Welcome to career decisions from Inside to Impact. I'm Sharon Belden Castonguay. If you are interested in this course, chances are you are facing some sort of transition in your life. Perhaps you are thinking about switching jobs or changing careers. Maybe you're starting college and are trying to get a handle on what you want to study or you just graduated and are trying to figure out what to do next. In this course, we will explore how having insight into your motivations, skills, and behaviors can help you both set goals for yourself and achieve them. I'm an adult developmental psychologist by training and a career counselor by trade, with about 20 years of experience with people in all stages of life, from college students to late career professionals. What I have found through my advising practice is that people who take the time to really consider what it is they want and what is influencing their decision making are the ones who find the best work and the best working identities for themselves. My goal for this course is to help you avoid some of the mental traps people fall into when making these types of decisions, and provide you with a concrete framework for moving forward. This course is sectioned into four weeks of material. The first two deal with your motivations or how we go about making decisions and the various outside influences that may be affecting that process. I'll talk about the ways in which your brain might be tricking you into limiting your options and how your family, friends, teachers, and even American culture may be doing the same. We'll also look closely at your personal identity and how it might be validated or threatened by your upcoming transition. In week three, we'll turn our attention to mindsets or the frames of mind that can affect how we see ourselves and how we interact with the world. We'll consider whether it's better to be passionate about one's work or simply be good at it. Finally, in week four, we will deal with the practical matter of gaining information about potential paths you might take and how to enlist the help of others to get there. If you are interested in learning more about any of the concepts we discuss, I encourage you to read the resources section for each week. I have included links to videos such as TED talks and commencement speeches that I feel complement the material. This course isn't going to teach you how to write a resume or how to dress in a job interview. There are plenty of other places where you can learn those things. I'm also not going to ask you to take any formal career assessments because there is no test that can tell you what to do with your life. And that is because there is no test that can assess the full extent of who you are, not only your interests skills and values, but also the social context in which you were raised, where you will live now, and who you hope to be. What you will learn here is how to think about options that may come your way so that you can cut through the noise of what you're hearing from others and make decisions that are right for you. You will also come out of this course with your narrative, the story you will tell about yourself, so that others will understand who you are and what you have to offer. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you. Let's get started.
