The main mistake on the way to professional self-realization

Personal self-realization is impossible without the realization that we have properly disposed of our abilities and found the area in which we are most valued. But not everyone from an early age is aware of what he could and would like to achieve mastery. Rather, such examples can be called isolated. Most of us only gradually come to this choice – through education and the first experience of professional activity. But often we are confused by social expectations and our own misconceptions about success. Scottish philosopher and career ethicist William MacAskill believes that the possibility of professional self-realization depends not so much on how soon we can find a “dream job”, but on how we treat our career and achieving excellence.

WHY CHOOSE WITH YOUR HEART IS A BAD IDEA

A lot of recommendations from career experts come from the same idea: find what interests you, what you feel passionate about. Often, for this, they suggest using a visualization technique – to imagine a picture of your future. How do you see yourself? What surrounds you? But this approach has many vulnerabilities. Here are the main ones.

• Woe-predictors. We can hardly imagine what kind of work will be a source of happiness and self-realization for us. There are many stories when people started doing what seemed interesting to them, and in the end they failed. Or they quit. For example, such a story happened to an investment banker who quit his job to practice Zen in a Buddhist monastery, but after a while became disillusioned with this choice.

• Guitarists and astronauts. As a rule, most people’s hobbies lie in the same areas – music, sports, cinema, and the like. This means that the chances of making a career in them are low, as the competition is very high. Everyone wants to do what seems attractive from a distance. We focus on the images replicated through the media. An acting career promises popularity and recognition. Entrepreneurship – own office and secretary. Expectation and reality often diverge in the most dramatic way. But the reason for this is in ourselves.

• Love at first sight? For most people, what fascinates is not related to the concept of “work”. A popular mantra promises us: “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But this call only confuses us. Indeed, in any work there is a place for routine, difficulties, mistakes and doubts, especially at the initial stage. But the focus on finding what is “to their liking” makes many quit their job when faced with the first difficulties.

THE FIXED MIND TRAP

There are two approaches to what is called passion: it is either something that we must find (as an option – somehow understand that “this is it”), or something that we must develop in ourselves. The belief that we must find a job that satisfies us is characteristic of a fixed mindset. Both approaches can be associated with two fundamentally different styles of thinking – fixed and developing. Fixed thinking is characterized by the conviction that our personality, with all our habits, tastes and limitations, is something once and for all given and unchanging. A fixed-minded person believes that somewhere in the world there is an ideal job that suits him, and his task is only to find it. The problem is that we are unlikely to be able to clearly understand whether we like this or that area until we have worked in it for a while. Speculation doesn’t work here.

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• How can we truly fulfill ourselves?

In turn, developing thinking means that we can find opportunities for implementation in the process of activity. Recent studies show that the more effort, energy, time we put into work, the more we get carried away with it.¹. So the premise is: we like what we’re good at, not the other way around. This means that we first need to find the area in which we can most successfully apply our skills, and satisfaction and passion will come by themselves. This will require preparatory work, in which “cold” planning is much more important than “hot” passion.

1. Approach your job search like a meticulous scientist. Or imagine that you are doing investigative journalism. Find out as much as you can about the different professions (within the areas that seem to suit your abilities). Talk to the people who do them or read about their experiences. Ask established professionals what traits they think are most important to success in their work, and see if you fit that description.
2. If possible, try your hand at different occupations: pay attention to internships, volunteer programs, short-term part-time opportunities. The more real experience you get, the better you will understand where you could realize yourself, and which options are obviously dead ends. The most important thing is to conduct self-analysis in each case. Ask yourself, “Is this a job that I could master over time?”
3. Focus not on momentary benefits, but on development opportunities. Think about what kind of contribution to your “career capital” (in the form of experience, skills, useful connections) you can get. Every job has its “incubation” period when you feel like you’re making too many mistakes and being incompetent. To get rid of feelings of inferiority, make a progress plan for yourself with tasks and possible problems at each stage. Check with him from time to time, ask for feedback from more experienced colleagues.

¹ Academy of Management Journal, 2015, vol. 58, № 4.