Talent based career selection
I see students today and their parents are excessively obsessed with marks. I am not saying marks are not important, they certainly are. But focusing only on marks is not going to get everyone everywhere. By concentrating on scores, most students might make it to their dream jobs. But then, at some point in future, these people will get to a point where they find themselves demotivated and lacking the drive to go on.
Getting decent scores in your 10th and 12th grade is important. This is because the 10th grade is in fact an end to the first logical step in schooling. The 12th grade score lays the foundation for further education and eventually your career. Your marks do help in getting admission to a course of your choice.
One thing that most students and their parents do is ignore Inborn Talent. Some skills come to children naturally. It is important that a student’s talent must not be ignored because building a skill-set on top of inborn talent will prove rewarding with the passage of time. If a six year old is spending a lot of time drawing and painting, it may or may not mean that the child’s inborn talent is Art. Continue to observe if the child continues to spend more and more time engaging with art over the years. Observe if the child demonstrates an improvement in skill. During the child's evolution, if a professional artist or art teacher acknowledges the child’s skill, then I can say with reasonable confidence that this child has an inborn talent in art. This logic applies to other skills as well.
Here are the steps to determine a career based on inborn talent;
Your performance in school does not have any bearing on how you will perform in your career years later. Look at Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and many other entrepreneurs who have dropped out of school or college to pursue their passions and more importantly their inborn talents. They are very successful today. I understand that not everyone can become a Mark Zuckerberg or a Bill Gates, but something that everyone can do is pursue their passions and more importantly pursue a career that revolves around work that you love doing.
If you do what you love then you will always love what you do…
Here are some examples of career options based on inborn talent
When you say you love playing games or cooking or gardening or photography, my question is can you continue to play games or cook or garden or take pictures for hours? Can you engage with these activities without feeling tired, hungry or sleepy? If the answer to these questions is a ‘Yes’, then it is a given that these activities get you into a state of ‘Flow’ (Refer my blog post on the Theory of Flow: How your skill drives your motivation). Activities that get you into ‘flow’ are activities that usually revolve around your inborn talents. Nurture your skills and eventually pursue a career in these areas.
In general, today, you can make a career out of anything that you may be interested in, the key is to find out what you really love doing.
If you say you don’t have any inborn talents, I refuse to believe that. Everyone is born with a unique talent or two for sure. It is just that you have not identified it as yet! If you look deep enough and think long enough, I’m sure you will be able to determine your talent, find a suitable course and identify the relevant opportunities.
When you care for your work deeply, you will never be short of motivation, you will never feel bored. Each day you will feel excited to go to work and each day you will learn something new. Remember, motivation leads to engagement, engagement leads to mastery and mastery is the key to innovation.
It is not a wise decision to take up courses that are based on the compensation offered by your target job opportunity. For example, if you take up Computer Science & Engineering, Medicine or Chartered Accountancy just because Software Engineers, Doctors and CAs make a lot of money without being truly interested in the subject, chances are that you may not be happy & satisfied at the end of the day even though you have money. For a fulfilling career, select a career that revolves around your inborn talents and your strengths, because, when you play with your strengths, you often win.
If you don’t decide what career to pursue, the education system funnel will decide it for you (Refer my blog post: Talent: Education System Funnel) and then, if you do well and are happy with your work, good for you, but if you are not, then you have no one but yourself to blame.
So, choose a career that you truly care for irrespective of the compensation it offers. Aim to be the best there is and no one can stop you from getting a decent pay package. If you are exceptional in your skill and you are one of the best there is, employers pay sooner or later, no matter what.
Getting decent scores in your 10th and 12th grade is important. This is because the 10th grade is in fact an end to the first logical step in schooling. The 12th grade score lays the foundation for further education and eventually your career. Your marks do help in getting admission to a course of your choice.
One thing that most students and their parents do is ignore Inborn Talent. Some skills come to children naturally. It is important that a student’s talent must not be ignored because building a skill-set on top of inborn talent will prove rewarding with the passage of time. If a six year old is spending a lot of time drawing and painting, it may or may not mean that the child’s inborn talent is Art. Continue to observe if the child continues to spend more and more time engaging with art over the years. Observe if the child demonstrates an improvement in skill. During the child's evolution, if a professional artist or art teacher acknowledges the child’s skill, then I can say with reasonable confidence that this child has an inborn talent in art. This logic applies to other skills as well.
Here are the steps to determine a career based on inborn talent;
- Step #1: Determine your inborn talents.
- Step #2: Spend some time in nurturing inborn talent.
- Step #3: Find out the courses that help to reinforce your inborn talent.
- Step #4: Select a career that revolves around your inborn talent.
Your performance in school does not have any bearing on how you will perform in your career years later. Look at Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and many other entrepreneurs who have dropped out of school or college to pursue their passions and more importantly their inborn talents. They are very successful today. I understand that not everyone can become a Mark Zuckerberg or a Bill Gates, but something that everyone can do is pursue their passions and more importantly pursue a career that revolves around work that you love doing.
If you do what you love then you will always love what you do…
Here are some examples of career options based on inborn talent
- If you love playing games on your tablet or smart-phone, consider a career in game design, game art, behavioral psychology, game programming or a combination of these.
- If you are interested in art, consider a career in Digital Art Design, User Interface Design, User Experience or a combination of these.
- If you are interested in cooking, consider a Hotel Management course and train to be a chef.
- If you are interested in gardening, consider Botany or agriculture and train to be a Naturalist at a wildlife sanctuary or a resort. You can also opt for Indian Forestry Services (Civil Services Exam) or state Administrative Services after graduation.
- If you love photography, take up a course in photography. Pursue artistic photography or wildlife photography as a career. Alternately you can consider journalism as an option too.
When you say you love playing games or cooking or gardening or photography, my question is can you continue to play games or cook or garden or take pictures for hours? Can you engage with these activities without feeling tired, hungry or sleepy? If the answer to these questions is a ‘Yes’, then it is a given that these activities get you into a state of ‘Flow’ (Refer my blog post on the Theory of Flow: How your skill drives your motivation). Activities that get you into ‘flow’ are activities that usually revolve around your inborn talents. Nurture your skills and eventually pursue a career in these areas.
In general, today, you can make a career out of anything that you may be interested in, the key is to find out what you really love doing.
If you say you don’t have any inborn talents, I refuse to believe that. Everyone is born with a unique talent or two for sure. It is just that you have not identified it as yet! If you look deep enough and think long enough, I’m sure you will be able to determine your talent, find a suitable course and identify the relevant opportunities.
When you care for your work deeply, you will never be short of motivation, you will never feel bored. Each day you will feel excited to go to work and each day you will learn something new. Remember, motivation leads to engagement, engagement leads to mastery and mastery is the key to innovation.
It is not a wise decision to take up courses that are based on the compensation offered by your target job opportunity. For example, if you take up Computer Science & Engineering, Medicine or Chartered Accountancy just because Software Engineers, Doctors and CAs make a lot of money without being truly interested in the subject, chances are that you may not be happy & satisfied at the end of the day even though you have money. For a fulfilling career, select a career that revolves around your inborn talents and your strengths, because, when you play with your strengths, you often win.
If you don’t decide what career to pursue, the education system funnel will decide it for you (Refer my blog post: Talent: Education System Funnel) and then, if you do well and are happy with your work, good for you, but if you are not, then you have no one but yourself to blame.
So, choose a career that you truly care for irrespective of the compensation it offers. Aim to be the best there is and no one can stop you from getting a decent pay package. If you are exceptional in your skill and you are one of the best there is, employers pay sooner or later, no matter what.
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