Different Gifts- Career Guidance and Planning- 5 April 2012

Different Gifts- Career Guidance and Planning

Everyone is gifted by God but in different ways. Nobody is alike and thankfully so otherwise the world would be a boring place and also imagine only one type of work would get done! So a varied population with varied abilities is the norm set by nature and God.

Swami Vivekananda the great Hindu monk and the founder of the order of the Rama Krishna Mission said that “education is the manifestation of the perfection within.” This means that all persons are born with some inherent talent and the purpose of education and training should be to manifest that inherent potential- such a beautiful thought and principle. Therefore the choice of subjects or the choice of a course of study is an important one and should be in tandem with your abilities and inherent potential. Psychologists have worked hard to understand this process and develop psychometric tools to assess your abilities and guide you to the proper direction. Besides the aptitude the other two important dimensions are the interest areas of the individual and the personality traits. These three criteria make for good and sound career choice.

The most important part of one’s life is the career and the work that you engage yourself in for your life. Humans spend more than one third of their life working and therefore a wrong choice can be traumatic. As a psychologist I know how people stuck in wrong choices of career can be unhappy and stressed due to boredom, poor performance, inefficiency and chronic sense of being a misfit. A right choice is a boon for work becomes fun, interesting, productive, creative and satisfying.

Life is to be enjoyed and lived fully, happily, creatively and successfully. There lies your commitment to not only to yourself but to society and your family. Therein lies your inherent potential which is gifted by God. Making the right choice becomes your foremost duty then. All the best!