How To Avoid Making Your First Career Mistake.

Have you been caught up in a very perplexed situation where you’ve got to change your career multiple times, until you found the one that appeals more to you? Perhaps peer pressures, parental and societal Influences and possibly ignorant or naivity may had made you dabble into your first or even your second and third career. A lot of persons often makes their first career mistakes early enough and still have the opportunity to change it. While some other persons no doubt later realized that they’re ill-fitted for the career path they’ve chosen before they’ll begin to contemplate career change. It’s unarguable that so many persons has had cause to change their career multiple times. But if only they knew from day one how to avoid making their first career mistake, I believe they would have been more circumspect in choosing their career.

What’s even career mistake, you may want to ask. Straight off:

Career mistake simply means making the wrong career choice. Choosing and getting into a career that you’re ill-fitted for, and it’s apparently not so appealing to your personality. Many of us had found ourselves in this kind of regrettable situation, and we are guilty of making our very first career mistake. Career mistake begins from the moment you decided on the very course you want to study in college to when you finally got your first job.

So many persons are ill-fitted for the career they’ve chosen and are also currently struggling with their jobs. No wonder they’re less productive and impactful either as individuals working for themselves, or for an organization. If i knew earlier what I know today, I wouldn’t have chosen to study chemical engineering in college. I would’ve rather chosen something more humanitarian in nature. For it’s where lies my basic strength.

I know a lot of persons are saying similar thing to themselves today, and are perhaps regretting all the years they’ve wasted being unproductive in their present or former career. If this describes you then, it’s not too late to make a U-turn. It’s better to make a U-turn early enough, the moment you realize that the path you’re treading does not lead you to where you’re going and where you want to be, than continue in that journey and get lost.

For you who has already made the wrong career choice, it’s never too late to change. Read my post on, how to choose the right career that suits your temperament to discover the best career path for you. Or for an in-depth knowledge of temperament and career, you could go read best motivational book on best career path for your personality and order the book from Amazon store. It’ll give a more detailed insight about your temperament and the best career you are suited for. But for the purpose of this post, we want to focus more on those who are yet to make a career choice or contemplating which career path they’re to take.

How to avoid making a mistake in your career choice:

Making a career choice encompasses having distinctions in some subjects in high school or choosing a career because your friends, classmates or parents had told you that you’re good in this or that subject. I’ve had friends and colleagues who made distinctions in some science courses but are today doing very well in career fields that are more art related. Some persons are also graduates of some highly rated professional courses but have today found themselves in a career that’s rather more informal, and they are basically relishing it plus earning huge amount from it.

The truth is that when contemplating career choice, doing excellently well in high school or college shouldn’t be the yardstick to determining the best career path for you, even the opinions of anyone shouldn’t be either. The major thing that should matter and count, is your personality.

To make the right career choice, and to avoid making your first or second career mistake, you must know who you are. We’re all very distinct human beings. And our makings and designs are very different. Thus, we’ve got varying strengths and weaknesses in specific areas of life, courtesy of the temperament we’re born with. It’s because of these diversities in our personalities with various inherent strengths and weaknesses in different endeavors that we were created to fulfill specific purposes and add value to life.

Therefore, your basic temperament which influences your personality traits is the main thing that ought to inform your choice of career. This is important in order to avoid choosing a career that does not align with your temperament, and you subsequently struggle with it plus feel unproductive and unfulfilled.

So many persons do not enjoy nor get inner satisfaction and fulfilment from what they do daily, and they almost feel very useless and unproductive. This is because your career ought to be part of personality, which certainly describes who you are. Thus, if you find yourself in a career that rarely defines your personality, then the flare, passion and enthusiasm that’s required to always seamlessly and effortlessly prosecute your job will no doubt be lacking.

The 4 basic temperament categories of: sanguine, choleric, melancholy and phlegmatic which every human being belongs has got some peculiar strengths in specific areas, plus things that fuels their passion and makes them relish what they do. Whether you want to stick to the formal sector, that is, you want to just be a career person. Or you want to diversify into the informal sector, the bottom line is that, you must choose a career or be involved in what defines you.

Therefore, the first and foremost basic factor to consider when making a career choice and avoid making your first career mistake is to, know your primary temperament and its innate strengths and weaknesses. You need to know the vocational capabilities of your temperament and the areas you will be able to without so much effort, maximize your core strengths and potentials. If you do not know the temperament you’re born with, it’ll be almost impossible making the right career choice that suits you or that best describes your personality.

Conclusively, our career is part of our life. It’s what defines who we are, and determines how happy an productive we would be in life. Next to our family is our career. Nothing else could give someone excitement and fulfilment in life other than a happy family and a fulfilling and rewarding career. Thus, making a mistake in your first career choice, will definitely have a negative ripple effect on other areas of your life.

I believe the concept of temperament should be taught in our schools, at least at the basic level of education. This will help pupils to develop with basic knowledge of the temperaments, which will no doubt enable them to make an informed decision about the best career that perfectly defines them.

Thanks for reading. If you find this post interesting, kindly buy me a cup of coffee or support 🙏 to maintain this blog’s running cost. Thank you.