Ever thought of turning the tables once and for all because you feel stuck in your current position?
Do you think you’re on the wrong ground and something needs to be changed?
If these questions blow a positive air, then don’t wait and waste more of your precious time.
Because this is the right moment to change the path. It is never too late to chase what you have always dreamt of.
She wrote to me,
I’m 16 and I’ve been thinking about suicide for a year now. I don’t really know what I want to do with my life and it doesn’t help that my mom keeps pressuring me to pursue a career that I’m not even interested in. The other day I got in an argument with my mom about what she wanted me to become. She threatened that she wouldn’t pay for my college if I tried becoming something else. I feel trapped. I feel like my life was never mine to begin with. I could talk to my mom about this, but I know she wouldn’t take me seriously; she never does. At this point I don’t really care about my life or my future anymore. I mean, what’s the point of living if I can’t be happy or live my own life?
I Said,
Dear Kritika,
We often need to ask for career help from acquaintances or strangers. Many of us are very uncomfortable doing this or asking for any help at all.
This is all about building a relationship. Asking for advice, insights, and recommendations is a great way to initiate and cultivate a lasting relationship.
A person who knows how to achieve positive things in multiple areas of life is someone who can analyse situations well and come up with good solutions. That’s the kind of person you want advice from.
People who are one-trick ponies – they have a great career but are a disaster in other aspects of life often have their lives out of proportion and thus can give skewed advice. An advisor doesn’t have to have the same balance as you, but some balance is great.
Before you ever ask for advice, sit down and make your own lists of pros and cons regarding the decision. Know the ins and outs of each path from your own perspective and don’t simply allow the advisor to make the decision for you. Their role is to add new elements and perspectives to your decision, not make the decision.
When you seek out someone in your prospective next career, offer to buy him or her a cup of coffee or lunch. But don’t request an informational interview; that says you want a job and can scare people off. Instead, ask for AIR: advice, insights and recommendations.
To get answers to your questions about entering a field, you need to be able to clearly state the type of work you want to do. A 30-second elevator pitch is the best way to get your message across.
Once you’ve perfected your elevator pitch, share it not just with others who already have a job like the one you want, but with everyone you meet. You never know who’ll have the keys to unlock the door. Gratefully accept any advice or offers of introductions.
Depression can make you feel alone, so it’s important to reconnect with friends and family. We know that for all aspects of wellness, community has a healing and protective effect.
The people who were able to identify with other people in the group had 50% less symptoms and bouts of depression than those who could not identify with the group. People who are more social and are able to identify with others are much more likely to overcome depression than those who are not social.
Depressed people tend to isolate themselves. This reinforces feelings of hopelessness. A good antidote is to get out and socialize with people you trust. Have a good time, go dancing, do active things you enjoy. Socializing serves to increase interpersonal bonds and feelings of hope and acceptance. Getting out also increases energy levels. Get going!
A social life is so important to most people that solitary confinement is often considered an extreme form of punishment, and even torture. Indeed, if you put someone in solitary confinement, you naturally stack the odds that they will become depressed.
If you think about it, connecting with other people is very important, because when you enjoy social interactions:
Have you ever felt sad, depressed, or in a bad mood, and then immediately felt a lot better, just by connecting for a few minutes with a friend?
If so, you’ve already proven to yourself how powerful and beneficial social interactions can be for you. Indeed, even something as simple as a brief phone call can make a big, positive difference in how you feel.
So take advantage of this, and make enjoyable social interactions a daily part of your life to become and remain depression-free faster and easier.
Running a small business can be a 24/7 job and taking a vacation may seem like an impossible dream for many entrepreneurs. In fact, less than half of small business owners said they plan on taking a vacation for themselves.
However, experts say while the idea of getting away for a few days or more can be overwhelming, it is important for your mental health and the health of your business in the long term.
The number one reason is that taking a vacation allows individuals to relax and unwind. This relates to entrepreneurs because if they become overworked and irritated, it could cause a ripple effect and affect their employees, customers and their bottom line.
