Many young people are already clear in their minds by the time they throw their mortarboards into the air. Some have known since childhood, or simply decide to follow in their parents' professional footsteps. The braves among us may open their own businesses, arguably, the most interesting option, and one that while it requires sacrifice to begin with, in the long term can garner the greatest rewards, financially as well as professionally. But a lot of people in their early twenties, fresh out of university, are still undecided about what they want to do or which company to join, if any.
In the first place, and using a much-employed but appropriate analogy, we need to see our professional lives as a long-distance race, one with constant change and filled with uncertainty. There are three phases to this: what we might call the early years, followed by the mid-career, and finally, the senior career. But careers are rarely linear, and instead are prone to luck, good and bad, disruptive opportunities, as well as requiring the help of mentors, while what we can achieve through our own work can shorten, lengthen, or omit some phases. It is more appropriate to characterize a career as a series of different lives related to each other or that become a whole only when we look back on them in later life. In short, we live blended lives.
It's important to read surveys and guides about careers and tendencies, they shouldn't be too influenced by data. Statistics shouldn't determine somebody's career: at most they should be an incentive to be the exception to the rule. There are CEOs with degrees in English Literature, or who have spent much of their career working in human resources rather than finance or sales.
Patience is particularly necessary in the early stages, it is important to monitor one's professional and personal progress, and to make sure that one's merits and efforts are being recognized.
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