I need some life advice.

[Scars]

Lately, I'm just not content with where I am or what I'm doing. I feel like it's time to make a power move. For the past 3 years I have been working through a temp agency ever sense I got out of high school, with hopes of sometime becoming full-time. It provided me with enough money to live, but I want to become more. Lately I just feel stuck, and I feel like I have wasted these years going nowhere when I should have gotten an education or done something else with my life. I've had a few minor set backs, getting in trouble with the law, driving drunk and crashing my car, and other stupid things. But now I am back up on my feet, but I am just barely coming a long. I've been thinking seriously about going to school. The problem is, I don't have the funds or it, and second, I really don't know what I want to go for. A lot of people have been pressuring me to look into the medical field, saying that besides the military it is the only stable jobs within this economy. Which I agree. I feel like I need to make a power move before I get stuck and completely miss the train. Although I have procrastinated, I am still only 21 and I just feel like it's time to get up and DO something. I guess I just need some advice. Advice that I can only get from mature and older gentlemen such as yourselves.

Thanks.

-Scars

 

[SecondHalf]

Pick a career that interests you and can't be outsourced.
I would avoid IT, manufacturing (or it's business) and such.

I try to poke my son towards the service direction (medical, law, ...).
You're 21. Globalization is going to effect you before you retire.

I can't advise you on the money issue. If you're tenacious it may be safe to do it through student loans (takes a few years to pay back though).

Good luck,

SH

 

[Boilermaker]

^^

great advice.

Tenacity and persistence are the keys to salvation. You are still young. you'll find your way.
Even your original post shows that you have self-awareness, and the ability to motivate yourself. Seek it. You'll find it.

Best of luck.

 

[Warrior74]

What is it that you really want to do?

 

[sodbuster]

Make sure the loans are for a degree that MEANS something...the piece of paper that is needed to get a good job. Engineering,accounting, any of the medical/dental fields,etc. 60k on art history WITHOUT a teaching certificate only puts you 60k in the hole. In the past, businesses would hire liberal arts degree's because they needed the warm bodies[and they proved they could learn],now, they have their pick of employees... your competition will have the degree and maybe experience.

 

[Tony T]

Get this book...and read it thoroughly.

"Man...know thyself."

http://www.amazon.com/New-Personali...3935/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309233457&sr=8-1

 

[Pair A Dice]

Find what YOU want to do and above all else, have a PASSION for it. YOU must have PASSION for what YOU do. It's not work if you enjoy every day of what you do.

 

[peacefrog]

I strongly agree with Pair A Dice's advice. This your life we're talking about - just think, day after day after day you'll be doing X, what is that X that will leave you fulfilled?

EVERY career path is going to have challenges, setbacks and just general junk you have to deal with. The most powerful thing that will get you through to the other side is passion.

People are right to mention globalisation and other macro-trends that will affect your happinness and stability. But it seems to me that this consideration should come at a later step. Who cares if globalisation spares your job if that job is not worth holding on to?

So take some time to think back over your last 21 years. There must some things that you were really good at which you also really enjoyed. Everyone has them, even if at first thought it's hard to remember. Write them down, even if their relevance to your career is not obvious.

You then have to do the hard work of finding a path from these qualities (things about yourself that you love) to something that will serve other people. But it will pay off in the long run, trust me.

I would not even think about money at this point, just try to imagine the ways that your abilities and passions can serve other people. It's important to decide what it is that you can commit to, for at least several years.

This is what gets you money anyway, skills that:
-you have been developing for a period of several years
-which serve others
-which you enjoy

In other words, the top talent in any industry is always in high demand.

 

[Three]

When I was your age, I was always chasing the buck. Nothing was good enough. I sometimes think I pissed away my youth trying to do what everybody else expected.

Now I have kids of my own that are growing up. I'll tell you what I tell them. Pursue something you love, but first make sure you have a way to pay the bills. Get a certificate in something that they can't outsource. Medical is the best thing going and there a thousand different things you can do. Or you can be a welder, machinist, mechanic, whatever.

Remember this: Everything is changeable. You aren't stuck. You can always adjust course. Just don't do the stupid things that so many do. Don't get into debt, don't knock up any girls, don't get married.

Enjoy your life now. Explore. Work on your inner game. It's not just for pickup. It's for life.

 

[scrouds]

**** *****es, get money.
Do, or do not. There is no try.
Live the life of a person who has stories to tell.

I don't buy the job empowerment bullshît. I've been looking at this lately. I've come to one conclusion: Own stuff. Companies, property, whatever. Make your own destiny. Your freedom is worth it. Work towards something that will be able to give that to you.

 

[Scars]

I've been seriously considering the medical field a lot lately. For awhile I thought about becoming an X-ray technician, but I only have community college readily available to me for now and I didn't see a course for it. Could I be able to take basic medical classes and such and still get the degree to do this? Another option I've been looking at is the path to becoming a dentist. There's a lot of dental courses. All I know is that these things a lot more exciting than sitting behind a computer doing billing or something. And I don't think I could ever become a surgeon/doctor. Way too much money/schooling involved, plus it just kind of seems depressing. But I think an X-Ray tech or dentist would be cool.

I'm also pretty fascinated with the mind and I took a basic psychology class in high school and loved it. But I don't see very many jobs for something like that. I don't know if I could be a shrink or something and listening to people complain constantly. But I've also read that psychology is also good in business, but then again I don't really have any desire to start my own business.. or not really desire, just don't really ever had a plan/product or idea to really put out there that hasn't been done yet.

Idk, I'm just really confused at this point. I went to the community college today and grabbed a brochure and reading it all was extremely overwhelming..