“Do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”
A saying that we have all heard at some point in our lives.
It sounds easy enough, right?
Well… it’s shown to be one of those things which is easier said than done.
In reality, many people go through the path well traveled, the path of graduating high school, going off to college, picking the major that sounds best to them at the time, potentially switching their major a few times, finally graduating, then getting a job.
🎓 The Underemployment Crisis: A Sobering Reality
Sounds like a straight forward path… however, an interesting study by the New York Fed shows that only 27% of US Graduates actually Utilize their major.
You can have a look that New York Fed study HERE.
This speaks to a term called underemployment, which means somebody is employed in a job for which they are overqualified. Sadly enough, this phenomenon, shown by multiple studies taken since 1970, is increasing year over year.
But that begs the question, why?
Why is an increasing percentage of our population spending years of precious time in higher education? Putting up with the stress, and accruing debt in the process… all for nothing?
❌ Why We Choose Wrong:
The only sensible answer I’ve been able to come up with in regards to this question, aside from the obvious “for the college experience” excuse that I hear so often, is the lack of proper guidance to make the right choice of degree in the beginning.
If they truly made the right decision on what they want to dedicate their lives to, these statistics would not look the way they do.
But the reality is, they don’t…
Most people actually choose wrong, and those people end up with a whole lot of debt, and a whole lot of time wasted. But our society wants you to think that is “normal”. Normal to waste that much time in some of the most cherished years of life, hop on the hamster wheel of school debt so early, and for no good reason. And they want you to think it’s normal to be 22+ years old and under-skilled in your actual career of interest because you have to change careers later on.
That’s not normal if you ask me.
Finding Fulfillment:
The way many people make their decision on what career path they want to follow, doesn’t take into account important aspects of their personality that will play a vital role in overall career fulfillment and happiness down the line. Without the ability to analyze yourself objectively and take these variables into account, it will be extremely hard to put yourself on a path to success.
Not only should you have genuine interest in your career, but it should align with your personality in the sense that it leverages your strengths and doesn’t rely on your weaknesses.
A career plays a significant part of our lives, and can truly make or break your overall happiness. Which is why it is so important to find a career path that doesn’t feel like it quite literally “drains the life out of you”, but instead gives you energy pursuing it, rather than taking it.
Unfortunately, by the time that many realize they chose the wrong path, they feel like it is “too late” to pivot.
To me, this is one of the saddest realities of many lives today. It pains me to think of all those who are out there that are struggling to find their life’s passion… those without a true goal to build their dreams around.
It’s Never Too Late: The Value of Your Time
Time is one of the most valuable and precious assets we have, and throughout our lives, we spend much of it working… time we will never get back. This is why it is so important to decide what we would like to spend that time doing.
If you feel that your life, and your work, doesn’t have you on a path leading you towards where you want to go. Just know that you are not alone, and it is never too late.
This is an issue I’m extremely passionate about helping people solve. This passion is what has led me to building a solution to this problem to help people like you, called Vitalign. I’ve spent many hours creating a product that will get your first step in the right direction.
It is essentially a self-discovery test that blends psychology, personality science, and a bit of AI’s capabilities to connect the dots.
Once you take the test, you’ll get a personalized breakdown of your strengths, your motivators, and the fields that fit you best — including ones you might’ve never even known existed.
If you’ve ever felt stuck, lost, or like you’re just going through the motions, this might be the perspective shift you’ve been needing. It can open your mind to possibilities you may have never had the opportunity to consider and help you put together an action plan to make it happen.
All you have to do is go to vitalign.com, click on “take assessment”, and answer the 24 questions about your goals, life, and career. It will generate the report automatically for you once you finish the test, and it gives you some results for free. If you want access to the full results of the report, it costs $50.
I’m working on this product and improving it every day, and I really think it can help you.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
You can take the free test right now at vitalign.com — and start moving closer to the work you were actually made for.
Vitalign Blog 
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