Choosing the right career or changing one is, for most of us, an anxiety-riddled experience and most times extremely confusing. Most of the people will tell you to “do what you love” or “follow your passion”.

Well everyone wants to choose a right career that will make them happy, but can everyone know what that will be?
Several studies have shown that human beings are bad at thinking through how they will feel when doing any job in the future. Lots of people are confused about choosing a right career so that’s why in this article I am going to share with you the best tips and techniques for this purpose. Hope this will help…

Everyone perhaps knows someone who started out thinking that s/he loved one profession only to end up hating it. Obviously, it is very beneficial for you to choose an occupation that provides you a good motivational fit.

There are two ways you can be motivated to reach your goals in life. Some people tend to see their goals in life and at work as opportunities for achievement, advancements and rewards. These people think about what they might gain if they are successful in reaching these achievements and rewards. So if you are one of these people who see their goals in this way then you have what’s called a promotion focus.

The other set of people see their goals as being about security, i.e. primarily not losing everything they have worked so hard for. When you have a focus on prevention then you have the tendency to avoid danger or take less risks for the purpose of fulfilling your responsibilities. You need to keep things running smoothly.

Nowadays everyone is motivated by both prevention and promotion, but you also tend to have a dominant motivational focus in specific goals in life such as love, work and family. What’s necessary to understand is that prevention and promotion focused people have different motivations and distinct weaknesses and strengths.

The promotion focused people excel at different activities such as;

Innovation and Creativity
Working Quickly
Generating lots of alternatives
Abstract thinking
Embracing Risk
Seizing lots of opportunities for achieving success

But unfortunately, these peoples are also more error prone, overly optimistic and take risks that land them more often than not, in hot water.

The Prevention focused people tend to excel at;

Analytical reasoning and thinking
Planning
Thoroughness and being detail oriented
Reliability
Accuracy
Anticipating Problems

Unfortunately, these people work more slowly because they are also wary of change or taking chances. Diligence takes time.

It is our aim that after reading this article you will have a sense of your own focus in the workplace. By knowing your dominant focus now you can evaluate how well suited you are for different positions in your organisation and or different kinds of career choices.

If you are included in the list of promotion focused people, then you need to look for jobs that offer advancement and growth. Consider such industries where services and products are rapidly changing, and where outside the box thinking pays off such as the technology or advertising sector.

If you are included in the list of prevention focused people, try to look for a job that offers you a sense of security and stability. Obviously, you are good at keeping things running, at handling complexity and always having a Plan B ready at a moment’s notice. Consider such careers where your attention and thoroughness to detail are valued, for instance as a contractor or lawyer.