SELF-AWARENESS: GOALS AND INTERESTS

1. Self-awareness: goals and interests

After reading this section, you will become familiar with the key factors and process of self-awareness, and you will have the opportunity to complete self-awareness tests and set career goals.

A successful career starts with self-awareness. This is the process of exploring one's inner world to better understand one's personality, strengths, and weaknesses. While many believe they know themselves well enough, systematic self-analysis reveals new, previously unnoticed aspects. It is especially important to understand your personality traits, interests, values, and competencies in order to successfully navigate your career path.

Watch a video about career choices: how important it is to know yourself.

Source: News radio

1.1. The Process of Self-awareness

We all know the world around us, but the most important object in this world is ourselves. We perceive ourselves as separate individuals, distinct from everything around us. This ability to perceive ourselves and our place in the world is called self-awareness.

Our self-awareness is not static; it splits into two parts:

1. The perceiving part: This is our "I," the part of us that knows and analyzes ourselves.

2. The perceived part: This is our "Me," what we know about ourselves—our body, thoughts, feelings, values, etc.

Our "I" is like the center of our personality, connecting all of our experiences and giving us the sense that we are a unified individual. Meanwhile, our "Me" can change depending on which aspect of ourselves we focus on at any given time.

The process of self-awareness is constantly ongoing, where an individual recognizes and understands themselves, as "I" encounters "Me." The result of this process is a unified sense of self-awareness—this is a system of beliefs, attitudes, and interpretations about oneself.

Self-awareness always influences how we perceive our abilities and how we behave. People think about themselves in different ways: some believe they can do anything, others believe they can do some things, while some believe they can do nothing and therefore do nothing. Therefore, self-awareness can either motivate or inhibit our actions. Our successes or failures also affect our self-awareness. For example, after accomplishing something we thought we couldn't do, we begin to trust ourselves more. Thus, self-awareness and our actions are closely connected and interdependent.

Self-awareness is also important because it allows a person not only to manage themselves but also to change themselves. When "I" perceives "Me," the opportunity arises to change or create certain aspects of the self. For example, if a person realizes they lack career goals and are not motivated to learn, they can change themselves to pursue goals and understand what needs to be done to achieve them. Therefore, self-awareness can take various forms.

Each person typically creates multiple images of themselves throughout their life.

In life, we often create several images of ourselves. It is essential to understand these images in order to make better career decisions.

How we perceive ourselves has a significant impact on our career. An overly high self-assessment can lead us to overestimate our abilities, while too low a self-assessment can cause a lack of confidence and cause us to miss great opportunities. A realistic self-assessment helps us choose the right career path and achieve better results.

1.2. Factors of Self-awareness

Every person is unique, with their own personality traits, values, interests, and competencies. Similarly, each profession has its own specific requirements and offers different opportunities.

One of the biggest challenges in choosing a career is finding a job that aligns with personal needs and strengths. This means finding an activity where you can express your personality traits, pursue your values, satisfy your interests, and apply your knowledge and skills.

The first step in finding the right career is to thoroughly understand yourself. It’s important to assess your personality traits, values, interests, and competencies. For example, personality traits can be described by aspects such as extraversion, emotionality, openness to new experiences, and conscientiousness. Values reflect what is most important in life for a person, such as relationships, material wealth, or self-realization. Interests show what motivates and excites a person. And competencies include the knowledge, skills, and abilities a person possesses.

1.3. Personality Types and Traits

Personality is one of the most important factors influencing our career choices. Our behavior, decisions, and motivations are strongly related to our personality traits. Therefore, in order to make successful career decisions, it is essential to know ourselves well.

Personality is a complex concept that encompasses many interconnected factors. These factors shape our unique personality profile, which is reflected in our behavior in various situations.

To better understand ourselves, we can use various personality typologies. One such typology is E. Schein's career anchor theory. This theory suggests that each person has their unique career anchor – a combination of values, motivations, and competencies that determines our career choices and priorities.

A career anchor is not static; it can change over time as we gain new experiences and our values evolve. However, it always remains an important guide that helps us make decisions about our professional future.

