What makes you light up? Which activities fill you with passion and enthusiasm? What energizes and inspires you? When do you feel most alive and happy? Do these activities provide any clues that might help you discover the right career?
What do I mean by light up? Here is an example. Many years ago I did part-time career counseling for the University of Texas (U.T.). One day a student came into the career center who was majoring in engineering. As she talked about engineering I observed that she seemed depressed. Her eyes were downcast, head was down, cheeks had no color, eyes had no sparkle and she sounded passionless. Later I asked her to tell me about something she did in high school that was enjoyable and that she did well. She recalled being a fund raiser and leader. She excelled at fund raising and enjoyed motivating others to high levels of achievement. Obviously, she had excellent people skills, leadership ability, public speaking skills and the ability to inspire and motivate others.
As she discussed her fund raising achievements she came alive. Color returned to her face, her eyes sparkled, she sat erect, her gestures became animated and she spoke with passion and enthusiasm. In the middle of a sentence she stopped speaking. There was pin drop silence. It was obvious from her expression that she was aware of the difference between herself when talking about engineering and the fund raising activities. She really got it! Then she said, “Oh my, I have moved away from my strengths.” This student realized that by choosing engineering as her major she had moved away from using the skills that were her strengths and which she enjoyed using. At that point she decided to see a U.T. advisor to discuss changing her major to something more suitable and which would capitalize on her strengths.
As you reflect ask yourself, “What can make me light up like the U.T. student?”
Name three activities that have made you light up and come alive? What activities fill you with passion and enthusiasm when you think about or do them?
- ——————————————————————————
- ——————————————————————————
Now ask yourself what clues these activities reveal about careers that will bring you the same joy. Were there certain talents and skills that you enjoyed using while performing these activities? What was it about these activities that made you feel such passion? Identify what makes you come alive, identify careers that contain some of these same elements, and you will discover a great vocation to pursue.
Copyright 2010. Raymond Gerson
Best regards,
Raymond Gerson
Copyright/Reprint Info – The contents of this article may be copied, reproduced, or freely distributed for all nonprofit purposes without the consent of the author as long as the author’s name and contact information are included.
Credit Statement Example: Reproduced with permission from Raymond Gerson at www.achievecollegesuccess.com. Copyright 2009. Raymond Gerson. All rights reserved worldwide.
