Choosing a life’s work in adolescence is extremely difficult. You need to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. But what if you realize that you don’t have enough skills or talent for your favorite profession? The psychotherapist Ekaterina Mikhailova advises.
Anastasia, 17 years old
Hello! I really need your help. The thing is, I can’t decide on my profession. I have very diverse interests, and when I think about any of them, I begin to believe that this is exactly what I will be doing all my life. Going through what interests me, I realized that politics is the area where almost all of my desires, interests and ambitions are combined: diplomacy, the desire for control, organization, the ability to improve the lives of other people, psychology, economics. Also, a politician (if I imagine him correctly) must be able to speak, communicate with people, be representative, have strategic thinking, composure, intelligence and prudence. This is exactly what I like, or what suits my character. However, my mother told me that in politics you need to be able to go over the heads, and I, in her opinion, do not know how. I don’t know what to say, I really haven’t tried it. What if in this area (and most likely it is) it will be necessary to act only in this way, but I won’t succeed or I don’t know how to do it? What should I do? This is the only profession that attracts me 90 percent out of 100. But you can’t learn “head-walking”, it’s not the ability to speak in public or something else … Help me figure this out. Thanks in advance.
Ekaterina Mikhailova, psychotherapist
Deciding on a profession in today’s world is difficult, because the old scheme “education = work in the specialty” is almost no longer working. You write about a whole “bouquet” of skills and qualities necessary for a politician, but “politician” can hardly be learned in the traditional educational system. All over the world, a political career begins with a good education and active infiltration into those organizations or movements where one can prove oneself.
Your mother says that “in politics you need to be able to go over the heads” and that you do not know how. Parenthesizing the implicit negative assessment of those who are good at it, she tells you: I’m afraid that you will not succeed in a tough competitive environment. And this is not about politics as such, this is about your upbringing and a little, but still life experience. Have you ever fought for the first place – no matter in what competitions? Are you able to gain popularity in your environment and impress those who have more power and authority?
The first platform where you can try your hand may be some kind of “difficult” institution
Perhaps the first platform where you can try your hand will be some kind of “difficult” institution. I know people who once took entrance exams to two or even three universities, they all became leaders, and their daily work needs diplomacy, the desire for control, strategic thinking, calculation, composure – and so on. to your list, almost all the same qualities that you attributed exclusively to political leaders.
Move from theory to practice, choose for a start the education that requires – and therefore trains – precisely these qualities. Working on the organizing committee of some conference or volunteer project gives you much more to develop the role of a politician than talking about “fitness” with your mother or anyone else. Where, how and under what name this role in your performance can be in demand, time will tell.
About expert
Ekaterina Mikhailova, psychotherapist, psychodrama specialist, coach and regular expert for Psychologies magazine.