy question to answer.
In my mind nobody is just one thing. They have different interests and desires that pull at them. Each bringing different pleasures in their life. You just have to find the right balance for you, acknowledging cost and joys of each.
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I have had a few different roles in software product R & D (docs, code, now test), but in related jobs and related types of software. All have had their moments of passion and dread.
For me, the difference between yuck and love were:
– working in a small company with smart people who want to do things right
– having a unique niche in the company where my unique blend of skills and aptitudes helped me excel in my job responsibilities
– having job responsibilities that fit into several job categories
I worked for a startup for about 5 years several years ago where this was what my job was like. I knew at the time that it might be the best job I’ll ever have. The problem with startups is that they either get big (growth or acquisition), or else they die. That makes them rather scary when you’re the family breadwinner.
My true love is singing, but there’s no way I’d be able to do that for a living. I’m neither that good nor that brave. I’m glad to have enough time and money to pursue it as a hobby!
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“Even if you succeed, it’s rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties.”
And what’s wrong with that? Everybody should have to pay their dues. I don’t see doing the less desirable jobs during this time-period as “wasted time” so much as gaining wisdom through experience.
When you get through your 20′s you begin to actually get a little perspective on the world that you didn’t have before. Before that, with the rare exceptions of course, most people think they know what they want, and most of them are dead wrong.
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I have loved what I did only to see the industry disappear. I could chase it, but then I would have to live somewhere I have no desire to, and that is actually more important than what I do.
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It’s interesting people are talking about being passionate about [your] job. When I worked in hi-tech, I learned to never love what you’re doing too much [when you work for someone other than yourself], or the company will prey on that and never love you back the same way. It happened to me. Though I now work for myself and I love what I do and I think I make a pretty good boss. Writing is a form of play for me, and I still do a bit of it [for myself] in my own time. I’ve found that getting paid well to do what I love makes me not mind so much if I’m not working on the novel I drafted during NaNoWriMo, or working on something new.
It sounds like Shaun should definitely take a financial advisor course, or a tax-prep course, as it would be a really good fit.
I think finding the perfect job or field takes trial and error and experience in the work world and with yourself. I’ve had jobs I loved and jobs I hated, and I only started working for myself a couple years ago (I’m in my mid-30s). Most people don’t know themselves deeply enough to make decisions like this in their early 20s, nor do they tend to know the sheer variety of jobs that exist. I also don’t believe that people need to be tied to one profession or skill for their entire working life.
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I’m finding my self in the same predicament in school. I will have a degree by the end of 2008 but it wont be something I love. The work I do now is stuff i enjoy, but I enjoy it because i am really good at what i do and I got lucky since it pays pretty well. I like running businesses, and I enjoy innovating. I enjoy consulting. My problem is I get bored easily, so I need to have new tasks constantly. The company I work for had a very poor IT department before I came on and me and my boss are turning that around. But once we get done we will both be bored (this is the third company we have been at together) and probably move on to new challenges.
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I second Sabrina’s H&R tax course idea for Shawn given his interests. It’s quite cheap considering that they do recruit the best students (both in terms of grades and good customer service) from the classes, so you can think of it as part of your job search quest.
If he likes it, then keep in mind that H&R Block is a franchise with each owner running his/hers slightly differently. And as anyone who has worked before knows how much of a difference your boss/co-workers make, not just what kind of job it is.
For myself, I’ve found some extremely fulfilling jobs both through:
1)traditional volunteer work
Got a hiking grant! Took people hiking for the envionmental cause I believed in.
(2) non-traditional volunteering
Helping in my tae kwon do classes lead to 8 years of being a paid martial arts instructor.
(3) Community College classes
Right now, I’ve had to switch from physical activities to more mental one due to being older and having a young child. So I took a personal fulfillment class in calligraphy.
Unlike traditional college classes, it’s inexpensive. The instructor is terrific, experienced and very involved. I’ve since taken several more calligraphy classes, and now I’m getting job requests from traditional calligraphy to logo design.
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Actually you could inform your reader, or any of your other readers, to get in touch with me. This is what I do for a living in large part. I am a coach and consultant and one of the things I deal with most is people looking for what to do for a living.
You might send the reader (or any of your readers) to the page about my company and this Detroit News article about me and my company.
