Between the ages of 5 to 18 most of us have changed career choices a couple of times. First you wanted to be a doctor. Then you wanted to be an animal doctor. Then you decided against the world of medicine and want to be an environmentalist or a ballet dancer. At that time it is okay to be a drifter as you’re growing and constantly trying to discover yourself. You’re in a bit of trouble though later in life if you’re in your 5^th course in tertiary because you keep falling in love with a new career path every year.  Have you been everything from a glam queen to a tie dye wearing tree hugger and you are easily influenced into different religions or movements? Maybe you are the type of person who goes through extreme changes frequently and most of the time; you do not really finish anything that you start. Even in relationships that you have, you are constantly changing friends and never stick out friendships long enough to develop them.  Those are all the classic signs that you are a chronic drifter.

The thing is, as much as it’s okay to try new thing and discover other parts of you; when you get older being a drifter can be time consuming. It also makes it very hard for people to trust that you will stick to anything or see any opportunity that they give through. It is also not fulfilling as most of the time you feel like you have not achieved anything with your life. This could even lead to you being depressed at some point and because you do not feel very progressive.

What you could do career wise is see a career advisor (free of charge at tertiary institutions). Talk to a professional and get them to help you decide what it is that you will love doing that would make you happy on a daily bases. When your drifter ways start creeping back just stop and focus at the goal at hand. Tell yourself that you will not start anything new until you have completed what you started.

Sometimes being a drifter is caused by deeper psychological issues like the fear of commitment. Is there a reason why you don’t want to tie yourself down to anything? Sometimes we are not always able to deal with issues on our own so it helps to talk to someone to get to the core of the matter.

At the end of the day, we all know the saying:

“Jack of all trades, master of none”

Image Courtesy: Mia Simone Oelofse @art.swg.co.za