How do you commit to a career path?

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Renee Shatanoff, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Remember the tale about the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise is slow and methodical to reach its destination. The hare has a difficult time committing to one path. The hare jumps from field to field because there are so many things for it to explore. Which one are you? To begin with, there is room for both the tortoise and the hare in your professional life.
The tortoise may be a professional classical musician who is a virtuoso on the violin. It set its sight on being first chair of a renowned philharmonic orchestra. The hare may be an amateur musician who plays several instruments and enjoys many genres from country to classical.

The key is to choose a professional ‘umbrella’ with many opportunities and alternatives. The above example is ‘music’. Underneath ‘music’ is ‘musician’. You may be an amateur or a professional. You may be a teacher or a student. You may play several instruments or one. Your instrument may be your voice. You may be a soloist or belong to a group. You may make music your life or enjoy it as an outlet or hobby. You may be a conductor, a manager, or an agent. You may write music and lyrics for yourself and others. You CAN do more than one thing! You CAN do more than one thing at a time! You CAN sing, and play, and write, and perform. Why not take this attitude when you seek a job, profession, career, or business?

Are you afraid of going where you think you want to go only to find out you really don’t want to be there? When you choose an ‘umbrella’ you have permission to change course. You can do a complete ‘180’ and move from music to math. It’s not much of a leap as music is math. How else could Beethoven have composed his Ninth Symphony when he lost his hearing? Or, you can select the myriad of opportunities there are in music. You can commit to learning, and then teaching your favorite instrument. You can form your own band and play on weekends at your local establishment. You can combine your love of music with your ability to write computer code. You may create a software program for budding musicians.

You may be saying to yourself, “I’m struggling to pay the bills. How can I look for what I want?” Go back a few years and think about a time when you enjoyed a particular activity or subject. There may be a pattern. The difficulty many people have is being too close to the situation. It’s hard to step back and look at these patterns objectively. You’re also afraid of investing time and money where it may not pay off for you. You decide it’s better to stay where you’re at than attempt to seek other opportunities. For how long?

When do you know it’s time to move on or change direction? The toughest question to answer because no one has a crystal ball. You have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. If you change course and it works for you then it was the right decision to move on. If it doesn’t work for you then it wasn’t the best thing to do. My best advice? Trust yourself first and foremost. No one knows you better than you know yourself. Bounce this off of people you trust. Listen to what they have to say and hold on to the advice that works best for you. At some point you will make a decision. If you’re unable to find something that gets your juices flowing then there may be something deeper than committing to a job, profession, career, or business. At least give yourself permission to find out.

Go easy on yourself. There isn’t a passion, pursuit, venture, or vocation that’s a perfect fit. You may see others who really enjoy what they’re doing and believe they don’t experience struggles and pitfalls. They do. Don’t be afraid to ask how they arrived at their choice. You may be pleasantly surprised. They may have had difficulty choosing one path. There may be more ‘hares’ in this world than you realize.