How to choose a career that makes you happy... :)

In modern-day society, a person’s career is often of paramount importance. The right job provides financial stability, rewarding tasks, a general sense of fulfillment, and genuine enjoyment, in addition to secondary benefits such as potentially forming new relationships, gaining new training and knowledge, and providing a setting for fun events.

But for many, it can be a long, arduous journey before they discover their ideal fit for long-term employment. People want to land a gig that will make them happy, and not spend years bouncing from company to company performing work that only depresses them in the end.

So, how do you choose a career that makes you happy? It turns out that there are a few key factors to keep in mind in order to make the choice easier.

Prior Enjoyment

Far too often, someone pursues a field of study toward a career choice because they believe it “sounds cool” or “looks interesting.” The issue with this line of thinking is that, often, their perception is based on media portrayal and not on actual front-line experience. For instance, the arena of forensics has always been a necessary part of law enforcement, but the popularity of relevantly themed televisions shows such as C.S.I. (Crime Scene Investigation) and its spin-offs caused an explosion of interest in newly enrolling students. However, now, many of those once interested are now becoming disillusioned as they realize how sincerely difficult the duty is.

Instead, a much wiser impetus for career choice is to engage in a job market related to an activity that you already enjoy. Do you like sports? Then if you are good at writing, you could start e-mailing contacts until you earn steady work as a freelance sportswriter, or even start your own blog. Or perhaps you could earn a position with the local professional or semi-professional team, depending on your talents. That is just one example among countless; often, converting a hobby into a career is very difficult at first and requires a remarkable initial time investment, but if enjoyment is a priority for you, then it may be an option that richly pays off in the end. Otherwise, even in a general sense, it is a good idea to look for a job you know you will enjoy doing every day, rather than search for riches or “cool” factor.