Defining your ideal career path is a pretty daunting prospect. We spend large chunks of our lives at work, so we want to make sure we pick something rewarding and enjoyable.
Whatever you decide upon, it’s not set in stone, and there are lots of people who end up doing something completely different to what they expected – and love it. When it comes to making this huge decision, though, fortunately, you don’t have to struggle alone. There are many effective step by step models that exist, which you can follow systematically. In this guide, we will take you through one such example. By following this, by the end, you should start to be forming ideas on exactly what it is you are destined to do in your career and how you can achieve it.
Step One: Get to Know Yourself
We live with ourselves 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, and yet, we don’t often take time to look at ourselves in detail.
What are the things we enjoy, how do we work, what makes us tick, how do we communicate? These are all valuable things to know about ourselves, and when we understand them better, we can better understand what kind of careers we would be suited to, and most importantly, enjoy.
Understanding yourself isn’t easy, and it’s something that takes time, which is perhaps why it can take people much of their careers to find the job they truly love. However, by actively thinking about these things, you can give yourself a head start.
Step Two: Think Career, Not Jobs
No matter how well you plan, the journey never looks exactly how you expected it. If you asked many people, they would probably tell you they would never have expected to end up in the job they’re in, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
If you focus in too narrowly on a certain job, then you might cut yourself off from other opportunities that present themselves. Instead, if you take a more macro view of things and focus on careers more generally, then you’ll be more open to the different opportunities that present themselves throughout your journey.
As you progress further through your career, then you can start to focus in on certain jobs and positions, but make sure you’re never limiting your ambitions.
Step Three: Prepare for the Future
Imagine you wanted to build cars in the 1900s, and you got yourself your ideal job in a car manufacturing factory. You get to work with your hands, put things together, and work as part of a team to build an amazing piece of machinery. Not many years later, though, machinery starts to take over many of the processes, and suddenly you’re left with a job that looks very different to what you expected.
The world changes very quickly, and just because things are done a certain way today doesn’t mean they will continue to be the same in the future. Another great example of this is in nursing. The role of the nurse has changed greatly over the years and continues to do so. The healthcare industry is going through changes, and nursing is adapting to meet new challenges.
This is why you need to always be on the lookout for the trends of the future. It’s impossible to predict exactly what’s going to happen, but if you take an interest in your industry, then you can prepare yourself for the changes that might occur.
Step Four: Money Isn’t Everything
Money is important; it’s something we all need. However, when you’re choosing your career it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all. You’re going to spend huge portions of your life working, and if you don’t enjoy what you do, those hours are going to feel much longer.
People who love what they do often tend to do it better as well. Just think about it; it’s much easier to learn something if you enjoy reading about it.
So, making sure you enjoy your chosen career is something that’s well worth putting time and effort into. Money will always be a consideration because we need it to live, but it shouldn’t be the only thing to think about.
Looking deeper into your career path
It is at this point that you should have a better idea of what career path you want to go down, but how do you know if it is the right one, and how can you then achieve it?
Step Five: There’s No Substitute for Experience
How often do you meet someone who had a dream, only to realize when they achieved it that it wasn’t what they expected?
The nice thing about choosing your career is that is always a good idea to get some experience before you make any commitments. Of course, if you want to be a surgeon, they’re not going to hand you the scalpel just so you can find out if it’s your perfect career, but you can get practical experience in the healthcare industry that can give you a feel for things.
If you think a certain career is the route you want to go down, then try and get some experience and see how it feels. It might confirm the fact that this is the ideal occupation for you, or you may find you hate it. Either way, you’ve learned something useful.
Step Six: Invest in Your Education
Sticking with the previous example, once you have had experience working in a hospital and you know that this is the right career path for you, the next step will be to make sure that you are investing in the right education. As we mentioned previously, nursing is one of those industries that constantly changes, and requires expanding responsibilities and new skills. However, by following the model systematically, you will already know this and, therefore, be on the lookout for the right course you need. In this instance, to kickstart your nursing career, before you take a relevant nursing degree, you will know that it would benefit you to first take an online MBA in healthcare administration. In a course such as this, you will gain more skills and be able to undertake more responsibilities, such as understanding the US healthcare system fully, opening up the opportunities to you in the future. Investing in the right degrees can make such a difference to your career.
The same is true for many careers.
Step Seven: Accept Guidance
There are lots of people out there who can help you with your journey, so make the most of it. Navigating yourself through life is difficult enough, but it’s even more difficult to do it on your own, so seek advice from the people you trust.
Not everyone’s advice is going to be right for you, but if you take it on board and analyze it, then you can do with it what you want. You are your own person, and ultimately the decision is up to you, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking on board other people’s opinions.
It’s not always easy to find help in life, so if people offer it to you, then accept it.