Career thoughts

It funny how many people spend life comfortable or struggling only to die!!! It's that shattering fear to explore the unknown that shocks me and to an extent impresses me. I wish I was that uncouth, that domineering, that manifestory...the fear I mean. The ability to convince people that comfort and struggle are enough. How does it get to us? Life, I mean. Or that fear. Enough to convince us it's okay to just exist? No purpose, no will no conviction...just as long as... Its not enough, I know it never enough but no...it is not enough to live empty, Void just because we can manage. We need throbbing hearts and sweaty palms and shaking feet!!! That how we do it. By being completely frightened but doing it anyway. I hope we all get there. I hope we do try to walk unwalked paths, I hope we get to explore , we get to dare, we get to step down ( I know the sermon is always step up, but what about stepping down?? Because the fear sometimes is letting go)

Cast the net wider
That is what you do when you are uncertain of the path to take...I wish someone told me that...
People who are sure of what to become which career path to take or those who fit at once are left to cast deeper within the field.
Casting wider mean accumulate a set of diverse skills.
Learn as much as you can in different fields
In that process you will discover where your soul and mind are nourished where you feel fulfilled
Then you can cast deeper within that field
Start with the shorted hands on skills..short term learned skills intern vastly
The idea that you have to go straight to college after high school is very misguided take a year or two out and figure it out
The idea is to walk smart not fast....

The either/or perspective

Part of the problem is we have been cultured and socialized to become one thing; either a doctor, or a nurse, either a teacher or a banker, either an engineer or a pilot, either a this or that. We have been socialized into the idea that we are or can only be or should he one thing and the best we can do is get better at it, improve it.
No one is yet to introduce to us the idea of being two or three things concurrently or simultaneously or at the very least that we can amass knowledge across a spectrum. The 'and' socialization is scarce and where it exists it one has to be inferior to the other. That is how we stay stuck in unfulfilling careers or once we have reached strained actualization in because it's the only thing we know...you teach for 20/30 years and it's exhausting but the norm is teach until you retire...it's all you've ever know after all...
The reality is it's against no ethics or law to be an account , a practicing advocate and a lecturer all at once or one after the other or each in pulses... The either/or is not wrong it's just one option and we need to open ourselves up for more... unfortunately anyone that is a lot somehow comes out as confused, lost or unserious...that is the kind of thing we need to let go...

People need to understand that a teacher would make a very good psychologist by default and understanding just transitional opportunities is key to escaping professional fatigue...

Hello, its been a minute.

On post secondary education and courses...
I think every course after high school, every unit learned should begin with a job description...Back in high school every subject had a " learning objectives and outcomes" section for each topic. If you have come across teachers schemes you understand this better. Basically they offer an outline of what leaners are expected to learn from the topic and knowledge to acquire which offers a framework for assessment...

I'm suggesting a similar ting in post secondary courses only this time with a job orientation. That is, the first class/ lecture of every course should entail a conversation of the units of objectives, knowledge and skills the learners should expect to learn from the unit and a relation of these skills to on-job duties. The orientation to any course should constitutes job descriptions including titles and roles. Something clearly defines ' taking X course equips you with # # # skills and knowledge to work as a # # in organizations such as # # # doing these set of responsibilities"

We have a community that is vastly invested in human resources development career progression and experience...we need to God back to the roots the initial development of careers and professions. Not just mentorship, but career guidance, counseling and initiation.

1. Research research research!!!!

That principle to all form four graduates asking what next? What course should I take in college?
2. Discover yourself ..who are you what do you enjoy, what are you talents, what don't you like, visualize your perfect life.. what impact do you want to make personally and professionally, to you and to the world

3. Do a lot!! Especially if you are not certain, are clueless about your passions, talents, or the path you want to take. Do as much as possible,...intern, volunteer, ask, offer to do, assist, explore be a waiter, be a cashier, an attendant a, barpesron, a messenger, cease all the opportunities and create some at this age... Somewhere along the way you will find something, you will find IT.

The ceramic cup was never meant for me it was meant for the position I held... I deserve a styrofoam cup

The lesson is remember this: as you gain fame, fortune, position and seniority, people will treat you better, they will hold doors open for you, they will give you a cup of coffee and tea without you even asking...none of that stuff is meant for you The stuff is meant for this position you hold: it is meant for the level that you have achieved of leadership or success or it what you want to call it but you will always disserve a styrofoam cup..

Remember that lesson of humility and gratitude. You can accept all those things, you can accept all the perks, absolutely you can enjoy them,but just be grateful for them and know that they are not for you

-Simon Sinek

You can expedite some parts of it, but the whole journey is arduous and ling, it takes time.

