How to Choose a Career

Barry the Study Dog would love a career in hide-and-seek, but it wouldn’t pay the bills.

E very job I’ve ever had has been my absolute dream job at the time. From translating restaurant menus in exchange for food, to moving heavy stuff at fancy weddings, to transcribing autopsies, they were all awesome jobs!

The only problem was that none of those dream jobs paid a living wage.

Luckily, before it was too late, I discovered this short video on How Bill Grundfest Created the Comedy Cellar and learned that to make a living doing something I loved, I’d have to start my own business doing something that nobody had ever done before.

But that’s just me. If you’d rather do a job that already exists, you can use the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook to figure out the job prospects for any field you can imagine, plus a whole bunch more that you didn’t even knew existed.

Here’s how to choose a rewarding career in five simple steps by combining Grundfest’s business advice with US jobs data:

  1. Make a list of stuff you love doing.
  2. Make a list of ways to make money.
  3. Make each list longer.
  4. Make a list of ideas for connecting stuff you love with ways to make money.
  5. For every overlapping or connecting idea, use the Occupational Outlook Handbook to figure out whether you can make enough money doing those jobs.

Now go get that work!

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