Millions of people have advised on this subject already. Working in the employment industry for 17 years, I have the opportunity of discussing this all the time. The usual rhetoric of being passionate about something, loving the job, playing to one’s strength etc continue to be the trendiest things to speak. We have heard all of these. What’s new?
We set out a new journey assuming a few things and dreaming about certain possibilities. Over a period of time, some of these do not play out the way we planned. In spite of all this, we need to move forward with some degree of optimism about the future and some bit of due diligence about it. Life goes on! So, we must move forward knowing very well that the road ahead offers challenges, upsets, obstacles and so on in as much quantity as opportunities, tail-wind and pleasant surprises.
The first bit of due diligence is in the heart first and then, the head. I need to think if I just need a job or a life. Job in this context is just a tool to earn money and run my livelihood while life is much bigger and about building monuments that are to be left behind as legacies. At times, we look for both. But, the question here is about priority. If life is the priority, the question is deep and calls for a lot of soul-searching. Like Shah Jahan is remembered for the Taj, Steve Jobs for Apple, Mahatma Gandhi for India and so on, do I connect with anything so deeply that I will build something for the posterity to reminisce? If not, a job is good enough to be the first priority.
During the course of time, one can hopefully discover one’s true calling. One may connect with multiple things at the same time and feel passionate about. Nothing wrong with it! The point here is to make choices and follow a certain path! That’s the right job for me! I have found mine, have you?
The second due diligence is in the head. One needs to know about the goals to be achieved, the context in which they are to be achieved and the skills required to achieve those goals. One may not have all the information to be sure of all these three aspects. However, one needs to be reasonably sure about the goals of the job, the context for the job and what skills are distinctly important to perform the job. Many a times, people do not have adequate information about all these and take either a leap of faith or shy away from something which is imminently sure-shot success. In either case, it’s important that one deploys adequate efforts to know all these and decide if it’s the right job.
Last, but not the least, it is to recognize that we make mistakes and hence, they must be corrected. We are all prisoners of our ego and find it difficult to jail-break. It’s better to be late than never. One can land up in the wrong job. So, it’s important that I quash my ego before it’s too late and move on to the right job.
Find the job that’s right for you!
You may also like to read :
