Back to the Home Join the movement

How to Choose a Career

It’s common for people, when discerning a career path, to only consider the following:

  1. What am I good at?
  2. Can I make good money doing it? (Hence an over-focus on STEM fields today)

But when you only ask these two questions, you can easily end up doing work you don’t love, living far away from extended family and roots, and struggling to fit your work into a healthy, happy life.

An improved formula is to instead ask these questions:

  1. What talents have I been given? (What am I good at?)
  2. What are the needs around me? (Is there a “market” for this work?)
  3. What am I passionate about? (Will I truly love this work?)
  4. What is most important in my life?

Question #4 (What is most important in my life?) is most important and, unfortunately, the least considered. Indeed, the answer to #4 may override the answers to all the other questions! After all, if something’s important enough, it may not matter if I enjoy doing it, or if I get paid much, or if I’m even that good at it.

More importantly, implied within question #4 are so many other key questions that should ultimately determine what type of work we are called to do. Questions like:

Bottom line: If you want happiness (for you or for your children), it won’t come only from a job you’re good at that pays well (as anyone who’s attained such can attest). So make sure you ask the right questions (and help your children do the same) in discerning your work. It may end up taking you down a very different path.



Join thousands of folks who get my very infrequent email updates.