There is a big difference between a job and a career, and you are that difference. The determination of whether you work a job or have a career lies within how you feel about what you do for a living.
If you like–or even love–your work, then you have a career. If you dread getting out of bed and dragging your tired bones and weary mind to your workplace, then you have a job.
Deep down, everyone would love to earn a decent living doing exactly what they love. Unfortunately, many people never get that experience.
In New York City–where the cost of living is the second highest in the nation–working for love may seem like a pipe dream. While it might not be practical for you to turn a hobby you love into a career, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t fulfilling work available. Keep reading to learn how you can take your career to the next level.
Give career counseling a try
This may come as no surprise to you, but your work life can have a huge effect on your personal life–and vice versa. Dissatisfaction in either area can kickstart a self-perpetuating cycle of unhappiness and lack of well-being. You wake up unhappy, take your displeasure to work and get more frustrated, and then you bring all of that back home with you again. When you get caught in this hamster wheel of vexation, you are not your best at work or at home.
If this is a cycle that you notice taking place in your life, and you are ready for a career change, then you should seek career counseling. A career counselor is a lot like a guidance counselor for adults. Before you dismiss the idea, you should give it some serious thought. This is your career and happiness at stake here, so you’ll have to be willing to pull out all the stops.
America is the land of opportunity, and no city in the country embodies this like the Big Apple. There are too many career paths that you can take here to try and sift through every opportunity available. Talking with a career counselor can help you to discover what you’re passionate about. In addition, they use aptitude tests that show you what your strongest work-based skills are. They use this information to help you move into the career field that best suits you. The key is combining what you love to do with what you are good at and what people are willing to pay you to do. That is the stuff that successful careers are made of.
Grow the skills that you already have
Often times, people find themselves in the right career field but not at a level that allows them to be all that they are capable of being. In these cases, it is not the industry that you’re in that needs to change–just your position in it. Your attitude determines your altitude. You can go as high within your field of interest as your belief in yourself allows you to!
If you’re overqualified for your current position, then take the abilities that you have and advance them with more training or schooling. If you are a nurse’s assistant or medical technician but feel a passion to do more within the medical field, then go back to school and get your nursing or medical degree! Your training and skills will give you an excellent foundation from which to further your career in healthcare.
Your happiness is too crucial to your overall well-being to let dissatisfaction with your career affect it. Rather than settle just to make ends meet, go for something that allows you to be the best version of yourself. Talk things over with a career counselor, go back to school, or open your own business. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you find the thing that brings out the superstar in you.
