How to Find a Career That You Will Love

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September 29, 2024

Do you love your career? Do you wake up knowing that today will be exciting and satisfying? So many people continue with jobs that they don’t really like, simply because changing careers seems scary. First, you have to choose a new career, which sometimes isn’t easy, and then you have to actually find a way of starting that career. What if it doesn’t work out?

However, changing careers can also be exciting. Trying something completely new is never going to be easy, but the rewards could also be really, really big. Here are some tips to help you find a career you love.

1. Ask “What do I love doing right now?”

Before you find a new career, you have to know what you want. So, make a list of all the things you like and don’t like about your current job. Think about daily tasks, deadlines, and challenges. What aspect of your job excites you? What aspects do you really dislike? Putting this on paper will help you make a plan.

2. Ask “What do I dream about doing?”

If you could do anything, what would it be? Try not to think too seriously – just let yourself dream for a minute. For instance, if you love reading fiction, did you ever consider a career as a writer or a journalist? Or maybe an author? What is your dream?

3. Talk to Friends and Family

Get help from friends or family who you can talk to. They might also have some ideas about what they think you would be really good at. You don’t need to do exactly what they say, but it might get you thinking about other options.

4. Get Networking

Get out there and start meeting different people who have similar interests to you. This will help you make new contacts, and possibly new friends. Widening your network will make it easier to discover the thing that you love.

5. Find a Career Coach

Working with a coach or mentor can be a great source of career guidance. The decision to change careers shouldn’t be done too quickly, so the more research and time you put into planning your career path, the better. This research will make sure you will have the info you need to make the right decision.

6. Research Careers

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September 26, 2024

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Effective Learning Strategies depend on Prior Knowledge

*Quick aside: Sometimes this study is used to argue that reading comprehension skills don’t matter. That’s not our interpretation. Rather, this study was set up very carefully to show the power of prior knowledge in particular.

Part of this effect is due to chunking. For folks who know a lot about baseball, they likely can process a description of a double play as one thing. That makes sense to them. For me, a double play would involve a series of distinct events that I process individually, because I know very little about baseball. (What is a double play anyway?) Another classic study looks at how chess masters process chess boards (2). Where I see many distinct pieces on the board (a horse, a castle…), they see something like, “ah, classic… that’s the queen’s gambit”.

Novices, beginners, folks with little prior knowledge literally think about concepts differently than those with prior knowledge. It’s not just that they can build on those connections, but the thinking is qualitatively different. Novices need more working memory to process all those distinct chess pieces, but experts need more complex tasks to feel challenged and reach the desirable difficulty needed for effective learning.

Therefore the strategies that work best for novices differ from those that work best for experts. Novices tend to learn best with guidance – with direct instruction of some kind. They need structure because their working memories are taken up with individual pieces of new information. Experts, on the other hand, learn best when they are left to their own devices and engage in problem-solving or inquiry. They can handle the added challenge, which in turn leads to better learning.

This general idea that what works best for novices is the opposite of what works best for experts is called the expertise reversal effect and explains why scaffolded instruction and gradual release is often very successful in the classroom (3). As students go from novice to expert in an area they will learn most effectively if they go from direct instruction to maybe worked examples or instructor-supported practice to independent, problem-based, or inquiry-based approaches.