When talking about choosing a career path, the first question i ask my audience is: WHO ARE YOU? Here am not asking of your name. i am asking of who exactly you are, what do you stand for?, why are you here (earth)? You need to be able to answer these questions for you to know if you are presently doing the right thing or not.
To have a successful career focus you need to know what exactly you stand for else you would be going from one career to another. In defining who you are, you need to know your purpose in life, (why are you here?). Many people get confused because their present job or course of study in school is totally different from who they really want to become. One of the biggest threat is when you discover what you study is not what you should have studied. When you know you are doing a job that is different from what you love doing. Many people are pushed to choose what the society want them to become, what their parents want them to become and not what they truly should become. This ultimately makes a lot of people miss their career path. In fact, some people want to pursue a career because they saw their uncle successful in that career or they were told that the career makes lot of money forgetting that everyone has different gift, different ability, and different talent to make a significant difference in this world.
The school system has also played a major role in misguiding many people and their careers. As an individual, I never liked the schooling system for any reason because it ought to be a platform to appreciate talents and to inspire people to greatness, rather it has become a competitive place to test individuals who have different talents and potentials with the same means which they call standardize tests. I strongly believe we all have different abilities and genes why is the class filled with individuals tested by the same means? If your friend can solve mathematics better than you, does it mean he is better than you? If you can speak English fluently than your friend, is that a yardstick to consider yourself better? The same way if your parent knows a wealthy lawyer or doctor all of a sudden they want you to go into the same space. WHY???? Does it mean i cannot pursue my dream in a different field and also be successful and fulfilled? The society has tamed many people to believe money is the measurement of success. So many people are always thinking, asking people this question of “What should I do to have money? Or what career pays more” instead of asking: how can i identify my purpose, develop my gifts/talents to impact humanity. We have been conditioned to believe that we are at war with other people, in competition with others in terms of what they wear, how much they earn, which country they are from, what school they graduated from, etc. You are simply not at war with anybody rather yourself and your purpose. You are who you are because God has given you the exact gifts and talents to become who you will become.
Steps to follow in identifying your career path
Step 1: Self-Discovery
First, discover your inborn talents and gifts.
What are your stand out gifts? What is that 1 thing you can do better than any other person?
Step 2: Vision
Second, know where you belong. Which sector will your gift fit into? What are the problems in the sector you are not happy about and you wish to change? How can you make this sector and the whole world better with your gifts?
After the first 2 steps, you should know who you truly are. I discovered myself in 2013. I discovered the inborn gifts I have, the sector it correlates with and what I want to change about the world since then I make sure that everything I do is in line with my vision. My vision is to impact and inspire 1 billion people on the face of the earth in the next 50 years. I want to die empty after unleashing every single thing in me. You need to wake up daily and see yourself in the future. You can’t become what you cannot see… that’s why it’s called “Vision”
Vision is typically purpose in seen. Your purpose is what you want to become, vision is seeing it in picture.
After you truly know yourself, the next step is how do you become? How do you pursue your career?
Step 3: Have a plan
I tell people you can’t just live your life daily hoping things will change!!! Things will never change until you change things. You can’t be that person you want to become if you only talk about it without doing anything. Things can only get better if you have a plan and work towards your plan. Develop a career plan. What do you want to become in the next X years, and HOW do you want to get there. (simple exercise: write down where you want to see yourself in the next X years e.g. 10 years, after that think as if you are already in that year e.g. 2028. Now write down every possible thing you have done to become what you are. This helps you to see the end from the beginning. Those things you wrote are things you need to start to do from now to become who you want to become.
Step 4: Break your plan into smaller goals and follow your plan
It is much easier to write down a plan or write down what you want to become but following it is much more difficult. Only those that can do the difficult can enjoy the glory and that’s why you see few percentage of people fulfilled in life. nobody wish to be poor, nobody wish to be a nobody, everyone wish to be successful but not all will because some can go through more difficult times to follow their plan through while many cannot. You will surely face challenges on your way to implementing your plans, they will come but when you accept them and fall for them then your plans are just written in paper and not in reality. Simplify your plan by making short term, mid-term and long term goals.
Step 5 Leverage on opportunities and mentorship
You need to know that in life, nothing just happen. Whatever you want to see happen you have to trigger it. Identify mentors in your career path and learn from them. Make good use of the opportunities you have and leverage on them. Some people got their next permanent job while volunteering, some got a scholarship to study while doing internship. Learn how to network with people across a all levels and do whatever your hands find doing properly. Don’t see any opportunity as a small opportunity … it is not small that’s why it’s called “an opportunity”
