The educational situations in Germany, the UK, India and USA are somewhat different. Some countries encourage, nudge, or channel people early in life toward one kind of education or another. The main challenge in life is to find that intersection among a) what you love to do, b) what you are good at, and c) what people will pay you for (Collins’ Hedgehog Concept).
A key in discovering that is identifying your personal life-long habits and trends, call them Life Themes. By 18, most of these are in place even if you aren’t fully self-aware. I inherited and taught for 30 years an award-winning system at Harvard for identifying Life Themes—available for free on my website. Think of your Life Themes as the outline of your hand and the demands of various career option as gloves. Some gloves fit better than others. Finding the right glove can take years — or if you know yourself more explicitly months.
Not everyone is suited for the kind of learning that occurs in universities, some are more suited to voc-tech disciplines. Some countries try to push people into one or the other at an early age—usually based on performance rather than preference. That effort is I believe to try to save people years of experimentation when their talents “seem” to point in one direction or another.
It’s your life though, you can choose the path you want to go—if you have enough self-awareness and determination. Finding the right FIT will result in more satisfaction and contribution. Some people intuitively know this even before age ten. Some people never figure it out and spend their careers wandering from job to job. I encourage you to become clear on your Life Themes and then to use that awareness to sift through various job and career/educational opportunities and options.
A key in discovering that is identifying your personal life-long habits and trends, call them Life Themes. By 18, most of these are in place even if you aren’t fully self-aware. I inherited and taught for 30 years an award-winning system at Harvard for identifying Life Themes—available for free on my website. Think of your Life Themes as the outline of your hand and the demands of various career option as gloves. Some gloves fit better than others. Finding the right glove can take years — or if you know yourself more explicitly months.
Not everyone is suited for the kind of learning that occurs in universities, some are more suited to voc-tech disciplines. Some countries try to push people into one or the other at an early age—usually based on performance rather than preference. That effort is I believe to try to save people years of experimentation when their talents “seem” to point in one direction or another.
It’s your life though, you can choose the path you want to go—if you have enough self-awareness and determination. Finding the right FIT will result in more satisfaction and contribution. Some people intuitively know this even before age ten. Some people never figure it out and spend their careers wandering from job to job. I encourage you to become clear on your Life Themes and then to use that awareness to sift through various job and career/educational opportunities and options.
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