How to effectively shape your career

More and more questions continue to arise in respect to work-life balance and life purpose, the main challenge revolving around how to shape your career to achieve the first two whilst maintaining some level of financial sanity.

I wanted to focus on career shaping as the career represents more than simply a job where you earn money. A career today provides opportunity for personal growth, financial security and independence, giving back to society, life purpose and direction, self discovery and many others. However it is recognized that it is very difficult to shape a career to achieve all these things with the time we have and everyday pressures....it's not like we live forever. Therefore you must first be able to put a framework around your dreams, goals and purpose to fit what is either being demanded or will be demanded by society in the future.

The way I see it your career or purpose must supply a need or want within our society's economic, political, social or health environments ie. it doesn't matter how important you think something is if no one else WILL NEVER think the same. Of course you will still have to convince people at times that what you have to offer is valuable but the fact is that they will be or can be convinced. Even now all careers (prefer this word to 'jobs') provide a use to society, either directly through a self-owned business or to a larger organization - but you see what happens when this demand is no longer wanted. Either the business fails or the organization makes your position redundant. At that point you ask yourself "what is it I am actually providing to society..what purpose do I have?" Not a great question to be asking.

So it's a question of just being thoughtful in selecting your career path and the skills and knowledge you are acquiring. Never assume society will remain status quo and never assume your organization will always support you. Look at the shifting sphere of demand and supply in the economy and then look at your personal interests. What do you like, what would you like to achieve, what would it mean and would it motivate you to succeed? Not only do you have to look at what society wants you also have to understand yourself - personal motivations and principles by which you want to live is crucial. Remember your decision not only impacts you but also your family from the position of a role model.