Income, interests, and abilities are three key factors influencing a person's career or job choices. The average person might choose only one of the three, but a wise person will find ways to consider all of them without overlooking anything.
There's an old saying, "One skill mastered is better than nine dabbled in." This lesson teaches us that it's better to dedicate all our efforts to pursuing and completing one single task than to try one thing after another without achieving anything.
However, in today's era, people are increasingly tending towards becoming more versatile and multi-skilled. The clearest example is the case of a marketing employee named Tô Giai Ninh.
He is a typical young man of the 90s generation: dynamic, enthusiastic, hardworking, and ambitious. During the day, Tô Giai Ninh works at an advertising company, earning only 10 million VND per month. Yet, he still manages to buy a house, a car, and spends lavishly on friends and family.
Upon inquiry, it was revealed that Su Jianing also owned a private billiards club, handling her own marketing, networking, and diligently building social relationships. During periods of success, her monthly income from the club was ten times her salary from her main job. Compared to typical salaried employees, Su Jianing had achieved financial freedom long ago.
After careful consideration, everyone realized that Su Jianing had been very smart not to tie himself to a single source of income. This also exemplifies the saying, "A wise rabbit has three burrows." He wouldn't have to worry or panic when one of his livelihoods was cut off.
By engaging in diverse professions, we have more opportunities to discover our strengths, talents, and passions. It's also a chance to satisfy both personal interests and the need for stable employment, avoiding the monotony and boredom of a job that can erode our enthusiasm.
The key to achieving this is finding career opportunities that suit you, satisfying your most essential needs: happiness, accomplishment, and money.
Joy: Only when a person enthusiastically loves the work they are doing do we experience feelings of joy and happiness.
Achievement: Can only be attained through professional competence.
Finances: Having a job or employment is the only way to achieve a stable income.
The ideal is perfect, but reality is difficult. Not everyone has the opportunity to find a job that matches their expertise, interests, and offers an attractive income.
Generally, a person's work can be divided into the following seven categories:
Type 1: Following your interests – A job you enjoy, but don't know much about, and it doesn't earn you much money.
For example, someone might enjoy painting, but if they're not good at it, they can't make much money from painting.
Type two: Hardworking – A job they love, that pays well, but they don't know much about.
Mr. Luong has a loud voice and clear speech, making him a professional MC who earns a considerable income. While he enjoys the job and is very diligent, his personality lacks flexibility and quick wit. His ability to manage the atmosphere and the audience's emotions isn't high, so he always has to prepare his script meticulously, even memorizing every single word. This type of work isn't a huge disadvantage, but it's also very difficult to achieve significant career advancement.
Type three: Benefit-based – A job you don't like, and aren't very good at, but it makes money.
This is a common situation for the vast majority of working people today. They aren't particularly passionate about their jobs, nor are they exceptionally outstanding, but they earn a decent income. When a more capable competitor emerges, this type of person is easily pushed aside and eliminated.
Type four: Rational work – Doesn't like it, but understands it, earns good money.
Many people leverage their strengths to choose a career, possessing genuine competence that leads to a good income, but they often find their work too dull, boring, and unappealing.
Type five: The nihilistic type – Knowledgeable but not interested, and with no good income.
For example, you might be good at washing dishes, folding clothes, or cleaning the house... These are all menial tasks, making it difficult to build a long-term career. Most people who follow this path either give up or persevere because they have no other choice.
Type six: The delusional type – They like it, they're good at it, but they can't make money.
No matter how good or enjoyable a job is, very few people can persevere and develop it if it doesn't guarantee a steady income. Typically, people only consider it a hobby or a side job in their free time.
Type seven: The perfect job – Enjoyable, good at, and lucrative.
The seven career paths listed above encompass all the options a person can choose. While many people are dissatisfied with their current careers and seek change, they may not necessarily find one that perfectly suits them.
As the saying goes, "There is no perfect individual, only a perfect team." Each member has their own strengths and weaknesses, and only by combining them can they achieve optimal results.
Applying this principle to career choices can yield similar results. It's crucial to know how to combine primary and secondary careers, personal interests, abilities, and earning potential to create a complete and harmonious combination. To achieve this, we can use the following three methods:
First, using the "Deep Inquiry Method," create a list of the advantages and disadvantages specific to each profession, and then choose the answer you truly like.
It's worth remembering that billionaire Jack Ma once said, "Having a job you love is the best foundation for building a career."
– Determine your location
– Identify your thinking style
– Determine the capacity to assume responsibility and perform the work.
– Identify the type of work you want to do.
– Determine the status of relationships
Secondly, use the Self-Directed Search test developed by the renowned scientist John Henry Holland to determine your career interests and interests.
Third, conduct a two-way assessment to identify the area you are most knowledgeable in among your preferred career paths, thereby determining your primary and secondary career paths.
This self-assessment process will also help us clarify and focus on our strengths that we need to develop. The book "Discovering Your Strengths" points out that when we discover our strengths and do things we are good at, success is much easier to achieve. Based on these characteristics, we will find the right opportunities for our development.
Source: TopCV
