The Top 5 Career Regrets - How to Choose a Career

What is going on? Today you're going to learn about the top 5 career regrets that come from an article in the Harvard Business Review written a few years ago. Basically, they end up interviewing 30 people ages 28 to 58 on their current career regrets. This is the first video in a series on how to choose a career. I'm Justin Gordon. I am always curious about careers, work, what people are doing for them. My own career, how to find my own career path, and I'm gonna help you find your own. I'm getting my MBA at USC. They decided on a school and it is USC. In 2020, which gives me access to career services people as well, which I will share on this channel. So do remember to subscribe down below, click the thumbs up button. Let's get into it. First off, it's important to understand that finding a career Is a hugely important decision. Not just any career, of course. It's gonna be a career that you actually enjoy, a career that actually fits you. It's a massive decision that's going to impact everything else in your life. Seriously, like your happiness, your income, your spouse, Your friends, everything is going to be impacted by the career you choose. It's a very important decision. Now, that doesn't mean it's time for freakout mode. Ahhh! Oh my gosh, like, I'm paralyzed. I'm not going to know what to do. It just means that this is important and take the time to actually go through these steps and processes of finding the right career, which I will talk about in this video series. The next video is going to be on how to kind of deal with the parental and societal norms that come with careers. But anyways, let's get into those top five career regrets from the Harvard Business Review. Number one, I wish I hadn't chosen a career for the money. Show me the money! Of course. We want to see the money. We want to earn enough in our careers to do all those wonderful things that we enjoy doing. Taking trips, buying beers with the friends or the— whoever you hang out with, spending time with your family, but then buying nice dinners. Whatever you spend your money on, we need to make money. Of course, that's an important thing. I understand. I want to make money. But that was the number one regret people had. The number one regret people had was choosing a career, choosing a job just for the money. There is way more beyond money, especially in terms of value in a career. Number 1 regret, something to think about when you decide on a career, weighing the pros and cons of everything. Money is the number 1 regret if you're taking the job just for the money. Number 2 career regret, I wish I had quit sooner. That's how I feel about my first, not my first job, my first like kind of real-ish job was actually going into my senior year of college. I had a job landscaping. This was full-time, like big boy, making a little bit more money than I ever had made before. Back to the point of choosing a career just for money. But I hated it. Point blank. I absolutely hated it. I will never landscape again full-time. You know, sure, in the garden, helping out in a house, whatever, you know, helping people out. That's one thing. But Landscaping was terrible, something I ended up hating. And that was the number 2 regret, was not quitting sooner. Now, I didn't quit because I said I'm going to stick it through this entire summer and finish it up. Fine. But the number 2 regret was people not quitting sooner. Do you need to quit your job? Are you thinking of quitting your job? Are you not in the right position or place? Think about making a change. Think about making a switch. Does that impact your long-term happiness? Would quitting your job change your life tremendously? Maybe it would. Maybe it wouldn't. But that was the number 2 career regret. Number 3 career regret. I wish I had the confidence to start my own business. Starting a business is difficult. Not an easy task. I have started side hustles and businesses before. It takes a tremendous amount of energy, effort, time, sacrifice to make something succeed. I've made thousands of dollars in a side hustle, and that has taken work—lots of work—writing articles, marketing, finding clients, all these different things. But that was a regret people had in their careers. I can see why they had that regret. Having a business. Gives you freedom, gives you flexibility, gives you unlimited earning potential. You can do anything you want, essentially. Nothing is off limits with a business. You are your own boss, which is amazing in so many ways. And that was the regret people had. People regretted not kind of taking the leap, leap of faith, jumping out there and starting their own business. Are you considering starting your own business? Number 4, number 4 top career regret. I wish I had used my time at school productively. It makes sense. You're at school, you have all these different resources, all these different opportunities and different experiences you can have. How do you make the most of that time? I've been thinking about this a lot recently as I'm going to do my MBA at USC. Trying to think of how I can make the absolute most of the experience. And people regret not making the most of the time they had in school. So whether you're in high school going to college, college going to grad school, about to enter grad school, in grad school, in school, whatever it may be, make the most of this time. It is such a unique time, a unique opportunity to meet people and do so many different wonderful things. Take advantage, look for resources, pursue your dreams. Just make the most of the time you have in school. This was the number four regret. Number four top career regret people have. Which brings us to number five. I wish I had acted on my career hunches. What exactly does this mean? If you think something is an opportunity for you to progress, for you to move upward in your company or make better moves in your career, you might want to take it. People regretted not doing that, whether that's moving for a role, like whether that is something completely different that you don't think you— you never thought you would do in a million years, but it is a great opportunity for you. People regretted not taking those opportunities to do something different, find something new, something that would progress them in their career. So take that into account in your career, finding ways to advance your skills, Finding ways to go outside of your comfort zone. Number 5 career regret. Thank you so much for watching. Please do subscribe down below. Also click that thumbs up button. There are so many different career regrets you could possibly have. I don't want you to have any of them, none whatsoever. And you can take action from this moment on, this exact moment right here. You can take action. If you wanna learn more, head on over to justgogrind.com to learn more about careers and also starting your own business. I will see you in the next video. The next video, like I mentioned earlier, on kind of dealing with these societal and parental norms that we have around careers. They end up holding us back from actually finding what we really want to do, what we really love to do. Check out that next video. Thanks for watching. I will see you soon. Bye.