Did you make a spot-on career choice?

"The minute you begin to do what you want to do, it's a different kind of life."

 - R. Buckminster Fuller

Most people spend more of their waking lives working than doing anything else. Therefore, the decisions you make about your work life are very important. Your choices are bound to impact not only yourself, but others close to you as well.

Did you make a spot-on career choice? The question is seemingly simple but responding to it can be a very gruelling effort. Your career journey will have its ups and downs. There will be plenty of occasions when you will detest your job and likewise, numerous junctures when you will perhaps feel that there could not have been a better job. Your mood and spirits will ebb and flow; and you will find distinguishing times when you are in the dumps from a frustrating job and wonder if you are on a proper career path.

How will you be able to know that you have selected a correct career path? And when will that be? You need to respond to the following questions honestly:

· Has it been too much of a deviation? While at school, everybody dreams of becoming something. As you grow up, most of those dreams fade away as if they were just fantasies. But it could also be possible that your original ideas are just a stone’s throw away. Suppose you had a childhood dream of becoming an army officer. It would indeed be superb if you become one. But if you join the air force, you would have still made a career in the armed forces. You would not have made a major conciliation. Now contrast this example with another. Suppose you wanted to become a doctor, but at the time of taking an entrance test to a medical college, felt that the academic pressure would be very intense. So you became a pharmacist. Now that was a monumental give and take endeavour of your life.

· Are your spirits high? You will have to delve within yourself and find out if you are really content. Thereafter, imagine yourself and your position after three or five years. Now, if you are convinced that you will be happy then and that extra efforts on your part to reach the position aspired for are really worth it, you are presently at the correct position. But if you have any qualms, then perhaps you may go for a switchover. However, in a large number of cases, it is also the workplace atmosphere that makes you feel unhappy. There could be colleagues indulging in backbiting, differences with your boss, monotony at work and lack of adequate growth prospects. If that be so, then a job change is what is required.

· What is the way out if you detest your job? Well, what can be the way out? You may be receiving good remuneration with excellent perks, but yet you are not pleased and satisfied. You may feel otherwise secure in your job, but that is of absolutely no meaning because you do not enjoy doing whatever you are doing. Changing your job or your career is indeed a terrifying venture, but it only such an undertaking that makes the world move. It is all about being face to face with dares and defies; and if you do not challenge yourself, your life would become uninteresting. Initial difficulties will be there, but when you start moving in the direction of your dreams, the returns will be infinite.

·  How can you switch over to a different career? The decision to change your career should never be based on impulse. Notwithstanding that you do not like the job that you may be in, yet you have to continue with it with some extra inspiration. This is to prepare yourself for the change and various teething troubles associated with it. You must have enough savings to see you through because changing a career may start with a period of unemployment. As a thumb rule, about ten times your current income should be in your bank. And when that happens, you should start drafting a new resume. You could take up an honorary assignment to gain experience or subscribe to a course of instruction to add on to your qualifications. But it should be remembered that underestimating or under-representing yourself will amount to a blunder that perhaps you did in the past. Your focus should be on the reward and if you happen to make a correct choice, your fervour and enthusiasm will take care of everything.  

Seeking a career or quitting a job for another is a turning point in anybody’s life. Since no person can succeed in a line of endeavour which he or she does not like, your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. The best portent of a man's success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world. And remember that the past is not your potential; you can elect to unshackle your future anytime. So, what are you waiting for?