E. Schein proposed 8 career anchors:

Source: Edgar Schien's Eight Career Anchors By L&D Hero; August 29, 2023 https://workplacehero.co.uk/blog/career-anchors-edgar-schien

Determining our career anchor can help us choose a profession that meets our personal needs and strengths. It can also help us avoid career mistakes and feel satisfied with our work.

Recall all of your work experiences. Consider which of the provided career anchor descriptions suits you best. Do you recognize yourself in any of these descriptions? How important is it for you to understand what your career anchor is? Does it, in any way, influence your future career choices?

One of the most popular personality type assessment tests is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This system categorizes people into 16 different types, traditionally based on four dichotomies

Source: https://charakteris.info/straipsniai/teorinis-modelis

Each MBTI type has a unique five-letter code, such as INFJ-A, ESTP-T, or ENTP-A. These codes can help people better understand their strengths and weaknesses, communication style, and preferred work environment.

Determine your personality type according to the Myers-Briggs system: https://charakteris.info/asmenybes-testas

1.4. Values

Values are the most important principles that guide us in life. They shape our worldview and behavior. Values can be very diverse – ranging from material things to abstract concepts such as love, justice, or freedom.

Our values develop throughout our lives, influenced by various factors such as family, friends, school, work, culture, and religion. In childhood, we primarily adopt values from those closest to us, and later, this circle expands. Professional activities also significantly impact our values, shaping specific principles related to a particular profession.

Why are values important in our lives?

Source: Milda Sabienė's YouTube Channel

Values can be both personal and professional. Personal values define what is important to us in life in general. These can include honesty, responsibility, or creativity; they shape our character and influence our decisions.

Professional values define what is important to us at work. This can include professionalism, teamwork, or efficiency. These values influence how we work and interact with colleagues. While these two types of values may differ, the ideal scenario would be for them to align with each other. The overlap between personal and professional values can contribute to greater job satisfaction and career success.

Play a memory game. Find the pairs of images that represent the following values: responsibility, efficiency, teamwork, creativity, love, money, honesty, family.

However, sometimes conflicts may arise between different values. For example, personal well-being may conflict with the interests of society. In such cases, we must choose which values to prioritize.

Understanding our values is important because it helps us make conscious decisions and live a meaningful life.

Ideally, personal and professional values should align with each other. If they do not, internal conflicts and job dissatisfaction may arise. For example, if we highly value honesty, but at work, we encounter deceit, it can cause significant discomfort. Therefore, it is important to choose a profession and work environment that align with our personal values.

When personal and professional values are aligned, it can:

Perform the practical task:

Practical task: Career Values Assessment

1.5. Interests

Interests reflect what captivates us and the areas we wish to delve into. These are activities that bring us pleasure and to which we dedicate our free time. Interests often arise from our curiosity and desire to explore the world.

A need is the absence of something that must be fulfilled, such as food or warmth. Once the need is met, it disappears.

In contrast, an interest can persist even after the initial need is satisfied. For example, a person who enjoys cooking may continue to develop in this area even when they are already full.

Interests and values are not always identical. We may be interested in something that we don't necessarily value, or we may value something that we have little interest in. For example, a person may be interested in finance but value spiritual matters more.

Our interests can be very diverse and change over time. They may be related to leisure, work, social relationships, or personal development. To better understand ourselves, it is worth paying attention to what we enjoy doing in our free time. This can help us discover new hobbies and enjoy life more. Leisure time is a great opportunity to uncover our hidden talents and passions. By analyzing what we enjoy doing in our free time, we can better understand which professional fields would be most interesting and suitable for us.

Play the memory game. Find the pairs of images depicting these leisure interests: cooking, reading, drawing, video games, sewing, photography, gardening, wood carving, sports, engineering.

Professional interests indicate the fields in which a person feels strong motivation to develop and achieve professionalism. Often, what begins as a hobby or passion can turn into a career. The spectrum of professional interests is very broad and covers various areas of activity.

