The pressure we feel to find a perfect career is insane. And, given that people are trying to find it before they are thirty, in order to avoid both a quarter life crisis and a biological-clock crisis, the pressure is enough to push people over the edge. Which is why one of the highest risk times for depression in life is in one’s early twenties when people realize how totally impossible it is to simply “do what you love.”
Here’s some practical advice: Do not do what you love; do what you are. It’s how I chose my career. I bought the book with that title – maybe my favorite career book of all time – and I took the quickie version of the Myers-Briggs test. The book gave me a list of my strengths, and a list of jobs where I would likely succeed based on those strengths.
Relationships make your life great, not jobs. But a job can ruin your life – make you feel out of control in terms of your time or your ability to accomplish goals – but no job will make your life complete. It’s a myth mostly propagated by people who tell you to do what you love. Doing what you love will make you feel fulfilled. But you don’t need to get paid for it.
A job can save your life, though. If you are lost, and lonely, and wondering how you’ll ever find your way in this world, take a job. Any job. Because structure, and regular contact with regular people, and a method of contributing to a larger group are all things that help us recalibrate ourselves.
Yuri Bogachkov on 08 Dec 11Once you are clear about your personal brand, here are three steps to enhance your online reputation: Step 1. Understand your digital brand. You can use tools like Google, Truveo and Addictomatic, and online ID Calculator, to understand how you measure up in the four dimensions of online branding. Step 2. Determine which of the four measures - volume, relevance, diversity or purity - needs the greatest attention (you may have a couple that could use some work). Step 3. Depending on which areas need the most attention, apply the tips below: Volume enhancers: If you need more results that are about you, set up social networking profiles on many sites by editing your current branded bio and establishing accounts at naymz, ziki, ziggs and other sites. Relevance enhancers: To enhance relevance, where possible, remove content that is unflattering or inconsistent with how you want to be known, write an article about your area of expertise and post it to an appropriate online portal. Find blogs related to your area of thought-leadership, subscribe and comment when you have something valuable to contribute. Review books related to your area of expertise at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Publish relevant white papers to SCRIBD.com. To learn how to turn one real-world communications activity into a year's worth of online content. Purity enhancers: Sign up for an account at Vizibility. The service allows you to identify the Google results that are about you and create a "Search Me" button that you can include in your e-mail signature, your LinkedIn profile, on your blog, etc. Diversity enhancers: Sign up for a Flickr account and post relevant images. If you don't already have one, set up your Google profile. Soon, you should be on your way to the volume, relevance, purity and diversity that will improve your ability to get a job.