Additionally, getting away allows entrepreneurs to regroup and reassess their goals. It’s a good idea to take some time during the last day of any vacation to addressing some business issues.
Vacations are important to the long-term health of the business since they force you to put someone else in charge.
Business owners fail to think about what will happen if they are unexpectedly forced to be away from their business. Taking a vacation gives you a chance to test the capabilities of your second in command. Plus, your ability to be away from the business and still have it be productive will make the business more valuable to potential buyers if you intend to sell in the future.
While the reasons to take a vacation are valid, many owners simply don’t know how to make one a reality without disrupting business. It’s important to plan a getaway in advance and to take your business cycle into account.
Another piece of small business advice is plan a time each day to check in with work, whether it is returning phone calls, reading emails or touching base with the team. After all, keeping up-to-date while on vacation may be exactly what many owners need in order to be able to actually enjoy their time off!
You can spend a lot of money showing someone how grateful that you are for what they have done for you, but many times it is the simplest gestures that stand out the most.
If you see someone without a smile, give them yours! Smiling is the surest way to let people know that you truly appreciate what they’ve done and that they’ve made your life better somehow. Even when you don’t particularly want to, will make you happier.If someone is doing a job for you, even if you’re their supervisor at work, show respect for their time. Be prompt, and make sure all necessary supplies they need to complete the task. If they can get started right away, they probably won’t need to stay late and cut into their personal time later.
Don’t just thank someone for what they’ve done for you; let them know exactly how much they rock. Pay them a compliment. This one might be obvious, but when giving someone thanks, take a moment to slow it down and be real. This is especially true for someone you normally joke around with all the time because the change in tone will let them know you absolutely mean it.
If someone helps you with a renovation project, be available to them when they begin theirs. If they cooked you dinner, help pick up dishes afterward. You can even do this one at a restaurant by arranging dishes in a way that makes it easier for them to be taken away from the table.
Saying “thanks” is great, but if you really want to show your appreciation.
If you have a friend who got you through a really difficult time or you want to acknowledge a special family member who did a fantastic job raising you, spend some time with them. They obviously love you, and sharing that time together will be an incredible gift.
I know a lot of people who hate their jobs, but when asked what they’d rather do, they’re already very close to doing what they’re passionate about. They just needed to stop and figure out how to get there. Here’s how you can take a good, hard look at yourself, figure out what you really want to do, and work this into a personal career plan that will help you get where you want to go, personally and professionally.
The first thing to do if you’re going to pull yourself out of a career-related funk is to take stock of where you are professionally. Your job title and resume only say so much about what you do, so spend a few days taking good notes of what you actually do. Start with the core responsibilities of your position (things you would put on your resume), then write down everything else you spend time doing at work, even if it’s tangential to your actual “job.”
Once the list is sorted, it’s time to focus on the things you’d like to do more of. Build on those items and write down what you wish you could do every day. Don’t be afraid to get far-fetched; if you wish you could get paid to read blogs all day, jot that down. Some people call it “wasting time on Reddit,” but the right employer may call it research.
The point of writing down is to help you evaluate your goals. They help you determine what types of jobs involve the tasks you said you enjoy doing. Pretend you land the perfect job. Now think about where you’d like to go from there.
Now that you know what you’d like to do, it’s time to find jobs that let you do it. A chat with a reference librarian or specialist at a career center will put you on the right track towards career guides and resources that can help you translate your dreams into a job title you can aim for.
If your company has an HR representative, they’re the person you should go to if you want to learn more about what careers are available in your company. Sometimes word of mouth is the best way to find out how to translate your passions into a job you’ll love, as we’ve previously discussed. Ask your friends and family, even your colleagues about their previous jobs.
Once you decide on a direction, you’ll have to determine whether or not the first step is something that requires education, a completely new job, or something you can start with your current gig. You may be getting valuable experience now that can lead you to the career you love, given time.
The difference between love what you do and do what you love is that the latter is often unrealistic, not in demand and comprised of decisions made with emotions.
