Sabotage Part 4: Career

As a student, the last thing you’re probably thinking about on a daily basis is your future career – but maybe it’s time to give your future career a little room in your brain (not just a drawer in your dresser or even a closet, but a whole room). Because as you’re navigating your daily grind as a student, making decisions that will affect your grades and your quality of education, the one thing you should be thinking about (especially in tough times) is: why in the name of all that is holy am I doing this?

Having an idea about what you want your future career to look like is just as good as a dream board when it comes to making goals. Knowing what you want and why you want it will give you extra motivation to do your best work in school and be as successful as you possibly can be. Some things you can daydream about during your free time (you know, while you’re in the shower or on the toilet):

·         Do you want to work indoors or outdoors (or a combination)?

·         Do you want to work from home or at an office?

·         Do you want to work for a company or start your own business?

·         Do you want to work with a lot of people or more on your own?

·         Do you want to work for a company that offers fun perks like time on the clock to exercise?

·         Do you want to be able to go to work in casual clothes or do you expect to dress up daily?

As you think about where you’d like to end up in your first post-college career job, think about how you will find this job, what education you’ll need to get it, what skills you’ll need to know for it, how much you’re going to enjoy this job, how proud you will be that you got this job, and how you will go about being the one person selected for that job. What are some bargaining chips you may have?

·         Your winning personality and charm.

·         Your established record of performance under pressure (that’s your transcript).

·         Letters of recommendation from former employers or college instructors.

·         Your ability to write an amazing resume.

·         Your ability to speak eloquently and succinctly.

With the exception of your winning personality, which you came by on your own terms, all your other bargaining chips come from your college experience. So when you make poor choices (don’t attend class, do poor classwork, do no classwork), you are ultimately killing your future self’s chances to land the job you want – the career that is the whole reason why you are in college in the first place!

So while you go through the day-to-day struggles of college life, keep your eyes on the prize! Remember that any concessions you make and any self-sabotage you partake in will only be amplified over time and will ultimately affect whether or not you can land that career you want! Take responsibility, be in charge of your own life and future, and move forward in a positive direction that will get you where you want to go! I can’t wait to see you succeed!

Kelley