Many of us often wonder “what is it I really want to be doing?” I know that I’ve had a fun time trying to determine what I’m good at, what I’m not, what I enjoy doing, and what I don’t. A little background: I’ve never had just one job at a time since the end of high school. Go look at my LinkedIn profile; even during my senior year of college I had five separate employers.

So what, hot shot?

I’ve had a chance to weed out the B.S. while I earned a B.S. I’ve tried a small company, a startup, a huge corporation. I’ve seen the differences and I’ve had that head-start for a while now.

When it comes down to it, in college you really only understand a handful of occupations and what they require. I only understood the garbage man’s job, the barista at Starbucks’ job, and maybe a few more (I didn’t even really understand what your parents did).

So why are we expected to know what career we want right out of college?

Here’s my advice, start with width, then depth to help find your calling. I tried to branch out and determine what I wanted to do. I took on the odd projects, volunteered, tried something new all the time. Five years ago I was convinced I was going to be a computer science major, three years ago I was going to get a masters in accounting, two years ago I was going to get my information systems degree. Luckily, I’ve had a lot of jobs and experiences that have told me, “You know what? Maybe you’d rather go this way…”

Isn’t college there to give you diversity through classes?

If I had simply gone to class every day and studied, I never would’ve realized any of this by now. I’d still be thinking I’d have a blast doing system networking, programming, and database administration. The best part about having all those jobs? I have a network of people I can get feedback from (what was I best at, where was I lacking?). That extra perspective can help you see your forest through the trees.

Once you’ve found something you enjoy that’s when you work on depth. I’ve started taking on all extra opportunities so that I can at my current job so that I can become the best at something. This may be something you do in your career, with a company you create or something in your spare time. Either way, the ultimate feeling of fulfillment and enjoyment is invaluable.

I feel like I’m so close to that point… I can almost taste it.

Resources:
The Chief Happiness Officer
FastComany: Find Your Calling
FastCompany: 25 Top Jobs for 2005-2009