THE MOST PROMISING CAREER

I have heard many people, starting from my secondary school days, tell me what the most promising careers are. As usual, they start listing professional courses like medicine, law, accountancy, pharmacy and engineering. These days, they add computer science and computer engineering because of the direction of the world’s development. As a little boy I believed them because I hardly know anything and was unexposed to truths about life. Having observed people and society, I have found the most promising career anyone that wants to have fulfillment and success should pursue. Please follow me as I show you my finding.

Let me state immediately that the most promising career is not necessarily  career that are based on professional course  but the career that requires your talent, skills, passion and knowledge.

Now, let me explain.

THE PLACE OF YOUR TALENT

Choosing a career that requires your talent positions you to have fun making money. In a career that requires your talent, you achieve much result with less effort than one who’s not talented in that area would. That saves you from undue stress and fatigue which many experience on regular basis trying to do what they are not wired to do. Choosing a career path that doesn’t require your talent is like using fork to comb your hair. In this case, you will try to straighten the comb; yet, it doesn’t make it good enough for combing. The result is general inefficiency! If you discover your talent and figure out the career where it will be put to best use, you are on your way to choosing your most promising career.

THE PLACE OF YOUR SKILL

Skills are essentially what you can do with your hands or mouth. As an example someone can be skilled in using his leg to play football. Another can be skilled in using his mouth to speak effectively. Skills are usually acquired by training and practice. It’s different from talent in that talent is innate and doesn’t require training to manifest. However, skills are acquired by training or practice. By the way, if you are skilled in your place of talent, you come out finer in the use of your talent. If you get equal training and put in the same time on practicing for a skill with someone who is not talented, you will, do better than him, other things being equal. The reason is that you are internally configured to do that particular thing whereas, he is trying to do it.

WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?

My understanding of the word passion is that it’s a propelling force to anybody in whom it resides. It moves the person to keep going despite seemly limitations and oppositions. When it propels you to engage in an activity, it keeps supplying energy for sustaining the activity and that keeps you from being exhausted for a long time. The manifestation of the direction of the pull of your passion is what you always want to do and almost doesn’t want to stop doing. See, there are challenges in every career path and you must be properly armed to tackle the challenges. One of the ammunition you need is passion. Some people call it zeal.  It was passion that propelled Nigerian King of Comedy, Ali Baba when human being and his environment were against him on his path to becoming a professional comedian.

THE PLACE OF YOUR EDUCATION

Education I mean here is not restricted to the course you studied in school or the certificate you have acquired.

You need knowledge of your career and its industry to be a top player there. So, don’t be deceived by your talents and skills, knowledge helps you determine the best and most profitable direction to channel them. It guides you on the effective way to use it.

Arm yourself with good knowledge of how best to put your skills and talent to work. Your place of formal schooling maybe different from your place of talent and passion; don’t worry. All you need is to update yourself and lean by reading texts, journals, attending relevant seminars.

Your talent qualifies you for a career, your skills sharpen your talent for use, passion derives the use of the talent and sustains it in difficult times while knowledge guide the expression of your talent to productive end.

YOUR CAREER AND MONEY

Your most promising career is not really the one that society says is the best today. In the 1900s, doctors are not really rich; they only have prestige but today the story is different. Lecturers used to be synonymous with poverty and driving old cars but the story has changed. My point? No career has the monopoly of wealth. Don’t listen to those that want to sway you from your place of talent, passion and skills because of money.

Listen, in every profession there are skilled and wealthy as well as mediocre and wretched. No profession has the monopoly of making you wealthy and influential. That’s why you shouldn’t allow any father, uncle, teacher or society lure you away from your place of strength in a quest for wealth. Discover your gift and put excellence and consistency to the use of it; wealth and influence will be the by-product.

Your most promising career may not be popular today but it’s not enough reason to give up in its pursuit. For your information, until Larry Izamoje started the first Sports radio in Africa, nobody did it. Until, Ubong Essin started motivational speaking, no Nigerian was doing it. Sportsmen are seen as never do well until Kanu Nwankwo and Okocha started earning millions playing football. Comedy was seen as the business of the dullard’s until Ali Baba blazed the trail. Until the time of men like Bishop David Oyedepo and Archebishop Benson Idahosa, pastors are seen as poor people. Untill Linda Ikeji stated blogging in Nigeria; many did not see the promise in it. That’s why I get worried when you agree with people who tell you the path God has created you will follow will lead to poverty and insignificance. Believe me, they are innocent liars! Follow your passion and the direction God is leading you and in the fullness of time, wealth, fame and influence will follow you.

ME AND MY CONSTITUENCEY

I was told that being a journalist will make me poor but that’s a fat lie. Mike Awoyinfa and His friend Dimgba Igwe are not poor journalist. They are not government-appointee journalist or look like brown envelope journalist but they have amassed wealth deploying their skills and putting excellence to what they do. They have been making money writing research driven books and biography of outstanding people. They have started another book chronicling success stories of Nigerian Entrepreneurs. In my opinion, they are Nigerian most enterprising journalist. When I see them, I know that poverty is not the encoded in the gene of journalists. Larry Izamoje is a sports journalist. He is in money. He amassed wealth broadcasting sports.  I can go on telling you stories of successful journalists.

Note that I am not saying that the correct parameter for measuring success is wealth. I am talking about it because many keep trying to lure us away from our assignment in life because of money.

Let me also tell you. Wealth, fame and long life are gifts from God to people who fear him not those that purse professional courses (that they have no passion, talent or calling for). My friend, locate your place today and abide there until God blesses you with wealth, fame and long life to enjoy them.

A recap: your talent qualifies you for a career, your skills sharpen your talent for use, and passion drives the use and sustains it in difficult times while knowledge guides the expression of the talent. Even if it does not look promising today, give it all it takes and with time, effort and patience until its promising potential manifests for the world to see. That time, you will another success story to be copied.