Article 197 - Career and profession choice does not have to be hard

Striving for and doing what we love each and every day of our lives

Over the course of the last few years, my teenage son has been expressing to me that he is not sure about the profession or the line of work he wants to be in once he is at the point in his life when such decision would need to be made. So, he has been asking me to share my recommendation of what he should do when the time comes? Every time I receive such question, my response to my son is always the same – “Do what you truly enjoy doing, no matter the line of business, profession, salary, etc.” Why I believe this is important? Because, we as human beings have been conditioned to select our careers, our professions, and jobs based on several factors that other people, including our parents, believe are important, such as: prestige, salary potential, job security, opportunities for advancements and growth, physical location, and few other criteria’s. However, why is nobody recommending selecting our future career based on one simple factor – doing that what we truly find interesting and see ourselves doing for the rest of our life?

In my personal opinion, being in a profession or career that one loves and wakes up every morning looking forward to pursuing and learning more about, is the most important thing for a young adult to consider when thinking about his or her professional future. The career, profession, and job that we select, that we enjoy, may not be prestigious in the eyes of other people, or may not be the one that pays top salary, but just because we do that what we enjoy and passionate about every day, we would give our 100% each and every day, and not because someone is expecting us to do so, but because we choose to do so. When we are in a line of work or profession that we love, it is not a job that we are expected to do each day, but our commitment and personal investment into ourselves and our future. We hold ourselves accountable and proactively work on developing new and enhancing existing skills of ours, because, we want to get better, while enjoying the learning process in the meantime. When something does not go right or as expected, we are not pointing finger at someone else, we look into our own actions, reviewing and correcting any mistakes made, learning something new during the process, and happily try again until we see the results that we want to see. Why? Because we enjoy that what we do. We receive a sense of happiness and satisfaction from our work and our efforts each and every day.

So, next time my son asks me the same question, as he makes his way through High School years, my response to him will remain the same as before: “Do that what you truly enjoy doing, no matter the line of business, profession, or the salary, because, doing what you love every day is what will bring you complete happiness and great success in life.”