ALT-2 Signs You’re in the Wrong Career
The sudden realisation that you're in the wrong career is one of the signs of midlife crisis. It has just dawned that your work is meaningless and that you are wasting your life. You really wanted to be an artist, a musician, a doctor or whatever. You should have chosen something meaningful, something completely different.
A career choice is one of your most difficult and life changing decisions. The choice is made before you really know what the career entails. It is a little like selecting your life partner from a catalogue and the choice is made at a very young age.
The lucky few school leavers that know what they want are able to focus on their career choice, but many others don't really choose a career at all. They leave school and find a job. Their career chooses them.
Some highly qualified professionals feel that they are in the wrong type of work. They were pressured by family to do medicine, law or accountancy.
These scenarios based on real people. Only their names have been changed. Dr Toad retired at age 65. His parents had insisted that he follow the family tradition in medicine. He never enjoyed his career as a general practitioner and welcomed retirement. He had always wanted to be an accountant.
John qualified as a dentist. His practice was very successful. He bought properties and businesses, but was never happy. He hated spending his day gazing into his patients' mouths. Chancing upon some research that revealed that dentists have the highest suicide rate of any occupation, he made his decision. John did not want to become another statistic and changed course. He sold his practice and joined the world of Information Technology as a beginner. The dentistry money has gone, but John is happy.
When you look forward to spending the day at work, it means that you have chosen wisely. You are in the right career. You are stimulated, rewarded and learn something new every day. Each day is a new adventure.
The wrong career transforms work into a curse. Here are some of the major signs that you are in the wrong career:
- You have to force yourself to get up in the morning to get to work.
- You frequently find wishing away the days. You can't wait for the next weekend, the next holiday or retirement.
- You avoid doing your work as much as you can. You procrastinate and underperform.
- You are stressed.
The effects of being in the wrong career can be quite devastating. With little enjoyment in what you do, life becomes stressful. The standard of your work drops and your reputation is put at risk. Many people experience this phenomenon. Work has become a daily grind, something to be endured. High levels of stress result in the lowering of the auto-immune system and health problems may ensue. Unhappy in your work, your family life deteriorates. The children become alienated and your spouse starts looking around for someone else.
The obvious choice is to change career. But few have the courage to change course in mid-life. Those that do are often successful pursuing a new direction. But many struggle to find employment in their newly chosen role. The business world does not make it easy to change. Recruitment specialists want experience. Nobody wants a 40 year old trainee!
There is a classic belief that if you do what you are passionate about you will succeed. The successful musician that does what she loves and gets paid to do it is the classic example. But success does not always result in material reward. The history of the world is full of such stories. Vincent van Gogh sold one painting in his short life. He lived in abject poverty. He succeeded artistically, but failed financially. Many would have advised him to change course.
Sometimes the right career is wrong simply because it is unable to produce the kind of rewards required. Some change course simply to improve their financial status. They appreciate the opportunity to improve their standard of living.
There are times when it is not the career that is wrong but the attitude of the subject.
If you are able to change your career for something that you really want to do, by all means go ahead. But if the financial sacrifice is too great, then an attitude change can work wonders. Having made the wrong choice, the best option may be to do everything in your power to make it work.
Life is too short to waste time pondering on what might have been.
