Posts Tagged ‘joyful by design’

How did your research phase go? Did you find some good information? Were you able to eliminate at least one option? Better yet, did you choose a major that you are excited about pursuing?

If so, great! We can work on your education plan, which will be the next post. If not, read on for some pointers to help you look more closely at your options.

Often conducting research on college majors gives us the clarity we need and we can come to a solid decision.

Other times, we can be left feeling even more confused about what we want to do.

If so, what a drag – what was the point of all that effort?

Trust me when I tell you that this is perfectly normal! Putting this in perspective a little, we are talking about making a commitment to become an expert in one area that you will eventually pursue as a career.

And aren’t careers supposed to be BIG, scary endeavors where we do the same thing year after year until we are finally able to retire?

That might be what you feel like right now, so wonder making a choice is tough.

I’m here to tell you that careers are supposed to be something fun that we look forward to getting up for! They are dynamic and often change in ways that can’t possibly be predicted right now. You will get bored, change jobs, work hard, get promoted, get tired, work less, work smart, meet people, work alone…the list goes on and on.

What you decide on today is not likely to be your career twenty years after college. You might stay in the same field, but your job will change, probably sooner than you think!

So, what can you do right now to help solve this problem of choosing a major?

You can pay attention to what speaks to you and gives you a feeling of satisfaction. You can think about your ultimate intention, such as helping people or making sure all kids can read, and think about all the different ways you can meet that intention. Wanting to help people doesn’t mean you have to be a doctor. You can be an office manager who runs a fair environment, preparing employees with usable skills, and helping them allow their careers to grow.

You can be a counselor. A teacher. A dancer. A business owner who sells only environmentally conscious products. A designer of beautiful spaces for people to enjoy. If you can think it, you can be it!

Let’s get back to your list.

If you’re looking at your options and you’re still not sure what to choose as a major, try some of these tactics:

1. Get three blank pieces of paper. On the first one, list the majors in order from the one you are most interested in studying to the one you are least interested in studying. On the second piece, list the majors in order according to how much money you can make working in that field, most to least. On the third one, list the majors in order of the most to least predicted job growth. Compare the order of each list. Are any of them the same order? Do you see any patterns that concern you? If the major you are most interested in has the lowest salary range and the fewest jobs, is that something that you can live with? At the end of the day, are you willing to possibly study one thing and work in another field until you find something you really want to do? Consider how you would feel if you were unable to find work doing what you love. How important is the salary to you?
2. Carefully look at the research you’ve collected and see if anything closely related to the careers/majors sticks out that maybe you didn’t originally research, but that sound interesting now. Take the time to research them too and see if you come up with any new possibilities.
3. Write your major choices down and give the list to three people you trust. Ask them to rank your choices according to the one they can most see you pursuing, the second, and third.
4. Put your list away for a week and try not to think about it. At the end of the week, write down your thoughts on each major and see if you have any further clarity. If not, put your information in an envelope and in another week or two, give it to a friend and ask them to mail it to you. Once you receive it in the mail, look at it with the new eyes of time and keep open to any clarifying language.
5. If desperation strikes, write your majors on slips of paper and pin them to a dartboard. Which one do you hit? Which one do you find yourself subconsciously aiming at?

Don’t give up on the search for the right major for you. Will your choice be 100% perfect? Probably not! There are plenty of majors out there that require students to take one, two, even four or five courses that don’t excited us. That doesn’t mean that the rest aren’t worth taking or that the field isn’t worth getting into! There are plenty of sociology students who have to take Research and Statistics and hate it. But they don’t let it get in the way of their dream!

Feel free to send me an email if I can be of further assistance clarifying a major: sara@joyfulbydesign.com.

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How is the research phase going? Check out this handy comparison chart to help you look at the details of majors you are considering.

Enjoy! 8 – Comparison Chart for Major Reserach

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I hope you’re enjoying a great summer! Keep in mind that you can use this time for both fun and productivity! If you’re not taking classes, it’s a great time to volunteer, read a list of classics you’ve been meaning to enjoy, work a summer job, or fine-tune a hobby.

And if you haven’t chosen a major, taking some time to check out your options. Think you might be interested in being a teacher? See if you can interview one over the summer or help out at your neighborhood summer school program. Maybe you could mentor a student this summer. Firefighting on the list of interests? Pay a visit to your local fire station with a list of questions to ask to learn more about what they do. And if there’s someone in your life who you think has a really cool job, spend some time with them. Invite them to dinner or see if you can visit them at work for an hour. Get out there and see what you can see!

Happy summer days!

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Using Journal Writing to Help Choose a Major

Each semester I talk with students about how they make decisions or solve problems. I love these talks that allow students to reveal a private piece of themselves and opens the doors to neat discussions.

Without fail, I have students who use writing to sort things out. Some call it journaling, others keeping a diary, and some just grab blank paper and start scribbling away to process whatever is in their head. The medium doesn’t matter – the process does.

I have read dozens of articles and books that complain that our students don’t write anymore, that the good writers are few and far between. While this may be true, what I don’t think has changed is that students are still using time-tested techniques to process what goes on in with their lives.

