Many are trying to choose a profession, guided by this issue. But, firstly, the answer to it may be too lengthy. In fact, you can enjoy a lot of things at the same time: get to know and chat with people, travel and talk in detail about your travels in your personal blog, prepare desserts according to unusual recipes, watch and discuss new films, play with children, read about psychology. The tendency towards which profession follows from this set of diverse interests? Who are you - a “born” psychologist, journalist, pastry chef, film critic, teacher?
Secondly, love for any occupation is not a sign of professionalism in this matter. For example, writing poetry is loved not only by gifted people, but by ordinary graphomaniacs, and just because your mother praises your poetry does not mean that someone else will be happy to read them. In more mundane areas, too, everyone can remember someone who sincerely believes that he has chosen a profession by vocation, only his colleagues and clients do not consider him a good specialist.
Imagine that you are looking for a master tiler to tile a kitchen. Which of the two candidates do you prefer: the one who is absolutely indifferent to his work, but judging by the photographs of his objects and the customer’s reviews, performs it efficiently, or the one who “burns his eyes” because he likes the process itself, but, judging by the photographs of objects and reviews, the hands do not grow from where it should have come from?
This is the difference between a profession and a hobby: for a hobby, we just enjoy the process. And in the profession, we also rely on success - that is, on our demand and recognition as a specialist. Of course, success depends not only on the person, but also on the situation in the personnel market: on the demand for a particular specialty and the level of competition for the workplace. But the truth is that high-class professionals are appreciated even in conditions of high competition - there are never many of them.
How to choose a business so that it is both by calling and liking?
Instead of one question, three
There are many recommendations on how to find your calling. Here is one way.
Sheena Iyengar, professor at the Columbia Business School, author of the bestselling book The Art Of Choosing, has long studied how people make choices — not specifically professions, but in general, in different situations.
In May this year, speaking at a conference in Texas, Iyengar touched on the topic of career choice. In her opinion, for this choice it is important to ask yourself three key questions:
What can I do better than others?
What problems (tasks) would I like to solve?
How would I like to look in the eyes of other people?
What can I do better than others?
The question “What can I do better than others?”, In contrast to the question “What do I like to do?” Prompts you to understand your tendencies in terms of abilities, not desires. Obviously, the chances of success are greater in what you do better. For example, if your strength is ease of communication, the ability to find a common language with anyone, you should look at the professions in the field of communications. If, being carried away by different topics, you like to “dig deep” until you understand the matter thoroughly, you may be close to research activities.
As well as interests, abilities of one person can be several, including diverse. The other two questions will help you figure out which (or which) of them to choose.
What problems (tasks) would I like to solve?
Any work (perhaps, except purely creative) is aimed at solving some problems or problems. But the question is simple only at first glance. In fact, not everyone can say with certainty something like: “I want to devote my life to finding a cure for cancer” or “I want to teach children something useful.” Those who have a similar answer do not need hints for finding a profession - they have already found it. But what if you cannot immediately understand your values and interests?
Sheena Iyengar explained how you can "feel" your way, reasoning from the particular to the general. For example, you like to plan trips for your friends and organize excursions to try different world cuisines. What is behind this? You may like to help people better understand other national cultures beyond their own. Knowing this, you can consider various options for suitable activities: from the most obvious - work in the tourism sector - to the less obvious (for example, teaching a foreign language).
How would I like to look in the eyes of other people?
A profession is not just a way of earning money, but also a certain image that develops about a person in other people. And, whatever one may say, for many of us it is very important how others perceive us. You can try to find yourself through the impression that we would like to make on other people.
For this, Iyengar invites people to think about the five qualities that they would like to become famous for: for example, smart, caring, sensitive, reliable, selfless. The main thing is to answer honestly: in reality, not everyone wants to be considered virtuous, someone wants to be just fashionable, creative or even “cool”.
Iyengar then invites them to think about what activities can relate the different qualities that they have listed. For example, if you want people to consider you a helpful, trustworthy and caring person, consider working in the field of assistance.
The value of the answers to these questions is not that they will lead you to one particular profession, but that they will narrow down your choice. You will get an idea of the activities that suit you best. As new career development options appear, you will be able to evaluate each time whether they are suitable for you or not, remembering the answers to these key questions.
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