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Tag: interests

  • Discovering Your Skills and Talents

    Discovering Your Skills and Talents

    Everyone has skills and talents. You may not have figured out what your particular set of skills and talents are (yet), but you definitely have them.

    But let’s back-track for a second. What is a skill or talent? A skill or talent is something that you are good at. For instance, you could be skilled at cooking up a gourmet meal or fixing cars. Sometimes a skill could be a particular quality or set of qualities you possess, such as talking, listening, negotiating, planning, organizing, typing or analyzing.

    For some people, figuring out their skills is simple. They seem to have been born with it.  For instance, I have a friend who is talented at playing the piano. She has always been talented at the piano since the time she was a child. Other people acquire their skills over the years. I have another friend who is skilled at making beautiful cakes. She wasn’t born with this ability, but learned it after years and years of practice.

    It doesn’t matter whether you are born with a skill or have developed it over time, what matters is that you figure out what your skills are and use them. Figuring out your skills might seem hard at first, especially if there are no obvious signs to point you in the right direction. Pay attention, then, to what others notice about you. Often times, your friends, family and colleagues may recognize a particular skill or talent you have before you do. In fact, it might help to ask those around you what your skills are. A few years ago, I e-mailed my family and friends and asked them, “Are there any skills or interests that you see in me, that perhaps I am not aware of?” The answers I received were eye-opening. I never knew I possessed certain skills and talents until those around me told me I did!

    Interestingly enough, I discovered that many of my skills and talents were in areas I was interested in.  For instance, I am skilled at writing and research – and I also happen to enjoy doing both! It’s no coincidence that this happens. You tend to spend more time doing things that interest you, and when you spend more time doing something, you inevitably get better at it. (Practice makes perfect, right?)

    So do yourself a favour. Figure out your skills and talents (either by observing your own behaviour or by asking others) and then use these skills and talents. You will be a much happier person for doing so. The majority of the time, what you are good at also happens to be what you are passionate about!

  • Discover What You Love To Do

    Discover What You Love To Do

    Do what you love. You’ve probably already heard this advice plenty of times before. But what if you don’t know what you love doing? What if the question, “what do you love to do?” results in a blank stare on your face? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. There are a lot of people (young and old) who don’t know what they love to do. The irony is that the answer is already within you. You just have to pay attention to the clues to find out what it is.

    Here is a little exercise which might help you gain some clarity on what you love doing or what your interests are. First, find a quiet spot away from all distractions. Turn off the TV, your phone and any other thing that could distract you when completing this exercise.

    Next, take out a blank sheet of paper and write the title Interests. Write down anything and everything you are interested in. For instance, if you are interested in bugs, write bugs. If you are interested in fashion, write fashion. If you are interested in plants, write plants. If you are stumped for things to write, try to think of activities you currently do which you completely get lost in — where time just seems to fly by! (The clock seems to be extra slow when doing activities you don’t enjoy!) For example, if you get completely absorbed fixing a car, then writing fixing cars as one of your interests. Or if you get completely engrossed baking a cake, then put down baking as one of you interests.

    Once you feel you have made a thorough list of your interests, look over the list you just wrote. Do you notice any similarities between the different items on your list? Does one interest seem to pop up several times on your list? If it helps, highlight similar interests in the same colour.

    Now, if you had to pick three interests from your list, which three would you choose? Be honest with yourself. Consider which things you truly enjoy. Could you see yourself doing one or more of these things for many years to come? Does this thought excite you or fill you with dread? If it fills you with excitement, then you know you are on the right track.

    Remember, do what you love. Those four words are the most important words to keep in mind when choosing a career path. If you choose a career path or job that involves something you love doing, you will be much happier and fulfilled than if you choose one in which you don’t. So discover what you love to do, and pursue a career path which reflects that. Good luck!

  • Exploring Careers in Your Field of Interest

    Exploring Careers in Your Field of Interest

    You may already know what you love to do. Great! So what’s the next step? The next step would be figuring out what kinds of jobs are available within your field of interest. Did you know that there are many career paths you can take for any one thing you love to do and are interested in? For example:

    • If you love to write, you could consider a job that involves writing. There are many jobs that would be a perfect fit for a person who loves to write. For instance, you could be a newspaper or magazine columnist, you could work as a copywriter for an advertising agency or you could even be an author!
    • If you love to dance, you could be a dancer. But you could also be a dance teacher or even choreographer!
    • If you love to work with animals, you may be interested in being a veterinarian, animal trainer, zoo keeper or even biologist.
    • If you love to work with your hands, then you may want to consider carpentry, auto mechanics, engineering, dentistry or even massage therapy.
    • If you are an outdoorsy person, then sitting at a desk job is definitely not your thing. Instead, consider jobs in which people primarily work outdoors, such as construction workers, landscapers, forest rangers or even adventure travel guides.
    • If you love to work with children, professions such as teacher, pediatrician, child psychologist or early childhood education assistant would be right up your alley!

    As the above examples show, there are many different career paths available within a certain area of interest. Do a little bit of research to discover what career opportunities align with your interests. Try to determine which of these various careers you would be interested in pursuing and why. Read profiles of various jobs to get a sense of what they involve. And finally, if possible, talk to people who work in these jobs. After all, the best way to find out what a job is all about is to talk to someone who is already doing it!

  • Try Courses That Seem Interesting To You

    Try Courses That Seem Interesting To You

    With a new semester almost upon us, it may be time for you to choose specific classes that can help you get where you want to go. Choosing a major is one of the hardest parts of applying to university. Whatever you decide to study, try some courses that seem interesting to you whether they’re in your major or not. If you’re drawn towards philosophy and you don’t know why, try out a class anyway. See what it is and whether you see a place for yourself in it.

    Remember – university is basically the start of your career, even though it can be difficult to decide so early in life what you want to do. That’s why it’s designed to let you experiment with electives. It could be that you’ve always wanted to take a sculpture class, or it could be that, while registering for your classes, film history to 1940 somehow just jumps out at you. Try it. Find out why. You might find a new passion!

    Plenty of people end up switching their majors part of the way through university. Someone might start in biology only to realize, after taking a photography class, that they have a great passion for cameras.

    Lots of people also like to try out a minor. Just because you’re a biology major, it doesn’t mean you have to take all science courses. You can have a minor in theatre if that’s what interests you. Who knows – maybe some day your interests will intersect in a spectacular theatrical production explaining the process of digestion!

    The work involved in doing well at university is more than a full-time job. When it comes time to read 50 pages from the textbook every week or write that final essay, it will be painful to do if you’re not interested in the material. You’ll learn plenty of fascinating stuff in pretty much any class, but if the subject interests you, you can have a lot of fun while you’re at it.

    University is also the time when most people start taking charge of their own lives. Many people move out for the first time and start paying rent or working at part-time jobs. In the end, you’re the only one responsible for whether you succeed or fail. Keep in mind that taking responsibility for yourself means more than meeting deadlines and paying rent. You have to start putting your life in motion, which means learning about what interests you, what you’re good at and where you can go with it.

    A career isn’t the only thing that defines you. The famous author Vladimir Nabokov studied butterflies and made up chess problems in his spare time. A successful salesman may be part of an amateur radio club or a hockey team. It’s good to know what you want out of life and to have a career plan, but don’t forget about all those things that make you who you are.

    In the end, following your interests is the practical thing to do. Even for a doctor, there are so many specializations that you are able to go in any direction you want. What area you choose to focus on is going to be the thing that helps you to stand out and helps to define your life. In the meantime, it will make your education a lot more fun.