While reading my email before classes today, I glanced through one from a scholarship search engine I use. It was an article about making good career choices. I thought that was an excellent thing to look at considering my current state of quasi-indecision. Of the list of reasons one should avoid choosing a career or major which applied to me were the following:
Decision Paralysis: Becoming so overwhelmed with choices that you can't decide, or you decide not to decide. Example: "I don't know what I want to do, so I'll just go to graduate school to keep my options open." OR (my example) "I don't know what I want to do, so I'll go to France and think about it for awhile."
Rules of Thumb: Mental shortcuts to make choices easier. Example: "I better not major in art, because you can't get a job with that degree." (Same, except insert "theater")
The Information Cascade: Being influenced by repeated exposure to certain facts. Example: "I'd better go to graduate school to wait out this bad job market." OR (my example) "If I don't go to graduate school, I won't ever be able to find a good job."
The following is the only one where I agreed with the example, but not the evaluation:
Overconfidence: Overestimating your abilities, skills or knowledge. Example: "I really don't know what I'll do with a master's degree, but I'll figure it out by the time I'm done with grad school."
Personally, I think I can do anything I set my mind to, particularly if I am educated in the best wy to do it. However, I refuse to waste my money on an education I may never use.
This basically evens out to not knowing exactly what I am going to do next year, but at least knowing what I want to do next year. I still need a little time to think about which career I'll choose. But life has an interesting way of leading you in the right direction. It isn't all about fate, but like searching for something you've lost, the best answers appear when you stop looking. (I don't know if I'm all the way with that theory, but it is all I've got at the moment.)
Gotta run - feeling motivated. I need to make something happen amidst all my indecision. Love always, ~Heather
Decision Paralysis: Becoming so overwhelmed with choices that you can't decide, or you decide not to decide. Example: "I don't know what I want to do, so I'll just go to graduate school to keep my options open." OR (my example) "I don't know what I want to do, so I'll go to France and think about it for awhile."
Rules of Thumb: Mental shortcuts to make choices easier. Example: "I better not major in art, because you can't get a job with that degree." (Same, except insert "theater")
The Information Cascade: Being influenced by repeated exposure to certain facts. Example: "I'd better go to graduate school to wait out this bad job market." OR (my example) "If I don't go to graduate school, I won't ever be able to find a good job."
The following is the only one where I agreed with the example, but not the evaluation:
Overconfidence: Overestimating your abilities, skills or knowledge. Example: "I really don't know what I'll do with a master's degree, but I'll figure it out by the time I'm done with grad school."
Personally, I think I can do anything I set my mind to, particularly if I am educated in the best wy to do it. However, I refuse to waste my money on an education I may never use.
This basically evens out to not knowing exactly what I am going to do next year, but at least knowing what I want to do next year. I still need a little time to think about which career I'll choose. But life has an interesting way of leading you in the right direction. It isn't all about fate, but like searching for something you've lost, the best answers appear when you stop looking. (I don't know if I'm all the way with that theory, but it is all I've got at the moment.)
Gotta run - feeling motivated. I need to make something happen amidst all my indecision. Love always, ~Heather
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