Courage and cowardice are a two- faced concept in professional realm

A person who quits her job because it no longer fulfills her( she did no mistake, she is good at it, she still has bills to pay but she decides she can't be unhappy anymore and quits...) Is that courage or lack of perseverance???

A person who stay in a job where she is unhappy but she is good at it, pays bills and it allows her to live a little. Is that perseverance or cowardice??

Be the judge

What the pro and cons list of employment supposed to prioritize? Is emotional fulfillment or financial needs? It's a dilemma. It easy to decide finances first because we have suffered poverty and being broke in the eyes of unemployment. The frustration that you go through five years after graduation with no job makes you see everything in monetary terms.

But...

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, psychological needs (satisfaction, fulfillment and social needs) come right after you meet your physiological needs. This means tat as soon as you enter a job for the money and you start meeting your basic (physiological needs: food, clothing, health, rest) you will begin craving safety, social, esteem and self- actualization needs. That's where the money stops making sense and you start suffering job fatigue....not out of workload but because your psychosocial needs are being poorely met...

Honestly I think in your 20s, maybe 30s it okay... your supposed to be figuring it all out ( although there isn't much room to figure it out in modern society) but at what point does psychosocial fulfillment surpass physiological needs???

My job doesn't make my heart sing

That feeling of exhaustion you get mentally every Monday morning because once again you have to wake up go to a place that does not inspire you to do something that does not interest, satisfy or provoke you.

I don't know how exotic you are : but if you are exotic enough you want meaning, value a sense of thrive and competency and purpose. Work is something we do a large part of our lives...so imagine your hear not singing 8-10 he's a day, 40-50 hrs a week, 160-200 hrs a month for 20-40 years of you life?

I am with you, sandwiched between responsibility and exhaustion from doing something that's not self fulfilling. There is not enough cost to insure that you become something that nurture your soul... something that nourishes you spirit...

Do not hesitate or settle. You deserve to do something that makes your heart sing.

What do you want to become when you grow up?
Stressing career research over definitive responses
I come from a family of ‘high achieving’ thinking relatives and that sometimes that takes a toll on you as a child in the family. Growing up every time my uncles visited I was faced by this urge to run or disappear until they left because of the obvious and ‘must’ be chain of questions that will dominate our short engagement; what grade did you have? How about mathematics? What do you want to become? My mother’s siblings are very aspirational and believe that somehow we should know what we want to become…And because of respect, sometimes pressure anv other times the need to end the conversation by giving them what they wanted I found myself throwing worlds and titles around: engineer, accountant, banker...I really did not mean it because I have never taken time to think intentionally about the question…. One of my uncles is particularly persistent and he will drive you to a state of confusion by asking you what type of engineer? What do engineers do? Anv of course because I was trying to make conversation, not be rude or dismiss the conversation out of distaste... I would be tongue tied and he would go on anv on about how important it is…blab. Blab blab…I swear sometimes my mind wandered away to my own oblivions. But them he would ask those conversations attention tester questions that people ask to make sure you are listening and…well, it never ended well.
I wasn’t one of those people who has always know what I wanted to become…I still ims looking. But then growing up being out in the world has enlighten me on how undefined what you want to become is…the truth is most of us do not know. We do good in school and have this standard career or course that we will pursue as a backup or a course of life…with little going into thinking what do I want to become and why?
But my 18 old brother just recently gave the response I should have given my uncles, my parents, my teachers anv everyone who consequently asked me what I wanted to become… a response that would have been true anv never required lying, wandering or getting anxious over. A response I hope that my children anv my siblings, and colleges anv high schoolers not only give but take time to actualize at that very age; My brother is very clear on what he wants get for his KCSE. That is crucial… the thing is with a good grave more doors are open... the tricky part is knowing which door to go through after completing high school…
When my mother asked my brother what he wanted to become just days after closing school for the holidays he told them he is still researching… he will tell them when he decides. That blew my mind... it very intelligent, authentic but more importantly it is very important that young people begin realizing that they cannot just respond to the olv-age question WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BECOME? Just to sound oriented or purposeful. Young people anv to a significant extent we grownups need to accept that it is not obvious to know the answer, be okay with not having the response yet have the initiative to what to know.
Career research is not a playful word and it shouldn’t be a foreign concept in today’s climate. It is what our children should begin to actualize in high school. Learn and implement…it is a pre-campus stage of life. Deciding what we want to become requires thought and information and that is only achievable through research. It should be part of high school curriculum; because for the larger % of students in Kenya they only know 20% of possible careers and will only quantitatively define about ten.
The question what do you want to become? Should be a thought stimulant for most teenagers, a provocation to reflect anv research, It should not necessarily have the response we are accustomed to hearing or wanting to hear: doctor, nurse, teacher, account, pilot….