How to make a CAREER DECISION
ISUSPECT you might be reading this article because of the title. Correct? Coming to an important decision is often very difficult; coming with much anxiety, hand-wringing and ‘if and buting’. Oftentimes, we just can’t be bothered and fail to decide.
Should I take this job or that one? The one with the higher salary is more money but the other is in my passion – which should I choose? I have a job lined up abroad, but I don’t want to live there, yet I cannot seem to get a job paying me close to what I’m worth here – what should I do? I’m in my 40s, have very little savings and I hate this job, but am not qualified for anything else; it scares me that I’m getting old and have very little to show for it. On and on it goes. Anthony Robbins, in Awaken
The Giant Within says, “I believe that it’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. It’s our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny. My whole life changed in just one day – the day I determined not just what I’d like to have in my life or what I wanted to become, but when I decided who and what I was committed to having and being in my life. If you truly decide to, you can do almost anything.”
This is a very important subject and one every person owes it to himself or herself to be familiar with since everyone is making choices all the time. With this information it will become clearer to you why you get stuck sometimes. Not just that. You’ll be able to make easier decisions which you feel comfortable and at peace with.
FEAR OF MAKING MISTAKES
One of the problems with making decisions is the fear of making mistakes. The way around this is to realise and take it for granted that mistakes are a part of life – everybody makes them. That’s it.
If you approach life as if it’s all fun and no difficulty, you will be disappointed. And you’ll be constantly complaining to whoever listens to you. Take problems as par for the course.
When you view life in this way, it frees you up to pursue your passions. You might feel scared but you just feel the fear and do it anyway. If you’ll grow there’s no other way. You welcome your problems as opportunities. They are practice. Get in the habit of mastering problems – through practice.
Another thing to do is to get comfortable with your own feeling of discomfort. Many people hate dealing with discomfort and do whatever they can to avoid it. They allow their emotions to stop them. But you are the master of your emotions, not the other way around. You control your emotions, you act despite how you are feeling, remember that.
And that is the key to making a career decision – just do it. Act despite how you are feeling. Do not get caught up in paralysis of analysis where you think of one way to go, then you think of another way, and you think ‘no’, then you think of still another, ad nauseam.
Take action, not matter how you are feeling. You’ve heard that practice makes perfect; well, do not wait for perfection – just do it.
Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and success strategist. He is the author of ‘From Problems to Power’ and co-author of ‘Profile of Excellence’. glenfordsmith@yahoo.com