To distill it down even further, loving what you do means that you’ve developed an expertise that is in demand, where people are willing to pay for what you do. Loving what you do means being compensated for your expertise, and demanding 10 and even 100 times that amount.
Beyond the obvious reason of why it’s important to be paid to follow your passion, is that it allows you to sustain your message.
Sustaining your message is everything when it comes to loving what you do. It takes at least three, and most often five years to gain recognition and mastery in your industry. Without a doubt, unexpected obstacles will come your way, and sometimes pure passion isn’t enough to sustain it.
By being paid for your work, you not only allow clients to value your work more, but it gives you room to make mistakes, time to master your passion, and develop a solid portfolio of testimonials and clients.
Now the most frequent question people ask is: How do I know what I’m passionate about? The method that has worked best for me is to take out a pen and a blank piece of paper. Then think about the topics and activities you enjoy doing for fun in your spare time.
By following your efforts and thinking back on the activities you have already been doing, it’s easier to identify what your passions are.
I’ve found that starting with something you’re passionate about that people will pay you for works best. Because you’re not an expert yet, chances are that you won’t be paid a lot of money for it.
However, being paid to do what you love will allow you to sustain your path. If you are truly passionate about it, then you’ll be spending 14 hours a day crafting, experimenting, and improving the skills that will eventually make you a master at it.
Look at the long-term goal for your vision, and don’t be discouraged by the lack of pay or progress you will inevitably experience initially. If you truly love what you do, the destination whether that’s recognition, fame, wealth becomes the cherry on top of your journey to a fulfilling life.
Following your passion needs to stop being associated with starving artist or the entrepreneur living in the basement.
Love what you do, make your millions, and change the millions of lives around you.
Depression is an illness that requires a good deal of self-care. But this might seem easier said than done, because when you have depression, the idea of taking care of anything feels like adding another boulder to your already heavy load. If you’re feeling better, you might ditch certain self-care habits, too. Maybe you skip a few therapy sessions, miss your medication or shirk other treatment tools.
As you’re feeling better, you might be tempted to skip a session or two or five. Instead, attend all sessions, and discuss your reluctance with your therapist. If changes are warranted, Serani says, you and your therapist can make the necessary adjustments.
Missing a dose can interfere with your medication’s effectiveness, and your symptoms might return. Alcohol and drugs also can mess with your meds. Stopping medication altogether might trigger discontinuation syndrome. If you’d like to stop taking your medication, don’t do it on your own. Talk with your prescribing physician so you can get off your medication slowly and properly.
Sleep has a big impact on mood disorders. Too little sleep exacerbates mania and too much sleep worsens depression. So it’s important to keep a consistent sleep and wake cycle along with maintaining healthy sleeping habits.Sometimes adjusting your medication can help with sleep. Your doctor might prescribe a different dose or have you take your medication at a different time.
In order to prevent relapse, it’s important to know what pushes your buttons and worsens your functioning. Once you pinpoint your triggers, express them to others so your boundaries are honored.
If you’re having a difficult time connecting with others, volunteer, join a support group or find like-minded people online on blogs and social media sites. You also can ask loved ones to encourage you to socialize when you need it.
Research says that creating a nurturing space can help you revitalize your mind, body and soul. Opening the shades and letting sunlight in. There’s also evidence that scent can minimize stress, improve sleep and boost immunity.
You also can listen to music, meditate, use guided imagery, practice yoga and even de-clutter parts of your home a little each time.
There are many people that dream of pursuing a less conventional life. If you are one of those people that want to move away from the regular career choices, you are likely to be a free spirited, confident person that is more interested in internal rewards over making money. If your soul is getting nourished you are happy.
Most of us remember being young and telling our friends or family that we were going to be a famous singer when we get older. For most of us, we stop pursuing this dream and get lost in the more conventional career thoughts of being a lawyer or doctor.
However, the music scene can be an extremely attractive lifestyle. If you have money to chase your dream then this might be your next career move. Late nights, dark bars and lots of experimentation with your music and style is what a lot of musicians experience when they are starting off.
