Is there any way to know what one really wants to do? I mean, how can I be sure about liking a thing/career/person/life?

I’ve always envied those who’ve know from the outset what they want to do in life. I’ve never known, and as a result stumbled from one interest to another. Incredibly, I’ve made a very good living along the way. I attribute this to having the luck to have been born in an era when one could actually get away with this, and I’m afraid those days have sadly passed. Looking back, I can only state that things seem to develop in one’s favor depending on the degree of enthusiasm expended. Always point yourself toward things YOU find interesting and you’ll probably be ok.

Looking back, my vocational path might seem like a random walk. My vocational journey has taken me through electronics, psychology, two barely successful businesses and finally an assistant director of a performing arts theater from which I retired. In every instance, my heart led me more than my intellect. However, they were like steppingstones across a creek that enabled me to where I am now. If I had chosen a carrier and doggedly stuck to it, I doubt that I would have been happy, nor would I feel as fulfilled as I do today.

I’m going to offer some career advice that may sound compromised or depressing.
Figure out some skills you are good at, enough to get hired and be consistently competent, and that won’t drive you bat-shit mad doing day-in-day-out. You don’t have to have an epiphany experience at work every day.
A career like that will pay the bills and you can always cultivate hobbies on top of that.

If you DO find something that you’re good at and that lights your fire, by all means head that direction, you lucky duck you !!

It really depends on how old you are. If you’re in high school/ college, take a variety of classes and see which ones you’re most interested in. Then ask your teachers and/or guidance counselor about jobs in those fields. What are they like? What do people do?

If you really truly have no idea, try out a bunch of different interests that are outside your everyday routine. One of those might turn into a real life passion, and then you can learn about careers that use that skill.

Also, many people’s career paths go differently than they planned. But it does help to make a plan, or have a specialty. If you can cultivate some kind of interest or skill that you really care about, it will put you ahead of many job-seekers.

I was lucky. I knew what I wanted to do when I was 10. My uncle, a well-known reporter for the New York Times whom I worshiped, told me that judging from my letters he thought I was an excellent writer and writing is what I should do when I grew up. From that point on, I never wanted to do/be anything else, and that’s how I made my career. (How many times I’ve wanted to thank him but sadly, he passed away from lung cancer when I was just starting out.)

Most of the people I went to school with had picked careers in high school, and it was easy to find a job after college graduation. I never had difficulty finding better and better jobs early and even quite late in my career. But nowadays, with so many more career choices and paths available and so many roadblocks to finding that perfect position, I can easily understand why a young person starting out would feel overwhelmed.

But… it seems to me the age-old rule still applies: do what you love, even if it takes a while to figure that out and even longer to hone your skills. And of course, if it then turns out you want to pursue something else, don’t be afraid to change horses in mid-stream.

The only constant in life is change. Anything you pursue, a career, job, relationship, geographic location, friendships, everything, is subject to change. My best advice is to accept this truth and while it is not a license to be a flake, it does mean that it is a rare human that maps out a path and never strays from it. What you want to do for work, your relationship choices at 20 something most likely won’t be what you still want at 40 or 50 something.

Hold on loosely, never stop learning and be open to change. I am firm believer in letting things unfold as they will, and while some planning is necessary in life, most of the time the best laid plans have a way of shifting. Reasons and seasons and all that jazz. lol

A general rule of thumb is to pursue a career doing something you’re good at our that you enjoy doing. The logic behind this is you’ll probably be doing this a long time ago you should work at something related to what you enjoy doing.

This is not a foolproof approach though. Even the most careful preparation finds many of us with careers or jobs we can’t stand.

I got lucky. Upon failing to find a job I wanted to do everyday, I came to a point where I asked myself what I really wanted to do.

The answer was, nothing.

So I got a job with the federal government.

Accepted a promotion a few years in for a position I knew nothing about and didn’t particularly want. The following 2 years was agony…trying to learn my job before anyone discovered I didn’t know what I was doing.

Fast forward 25 years and I’m looked upon by my superiors and peers at being the best at what I do.

And I’m loving every minute of it.

But my career choice wasn’t planned.

I guess the bottom line is, there’s really no definitive course or guarantee you’ll wind up making the ideal career choice or job selection. At best, one could make an educated guess and then do whatever’s necessary to achieve whatever goal you hope your career choice or job will provide.

Another general rule of thumb is you can be satisfied…or dissatisfied…with whatever or whoever you decide.

Being mindful of the decisive power you wield frees you from the illusion that your happiness is dependent on having a particular job…being a particular place…or loving a particular person.

Chasing “particulars” has a way of backfiring. What “makes” you happy today “makes” you miserable tomorrow.

Why allow anything to make you feel any way at all?

It’s always your choice.

Choose happiness first.
Everything else become irrelevant.