Career Choices – Selected Occupations
©Arlene R. Taylor PhD
Almost anyone can choose a career or occupation and then learn the key tasks that are required. For example, most human beings can learn to exhibit caring behaviors and people skills although it will be easier for some than others. The degree of success achieved lies in how much energy it takes to learn the key tasks and to sustain repetition on a daily basis. Individuals with differing preferences tend to approach similar careers from differing perspectives, with differing emphasis, and with differing degrees of accomplishment and success based on what their brain does easily.
Confucius reportedly said,
Choose a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.
Selecting a career or occupation that is a good match for your innate giftedness is both a challenge and an individual journey. Some are fortunate in achieving a good fit early in life. Others struggle before achieving a match.
Global Strategies
Most people work, inside or outside of the home. When evaluating employment options, begin by identifying the key tasks that the specific job requires and compare them with your brain bent. Or look for a job/organization that allows you to contribute based on your innate giftedness—even if some of the tasks don’t match your formal education.
Following are examples of activities matched with each cerebral division.
Prioritizing Division |
Envisioning Division
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An individual with a brain bent in this division tends to:
Search for work that allows you to:
Major Contribution: Analysis and evaluation Key Component: A data-based project or program and the ability to make decisions and set/achieve goals
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An individual with a brain bent in this division tends to:
Search for work that allows you to:
Major Contribution: Envisioning and enthusiasm Key Component: A short-term project or program and the ability to be somewhat independent and innovative |
Maintaining Division
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Harmonizing Division
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An individual with a brain bent in this division tends to:
Search for work that allows you to:
Major Contribution: Dependability and production Key Component: A long-term project or program and the ability to produce dependably
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An individual with a brain bent in this division tends to:
Search for work that allows you to:
Major Contribution: Connecting with others and translating for the BL and FR Key Component: The ability to experience harmony among people, or animals, or nature, and in the environment |
Selected Occupations
At the risk of being able to include only a few examples, following are occupations individuals may gravitate toward based on brain bent. The center sections and middle sections on each side represent choices by individuals who are considered to be “doubles.” That is, they tend primarily to utilize two adjacent divisions, although they are still believed to possess a brain bent in only one of the divisions.
Prioritizing Division
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Doubles |
Visualizing Division
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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Double Left |
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Double Right |
If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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Maintaining Division |
Doubles
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Harmonizing Division
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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If Extroverted:
If Introverted:
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Examples of Nursing-Career Options Matched with Cerebral Divisions
Again at the risk of being able to include only a few examples, here are choices individuals might lean toward in the nursing profession based on brain bent .
Prioritizing Division |
Doubles
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Visualizing Division
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Individuals with a brain bent in this division tend to prefer situations where they can be in charge, make decisions, use state-of-the-art equipment, or investigate and analyze something.
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Individuals with a brain bent n this division may gravitate toward working in unusual and somewhat autonomous settings. They tend to enjoy using innovative technology (once the learning curve has been reached), and may like some types of research (anecdotal, more outcome or results oriented and less straight data-oriented).
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Double Left |
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Double Right |
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Maintaining Division
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Doubles |
Harmonizing Division
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Individuals with a brain bent in this division may gravitate toward providing services in routine or traditional settings with pre-established parameters
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Individuals with a brain bent in this division may gravitate toward making contributions to a patient’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing in a variety of settings
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Factors that Often Impact Initial Career Choice
A great many factors can influence your choice of a job or career, especially your initial career choice.
Evaluate these and other factors and the contribution each makes to your life:
- Gender brain preference
- Birth position and position in the sibling lineup
- Position on the Extroversion-Ambiversion-Introversion Continuum
- Sensory system preference
- Chronological age
- Expectations (e.g., yours, family, friends, school, church, society, culture, politics)
- Educational opportunities
- Accomplishments and accompanying rewards
- Past experiences related to the observation / exposure to a variety of career options
- Past work-related opportunities and experience
- Level of self-esteem
- Presence and functionality of boundaries (personal limits)
- Personal beliefs and attitudes
- Living location and environment
You may need to alter some of these factors (e.g., expectations, personal beliefs and attitudes) in order to achieve greater levels of health, happiness, and success and a better brain-career match.
You may have selected a career due to expectations or opportunities rather than one that offered a good match between key tasks and personal innate giftedness. Over time, if your brain bent doesn’t match the key tasks required for this career, you may eventually:
- Gravitate to a branch of a profession that is a better match
- Change careers (if you have that option)
- Find a way to tweak the job to obtain a better match
- Self-medicate using an addictive behavior
- Burn out, become ill, or go out on disability
Because of this, it’s a good idea to evaluate your career choice ongoing and the way in which it is impacting your overall health, happiness, and success. Many people change careers midstream to obtain a better match. Sometimes this involves tweaking and existing career and sometimes it means going in a different direction altogether.