I use a set of tools that synthesizes a number of methods, based especially on Appreciative Inquiry and a strong knowledge of personality types, development and communication techniques, to guide clients through a process that helps solidify their identity, which is the key to finding your career path.
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This question: How to find the work that you’ll love, is one I’ve spent a good chunk of time pondering. It seems to me that there are endless answers to the question – I haven’t yet found the guaranteed formula for success.
Yet experiencing more fulfillment, being more energized, and knowing we’re making use of our natural talents, skills, and strengths to contribute value through our work is something that pulls most of us on a path towards this goal.
Early last year I wrote an article on the subject titled, “How to Make Big Career Decisions a Little Easier.” I’ve included a link below: http://www.srpcareertransitions.com/images/Article_How2makeDecisionsEasier.pdf
While there’s no guaranteed formula for success, there seem to be some common factors among people who are enlivened by their work – these factors are highlighted in the above article.
And, here’s a link to a blog that includes some related topics on this subject: http://srpcareertransitions.blogspot.com/.
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When I was 18, I chose to go to a college that I didn’t really like because they offered me the best financial aid package. That lasted less than a year. I dropped out and rattled around various unskilled jobs for a few years until I got a job in Information Technology.
Computers turned out to be where my talents and interests intersected. I was fortunate in that my skills started really building during the height of the PC industry growth in the late 80s and the 90s. I transitioned from bench tech to field tech to network engineer to software developer over the years. Now I’m getting into project management and leadership roles within the enterprise software development and support space.
When I turned 40, I started giving a lot of thought to what I would like to do for the rest of my working life and how I would like to transition to retirement. I don’t want to punch a clock until 65 and end up vegetating in front of the TV for 6.3 years until I die. As I was thinking about this, I discovered the now well known Tim Ferriss Four Hour Work Week. Tim’s mini retirement concept really hit home with me. My wife and I love to travel. Other factors in the mix are that my wife is from the Philippines and that the IT industry is tending toward outsourcing to Asia.
When I put together all of those interests, concerns and trends I was able to work out a career path that should address those issues. I plan to transition to IT project management with an emphasis on cross-geo teams. That has become a way of life in many Fortune 500 companies today, including my present employer. After a few more years of skills development and saving to ensure enough emergency and transition funding, I’ll leave the full time job to become an independent contract project manager. I will look for projects of 2-6 month duration with the expectation of allowing 1-4 months between projects for travel, skills development and spending time with my family. As I near retirement age, I’ll just add take on fewer and/or shorter projects according to my level of interest, motivation and health. The idea is that I will never retire per se.
At the moment I’m finishing up my Bachelors degree and will start a Masters program this fall. I plan to take the Portland State Masters of International Management program that is focused on trans-Pacific business. That aligns nicely with my interests and with the industry trend towards outsourcing to Asia. I’ll also pick up PMP certification during the next year. I’ll be 45 when I’m done with the Masters. I hesitated quite a while before committing to the Masters program. I seriously questioned whether I would get more bang for my buck by starting a part time business. I still wonder sometimes if I’m making the right call, but on the balance I believe that it will work out. I am finding that as I near completion on the Bachelors that I had some subconscious feelings of inferiority and lack of confidence toward my more educated peers. It’s a great feeling to put that behind me.
I strongly agree with several of the other commenter’s point that it’s very difficult to accurately assess your interests and passion at 18. I didn’t really have a clue until I was in my 30s. Fortunately there are more opportunities than ever to re-educate yourself both formally and informally. The internet is a tremendously powerful tool, and new distance learning opportunities continue to become available. Don’t forget that many, if not most employers have some form of tuition assistance.
Take your time, give it a lot of thought, and look for opportunities to experiment with different roles at your current job. I was convinced that I was not a good manager and would not like project management, but after I got a couple of projects under my belt and overcame the initial learning curve I found that I was wrong in both regards – I like it and I’m good at it.
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What a great post! I agree there is no guarantee about the work that you love lasting or not. But it’s always good to anticipate that sometimes circumstances may force you out of what you love so you can do something that you don’t necessarily love but just because it’s taking you somewhere. I especially liked post #77 because I have been encuraged. The past two years of my career have been quite turbulent because of moving from one country to another. Although I am making slow but progressive transition, it has also been a good time for me to reflect on my life. I had never thought or planned for the rest of my life, including planning for possible setbacks and how to recover. I just worked and lived.
