One of the most important decisions we make is our choice of career or job, however many of us literally "fall into" a career without much forethought and simply follow our peers/parents/family wishes.

But how would one actually go about choosing a career path - where would you begin? Try the following steps, hopefully these will provide a good starting point to begin narrowing down which sort of career would at least be suitable for you, if not something you could excel in!

Look at your pastimes. Do group activities have a large part to play? Do you hold any leadership roles, such as team captain or chairman? Are there any creative or scientific interests? Are all your pastimes solitary? Is there an element of risk involved - in the widest sense? In a nutshell, what do your hobbies say about you?

Do they tell you that you are solitary or friendly, reserved or outwardly expressive, a thinker or a doer, a leader or a follower? Do you feel this is probably a true picture of your real self? If not, why not? Remember the influence of other people. If you feel frustrated by the domineering personality of others in any of your pastimes, then recognise part of your personality includes a degree self-confidence or insecurity. Don't feel overwhelmed by this knowledge: it is not an insurmountable problem and may be due entirely to very specific circumstances which would not apply in other areas of your life. It is certainly something which with the right sort of guidance can be modified or even overcome.

Look at what you have discovered about yourself and put this into a work context. If you enjoy solitary hobbies, you are hardly likely to feel at ease working as part of a team, just as if you prefer group activities, a job where you are working in isolation would be totally inappropriate. Equally frustrating would be a situation where your creative or analytical mind was thwarted by repetitive routines or haphazard working practices.

Ideally, your working life should satisfy your needs and expectations in the same way as your pastimes do. Put in its simplest form, if there is a good match, you are likely not only to succeed, but to flourish. If there is a poor match, or even a compete mis-match, success will be achieved only at great personal cost, often resulting in the onset of stress related illness.

The greatest problem with a mis-match is that you can give the impression of being very successful at your job - even to yourself. You perform well because you are determined to succeed at all costs. Any inner doubts or misgivings are suppressed by your drive to take on a challenge. This situation isnt helped because you will also have the right skills to achieve this illusory success. Theres nothing wrong with the skills, its the working environment that needs changing.

Look for compatibility under the following headings:

- skills and abilities
- level of responsibility
- environment
- social mix