Making Career Decisions

Decision making is easy, right? Get the question clear. Identify the possible solutions. Weigh up the options. Make a choice. Do it.
And what about those people who decided “what I want to be” when they were at school, and just stuck to it. Didn’t they have it easy?
If only career decisions worked like that for all of us! There are so many things to think about – so many factors to juggle. And then when you’ve decided, maybe you won’t be able to get what you want. Or it won’t be any better than where you are now. It’s all so uncertain. Sometimes it just seems easier to stay where we are, or not to make a decision at all.
Being undecided about your career is natural and normal. Almost everyone feels it several times during their working lives. And we are often brought up to always be looking for something more: something better.

5 fresh tips for getting started

1. Accept that we are always making career decisions. When you stop looking for something better, it might be time to start thinking about full retirement.
2. If you feel like you need to re-assess, then trust your instincts. If you really are better off where you are, that will become apparent if you take the re-assessment seriously.
3. Give yourself time to work it out. Career decisions are often not the sort of decisions you can make in a few minutes – or hours.
4. Identify all the influences that push and prod you, or hold you back. They are part of your life: work with them, not against them, or they’ll trip you up.
5. Trust your own judgement. If it feels right, it probably is right, because you will work to make it right.