Why do we choose the jobs and careers we have?

This week I picked up a book about planning for your financial future.  Written by a woman I recently saw speak in America, it started by asking what my first memory about money was.  Her - and many others, theory is that the opinions, ideas and feelings about money are embedded in us when we are children from the environment we live in and the expressions, both verbal and otherwise, that others around us make and have about money.  Is it the “root of all evil” or was there never enough, or are our associations all about happy times, freedom and choices?

It started me thinking.  Do we have the same associations, rooted in our past, about career choices?  Do our feelings about a job or career come from the environment we grew up in?  Do some of us “settle” for a job because we inherently believe that that’s the best we can do or does our environment growing up encourage us to reach for the stars?

As I’m heading to work (not a job to me but something that I absolutely love and that gets me springing out of bed in the morning) I look around on the train and see a range of people both inside and out - office workers, railway workers, construction workers, white collar professionals, students, a fitness instructor - and I wonder, if I was to poll them now, how many would say they are truly doing what they love.

Unless you were born with pot load of family money, it’s probably true that you will have to work.  Are you settling for a job that just brings you home a pay cheque or are you truly pursuing the career of your dreams?

If you’re not, why not?  Are we conditioned to believe that we can’t have what we want?  Do we come from a family that has underlying beliefs that it takes money or superior intelligence to become a doctor, lawyer or indian chief?  Or were your told at school that you’d never amount to anything?  (Now’s the time I could digress into the failings of the measurement style of our education system but that’s best left for another soapbox moment).

I firmly believe that you can do anything or have anything that you set your mind to.  I’m not sure  where that comes from.  My family certainly didn’t instill it in me - but they didn’t dissuade me from it either.

Is this the nurture vs. nature argument again?  What creates the desire in us to pursue a career that we love versus settling for something less?

At Workible, our goal is to help as any people as possible get on the career path of their dreams - regardless of where they’re starting off or what industry that’s in.  We realize that part time and hourly work may just be a stepping stone - albeit a valuable one - or it may be the thing that opens the door for you to take a step closer to that dream.

Let us have your thoughts on whether - and why - you’re in the job you’re in.  We’d love to get your feedback.