By Donna Dunning

Chrissy Scivicque‘s blog last week on “How to Make Wise Career Choices” got me thinking about how people tend to make their career/life decisions. Often these decisions are made quickly and impulsively.

Many of my early career decisions were made in a haphazard way. A friend helped me get a job with her as a tree planter when I was bored working in an office. I took another job in the Rockies, because it was a place I wanted to spend the summer. School decisions were similar. I started university because most of my friends were going. I enrolled in science because I imagined myself being a marine biologist playing with dolphins, but gave up that idea when I had to pith a frog. Yuck. Fortunately, I took psychology and education courses that led me down a career path that has been interesting and rewarding.

Think about the evolution of your career. How have you decided what to do next? What information did you gather before deciding? How did your previous decisions work out? These questions might help you make better career/life decisions.

Your personality preferences may affect how you decide. Some people prefer to be analytical and logical when making decisions while others are more interested in aligning decisions to their values and the needs of the people involved. These preferences are called Thinking (T), the logical approach, and Feeling (F), the values-based approach, in personality type language. See the checklist below for a summary of these two decision-making approaches. If you are using one approach much more than the other, consider incorporating the other one into your decision-making process. This will help you make well-rounded decisions.

When using logical-analytical decision-making (T), people tend to:

• Weigh the pros (benefits) and cons (disadvantages) of options
• Check that an option is reasonable
• Remain objective
• Analyze all the logical consequences and implications of the choice
• Look at the principles involved in the situation

When using values-based decision-making (F), people tend to

• Weigh options using personal, subjective beliefs and values
• Assess how decisions will affect others
• Look at how the harmony of the social environment will be affected
• Consider who will support them in their decisions
• Consider the likes, dislikes, and commitments of others

Of course, the best decision incorporates both the logical and personal side of the situation. Your career decisions are important so consider both the F and the T perspective before you take action.

Paul, my husband, took this photo of a goose recently at the nature sanctuary where we walk. At the risk of interpreting the goose’s thoughts incorrectly, it looks like this goose is trying to decide which way to go, a possible career-decision-point for a goose.