This isn’t a career that you need the best education or the most privileged backgrounds, being able to play music is a talent and that is priceless. With more and more TV talent shows being made to help people achieve their dream, it has become much easier to actually become a musician these days.
If you have the courage to stand on stage and potentially get ridiculed in front of millions of viewers by mean judges, then you might just have what it takes to become a musician.
If you are thinking of making this unconventional career choice then you might want to weigh up the pros and cons. Even though there are thousands of people that write, from journals to poems, to stories and autobiographies, many of these people see writing as just a hobby.
But if you are one of the lucky ones, and persistent, you might just be able to obtain your dreams. However, to be a successful writer you have to be able to deal with rejection. Most writers get rejected numerous times before actually getting the big deal they were waiting for. But to get to that you must be able to put up with a lot of ‘no’. This is where most writers give up and return to the 9-5 jobs.
To have an unconventional career you must never give up! If your passion is writing, one of the best rewards is actually getting paid for it. Even when you are not selling millions or even thousands, you will be happy to see that people are actually spending their hard earned money on your book. Another perk of being a writer you get to meet some very interesting people. Your lifestyle is going to be quite different than your friend’s office jobs, and that means that your colleagues are going to be other unconventional people.
Do your best to network, meet and learn from other writers, you might even see them at your local coffee shop, so don’t be embarrassed to say hi.
One of the most dreamt of unconventional careers you can think of is being an artist. First of all it’s one of the most difficult to make a living from. Secondly, having an art talent is something that you are born with, it’s extremely difficult to learn. So even if you dream about being an artist, first think about how good your skills are and how you can improve them.
However, though there is a lot of skill involved in being an artist, you can actually become very famous from just being creative. Think about those artists that call ‘rubbish’ their masterpieces. People have paid a lot of money to see a bed covered in junk.If you have the creativity to make something from nothing, you are already on your way to being a top artist.Remember that being an artist can vary from actual painting, to sculptures and even make up artists are all under this career umbrella.
You must have thick skin to take on this unconventional career choice. Artist critiques are the most brutal and forward talking in the business. If you are not prepared to be either ridiculed or laughed at, this might not be the best career move for you.With an art career there are no guarantees. Many of the greatest artists only become known and appreciated only after they had already passed on from this life.
To make sure you are noticed in your lifetime you have to do something original and unique to make people pay attention. Believe in your art and most of all enjoy it.
One of the coolest unconventional career choices to go for is being a disk jockey. DJ’s are people that love to get a crowd moving with their intuitive beats and also enjoy the night life scene, where drinking, smoking and fleshy bodies are the norm.
One of the biggest perks that any DJ would confirm is the attention you get from women will highly increase. When you are the most unreachable person in the place, you become the object of attraction, with both men and women admiring you and doing everything they can to reach you. If you have a partner you must take this into consideration when thinking about going for this career, they may not be too happy with all the numbers you get given.
By being a DJ you get to hear the newest music first. You get access to all the latest tunes, mixes and industry news before anybody else. You can impress your friends, who already think you are the coolest person in the world, by letting them into new albums and singles that most people haven’t heard yet.
Also by having an extensive music knowledge you can probably do very well in pub quizzes or maybe even get that winning question in Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.
This type of unconventional career choice can be applied to many industries. You can find a career in dancing in professional theatres, in circuses and in entertainment bars. If your passion is dancing you have many options to choose from.
One of the main benefits of being a dancer is that you can keep fit at the same time as doing the thing you love. The hours of practice that you have to put in will keep your body extremely fit and make your friends extremely jealous. You have to be prepared for grueling training schedules and when you have shows to lead you will be expected to work all day and night for a week in a row.
If you happen to love the circus life, you can do very well as a dancer. For example Cirque do Soleil gives its employees very attractive salaries and vacation compensations. They even pay for your ticket home and all of your accommodation when you are travelling with the company. You have an amazing opportunity to go to exotic locations and share your talent across cultures.
Men that want a career in dancing can also do very well. As it is less popular with the male gender, you have less competition and more demand. Don’t be put off just because it’s more of a female industry, as a male you would be fought over by many to have you as their dance partner.