In this ever-expanding world, there are countless career directions you can take. With the myriad of options available to you, making a career decision can be confusing and overwhelming. Whether you are a student blooming into adulthood or a hardened adult looking for a career change, proper career coaching and guidance are equally necessary.

Career counseling and guidance are important for a stress-free life. Let us discuss some of the most vital points you should consider before deciding on your job or your career. I recommend you jot down things that fall into each factor discussed below, and by the end of the article, you will have a fairly certain idea about what career to choose.

Your Interests

Your interests mold your life. The actions that can keep your attention for hours on end are your interests. They can be menial tasks such as playing video games or drawing or wood carving, but they are the tasks that you are passionate about.

Some of you might have any career goals already planned. You want to become a CEO, an engineer, or maybe a singer. These are also included in your interests. Try to match your leisure activities with your career goals, and you will find your hobby is your career.

Your motivations also define your interests. Is there someone like a role model you look up to? You can choose their career path. Is there a need or a desire that drives you, like becoming the world champion of Mixed Martial Arts or designing and creating your own video game? That's what will primarily define your career goals.

Your Skillset

The next thing you need to decide is your skillset. Try and revise your life until this point, and figure out the stuff you did besides your hobbies, like repairing a piece of electronic equipment, or running a marathon, even removing bugs from your computer. You may be good at it, or it may be something no one in your social circle has ever done, but its identification is that once you did that task, you felt happy about your accomplishment. Understand these patterns of your life, and you will see what your skillset is. Figure out what you are good at:

Analyzing
Problem Solvings Skills
Physical Activities
Creative Arts

Opportunties Around You

This is a relatively less important factor in today's online world. You should understand the strengths and weaknesses of where you live. Identify what opportunities will give you a successful and lucrative career in your country or your city. If your country is known for agriculture, you can consider a career in biotechnology or farming techniques. Identify successful businesses and companies around you, and jot down their fields, then cross-match it with your own career goals and interests. You can even observe sports options in your country. If football is popular in your country, there are bound to be clubs that can provide learning opportunities to you. This can jump-start your career. Keep a lookout for any available learning opportunities to gain hands-on experience in a field. You can perform internships to gain insight into different career options.

Your Attitude and Aptitude

You will have many chances of successful careers in your life, but it is your own hard work that will ultimately decide your success. Your hard work depends on your physical and mental strengths, and you should have a career that will complement your strengths. You cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. A human being cannot be expected to do everything, so you must understand the strengths and weaknesses of your personality. Psychologists generally use the big five traits to identify your personality:

Openness: open to experiencing new things – You are either willing to do that, or you prefer sticking to your rigid schedule.
Conscientiousness: organized and dutiful – You are either spontaneous with a free spirit or are more organized with high regard for rules.
Extraversion: self-explanatory – You are either authoritative or gullible. Find the balance.
Neuroticism: overthinkers – You put more attention to detail if you think deeply, or you are more emotionally stable and have a grip on your thoughts.

These traits are not negative or positive themselves, but their involvement in our life can have positive or negative impacts depending on how we use them. Once you know your personality traits, understand how your traits can affect your job, and choose a career that will be enhanced by your traits.

Conclusion

Once you combine all these factors, you will have a concise view of who you are and what you are capable of. Use that to find the career that suits you. There are thousands of options out there, and if you choose without thinking, you might end up in a stressful situation with no way out. When work is a duty, life is slavery. When work is a pleasure, life is joy.

However, never forget the value of hard work. No matter what career you choose or at what point of your life you stand, always remember that your hard work will one day bear fruit. Keep your spirits up, your emotions in check, and keep running towards your dreams.