But recently, I have been asking myself what I would like to do “for the rest of my life”. The answer is: be a lawyer with my own practice. I have already cut out my niche. I am very intelligent and sometimes I feel bad that I am where I am in life. But working in a law consulting firm has not only left me feeling somehow as an under-achiever but has also reignited the fire that I had when I finished high school very many year ago. I have what it takes to be a lawyer. Do I love what I do now? Yes, I am a researcher (I love reading and writing)…..but I easily get bored “being someone else’s helping hand”. So, my plan is to save, set up a real estate business and hit law school, hopefully part-time, in 2011. I’ll be 39 when I leave law school but working intellectually for myself is what I would love to do for the rest of my life. With frugality and a healthy-conscious attitude towards life, I’ll be a happy camper at 90-years.
May you all achieve great personal finance levels this year!
Victor
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[...] about money long enough, and the question inevitably comes up. And it [...]
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Thanks to those who recommended the Po Bronson book. We went thrifting today (i.e. thrift-store shopping) and I bought a *lot* of personal finance books. One of them is the Bronson book, which I would have ignored had you folks not suggested it…
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[...] Thrift shops and used book stores are outstanding places to find self-help books of all sorts. If you arm yourself with a list of the titles you want, you can usually find three or four good books for about ten bucks. I made a fine haul today, including Po Bronson’s What Should I Do With My Life?, which several readers recommended during our discussion about choosing a career. [...]
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I have no idea if I stumbled upon my calling. I’m not even sure what my calling is!
I’m still in college, so reading the responses to this post have been both enlightening and deeply disturbing. I keep oscillating between wanting something I love and something that both fuels my desire to challenge myself academically and supply me with a decent salary. Realistically it should be both. (This is part of the reason I keep going back and forth about law school as well – do I want something I love, or something that I might be good at?) Wanda’s post at Well-Heeled was both thought-inspiring and cheering.
I don’t know. I guess I’ll just keep my feelers out until I find something I like. Right now I work part-time on campus as an office slave, which is teaching me a lot about different software.
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[...] And there’s a great discussion about finding your passion in life and doing what you love at GetRichSlowly.com. He quotes the same Paul Graham essay. [...]
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I’ve always wanted to write. But I’ve also always wanted to please my parents so I’ve let them decide what course I pursue. And then I found out that even the career they chose for me – as a doctor – was neither attainable because for some reason they didn’t want me to pursue Medicine anymore (but I took up pre-Med). That caused me to crumble.
Refusing to lose direction, I chose (hah now I get to decide for myself) to work as a corporate slave instead. But while crafting memos, my passion for writing was resurrected. So I freelanced for a while and soon found out that I have enough determination and clients to go full-time. So now I’m here working full-time as a virtual assistant with focus on online marketing particularly blogging. A job that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE.
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I found the job I love by accident at first, then through careful planning. I got a bunch of part time jobs through a temp agency after university and discovered lots of jobs I didn’t know existed.
Through those, I was able to narrow down what I liked doing and what I was good at.
Then came the planning part. Once I’d figured out the area I wanted to work in, I set about figuring out how to get a job in that field.
So, I got lucky at first then I worked hard at staying lucky.
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I don’t mean to sound cynical or bitter but does it matter how we find work we love?
If our jobs support our basic means of living and help us save while letting us pursue other activites and projects on the side, and those outside activities make us happy, then why wonder if we’re doing the work we love?
I don’t know if my comment makes sense. If we’re happy overall, the rest is just minor stuff isn’t it?
In college I was confident and determined I was going to be a newspaper journalist. After several internships I was ready for my journalism career. But after a rocky first start at a small newspaper and realizing I had some shortcomings as a writer, I bailed for a corporate stable job with benefits.
Not that I like my job since I’m grossly underpaid, but I find my outside activites, freelance writing about music (something I love more than anything) and mentoring kids who were like myself at one point bring me a lot of happiness. I’m still developing my goals of writing about music trends and bands while working on other projects in my current career. So in the meantime I may not be completely happy but I’m content and don’t feel like I have to keep soul searching.
But the person in the example is driving a delivery truck said any person can do their job so that’s understandable. Maybe that person can volunteer, meet other people in the community or reach other by sending emails or having lunch with people in careers they’d like.
