How to choose a profession using the formula “I want – I can – I must”?
We are looking for the answer to one of the most important questions.
The question “what to be?” is among those that are difficult to answer confidently. How to choose a profession and not be disappointed in it?
First, make sure you don’t make typical mistakes when choosing a profession. If that’s okay, let’s take a closer look at the formula for choosing a profession. It consists of three elements: want + can + must. What is the point?
“I want” is my desires.
When choosing a profession, start from what you want. Do not listen to others, but look for your own motivation. Remember that if you choose a profession that you don’t love, you risk joining the ranks of those to whom the work brings suffering, not pleasure. Difficult to navigate? Then answer the following two questions, they will help decide. There can be no more than three options.
Question one: Who or what would you like to work with?
1) People (children and adults, pupils and students, clients and patients, customers and passengers, viewers and readers, etc.)
2) Information (texts, formulas, diagrams, codes, drawings, foreign languages, programming languages);
3) Finance (money, stocks, funds, credits);
4) Technology (mechanisms, machines, designs, instruments, machines);
5) Arts (literature, music, theater, film, ballet, painting, etc.)
6) Animals (service animals, wild animals, domestic animals, game animals);
7) Plants (agricultural, wild, ornamental);
8) Foodstuffs (meat, fish, dairy, confectionary and bakery products, preserves, fruits, vegetables, fruits);
9) Products (manufacture of metal products, fabric, fur, leather, wood, stone, manufacture of medicines);
10) Natural resources (lands, forests, mountains, reservoirs, deposits).
Question two: what kind of activity are you interested in?
1) Management (directing someone’s activities);
2) Service (meeting someone’s needs);
3) Education (education, training, personality formation);
4) Wellness (getting rid of diseases and their prevention);
5) Creativity (creation of original works of art);
6) Production (making products);
7) Design (designing parts and objects);
8) Research (the scientific study of something or someone);
9) Protection (guarding against hostile actions).
When you have answered these two questions, you can get down to the most interesting part: examining the occupation matrix. You won’t find all the professions in it, of course, but you will be able to refer to some examples. If necessary, don’t forget to use the vocabulary of professions.
“My abilities are my abilities.
The second step of introspection is to find what you are good at. Having found your strengths, do not forget to add to them personal qualities: character, temperament, psychological type (extrovert or introvert), etc. If necessary, consider possible health limitations. The better you know yourself, the easier it will be for you to decide on a profession.
“Necessity” refers to the usefulness of a profession.
The word “must” refers to the usefulness of a profession. It is hard to say whether your profession will be popular on the labor market after you graduate from college or university. But if you forge yourself with knowledge about the profession, study the trends, analyze the existing demand for the profession, and read the opinions of experts about the future demand for the profession, you can make an accurate prediction.
And a little tip for last. Psychologists advise to simulate in his head the situation. You need to buy a product in the store, but you do not know which one. Not only that, you do not know how much it costs. And you don’t really know what they are. But you know that your life depends on this purchase. A situation like this is exciting, isn’t it? Now let’s explain who is who.
The product is your profession. Its price is your ability. The assortment is the world of professions. Accordingly, in order to choose a profession correctly, you have to study the “assortment” of professions, assess your abilities, correlate them with the “price tag” and choose the most appropriate option. Not forgetting, of course, about the demand.