This weekend, in a vain attempt to avoid rewriting my dissertation for the final draft, I spent quite a bit of time browsing on the Internet. One of the sites I came to featured a career interest test. I didn't actually take the test because it cost money, so I can't personally attest to its accuracy.
However, in scrolling through the test description, I saw something that really made me think. It said:
Remember What You Really Wanted To Do In This Life
Many of "Career Changers" tell us that our Career Test reminded them of talents and interests long forgotten. In the push to get through school, get a job, raise a family, many people set aside their true passions in life. Then, at some point later in life they find themselves not fulfilled, not satisfied, looking for something else.
Our career test has the ability to remind you of what you really liked to do. Remembering your true interests allows you to modify your life to be much more satisfying and rewarding.
Isn't it strange that one of the main benefits of this test is that it reminds people of what they once liked to do, but gave up because of their drive to be successful in life? And now, once those same people have found themselves out of work and needing to find a new career, they're being directed to pursue the things that they once liked to do!
I think this happens because many of us believe we can't do/study something we actually like... and be able to earn money with it. So we end up doing something we think will bring us financial success (which it might) without the real passion that comes from doing something that we truly enjoy.
Katie, that is so true.
Most of us accept other people's well-meaning advice to pursue a career that is "safe" (i.e. well paying) and "secure" (i.e. lots of those kinds of jobs in market). So we go do it, spend a few miserable decades and head into therapy or seminars, then end up where we were when we were still learning how to read.
Posted by: Jane Chin | January 19, 2007 at 05:30 PM