CHOOSING A CAREER--WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

How many of us know exactly what our career path will be? From your family expectations and your indecisions, its very hard to say, absolutely without question where your life path will go. Some of us are lucky. We know exactly what we like and what we want. Some of us are not so lucky. We have all these things that we probably like but are not sure. Some of us want someone to tell us what to do in life. This reminds me of a song by Stephen Sondheim, "Being Alive" from the Musical "Company".

"Somebody hold me too close,
Somebody hurt me too deep,
Somebody sit in my chair,
And ruin my sleep,
And make me aware,
Of being alive.

Somebody need me too much,
Somebody know me too well,
Somebody pull me up short,
And put me through hell,
and give me support for being alive.
Make me alive,
Make me confused,
Mock me with praise,
Let me be used,
Vary my days

But alone is alone, not alive.

Somebody crowd me with love,
Somebody force me to care,
Somebody make me come through,
I'll always be there as frightened as you,
to help us survive being alive."


How I look at it is, if you recognize that you have some kind of talent in some area, try to make that small talent grow and become a big talent so that it will be your career. Sure, one can learn other jobs and perhaps do them well, but there is always that lingering thought that you should have been a singer, poet, computer techie or a well driller. I think one is given something that we are good at, but one must recognize that and take advantage of that talent and nurture and train that talent. The hardest part is, of course, finding out how much money you can make with the career path you chose. Lets say you like making creative clay statues. The hard part is finding a niche for that talent and learn how to make money, lots of money. If it makes you very happy doing that, then that is the career you should choose. Maybe you want to be a musician and you love playing the guitar and don't think you can make any money as a guitar player. My answer to that is be the best guitar player you can be. Find outlets and have your talent shine. Money will come.

I have had some female students that all they want is to get married and have children. I see the hunger in their eyes when they talk about children and a husband and a little house somewhere in the suburbs. If that is your wish, be the best mother you can be, read all the "how To" books you can and be the best mother you can be. Unfortunately, this scenario almost never turns out gloriously. Some of these kids I knew years ago are either divorced with 5 kids, or are on welfare or some other kind of assistance and something went awry in their calculation. Just having children is not a great feat in itself, after all, millions of women do it, but being the best parent/mother that you can be is.

Being young is difficult and knowing that you are off to college in a few years does not make it easy on finding a career if nothing interests you or you don't have any motivation to get you through with your goals.

Again, if you have any talent, use it, develop it, work it.

I have a beautiful and talented young singer in my studio. She is 16 years old and boy, can she sing! The vocal talent is pouring out of her and everyone can see it but her. She could be one of the worlds best coloraturas there ever was if only she would just realize what great talent she has. She is a bit lazy, yes, and has no skills in doing things for herself. She grew up in a household with mother and father making all decisions for her and doing everything for her. Being a beautiful child, all she had to do was smile and your heart just melted. She learned that she did not have to do anything because someone would do it for her. That is a wonderful existence, and I would love to try it, but nobody at my house would do that for me. I had to learn to adapt. She now is waiting for someone to give her a career without her working for it. Again, that is also good, but not realistic. Parents have got to step aside and let her flounder for a bit, though hard as it seems without tearing of the heartstrings, but it has to be done, and they are doing well. She is, at the momment rebelling but that's the next step for her recovery. She will become a great singer, I guarantee, but not until she herself does the work and sitting back waiting for something to happen is not the answer. Go, GIRL, Go.....!

Another example of which I'm most proud. A few years ago I had a new student come in for lessons, and I heard this fantastic voice coming out of this kid. He was an actor at Walt Disney World but he could also sing! I really enjoyed teaching him. He was positive, hard working, knew languages, had goals, had a career path and was doing all the other jobs and workshops that all actors do to hone their craft. This guy hated to sleep, because he would lose that time, which was unproductive for him when he could be doing something to advance his career. He was becoming well known in this market, and had a following at Disney. He also did the theater sports venue here in town and again, he was the main attraction. Everything was going well for this kid, because he worked at it.

Every time he came in for a lesson, he would always be making some kind of weird noise with his mouth. He was whistling odd tunes and making other sounds that I finally asked him what he was doing. He replied that all his life he loved making different noises and sound effects. So I asked him, if you like that so much lets explore it as well, and he said ok. Through a friend we got him an audition with one of the local agencies that specialized in voice-overs. He immediately got hired and that turned his life around. He was now doing something that he loved doing and getting paid for it! He started expanding his repertoire of "creature" sounds, babies crying, and frog noises. I loved teaching him singing and he was a great student, and I hated to let him go. He moved to Los Angeles and his career in the voice-over industry went ballistic. Now he has more work than he can handle. He is a well-known artist in Los Angeles and does cartoon voices for almost every cartoon and movie in the industry. What a model for other young students. He had a career path as an actor/singer but, with my intervening, he found out what he really likes doing and, hello, making obscene amounts of money with obscene sounds and loving his life.

I recently saw him in Orlando, and he was happy doing what he is doing, and if I had some part of getting him there, both of us have achieved some phenomenal success. D, you are Mighty!

So. What I'm trying to say is:
1. know yourself
2. be true to yourself
3. if you have some talent, exploit it with all your might
4. nurture that talent, feed it
5. Have goals, short term and long term
6. work at your craft continually
7. Life is short---don't throw it away