What is the lifegoal or ambition that your choosen career fulfills and is it truly important?

I think what is important when you choose a career is to choose one that you have a passion for......you work many years for many hours a day and you need to find a way to make a living that makes you feel good, fulfilled and that you enjoy doing every day. Money is important to live but if you work just because it pays slot of money and that is not the field you want to be in it will not being you the hot each day got are looking for. Examine your interests, take aptitude tests and make the decision wisely. You can always change but I feel you should always make sure that what you do each day begins you pride,fulfilment and happiness

I like your question. It is good to ask yourself these kinds of questions every so often, so that you don't get too far off course.
Seems to me, that something I've hung onto most of my working career is that Money isn't the main object, but it is nice to have some money to live and to share.
For example while I've been in the insurance industry all of my main working career and it has provided a fairly comfortable living...I've often called my work " tent making". I work so that I can give money and things to others. I like my job, but without it I am still me. I like to help out other people and organizations. I have an organization CRU a college campus ministry and I've been involved in it for 15+ years. I am on the local board, attend some meetings, donated to them and to some of their interns. In fact my wife and I have had interns live with us so that the interns do not need to raise so much in support to operate their ministry on campus. Also my employer actually matches my giving.
I've always felt that my faith has played a part in being content in all circumstances,even when I lost my job at age 55. I was able to keep my head and find another job 6 months later. I had lived simply so we had no debt, so we managed fine and trusted that we would be provided for. And yes we were will provided for.
I've enjoys my coworkers and jobs, but my life has not been what my job is.
Insurance field has always provided employment and people need the various insurance products. there are jobs all over the world. I have helped so many people in their hour of need when something happened and they needed to call on their insurance company.
So my life goal is to work at something that is legal, helpful, pays the bills, and provides income to the point I can bless other people.

I think that evaluating your desire for fulfillment/joy and your practical needs is the first step to making decisions like this. You need to think in the long-run, how those needs may change, and if whatever career or path you journey down is flexible enough to adapt to those changes. Going to school, taking on debt, and dealing with the mental and emotional fallout for a job that you don't like and feel like you never will is not a good choice. But choosing a path that may make you financially unstable is also problematic. For example, if your job is being some sort of artist (musician, sculptor, etc.) then you're financially at the whim of others. The joy you get from your work may be worth it for a short time, when you're independent, but if you want to take on other responsibilities such as a spouse, house, or children, then you need to find a balance. Or you need to intelligently prepare for change-- for example, getting a art degree and an MBA or recording music in a band but also learning the recording studio machinery and the business.

Good question, and very insightful!

Self-fulfillment/accomplishment is a very individualized concept.

I was a police officer for 25 years. The job itself did not provide that feeling you describe, even though I was a righteous cop -- probably because not much ever happened at our dept. However, I became involved in the police association and addressing labor issues. This included things such as improving the professionalism of the dept (training, policies & procedures, etc); improving the morale of the officers: flexibility in uniform choices - short sleeves or long sleeves, ability to turn down mandatory overtime once every six months,etc; and compensation and benefits issues. By doing this, I was giving back to my fellow officers.

I think "contributing/giving back" lies at the heart of fulfillment, at least for me. I currently work at the state Workforce office, where, every day, I help people: in the resource lab, who have limited computer skills, or by helping them to assess their skills and qualifications, write resumes, and regain confidence and self-esteem. These aspects of this job are very rewarding. However, there are two down-sides: We are spending too much time keeping statistics instead of helping customers, and the pay is BAD. But, because I have a retirement check coming in, I can continue to maintain the standard of living I had at the police dept.

I also do some freelance work. Here, I help attorneys who are handling Civil Rights (mostly police misconduct), criminal defense, and Employment Law cases. In that there is a lot of "Wrong" in both the Civil Rights and Employment Law arenas, it feels good to have a hand in helping people to fight injustice. Believe it or not, this is my "hobby!" I don't charge a lot, because most of these clients cannot afford to pay a lot.

Wealth and social standing are over-rated. "Financial Success" means having the means to pay your bills and get some "extras" from time to time, without actually living paycheck to paycheck. The key to all of this is self-discipline and money-management: being able to distinguish between "Wants" and "needs," Borrowing only when necessary, investing, maintaining a good credit rating, etc.

By thinking about these things now, you are well on the road to a successful life. Please feel free to post more questions - there are many people here with a lot of insightful ideas!

Kim

It is important to choose a career that you are excited about doing. That is not an easy task to find out what you would be happy doing. We would all like to have a great salary and be highly valued in society and feel real fulfillment every day of the week. A career that makes you feel a sense of accomplishment is even important as I see it although it may not pay as much.

Found a Career Counselors point of view because I have also lived with these feelings and experiences that you have had. I would like to tell you a short story. I went to college, majored in English with an Education Minor. thinking I would teach. I also went through the practicum classes that teachers go through and I was assigned an elementary school which is what I thought I wanted. It turned out that I was not happy with working at this job. After about 10 years of getting married, and working at different jobs, one day I read about a UCLA extension course that was close by that would help you decide on the career that would fit with your interest, personality, skills, and values. This was an eye opener to me and I took the course. After that I research some of the careers that the course suggested I would be good at and felt good about the accomplishments it would bring. I went back to my college and found out that in the Education Dept. they had a course that required 24 units of graduate work in which I was very interested in because it was one of the occupations that I found when I did the extension course that fit with my interest, personality, skills and values, so I enrolled back in school again.

My point of telling you my story is that you must find this out about yourself before you can make a career choice, otherwise you will struggle as I did to find the right place and environment and be happy for the years that you are able to work. If you are in school now please visit your Career center and ask about Career Assessments such as: SDS, Myers Briggs Personality, Disc Assessment, Kiersey Temperament Assessment and there are many more. Sometimes you can find them on-line.

Without these Assessments I would not have felt the accomplishment, happiness and fulfillment that my job has given me. No it didn't pay as much as other careers, but that did not matter. I was a whole person after I realized that this was the Career that I had wanted all along. So please check you schools, some Junior Colleges also have these assessments. If you are lucky enough to be able to take these assessments, you should also see a counselor to help you to interpret them and have your questions answered.

Motto for you to think about: A sense of accomplishment comes mostly from inside of you, so if you are happy doing a particular job or career you will begin to feel whole and valued within yourself and society.

I wish you the best and really hope that you research those assessments and find the career of choice. You will have the wealth now, because you will be happiest within this chosen career. Good Luck to you

Remember that every job is truly important. Where would we be without the people who pave our roads? Where would we be without the Supreme Court justices? Where would we be without kindergarten teachers? The career you choose, whatever it is, will be important.

I know that I like to talk with people, get to know them, and discover what matters the most to them. I like meeting new people and I like explaining complicated things to people in ways they can understand. So I became a professional fundraiser. I help people give money away to wonderful non-profit organizations that make a huge difference in the world, and this generosity makes the donors happy. It's a fulfilling career for me because it has so much variety and because you learn about people and their wishes and dreams.

The key is to learn about your own personality and temperament. Do you like to work alone or in teams -- or both? Do you like to do many small tasks in a day and finish all of them, or is it more fun for you to work on a very long project for weeks and months? Do you like to move around all day, or are you at your best sitting down to do math or to call people on the phone or to write? Do you see yourself as creative, doing things in new ways, or as a person who enjoys doing things the established way?

It's a great idea to ask friends and relatives how they see you, and compare that information with your own idea of your personality. This will be the first step in deciding what kind of work is best for you. And don't forget you can always change careers if you discover a new kind of work you think you'd like!