And writing is a powerful tool for helping us to make decisions and solve problems.

When it comes to choosing a major, we’ve looked at taking the Interest Profiler assessment, asking people we know, and leaving our master list out where we can see it and add to it over the course of a week.

One more powerful exercise is the use of prompted journal writing. This is often most effective when you take ten to fifteen minutes (setting an alarm is a good idea), and sit down in a quiet place with paper and pen, and write a free response to a question I give you.

Ready?

Question 1: What would you do with your life if you knew you could not fail? Time, money, education, and resources were not an issue. You can go anywhere, do anything, and be whomever you want. Where will you go? What would you do with your time? Let yourself dream and see what you come up with!

Question 2: What comes naturally to you? What are the things that you do well without even trying? Are you a good listener? Do you enjoy planting and watching things grow? Do you love to read stories out loud to your kids? Could you design web pages in your sleep?

After you’ve taken some time to write responses to these questions put them aside and let them sit for at least a day. Then read them, letting yourself feel what excites you about these ideas, and search them for clues as to areas of interest you may have or ideas for a college major.

If you would move to Hawaii and sell flip-flops on the beach, maybe you should consider a major focused on business and entrepreneurship. If you would explore lava rocks and learn more about volcanoes perhaps Geology.

Definitely add any ideas for majors to your master list of possibilities. Let yourself continue to brainstorm and add ideas to your list.

At this point, your list of major possibilities should have at least three possible majors on it. If you don’t, give yourself a timeline of when you will stop writing down ideas. What feels good to you? A day? A week? When will it be time to stop brainstorming and move onto the next phase?

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Believe it or not, the people we interact with everyday, parents, friends, teachers, counselors, etc. are a fantastic resource for helping to choose a major.

They know you, they like you, they want you to do well in life, and most importantly, there’s a good chance they’ve seen you do things that make you truly happy.

So how do you get them to help you?

One simple question:

What do you see me doing with my life?

There are many variations. You could ask, “what do you see me doing for my career?” or maybe “what kind of job do you think would be good for me?”

You can send an email or ask them in person. Let ten know that you need their help, but that you don’t want this to take too much of their time. Five to ten minutes at the most.

Whatever the responses, write them down on your master list of major possibilities. Remember, we are still in the brainstorming phase of this process, still collecting suggestions.

So, let’s get started! Take a quick minute to email up to ten people asking them what they see for your future. You just might be surprised at the results!

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If you’ve recently graduated high school or enrolled in college courses, you’ve probably noticed that people in your life are asking you the same question: what’s your major?

It’s not surprising for students to get frustrated by this question. It carries a lot of weight. Knowing your major means that you must have some idea of a career. Knowing your career means that you must know what you want to be when you grow up. Knowing what you want to be when you grow up might imply that you are ready to be a grown up.

Gulp; scary.

It sounds so serious, “your college major.” To many students it’s extremely difficult because there are so many areas or fields you’re interested in, choosing just one doesn’t sound fun at all.

So, a student might starting to take classes that interest them or that are required for all students. This is okay for two semesters, or three semesters, but soon they are earning enough to credits to either move into a major or transfer from a community college to a university. But they haven’t actually chosen a major. This is a place to avoid.

Why?

Because the longer you go without choosing a major, the more time and money you spend.

Spending more time is obvious. If you have taken classes for three years and then decide on a major that will take you two more years, you’re looking at five years totally for your degree. Maybe that’s not such a huge loss and hey, maybe you even took some really cool courses in that extra year that were totally worth it!

However, more money is another story altogether. For those students on financial aid, there are laws and restrictions on how many credits different types of aid will cover. You could end up in a situation where the aid is no longer available and you still have one year of school left.

For those paying out of pocket, an extra year of school can be an added expense that wasn’t planned for, either by you or your parents.

Choosing your major early can help you to avoid the pain and anguish of having to pay for courses out of your own pocket when you might not be able to afford it.

It will also keep you on track to complete a degree in four years. Then you can move onto your career and start earning money instead of living on crackers and noodles while you’re in college.

There are other benefits too. Knowing what your major is can help you to stay motivated to complete your course work, help to find an internship, and perhaps even lead to a job opportunity.

You can start meeting people in your field and making connections to build your professional network.

Students can join their industry organization, often at a deep discount, and start using those resources to learn about their field beyond the limits of the classroom.

There is no doubt that the sooner you determine your major, the better off you’ll be. The trick is finding something that you can commit to and that gets you excited about going to class.

Are you ready? This is a fun time of your life! Let’s dive in and make some magic happen! You deserve to be the kind of student who is excited about learning, engaged in their major, and poised for success!

I hope that you will join me as I offer suggestions, resources, and activities to help you narrow down a college major. Feel free to post or email thoughts or questions!

Technorati Tags: choosing a major, college admissions, college coaching, college planning, college students, college success, dream job, education, high school students, joyful by design, joyful by design college coaching, life coaching for students, life coaching for your student, motivation for college, save money in college, save time in college, student success, student success coaching, what's your major, why choose a major