To choose the right career, it is important to have a good understanding of your own interests. J. Holland, a renowned researcher of professional interests, suggests that people can be classified into six main groups based on what interests them the most. This classification helps not only to recognize one's strengths but also to find a job that best matches one's personality.

J. Holland's Types of Professional Interests

Source: http://www.kastu.lt/files/OHN_L_HOLLANDO_profesijos_pasirinkimo_testas.pdf

There is no doubt that knowing your interests will make career decisions easier. The simplest way to determine your interest type is to take the J. Holland test.

Holland Test https://holland.lmnsc.lt/ 

Interests can also be identified in other ways to help understand what truly fascinates you.

What interests you? Make a list of all activities, issues, or topics that spark your curiosity or interest. These can be related to your work, studies, hobbies, or anything else. Even the smallest hobbies, which may seem insignificant, can contain important interests that help you choose the right career path. Start each sentence with "I am interested in...", "I really enjoy...", "I love...".

What profession appeals to you? Make a list of all professions that seem interesting to you, even if you currently have no opportunity to explore them. Include professions you dreamed about in childhood. Childhood dreams often reveal our true interests, which we tend to forget as adults.

Perform the practical task.

Practical task. 100 million euros

1.6. Competencies

When looking for a new job, we all face the challenge of convincing the employer why we are the best candidates. Every employer wants to hire the top specialists. To prove that you’re the right fit, you must present your skills and qualifications clearly and persuasively.

To be a good specialist, it’s not enough just to enjoy what you do—you also need to be skilled at it. This requires knowledge, skills, and abilities. Knowledge provides a general understanding of the subject, skills enable us to perform specific tasks, and abilities help us adapt to various situations.

All these elements—knowledge, skills, and abilities—make up our competencies. The more we have, the more effectively we can perform various tasks. For example, to be a good programmer, it’s not enough to just know programming languages (knowledge); you also need to be able to write code (skills) and solve problems creatively (abilities).

Competencies can be divided into professional and general competencies.

General competencies are further categorized into three groups: instrumental, interpersonal, and systemic competencies.

Instrumental competencies are like tools we use to manage information, technologies, and languages. Here are some examples of instrumental competencies.

Interpersonal competencies are a set of skills that help us understand others, build connections, and resolve conflicts. They enable us to communicate effectively, collaborate, and develop relationships with other people. Here are some examples of interpersonal competencies.

Systemic competencies allow us to analyze complex processes, such as organizational activities or social systems. They include the ability to identify systemic problems, plan changes, and design new, more efficient systems. These competencies are often developed later, after mastering instrumental and interpersonal competencies. Here are some examples of systemic competencies.

In today's world, where technology and the nature of work are constantly evolving, professional knowledge quickly becomes outdated. To be successful, we must continuously learn new things. This is why general competencies—such as the ability to learn, adapt, and solve problems—are so important. General competencies provide us with a solid foundation on which we can build our careers and more easily adapt to changing circumstances.

Perform the practical task.

Pratical assignment. General competencies

1.7. Career Vision

Everything we create begins in our minds. Before bringing our ideas to life, we carefully think them through and imagine them. It’s like building a house: before laying the foundation, we visualize what our home will look like—how many rooms there will be, where the fireplace will stand, and how the furniture will be arranged. This initial creative phase is crucial because it helps prevent mistakes and additional expenses during the construction process.

Just as we build a house, we also build our lives and careers. This initial creative phase is called vision—a clear mental picture of what we want to achieve in life and in our careers. A vision provides us with purpose and motivation, helping us make decisions and overcome challenges. When we create a vision, it’s like drawing a map of our future. This map helps us navigate through life and make choices that bring us closer to our goals.

While creating a vision for our lives isn’t mandatory, it gives us more control. If we don’t shape our own future, we often let others do it for us. However, that can lead to living someone else’s dreams instead of our own. By creating our own vision, we choose what we want from life and take responsibility for those choices.