I started out a large part of last year asking my mentors who knew of people that would be interesting to set up intial meetings for lunch or cofee. I got to learn directly what I liked and didn’t like. While I didn’t end up pursuing jobs in those industries, just making that contact gave me many ideas.
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Yet another reason I have been so interested in GRS; timely and relevant content.
I’ve always felt the need for a purpose and a plan regarding my career path. It wasn’t until I realized during my second semester in college that I wasn’t interested in medicine that I had to face my first “career crisis” moment. I picked Electrical Engineering, why? Because I had family who enjoyed it and were financially stable, I was interested in the subject matter, but I definitely had NO IDEA what being an Electrical Engineer meant. And after working as an Engineer for 6 years for a couple of organizations I don’t think any amount of investigation could have helped me understand what it meant to be one, day in and day out.
I’ve since moved into a position that I describe as “Being the best job I could have working for someone else”. (Can you sense I have a strong entrepreneurial side that wants to come out?)
That being said, I agree with previous insight that choices made today will give you opportunities tomorrow. I also believe that it’s possible to work at a job you can tolerate to provide an income to allow you to do what gives you fulfillment on the side.
Who knows, maybe when I “Cash Out” of the rat race I’ll be financially stable enough to do that fulfilling activity full time.
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I had a very weird career turn. I am educated as a medical doctor, but I worked for the last 4 years as a balloon artist. If you want to know how, click on my name.
As a full time balloon artist, I twist balloon art live at special events. Well, after 4 years I am ready to try something else. It’s a good thing that balloon arts job doesn’t take much of my time. I work only 3 days a week, mostly weekends. I have some free time explore all other options.
I say, to find what you want to do, first you need to become aware of all the options that out there.
Read, read, read, read trade magazines in your library and search the internet.
Go to trade shows once in a while, if possible. I recently went to a franchise trade show NOT because I want to buy a franchise. I wanted to learn about different business systems.
And, boy, did I learn! My cost – $20, the experience – priceless. I am still digesting what I learned in one day on that trade show floor. If you ever have an opportunity to go to a franchise show, GO. You can even find an interesting job there, if you are looking for a job. Someone has to work in all those new businesses that franchising creates!
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It sounds like you’d be GREAT at being a Financial Planner/Advisor. They help people with budgets, forcasting, achieving their dreams pre- and post retirement, etc. Check out DaveRamsey.com, and listen to his radio show in your area, read his books. If you can dig what he talks about…it’ll probably hit you right in the face.
Another suggestion is to visit a financial planner, accounting firm, etc., and have an informational interview–learn about what they do, and critique it based on what you already said you “love” to do…
1. Work with people
2. Work with numbers
3. Put together budgets
4. Skilled in math, accounting, and have a knack for the financial side of business (which support what you “love to do” listed in 1 – 3)
You’re already there–you’re trying now to “occupationalize” or form the pieces into something that make money.
I’ve suggested a start (someone else may have also; I didn’t read everyone’s response). Go for it!
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I graduated from college two years ago and have felt extremely pressed to figure out what sort of work I should begin pursuing. I believe that such an inner struggle suggests a buried passion that one must work incessantly to uncover.
My advice (somewhat borrowed from “Getting Unstuck” by Timothy Butler) is to sit down at your computer screen with an open new document, or a table with pen and paper, and begin jotting down images and ideas that come to mind when you think, or have thought, about your dream work. The key, I think, it to include anything and everything, from people, places and things, to vague notions about your passion/s. This exercise can prove very powerful, especially after reflecting on the list to uncover common themes and/or conflicts. I think this is especially useful for someone like me who is more prone to try to “figure out” what would make them happy.
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I started my first job after college in 06. In the beginning it was ok, wasn’t exactly what I have planned, but as time goes on I started to hate it more and more.
The problem is that it wasn’t my main passion and I really felt like I was in “The Office” or “Office Space.”
Most importantly in today’s society, finding the job you love, like Paul Graham said, is not easy.
Many times, especially in corporate environment, you are left with grunge work until you “earn your way up the ladder.” Seniority, which I personally feel is discriminatory, plays a big role
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Thank you all for posting your advice.
I really went on the Internet out of despair putting in search “how to find a job you love” or something like that. I was relieved to learn that I am not alone with my search and worries that this search comes as I considered late in life (30s). Now I know it is not late and it is common.
I can’t wait to read the literature you suggested and visit the web sites you mentioned.
Thanks again,
Olga
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