How do most of us get a job? We apply where our friends or relatives are already working, or we answer a mass cattle call. Such jobs are relatively easy to get, don't pay very well and aren't very satisfying.
Others read an article in some magazine, and then ask our equally clueless friends if this would be a good fit.
I still l remember when 'cowboy' no longer worked for me. Then, in junior high we wasted time on an interest survey. I still haven't been able to monetize eating Chinese food or sleeping in on rainy mornings.
Some authors with better writing ability than reasoning powers tell us to do what you love and the money will follow. The problem here is that you may love something, but have no real talent for it.
Knowing your talents may be the key. Most of us never learn what our talents are; maybe just one or two, and maybe we confuse skills training with talent. Yet, if we were in a career where we could use most all our talents, work life should be a cruise.
So, how do we figure? There are groups called aptitude testing agencies. As in any human endeavor, some are worth the money, and some not. After they determine your talents using actual puzzles, and scenario work-thrus , they will provide a list with your unique talents, and a list of jobs and careers best fitted to these.
Next is to do a personality assessment such as Meyers-Briggs as a selection filter. Are you a big picture person, or are the details more important ? Lastly, go to a workplace that uses these jobs. One of my possibilities was mechanical engineering. I went to such a place for an information interview. Imagine a large room filled with 200 cubicles. Engineers sit at desks all day. I thought this was hell
Choosing your life's calling
Re: Choosing your life's calling
Your second ever post!
Honestly, I understand the impulse to succumb to the notion of a "calling", but the odds of actually achieving and sustaining your life's calling are rather slim. I recommend you hedge your bets and extract different kinds of meaning from the different spheres of your life (family, friends, hobbies, nature, job, exercise, what have you).
As you point out, many things are not profitable/monetizable. The only kinds of "careers" where I can imagine someone being truly fulfilled and utilizing all their talents are non-wage labor jobs: independent contractors, farmers, small business owners, and it's not even a given for these people. They get to "own" most of the processes and direct their own work, but they still have to participate in the marketplace.
Wage labor is alienating in one form or the other. Either make your peace with it, pick a different route or reduce your dependence on regular earned income. Suck as it may, I think it's good to remind oneself that formal wage labor is reserved for the top ~1 billion richest humans on earth. Working life for people who don't have access to salaried jobs is even more precarious and cruel: seasonal farm laborers, day laborers, storekeepers, street vendors, gig workers (delivery, taxis), etc.
Honestly, I understand the impulse to succumb to the notion of a "calling", but the odds of actually achieving and sustaining your life's calling are rather slim. I recommend you hedge your bets and extract different kinds of meaning from the different spheres of your life (family, friends, hobbies, nature, job, exercise, what have you).
As you point out, many things are not profitable/monetizable. The only kinds of "careers" where I can imagine someone being truly fulfilled and utilizing all their talents are non-wage labor jobs: independent contractors, farmers, small business owners, and it's not even a given for these people. They get to "own" most of the processes and direct their own work, but they still have to participate in the marketplace.
Wage labor is alienating in one form or the other. Either make your peace with it, pick a different route or reduce your dependence on regular earned income. Suck as it may, I think it's good to remind oneself that formal wage labor is reserved for the top ~1 billion richest humans on earth. Working life for people who don't have access to salaried jobs is even more precarious and cruel: seasonal farm laborers, day laborers, storekeepers, street vendors, gig workers (delivery, taxis), etc.
Re: Choosing your life's calling
My life’s calling?
Calling and Choose are contradictory, I think.
Perhaps it is better (if you relate it to paid jobs) to speak about choosing work what suits you, what fit with your skills and hopefully with your caracter.
Life‘s calling has a more esoteric meaning I think. The overarching meaning-level of life.
I do not know if I have clearly heared such call in my life.
I have a notion however that ere-style living add to wellbeing of more-than-the-human-kind. Perhaps you can name such a calling.
Calling and Choose are contradictory, I think.
Perhaps it is better (if you relate it to paid jobs) to speak about choosing work what suits you, what fit with your skills and hopefully with your caracter.
Life‘s calling has a more esoteric meaning I think. The overarching meaning-level of life.
I do not know if I have clearly heared such call in my life.
I have a notion however that ere-style living add to wellbeing of more-than-the-human-kind. Perhaps you can name such a calling.
Re: Choosing your life's calling
I may be using calling differently than most; my fault. What I meant was get a job, any job, that uses a great many of your talents. This way you will keep working and excelling so you can build your stash more quickly. You can't depend on any skills training you may already have because you haven't yet trained in your aptitude driven work.
Yes, character is important as it relates to the job. Are you a big picture person, or do you like to examine details? Are you intuitive, or do you like reason and logic? The career needs to fit you. Otherwise, life is quiet desparation
Working on other areas needs to come a bit later. Yes, family, spiritual, etc are important, but if you try to address too many at once you will fail in most all. There's only so much time and energy. Do one at a time, get it established and then work on the next
You may have passions for various areas. This doesn't mean you will be effective in them, at least not at first. These are better saved for hobbies and avocations.
The meaning of life? It seems to be reproduction, and getting enough to eat.
Yes, character is important as it relates to the job. Are you a big picture person, or do you like to examine details? Are you intuitive, or do you like reason and logic? The career needs to fit you. Otherwise, life is quiet desparation
Working on other areas needs to come a bit later. Yes, family, spiritual, etc are important, but if you try to address too many at once you will fail in most all. There's only so much time and energy. Do one at a time, get it established and then work on the next
You may have passions for various areas. This doesn't mean you will be effective in them, at least not at first. These are better saved for hobbies and avocations.
The meaning of life? It seems to be reproduction, and getting enough to eat.
Re: Choosing your life's calling
Way back when, I did a career test through my university's career center. The test's purpose was to generate an outcome along the lines of, "people most similar to you are most happy in such and such career and least happy in such and such career." The career it produced for me was community college instructor. At the time, I took one look at the results and thought, "yeah right, like someone would hire a non-citizen for that." I was right - you can do the job with a MA degree and it's not particularly short of candidates such that a university would fuck around with applying for and paying for a work visa for a non-citizen.
So, I did something else that allowed me to save and I was the most miserable fuck that ever miserabled doing it. I was hands down not right in the head. Reading my first forum posts and journal posts I made here, it's easy to see that's not a sane person talking.
Eventually, I saved some. Will it be enough, who the fuck knows. What I do know is that I can't go back to my previous line of work.
I'm a "lecturer" now - at a 4-year program in a developing country, teaching intro classes in econ and accounting, no research or publication requirements -- so, essentially, a community college instructor. My American MA in Econ seems to make them happy. The salary doesn't pay enough to afford any meaningful savings, but it's comfortable in local terms. It's not what I'd answer if anyone asks what my "calling" is but I am alright at my job and am capable of working it without my brain screaming like a banshee. So I'm coasting doing that.
So, I did something else that allowed me to save and I was the most miserable fuck that ever miserabled doing it. I was hands down not right in the head. Reading my first forum posts and journal posts I made here, it's easy to see that's not a sane person talking.
Eventually, I saved some. Will it be enough, who the fuck knows. What I do know is that I can't go back to my previous line of work.
I'm a "lecturer" now - at a 4-year program in a developing country, teaching intro classes in econ and accounting, no research or publication requirements -- so, essentially, a community college instructor. My American MA in Econ seems to make them happy. The salary doesn't pay enough to afford any meaningful savings, but it's comfortable in local terms. It's not what I'd answer if anyone asks what my "calling" is but I am alright at my job and am capable of working it without my brain screaming like a banshee. So I'm coasting doing that.