Right Turn, Wrong Turn: How Career Decisions Can Shape Your Life

Many people believe that getting an education and finding a job at a top firm limits your opportunities and represents the transition from childhood to adulthood. You have to define who you are and what you should do from an endless sea of possibilities. 

But, when you think about it, the opposite is the case. When you get an education, it doesn’t limit you at all. Quite the reverse. And once you have years of experience under your belt in an industry, hopping around from one job to the next feels like a piece of cake. 

Career decisions can shape your life in a big way. However, as any coach will tell you, it’s important to get them right. Making a mistake can lead to years of unfulfilling work you don’t enjoy. 

This post takes a look at some of the ways career decisions shape your life and your destiny. 

They Determine Your Level Of Passion

Career decisions drive the amount of passion you feel at work. Employees who are in a good place feel energised all day long and put on the best show possible for their customers and managers. They want to be there and really believe in what they’re doing. It’s not just about collecting a paycheck at the end of the month. There’s a real sense of service going into what they do, 

On the other hand, most people have been in jobs where the opposite was the case. They just watched the clock, hoping for the day to end. They’re only there for the money. And even that isn’t enough to keep them often. 

Hence, career decisions determine the level of passion you feel daily. It’s a critical consideration and something you should think about carefully before taking the first step. Don’t become an accountant if you want to do tattoo courses and become a tattoo artist instead. That makes no sense. 

They Determine Who You Spend Time With

Career decisions also have a tremendous impact on who you spend time with within your network. Jobs primarily dictate the people in your inner circle and the types of opportunities and connections you have. 

Think about how your first job affected your network. Then consider how the work you did after graduating was different. That’s because people are different and they can have a significant effect on life outcomes. 

They Determine How Much You’ll Grow

Most people want to feel like they are moving forward in their careers. They want a sense of progress like they’re getting somewhere. 

That’s where career decisions can have their biggest impact. The jobs you take and the roles you apply for can have a tremendous effect on how stretched and engaged you feel in your career. 

As with all things, you want to get the balance right here. Stretching yourself too much can lead to cynicism and burnout while coasting along makes work unfilling. You want something roughly in the middle: difficult enough to challenge you, but also easy enough so you avoid stress. 

They Help With Short Cuts

Critical career decisions can also help you take shortcuts. Instead of climbing the ladder the same way as most people, you jump to the position you want to be in, missing out on several intermediate steps along the way. 

The easiest shortcut is personal branding. Presenting yourself as a unique individual helps you win work other people could only dream of getting. Peers and colleagues see you as someone they can take seriously and dump plenty of responsibility on. 

Next, take risks. Playing it safe in your career won’t get you far. Go for promotions if opportunities arise. Get out of the habit of telling yourself that you’re not good enough or you need another year of experience. You’ll always need more experience. 

You can also try proving your worth by taking on projects above your pay grade. This way, you can prove to senior management your competence and ability to get jobs done. Impress them and they will reward you in time. 

They Determine Your Private Life

People like to create a separation between “work” and “life.” But, really, they are the same thing. What you do outside of work influences what happens during office hours, and vice versa. 

Therefore, the decisions you make determine what happens in your private life. Following your passion and earning less might make you happier, but you may have to put up with a small house and a cheap car. Likewise, going for the money could make you richer, but you might dislike your time at work and resent going to the office. 

They Impact Your Relationships

Critically, the decisions you make at work can impact your relationships. Having to relocate to a new city for your job can disrupt work and family life. It can also make it difficult to balance spending time with your partner and getting things done in the office. 

Careers often come into conflict with close personal relationships. It’s hard to be intimate with someone who is out of the office all the time and unable to take calls. It’s also challenging to relate to someone who feels burned out or stressed about their work all the time.

Ideally, what you want is a job that pays well and comes with minimal stress. Those are few and far between, but they do exist. 

Alternatively, you can learn to manage or eliminate stress from your personal, daily experience. This way you feel great, regardless of what happens at the office. 

They Shape Your Emotions

Ultimately, the quality of our lives comes down to how we feel. We say our lives are great if we feel good, but bad otherwise. 

Career decisions have tremendous power to shape your emotions. Various types of work can provide you with tremendous highs, while others may make you feel like a terrible person. 

In the final reckoning, it’s down to you which career decisions you make. But always choose options with your emotions in mind. After all, they are your life.