What's Important in Choosing Your Career
Jay Earley, Ph.D.


There are many different criteria that people use in choosing
a certain job or career--security, recognition, power, life
purpose, and others. If you happen to be in serious financial
difficulty or on the edge of being out on the street, you choose
a job for survival reason--whatever will pay the bills. Most
people choose a career partly for the financial security it can
provide or the enhanced standard of living. These choices are
completely valid, but people often find that if they stay in a
job that pays well but doesn't provide anything else, they end
up disappointed and frustrated. They also need work that is
enjoyable and challenging. Be careful that you don't get used
to a high paying job and a pricey standard of living which then
rules out career choices that would be more satisfying.

Many people choose careers for the rewards they bring. In some
job situations you may be recognized and admired for your
talents and achievements. Other career choices may lead to
considerable status and power and the satisfaction that comes
from "playing in the big leagues." These rewards can be
important in helping you to develop your sense of self-worth.
However, a job must provide more than just these external
rewards or you will probably end up feeling bored or restless.

It is important to find a job that is intrinsically satisfying as
well as rewarding. You want the work to be enjoyable and
interesting for its own sake. Some people also value work that
allows them to make meaningful connections with other people
or to belong to a friendly group in the work situation. Others
value work that allows them to be in situations that are
enjoyable--being in nature, performing, working with teams,
traveling, etc.

Even though your work is enjoyable, you may eventually want
more. Most people find that they want work that involves
challenges and new learning, that uses their initiative and
talent as much as possible. For greater satisfaction, you want
a job that engages your creativity and uses your unique talents,
personal strengths, and special qualities--those things that are
your particular gifts to the world.

Sounds pretty good, huh? But for some of us, even this isn't
enough. Ultimately we want our work to be meaningful. We want
it to contribute to something larger than ourselves. If the work
only takes care of me (and my family), it may not feel truly
meaningful. Therefore we become interested in the effects of our
work on other people and the world. We refuse to engage in work
that is destructive or that violates our values. For those of us
who have the opportunity, we want to go even further, to do
work that is actively aligned with our deeper values and makes
a contribution to other people or to the world in some way. This
might be a contribution to a cause, to society, to art or
knowledge or Spirit.

Ideally your career will be your unique contribution, one that
reflects your mission, your ultimate purpose in life. This is
what makes work deeply meaningful. And of course, the work
should also be enjoyable, challenging, and creative. Your life
purpose career should integrate both sides of yourself--personal
fulfillment and contribution to something larger.

I offer Life Purpose Coaching as a way to help people discover
their best career choice--one that includes all of these
perspectives with a special emphasis on the meaning of your life
and your unique contribution to the world. See
www.lifepurposecoaching.com.



Jay Earley, Ph.D. 415-924-5200 jay@... www.earley.org
Life Purpose coaching, groups, internet classes,
intensives www.LifePurposeCoaching.com
Personal and business coaching www.rainwatercoaching.com
Psychotherapy: Individual, couple, group, consultation