Identify Your Values and consider costs, benefits, and lifestyle trade-offs

Thinking about and discovering what you want out of life gives you guidance for what to do to lead a satisfying life. Understanding yourself enables you to select a career path that best suits you. This is a key step in career planning. Values are the principles, standards, or qualities considered worthwhile or desirable. Values provide a basis for decisions about how to live, serving as guides we can use to direct our actions. For something to be a value, it must be prized, publicly affirmed, chosen from alternatives, and acted upon repeatedly and consistently. Values are not right or wrong, or true or false; they are personal preferences. People may place value on family, friends, helping others, religious commitment, security, honesty, pleasure, good health, material possessions, financial achievement, and a satisfying career. Examples of conflicting values are family versus friends, stability versus adventure, religious beliefs versus actions, and work versus leisure. When you make important decisions, you might be wise to think carefully to clarify your values before taking action. Consider making a list of your ten most important values

Consider Costs, Benefits, and Lifestyle Trade-offs
Selecting a career involves making decisions about costs and benefits and lifestyle trade-offs. Costs and Benefits When making career choices, you must weigh the benefits against the costs. The benefits could include a big salary, likelihood of personal growth and job advancements, and high job satisfaction. For some, the pluses might include the psychic benefit of a prestigious job with a high income. The costs might include living in a less desirable geographic area and climate, being too far from friends and family, sitting  at a desk all day, working long hours, and doing too muchtravel.

Lifestyle Trade-offs When considering any career, think about what lifestyle or social and cultural factors are important to you. For example, if access to big-name live entertainment, museums, and artistic activities is important, then working and living in a rural area may not be appropriate. If you like to visit new places, you may choose a career that involves frequent travel. Consider the following lifestyle options in your decision making:
• Urban/rural setting
• Close/far from work
• Own/rent housing
City/suburban life
• Warm/cold climate
• Near/far from relatives
• Constant/variable climate
In addition, employers in certain careers provide more support for working parents. Employer-subsidized child care as well as flexible work hours might be available at a “family-friendly” workplace. These are all quality-of-life issues, your quality of life. The challenges are greater for dual-career couples because they must communicate effectively when considering the impact of one person’s career decisions on the other. Remember, you always have the freedom to change your life and career objectives as you learn more about yourself and the world of work.
SHARE

.

  • Image
  • Image
  • Image
  • Image
  • Image
    Blogger Comment
    Facebook Comment

0 comments:

Post a Comment