Complete a practical task:

Practical task. Formulating a life and career vision

1.8. Setting goals

From an early age, people dream about their future jobs. As children, these may be simple wishes to become a singer or a firefighter. As adults, we start developing specific career plans, such as holding leadership positions or achieving financial stability.

A career goal is a specific result that we strive for in our professional lives. It serves as a compass, guiding the direction in which we move. Having a clear goal makes it easier to stay motivated, plan our actions, and evaluate our achievements. While life often presents unexpected challenges, a career goal helps us stay focused and make better decisions. It’s important to remember that goals can change, so we must remain open to new opportunities and ready to adjust our plans as needed.

With a clear vision for your life and career, it naturally follows that you’ll want to break it down into smaller, more concrete goals. These goals can vary in nature—from general aspirations to very detailed tasks. Depending on how long they take to achieve, career goals can be categorized as either long-term or short-term.

Watch the video “How to set goals and make decisions?” Then reflect on the following questions:

What dreams do you have?

What goals would you set to achieve those dreams?

What career goals have you set so far?

Have you achieved all the career goals you set?

If not, what mistakes did you make that prevented you from reaching your career goals?

Source: News radio

Career goals can be divided into conceptual and operational. A conceptual goal defines the kind of work experience that matters most to us. It serves as our career vision, outlining our values, interests, and what we wish to achieve. An operational goal is more specific and relates to particular roles or positions. For example, if our conceptual goal is to work with people, an operational goal might be becoming a teacher or a social worker.

Conceptual goals are long-term (5–7 years) and set the overall direction for our career.
Operational goals are short-term (1–3 years) and help us reach our conceptual goals. Both types of goals are essential for a successful career.

Perform a practical task. 

Practical task. Setting goals and visualization

1.9. Indecisiveness in Setting Career Goals

Indecisiveness when choosing a career path is a very common experience. The wide range of possibilities, fear of making a mistake, or a lack of self-confidence can make decision-making more challenging. However, it’s important to understand that every decision is part of a learning process, and indecision isn’t an obstacle—it’s more of a phase that can be overcome.

Indecisiveness in setting career goals may be caused by factors such as:

Indecision is a normal feeling. The most important thing is to take action and gradually move toward your goal. Even if you make a mistake, it will be a valuable experience that helps you grow and improve.

1.10. Overcoming obstacles in goal setting

Setting career goals can be challenging for many reasons. Here are some of the most common obstacles and tips on how to overcome them:

1.11. Personal Career Plan

„ Alice comes to a crossroads and pauses to think. She asks the Cheshire Cat, who is sitting nearby: "Please tell me, which way should I go?" "Hmm," purrs the Cat, "I can't answer that. It’s important to know where you’re going..." "I don’t much care where—" "Then it doesn’t matter which way you go..." (Carrol L. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass)

You can choose not to plan, not to set goals, and avoid making a career plan. After all, you'll have to spend your time somehow, and as we know, time is limited. If you don’t know what's important to you or what you want to achieve, there will always be people who will take advantage of your skills to pursue their own goals. You’ll certainly find a job where your value will be determined by your employer, aiming for their company's objectives, without considering if it benefits your career.

However, if you don’t want your life to be dictated by circumstances and the needs of others, now is the time to think about what matters to you, what you’re good at, and what you want to achieve. Don’t delay – start planning your career and life consciously and rationally right now.

Career planning is an important process that helps us manage our careers. By creating a career plan, we clearly define our goals and the actions needed to achieve them. This plan also helps us track our progress and, if necessary, adjust our plans.

For example, imagine you want to become a programmer. Your career plan could look like this:

Why is it important to have a career plan?

Helps with focus: When we have a clear goal, it’s easier to distance ourselves from unnecessary distractions and focus on what’s most important.

Boosts confidence: Knowing where we are going makes us feel more confident and motivated.

Helps with decision-making: A career plan helps us make important decisions related to our career.

Provides flexibility: Even if our plans change, having a foundation makes it easier to adapt to new situations.

Career planning is an investment in your future. By creating a career plan, we increase our chances of achieving success and satisfaction in our work.

Perform the practical task.

Practical task. Personal career plan