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6 Bad Reasons To Choose A Career Path

 

When I was younger, I was constantly asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. Each time, I had a more creative and elaborate response for the person who asked me.

 

 

However, out of all honesty, I had no clue what I wanted to do. I thought I knew, but boy was I wrong. At a young age, I wanted to be a professional athlete, engineer, lawyer, businessman, astronaut, and race car driver.

 

 

From talking with people and learning from my own experiences, I quickly saw that many people selected a career path for all the wrong reasons.

 

 

In this article, I share 6 bad reasons to choose a career path:

 

 

1. Money

 

When I was in high school, I was pretty oblivious to the world. As you can imagine, I was very money hungry. Every single career path I wanted to pursue had to primarily do with money. I wanted a job that would make me a ton of cash so that I could buy fancy cars and a gigantic house.

 

 

Unfortunately, I’m not the only who thinks with their wallets instead of their hearts. Choosing a career path solely for the money is a terrible idea. Years from now, you’ll be sick of the money and the life you’re living every single day.

 

 

2. Status

 

The only thing that came close to money for me was status. I decided in high school I wanted to become a lawyer because it had amazing status. I remember watching television shows with lawyers sitting in beautiful Manhattan offices with glass windows.

 

 

If you’re pursuing a career just for the status or the money, it’s going to be really hard to be successful at it. Do what you love and the rest is easy. Do what you don’t like and it’ll be a tough task.

 

 

3. Social Acceptance

 

If you’re taking a job or career path in life for social validation, you’re making a big mistake. I have spoken at schools before where I’ve heard a group of friends say they all want to pursue the same career in life.

 

 

I became curious to know why that was the case. Turns out, everyone was doing it because the other person was. I even had a scenario where a girl burst out into tears because she thought she would lose friendships if she didn’t do what her friends were doing.

 

 

4. For Your Parents

 

This is definitely a tough one. For some reason, many parents think that your career path in life is also passed on through DNA. I know my parents had different dreams for me than a life of entrepreneurship.

 

 

However, my passion for becoming an entrepreneur was so great that I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I told them this was my dream and that I was going to pursue it no matter what. Eventually, you’ll realize that your parents will be accepting of your life choices and will support you. Just give them some time!

 

 

5. The Perks

 

Another reason I really had an interest in becoming a lawyer was because of the perks. I heard they got huge bonuses, tons of vacation days and got to enjoy the luxuries of life.

 

 

However, you cannot choose a career path based on the material factors. When those things fade, you still have to go to work every single day. The material items are ‘very cool’ for the first few years, but what are you going to do after that?

 

 

6. Job Security

 

If you’ve read articles online or been told by people around you that a specific career path is best because of its job security, that isn’t a good enough reason to take a job in that space.

 

 

Your job will be secure in any space if you’re an asset that people can’t live without. In any industry, your job can be taken away from you with the snap of a finger if you lose that value. Pursue interests, not other factors.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared 6 bad reasons to choose a career path. If you’re guilty of choosing a career path based on one or more of these factors, it might be time to reconsider.

 

 

photo credit: Linh H. Nguyen via photopin cc

 

 

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