I see three mistakes in choosing a career:

Following along in what another person tells you or doing only what’s popular.

That’s how I was led into jobs in the gray flannel insurance field: my first boss sent me for training because she thought I’d be good at it.

Not doing your research to discover alternatives that might suit you better.

Decades ago I looked into getting a Masters in English. I nixed this because I’d only be able to get a job as an overworked and underpaid adjunct professor at a college or university.

It wasn’t my goal to get a Ph.D. which is the golden key to getting a tenure-track full professor position.

Thinking that the kind of degree you get limits you or boxes you into a certain field or industry.

Who says every English major has to become an editorial assistant?

In next week’s blog entries I will talk about better ways to find your dream job.

Then I will talk about how there’s a beauty in the crooked path. Our careers as well as our lives and our recovery aren’t always linear.