Advice to the Undecided

I recently read an article from The New York Times that addressed the issue of not knowing where your passions and purpose lies.  Angela Duckworth, a psychologist who studies world-class achievers suggests to young students to “foster their passion” rather than “follow their passion” as many of us young students consistently hear.  In other words, you don’t need to definitively know what kind of long-term job you will commit to in the future. 

Duckworth advises not overthinking the process.  She explains how she once told a man she met to “move in the direction of something that feels better than worse.”  You cannot go wrong by using this method.  She presents the example of Julia Child, who didn’t fall in love with writing cookbooks and teaching French cuisine on television until her late 30’s.   She also makes the point that your first job most likely will not be your last.  You can have as many or as few jobs as you like. 

Once you establish where your core values lie, you can hone those into how you want to live, share, teach, or practice those values in ways that would be most effective and compatible with the skillset you have developed.  Duckworth recommends writing what you would like people to remember you for, what impression you’d like to make on the world by pretending that you are writing your own eulogy.

            To a student that doesn’t know which way to go, I would suggest taking courses in the field that they are leaning towards even ever so slightly.  That way you can reassess your opinion of that field and what kind of work it may entail.  You can always change your mind and there is always more opportunity and knowledge to gain.

-Golda

Duckworth, Angela. "Graduating and Looking for Your Passion? Just Be Patient." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 June 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

"Person+in+front+of+many+pathways - Google Search." Person+in+front+of+many+pathways - Google Search. N.p.,n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.