Jonathan Steele Blog

Career Choice Algorithm the Self-Reliance Way

  1. Decide how much money you NEED and WANT to make each year.
    • Decide what your current and future income needs are based on your personal and family situation.
    • NOTE: More money per hour generally gives more time to be with family and more capacity to fulfill modest wants. Plan to use excess income to serve, love, and make the world a better place.
    • Don’t forget to factor in taxes!
    • WRITE DOWN A NUMBER for annual needed and wanted annual income.
    • If you are a young person, you should probably ask an older wise mentor / parent for help coming up with this number.
  2. Find a Career that has a strong possibility of giving you that income if you do a slightly-above-average job at it — and which will hopefully play to your strengths such that you dislike your job much less than many or most would; maybe you will even love it!
    • Reality Check 1: Don’t Bet the Farm on being One-in-a-Billion
      • You shouldn’t have to be Michael Jackson, Jay Chou, or Albert Einstein in your career in order to earn money needed to feed, clothe, and protect your family.
    • Reality Check 2: Local and Regional Employment Opportunities
      • Look at available career options and their salaries in your local area and outside your area if moving is compatible with your family needs and wants.
      • If moving is acceptable, do the same search in areas where you are willing to move and are able to move without needing things you cannot control (Hard-to-get Work Visas, etc.)
    • Reality Check 3: Income First, Talents and Interests Second
      • Filter the lists of careers from above so that you are only looking at careers that will likely give you the income you need and want.
      • From the new list of careers, try to pick out ones that interest you and learn about those careers first; then learn about the others on your list as well. and then learn about those as well. Careers that don’t sound interesting at first may surprise you later.
      • Spend some time working with this list; this is your gold mine. It’s entirely possible that there is a job in the same industry as a career in your list that is less commonly known but has a similar pay scale and a job description that would excite you more. Now that some preliminary filtering has happened, now is the time to get creative, curious, and optimistic about where things could lead. I am even optimistic to say that if most people understand their talents and strengths, they can change their current job or pivot into a job that plays to their strengths better. Working with and using your strengths tend to be a win-win for you and your employer; happier employee and better business outcomes for the managers and stakeholders!
      • I have bought into StrengthFinder ideology a bit and so I am optimistic about finding happiness in many job situations — I like to separate things you can offer to your employer into categories (A) Talents/Character and (B) Skills/Training/Education/Expertise. Employers, Universities and Programs can give you B but A is unique to you and amplifies B. Using A will make you happier as a worker and so you can thoughtfully plan to combine A and B in your career to make exceptional contributions for your employers and managers and make an abundant life for you and your family. In StrengthFinder vocabulary, you would say that a “Strength” is a combination of a talent “theme” and a skill. This presents many opportunities for those who are willing to search for a work-life win-win.
    • Reality Check 4: Lifestyle of Workers in that Field
      • Ask professionals working in your desired field about their lifestyle, work-life balance, weekly work schedule, yearly work seasonality, etc.
      • I once considered being a studio recording audio engineer but talked to someone working in that field and found that they tended to work long hours for mediocre pay and are subject to the schedules and demands of entertainers who like to work late into the night. Generally this is hard for a family man to keep up and isn’t conducive to family life. This is the norm for people with that career and there are some exceptions but they are rare; this is a reality I would be living in now if I had chosen that career then.
    • Reality Check 5: Yes doesn’t mean Forever when it comes to Careers
      • It is easy to find a statistic about people changing line of work several times in their careers (careers can last multiple decades, you know!).
      • This is a good thing because it means your first career choice doesn’t have to be “perfect” and it can be just a stepping stone to another bright career. I can’t tell you how many of my software developer coworkers got undergraduate degrees in something besides computers and are happy to be where they are now.
  3. Start the Journey, Enjoy the Journey, Find the Quickest Path to Self-Reliance. Then plan to serve others!
    • Look at available training/education paths to see which ones are available to you.
    • Look at associated costs for training and education
    • Look at your current funding/financing options
    • Talk to trusted advisors
    • Get Started!
    • As mentioned above, this will be an iterative process, so the sooner you start, the sooner you will get where you need to be: Earning enough money to support your family and serve others in need.

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