The Path of Career Choice

So I am on my bed...staring at  Microsoft Word on my system. Ever had that strong feeling to write an article but don't know what to write about? ...that's the feeling. Exactly how I'm feeling at the moment.

It's funny because writing has never really been my thing. Well, like a thousand other young fellas out there, I have had a zillion other things I had wanted to do growing up.
The first I thought of was becoming a doctor. That one was so strong. It was as though it was my destiny. I couldn't at that time see myself doing anything else. But then came acting, modelling, dancing, media, the list goes on and on.
As at now, I still have a few more on my plate. There's photography, painting, and I still want to be an OAP (On Air Personality). But the bulk of my passion now lies with photography.

Photography is an interesting field, pretty much on the expensive side.  So that's on the low for now. 
Painting - doing that at the moment. I completed my 7th job today.  All 'job-no-pay' as my kid cousin would describe it. Let's just say I'm a nice guy who finds pleasure in pleasing people. Of course I would love to be paid for all my services and time but I just feel that since all 7 persons I have painted for are either family or close friends, they ought to drop whatever the lord lays in their heart. But since they do not, I don't complain. My reward is in heaven...LOL. 
As for being an OAP, I have tried and still intend to keep trying. I often rehearse shows in my head all in a bid to get better. It makes me look disturbed but hey, it's a small price I have to pay if I want to be better in this field. I did a demo with my cousin some months ago for a radio station in Benin. Two demos actually. But apparently, we weren't what they wanted at the time. They wanted, "already made stars".
In just two decades, all these careers have all come up on my plate. Who knows, a few more would come up over the years and maybe one or two from the older ones would actually be the career I would follow, one never know these things.

If you pay attention closely you'd see that, the ratio of the educational field to the non-educational field is a 10:1.
I have my BSc Physiology in view which in a year and half or two years most likely would be completed. Yet, in all of these so far, it wasn't mentioned. Contrary to what you might think, I have great love for my chosen field of study. But, three years from now, is that what I would be doing? A question I sincerely cannot answer. There is an awful lot of things to do out there. A thousand more would be created in a few more years, months maybe.

Leaving the shores of Africa, you would discover how much career choices one is open to aside the educational field. When you walk the streets of Benin-City, Edo State, Ring road to be precise, you would find a shocking amount of wasting workforce with the excuse of disabilities, lack of educational background and all what not.
No doubt, all these things are limitations but there is no crime in 'begging for a purpose'. Most of the beggars u see today do not beg for a purpose. Whatever money they make today is for today with the hope to beg for tomorrow by tomorrow. The very same reason I cannot for any reason give such beggars a penny from my pocket. Take a look at this other beggar. She begs for two days and gets a little over a thousand naira. She takes the money, goes to an evening market, uses a little from it for her dinner that day and buys some oranges and pineapple with the other depending on what fruit is in season at the time. On the morrow, she takes her fruits to the market and sells them. She gets a little over a thousand five hundred naira. Repeats the same pattern she did the previous day, but this time takes the commission she makes and uses it to buy an extra variety of fruits. She sells them and gets a better profit. She then adds pure water to her sales, then sweets, biscuits, and keeps adding as the gain increases. In a very short time, her income would have grown from a street beggar's to a small time business woman's. Now that's business, one that doesn't require education or personal cash.
You can become anything successful in life with or without an educational background. All one really needs is a functioning brain.

"If you want to hide knowledge from a black man, put it in a book".
Yea right! I'm sure a large percentage of you reading this article hear this a lot. Well, in a way, this might be true. Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of books. Guess the world can tell that by now judging from my list of future ambitions. But again, when I come across a good book or article, I definitely would read it. From a few lines and paragraphs maybe, I would be able to tell if it's a good book (or article) or not. I mean, you are reading this article now to this point. What does that say? This is a good article. That's why you have read it up to this point. *wink. But on a serious note, "don't judge a book by its cover"? pufffffffffffffffff! Why put good stuff in rotten package? Packaging is everything, that's the only reason books like "7 KEYS TO SUCCESS", "HOW TO GET RICH IN 5 SIMPLE STEPS", could ever sell past a thousand copies. Why would I want to learn success tips from a book? The irony of it all is that some of the authors of these funny books are not successful. They tell you all sorts of rules to follow when they do not follow those rules themselves, but it's all business. Business from an idea. An idea from knowledge. The knowledge that Nigerians would do anything to make money, idea to make a book to teach them how to make the money, develops. Whether its true or not. The sales of that idea, be it true or not, fetches money for the author.

.The most important thing to note in choosing a career is PASSION. Point number one. 'Where your treasure is, there lies your heart'. What you don't love, you can't excel in. This of cause, the whole world already knows. Gone are the days where children go to school and read courses because of parent's choice. Well, it's alright to spend six years maybe, reading a beautiful course even when your heart isn't there because, no matter what passion influenced field of study to choose for yourself, it's always good to have something to fall back to. And that brings me to point number two.
.A wise man once said, "Always have a contingency plan". Now, if I want to follow my photography dream full time for instance (which of cause I would), I would need capital to start up. Now being that we are in a not so yet 'modernised setting', and "my son is a photographer" is not yet what any parent wants to brag about their children of, you need that certificate as your pillar. Both to stand erect and to fall back to or even lean on. What I am saying in essence is, say your parents choose your career for you for instance, even if it takes six years to acquire the certificate, do it with all diligence. Get the degree, and please don't give the certificate to them as many would say. Keep your certificate. It took you years to do it even in boredom so u can as well keep the certificate. Of cause, because I need capital to start, I sure would need to endure a little more of the boredom by working for some years or a few more wit all diligence. You don't want to get fired because that would cut your goal short.
Now, while working, you begin to save your capital for the business you want to start because only a handful of parents would support any child at this stage after spending an awful lot of money to get you through school. When you think you have all the capital you need, it is still best you work some more while going about the career to still have another source of income until your career springs up fully. Then it is ok to start backing off from this point. This also brings me to my third point.
.Now this is for the guys. Let's be frank with ourselves, if u had a beautiful daughter, who is of marriageable age and comes home with a suitor who u begin to interview in getting to know him and find out he isn't educated how would you feel? Or a man who doesn't have a "decent job" as they would call it. No matter how much money the young man has, you still would not be that approving.

So this points out another importance of that job you are using as a means for your capital. For the purpose of marriage, you need to be a career man. Don't get it twisted. Your chosen field of career is still moving in full swing. All I am saying is, there has to be "a job".
.On point number four, you have to consider the life span of that career you have chosen. A few years back, cyber cafe's were the 'in-business'. Today, people barely leave their homes to access internet services. With the invention of modern gadgets-phones, pads, laptops, and the increase in computer literacy, people do not have to visit a cafe anymore to access the internet. Not even to print because homes now purchase personal printers. You have to think of a career that a very vast percent of the population need and that would be around for a long while. Photography has been around from the days of our fore fathers and is even appreciating in the market today and still would be for a very long time. So durability is something to be considered.

A career is a life time thing so mistakes in picking one is something you should want to avoid. I have run out of words here so I will leave you in the hands of God because he alone can direct you in the path in which you can never go wrong...

By
Chux Osakwe
www.baggermouth.blogspot.com