Wednesday, April 17, 2013

How to choose a career, while respecting your values



When we think about career, what usually comes to mind is defining our professional trajectory, related to the profession that we want to follow through life. However, career is not a term that is used only in the corporate environment, but also in personal life when we think about decisions and projects that can change our daily lives.



            When still young, we think most of the time to achieve our financial independence, and for this reason we start to work long hours with the desire to leverage money and success, thus leaving our health and personal life in the background. For this reason, there is little time for oneself, family, friends and leisure, and time (badly administered) gets increasingly scarce.

With the mind and body focused on work, it becomes difficult to think about activities and projects that give us pleasure. For this reason, it is necessary to stop from time to time to review our attitudes, and redefine new projects and activities that we can improve in.

Different from the professional career that takes into account our productivity and gain for the company, personal career concerns are with our achievements as a human being, including our way of being and living in the world, our dreams, purposes and beliefs of life.

            Living for work, giving up dreams, aspirations and personal goals, is to deny the right to know yourself, your skills, talents and abilities, leading the individual to abdicate their most intimate aspirations.

            Not developing within your  personal career may impede the acquisition of self-knowledge and discernment in our choices, whether current or future, because it is not possible choose which profession to follow, if you do not know where to go. Moreover, the lack of focus may end inhibiting our personal aspirations such as: interest in playing an instrument or doing a course.

            Carelessness with our own health and the things that give us pleasure, may lead the individual to discouragement and dissatisfaction with work, home, family and studies. It is important to have balance between personal life and professional life. If the mind is sick and tired, this will contribute a weary body.

            The construction of a life project that unites both personal and professional aspects of the individual is necessary in building your career as it will indicate objectives, goals, beliefs, values​​, qualities, skills, knowledge and experience, and point to the professional strong points and areas that  can improve.

            Our career can be affected by four factors:

Biological factor: relative to our health and fitness. Younger people, armed with energy and vitality, generally do not violate the limits of the body itself, nor set limits on working hours, and are predisposed to work uninterrupted without food or rest. Thus, these individuals who put the job in the foreground, eventually becoming vulnerable to occupational diseases and stress.

Intellectual factor: this refers to the baggage of knowledge we have, that allows us to develop our work with efficiency and competence. We should not rely solely on our work to develop our intellectual capacities, because unfortunately many companies charge their employees, without thinking about your physical and mental wellbeing. Thus, it is up to the employee to seek further training and development, regardless if your employer requests it.

Social and affective factor: This is often sacrificed in the name of our profession. Because we live in a busy world, full of changes, amid the need to excel in the labor market, we should value the work on our emotional health as well as our relations . In a situation like this, you need to stop, breathe and look inside you in an attempt to see what we put aside, and what can still be rescued.

Financial factor: is the factor that usually attracts most people to get a placement in the labor market. However, there are two types of recognition: the emotional and financial. The affective recognition is linked to our satisfaction in the activity that I exercise, for example: if my job is in line with my goals, beliefs and values, it gives me a sense of belonging, making a difference where I work. Financial recognition concerns a cash reward for my services, money to the livelihood of the house and payment of bills.

            Thus, we can see that all the factors that compose the construction and development of our career (biological, intellectual, social and emotional) are important, and no factor overrides the other, all are interdependent and essential for life at work and outside it.


Daniela Silva is married, Brazilian, and currently resides in Sao Paulo, where she works in her home office with research and projects in education and the third sector.  Graduated in Pedagogy, she has qualifications in: Pedagogy and school management business.  And an MBA in Managing People.
 




           

           
           

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