Im in year 9 and by next year we are expected to have a fairly good

idea on what we are going to end up doing with our lives.

 

Is it the subjects that we enjoy we build on or do we go with something totally different???

I don't :blank:

all I can say is take what you're interested in and what feels important to you.

Haha I'm 18 and I still don't really know what I want to be :awesome:

 

There is such a diverse range of jobs out there to do... definitely not all of which will be on your timetabled lessons :lol:

 

talk to a careers advisor, they (sometimes) give good advice :p

Yeah im just very confused with what i would like to do

and what my family want me to do are different things

most of my friends have the next 5,7 or 8 years planned out

and what they want to do with life, i know that i want to go to year 12

Don't worry, I'm 22 and I'm not even sure. :awesome:

 

I learned not to worry much about such things. I know time will tell what's the right step to take.

Hmmmm..... But its also really hard when family are pushing you to really do something great and extraordinary, I have a massive passion for music like i write music and things except

i didnt get it for my main subjects because my family wanted me to do something more i dunno important to them

I want to move to England as soon as I'm done with high school...

Where I'd love to start a band ...

I want to be a musician ! :p

 

 

You may say I'm a dreamer , but I'm not the only one !

Lol

and you know thats EXACTLY what i want to do

Hmmmm..... But its also really hard when family are pushing you to really do something great and extraordinary, I have a massive passion for music like i write music and things except

i didnt get it for my main subjects because my family wanted me to do something more i dunno important to them

 

Go with what you want not your family.

Go with what you want not your family.

yes !

Ok, I shall try its just very difficult to tell them what i want to do

I know my dad will NEVER approve of me moving to London and becoming a musician

of course he wouldn't want me to fore-fill my dreams but you guys are right....

 

 

I don't care anymore I'm going to do what is right for me :D

Find out your interests and dreams, and fit it in with the reality of life.

 

I don't care anymore I'm going to do what is right for me :D

THAT is the right decision! :thumbsup: My family also hates the idea of me trying to get along with my life as an Artist/illustrator, but I don't give a shit! :lol: It's MY life and I decide what I do with it!

Just start paying attention and looking for related things to your interests or anything you loved or found really interesting in school or wherever.

 

I wanna be an immigration officer. :blush:

im 26 and i don't know wht i'll being doing with my life so can't really give you advice:p

 

:hug:

but i agree with ur parents make a decision now so u know wht to study

most of my friends have the next 5,7 or 8 years planned out

Weird ones. I will giggle when those plans will change dramatically.

I say just try to do whatever you enjoy the most. But personally I think it's stupid for people to expect you to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. Who really knows what will or won't work out in the future.

well I'm 23, finishing my degree but still don't know if I chose the right thing. I want to do so many things but everything involves money.

 

I guess more than thinking about the subjects you like think about what you want to do when you grow up, what do you picture yourself doing. Good luck, it's hard to choose something at such a young age

Once, in a lecture, I was told that the average person goes through 10 different jobs throughout their working lifetime.

 

Chloe, I really wouldn't worry about it. You're still young, and you have plenty of time to figure it out. I've seen a good chunk of people in my field (music education) start doing it, then finding out that it's not for them. You will eventually find out something that you know in your heart is the best option for you. I promise.

i don't know what i'm doing, i mean i don't know if it's good for me... i have not motivation to study, so i think this is not mine... even OT is cool.

 

I'm Confused

i didn't start pursuing music until well after college (5+ years after graduation)... you have plenty of time.

Short answer? You don't know.

 

Only a gifted few have their future path figured out as a teenager.

 

Long answer? I'm almost 29 and I didn't know for sure what I wanted to do until a little over a year ago. I had made up my mind and started in that direction a dozen times over before I found something that truly mattered to me as a career. I think the important thing in highschool is to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are in terms of personality and skills, and which ones can be improved. Then look for a field that interests you and which might fit your personality and range of skills well. When you figure out more about yourself and the world, having a general direction or two will help you figure out your next step. What you're aiming for now isn't a life sentence, it's a way to overcome inertia. Plus if you realize you're going in the completely wrong direction in a few years, you can go in a completely different direction then when you know more.

 

Most of your friends who think they know exactly what they are going to do will have completely changed their minds by the time they're about 22 or 23. None of you have even discovered half of your talents, strengths and interests yet. A lot of them don't reveal themselves until after your personality has gelled in your mid 20s. Every time a new talent or interest reveals itself you have to decide whether to adjust the road you're taking so that you can embrace it and nurture it, or whether to press on towards your previous goals. That's what catches the people who figure out exactly what they want their life to be like off guard. Their plans were too rigid and then when they need to change they have trouble changing. Most people get a mini-mid life crisis at 25 when things go wrong. Many of the people who don't go through that and get exactly the life they planned reach their mid 30s or 40s and it all falls apart because they realize they've been working toward the goals their teenaged selves wanted and their adult selves actually want something very different in life.

 

If you're really talented at music, and that's really what you want to do, go for it. You're young, you can always start a backup plan later, and you might regret not trying later if you don't. Just remember 2 things:

 

1: you will always be poor. Even very successful musicians don't usually make enough money to ever live a standard middle-class-style life. I remember Torquil Campbell from Stars once joked that if he started up five different bands he might finally make enough money to match an average salaried employee. And he's good. he's popular. He works hard all the time. If a lifetime of crappy apartments and a bohemian lifestyle appeal to you, don't let parental fretting hold you back from pursuing it. But prepare yourself for it ahead of time, because you will never have nice things. They shouldn't be important, but they are to some people. If making music means more to you than security and owning more than 2 pairs of shoes, then you might be cut out to be a musician.

 

2. Transferable skills.... which is really long winded so I`m going to post this now and get back to the second part in a bit.

