It just doesn’t work that way. Yes, most will tell you as a young person:
“whatever you want to be…whatever you dream of doing, go for it because you can do it and it is possible.”
Anything is possible, of course. But the statement is not entirely true. If you are good at something and enjoy doing it, turn it into a money making career.
Passion is important…
If you’ve developed the right kind of skills necessary to do what you want to do. You need to have passion for it too. It’s a great combo…you have plenty of skills that you can develop passion around. Right now if you are involved in any sort of sports or in band or some sort of involvement in school that you love…and can’t imagine NOT doing it…that’s passion. But in order to choose the right career, that passion needs to meet up with those skills you have, or can learn.
Reality set in for me…
When I was in high school I really wanted to be an architect. I loved the idea of designing buildings and having a big wide desk like the one Mike Brady had. The money looked good and the job sure sounded fun. But that’s where it stopped. I started realizing that I had not developed the necessary skills needed in the job, or was probably unable to earn them I could not draw! That’s a big requirement and as much as I could learn the skill, I realized that there were other things I was naturally good at.
What do you value…
Your next step is to find your internal and external values. What is it that is truly important to you? When you think about your extrinsic and intrinsic factors, what stands out? When you think about extrinsic factors, what are the external things that are important, like money, job title and things you want in life. Your intrinsic factors are what you hold deep and personal, like love, family, marriage and other things that you build your belief system upon.
Come up with 5 Extrinsic and 5 Intrinsic factors. List them out and keep the list with your favorite class list. As your compare the two, you may start to realize the kind of future you are headed for. Keep up with my future posts and I’ll show you ways to take that info. and create the career of your dreams.
What do you like? That’s a simple question, right…
In order to fully understand not only what you are good at, but what is it that you enjoy that you also hold talents in? I love people, so naturally sales would be a good career for me. It has been in the past, in fact. I’m a very creative person and love coming up with new and inventive ideas to promote products or businesses, so marketing would be another career for me. It’s up to you to find out your skill set, and how they relate to what you enjoy.
If you remember in my last post I highlighted classes that you currently take in school now and why you enjoy them. Can you match your career with the classes you love? That’s your first step.
Your Success is My Success,
Keith Lipke
I’m a careers and college recruiter, coach, public speaker and leader at The Career Closet. His passion is to educate, inspire, and give hope to young people who need it upon their search for the right career and college
Abetterversioncc - Career Counseling, Career Consulting 
Last night I wrote a post on a similar topic that I had been thinking about. The analyses you mention here for choosing a career is useful. But I think we overlook something as a society.
I think we should teach young people not to expect that there is a perfect career for them, as if they have some destiny to fulfill. All people who are successful have dedicated themselves to their profession/career. People have the ability to develope necessary skills for something they really want to be. But even for someone just trying to earn a decent living and not be the best Architect ever, in order to have success we must be committed to the job. Too many people expect work to be easy and think something that is difficult is not right for them. Even when we choose the right profession, we have to put forth the effort to be successful.
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