Finding Out What You Want to Do for a Living

Trying to find what you really want to do for a living is a bit like a quick game of darts in a dark, smoky bar: you can do everything that is humanly possible to influence the trajectory and outcome of your throw, but a lot of things can happen in between the time it takes for the dart to leave your hand to the point where it actually makes contact with the board, and a lot of times it doesn't exactly land where you thought it would. Career paths are a bit like that: you can plan all you want, but what really counts is what you actually become in the end.

I personally feel that there are two approaches to finding out what you really want to do in life: the first is to take some time out after schooling for some intense soul searching in the desert with no one but yourself and that voice in your head. This is a great way to realize what it's like to live alone and without any parental support, plus you get a great and totally unique desert tan.

The second way (and probably the more practical one) is to just try out as many different jobs as you think is possible. Just like a game of darts where you get more than one try, no one ever said that you'd have to stay in one job for the rest of your life, or to have just one job for that matter. Of course, there will be some jobs that are more for the long term than others, but the only person who can really decide if it's worth staying in is you.

To complement your main source of income (i.e. that exciting/boring day job), you could also moonlight on the side not only to get some extra cash coming in each month, but it also lets you out of the drudgery of the daily grind by introducing some new challenges and work for you to tackle. With the power of the Internet, you could practically do this from your office as well, as is the case with freelance writing or maintaining a blog that aims to earn. You could also get a part-time job that starts as soon as you get out of work as long as you could handle the hours. There definitely is enough opportunity out there for some freelancing and sidelining, and the best part is that you only have to take them on when you've got some extra time on your hands. It might be a good time as well to state that your part-time job should never interfere with your main line of work!

Figuring out what you'd want to do for a living may be a tedious and time consuming task, but then again if you think about it, you have your entire life to make that decision. Some people even live their entire lives without knowing what they'd really want to do, but it's worse than being stuck in a career that you absolutely abhor but are just too scared or cautious to do anything about it. Life is a game meant to be enjoyed, and if ever you do make a mistake, just get yourself together, pick the darts up off from the board, and start all over again.