2. Skills. When your life plans eventually change (which they will even if you are a successful musician), you will find that you need certain skill sets you didn't before. Your life will depend on transferable skills that you can take from one type of job to another. Don't let choosing one field be an excuse to let your academics and other skills slide, because you can use transferable skills in all sorts of things, and the more of them you store up the easier it will be change or to do something completely different if the time comes.

 

For example, all through highschool, I made my own jewelery. Because of all the craftsmanship skills I developed then, I found that when I got into electronics all of the things I had learned as a jewelry maker also applied to assembling and repairing circuit boards. They don't seem related, but they take identical skills, and because I had made jewelry for fun, that skill set already fit my personality really well. On the other hand, because I had spent so much time studying English in university, my math skills had faded out of existence and I really, really needed those in electronics. My life would have been a lot easier if I had kept my math skills top-notch.

 

Good musicians learn a lot of skills they can use in all sorts of jobs later.

 

Don't tell your parents: "I'm going to move to England and be a musician."

 

Tell your parents: "I'm going to be a musician. I am going to need to learn these skills to do it well, and I can use these skills in these other jobs later." Make a list. Write out the skills you will need, how you plan to develop those skills, and what other jobs you are interested in that also use those skills. Show that list to your parents. That list will show your parents that you are serious, that you've thought it out carefully, and that aiming to be a musician is the beginning of a large number of good, prestigious careers rather than a dead end. Having a skill-based plan like that will show you have lots of backup options through music rather than instead of music.

 

 

 

As a musician, you could need math and accounting skills, social and public relations skills, public speaking skills, language and writing skills, business skills, management skills, and art and design skills.

 

Really good math skills may mean the difference between whether or not you can pay your rent or record your next album. If you can do math in your head fast it means a concert promoter won`t be able to cheat you out of what he owes you (and they will try.) It will mean a better diet because you will be able to figure out how to stretch a tiny budget farther by figuring out what is really important and what corners you can cut and knowing how to stick to that budget. It could mean being able to figure out how to pay your help what you owe and still have enough to get a new instrument you need afterward. It could mean the difference between success and failure as an artist.

 

These days you will have to do your own public relations to promote yourself and you will probably do your own management, so social skills (interacting with the public, the press, and business people), and public speaking skills are important. Learning how to make important contacts, how to talk to promoters and how to schedule things will be essential. Scheduling is a learned, transferable skill in anything you do.

 

Take lots of English classes, because if you can write well, you can promote yourself well. Studying poetry is good for songwriting, but learning how to write prose and essays may be your ticket to being taken seriously when you can write your own blog and press releases, ect. Also, writing book reports requires the same skills that studying a legal contract does. That's why so many lawyers study English first. If you want to be a musician, you will need to know a lot about contracts, how to read them, and what they mean or labels, managers and promoters can and will take advantage of you.

 

If you have any success at all, you won't just be managing your own career, you may be looking after bandmates, roadies, and other employees. Learning how to manage people isn't something that they teach in school, but it requires specific skills no matter what type of management it is. Volunteering for a charity or working your way up through a part time job might be the best way to learn how to work with and manage people. If you tell people in a volunteer position that you're trying to learn PR and management skills, they may put you in a position where you can pick a lot of those skills up. For instance campaigning for money for a charity will teach you how to make contacts, interact with the public, possibly look after other volunteers, and importantly, ask for money- which you will do a lot of as a musician. Passing the hat is pretty much status quo now if you aren't on a label.

 

Studying things like art, graphic design, and web design could really help you promote yourself. Art can teach you new ways to think about your music as an artistic statement. Web design and graphic design will build on a general art background and will mean you will be able to manage your image in the digital world without worrying about paying someone to do it for you.

 

Even things specifically for your music involve transferable skills. Mastering an instrument teaches perseverance and dedication. No matter what you do with your life, learning perseverance and dedication will mean you can succeed at whatever you do where others would fail. All the skills I've mentioned combined with dedication set you up to be a brilliant entrepreneur. Voice lessons also prepare you for public speaking. Public speaking, PR, and legal skills (from English class) could set you up to be a great politician or lawyer. Writing and PR skills can lead to a career in journalism. You will probably want to know a lot about recording techniques and musical equipment if you want to make an album. But that also sets you up to be a recording engineer or a technician. Recording engineer and technician skills can set you up for a career in broadcasting.

 

Now in the process of learning all these skills for your music career, you will probably find certain areas you really love more than others. That's when you figure out what you really want to do with your life, and any path you decide on has the same thing happening. Any one area has dozens of related jobs. Which is why you shouldn't stress, just pick something. Your part in it will be revealed later.

 

Finally, if the day comes where you still want to be in the music industry without being a musician, because they're all related to music, learning these skills can get you a good job in the industry. There will always be a need for PR people, journalists, managers, technicians, recording engineers, web designers, broadcasters of one sort or another - whatever you turn out to be good at.

don't ask me

 

 

I wish I knew

 

 

I started 2 things and both weren't the right thing....I am finishing my apprenticeship in 2 months and I am still lost as hell.....I think the best way to find out is to try to get some work experience for some weeks in different jobs that you could be interested in.....it is what I am going to do after my apprenticeship....for me it seems like the only thing that could give me a clue about anything

 

and about subjects: well you should be flexible I think. I have always focussed on music related stuff, because it always seemed like the only thing that I am talented at.....right now I feel I should try something different....I can still keep music as my favourite hobby

Well, I have a couple of ideas of what I'd like to do (music or computery stuff... perhaps a mixture of the two). So, if you want to be a musician, do music. Other than that, keep your options open; I know a few people that are doing Physics, Chem, and Maths 1 and 2 (or equivalent), and that seems to work pretty well for them. And those people have no idea what they want to do outside of school... so, yeah, that's my two cents :)