Deciding on a career can be complicated. That's why there are career counselors who specialize in helping people find what is right for them.
There are, however, some basic approaches to consider:
1. You can make a career out of what you do best. This might be called the competitive advantage or core competency approach. You size up your strengths and try to take advantage of them.
Sticking with what you do best can also be a safe approach. Pursuing a career in an area where a) you already excel or b) you have received the most positive feedback may reduce your exposure to criticism and failure.
On the other hand, you might become bored if you have no challenges.
Still, if sports is what you do best and you want to go for it, by all means consider it as a career option.
He gave up a career as a computer software consultant to play water polo full-time. While he was not making nearly as much money as his friends (who were doctors and lawyers) he felt the trade-off was worth it. "I don't feel bad about the choices I've made. I've had a chance to travel all over the world and have made friends with people I'd never had met otherwise. You can always start working. But you can only play water polo at this level for so long." (3)
But remember, to make a career out of sports, you're going to have think creatively. You can't do what you are doing now for the next 50 years. As you get older, you may have to switch sports, compete at the seniors level, or branch out into a sports-related activity like coaching.
2. You can make a career out of what you like best. This makes sense. Why not spend your life doing what makes you happy?
But relatively few people pursue their dream jobs. According to Richard Grudzinski, a career counselor at American Career Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, "Sixty-seven percent of people don't enjoy the work they do." (5)
There are all sorts of reasons why people don't do what they really want to do. Sometimes they don't have the right skills or training. Sometimes the job they want doesn't pay very well. Sometimes their families want them to do something else. And so on.
If you have a dream career, at least think about pursuing it. People who enjoy their jobs usually do well at them. But be prepared to work hard and make trade-offs. This is especially true for sports careers. To succeed, you have to be willing to compromise, to be flexible, and to be creative.
3. You can make a career out of what is most convenient. Many careers begin this way. People often grow up imaging themselves in one career and then end up doing something entirely different.
Sometimes people accept whatever is right in front of them because they need the money or haven't given any thought to what else might be available.
And sometimes people encounter an unexpected turn of events and, as a result, discover new career possibilities. Examples:
But that affected Mutumbo's dream to become a doctor. He was told that he'd be too busy to handle both premed and basketball. He switched to a double major in diplomacy and linguistics.
These days Mutumbo has no regrets about his decision. Basketball has allowed him to help both his country and his extended family. He has been involved in raising money for hospitals in Zaire and he provides financial support to approximately 50 relatives.
"At first I was just thinking about my studies, snowboarding for leisure. But boards were expensive, and the best way to get one was to show my abilities to a sponsor. In November of 1989, I met a guy from Hot snowboards, and I got my first board just by riding six gates in a slalom course. One month later I had to show up to my first race, a French Cup with all the French stars competing. I started 61st and I finished third on the giant slalom. Riders couldn't believe it--they asked [the officials] to check the timing system, but there was no mistake. After this event, I was thinking of an eventual career in snowboarding." (7)
Conte went on to become the International Snowboarding Federation World Pro Tour giant slalom champion in 1994-95. He also found time to go to college, where he studied marketing and economics.
Perhaps the biggest drawback with picking a career based on convenience is the possibility that one day you will look back and wonder what might have been if you had followed your dream instead.
But don't worry. If you begin having doubts about your career decision, you can always switch to something else. People do it all the time now. According to Grudzinski, "The average person in his or her lifetime will hold 12 to 15 jobs and change careers three to five times." (8)
He went from being a basketball player to someone providing self-help resources. Among them were fitness programs for recovering athletes; a treatment and recovery center; an athletes' aftercare program to keep them drug-free while they were on the road; a program to help recovering teenage addicts; a basketball program for Houston youths which stressed education and academic success; and the Miami Tropics, a U.S. Basketball League team which gave recovering addicts a chance to resume their pro basketball careers.
Lucas also went on to coach the San Antonio Spurs and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Competitive athletes are especially likely to have several careers. Many start out as full-time athletes and then enter business or professional careers. But a few start out in business or professional careers and then switch over to sports. The trick is to recognize a good opportunity when it comes along, even if it wasn't expected.
4. You could pick the career that pays the most. This may sound like a good idea, but it can be hard to pull off.
Knowing which careers pay the most and knowing how much money YOU will make can be difficult to determine. For example, on paper it appears that doctors make more money than stockbrokers since the average doctor's salary is $187,000 while the average stockbroker's salary is $123,000. But very successful brokers often make more than very successful doctors. Individuals in any career can make much more or much less than the average.
Complicating matters further, the economy is changing so rapidly that any career you pick now may not remain consistently well-paying throughout your lifetime.
In the end, how much money you'll make often has more to do with your own skills and ambition than your career selection. Self-made millionaires are usually people who start out doing what they love and doing it well. Success then follows.
As far as a sports career goes, it is possible to make huge amounts of money. But only a few athletes ever do. Take baseball players, for example. While the average major league baseball salary is $1.1 million, half of the MLB players make less than $300,000 a year and most minor leaguers barely make enough to pay the bills.
If you are an exceptional athlete in a high visibility sport, you may get the chance to go for the money. But if you're a good-to-average athlete, don't count on getting rich from sports.
When Should You Start Thinking about a Career?
Certainly high school isn't too soon. Granted you're likely to change your mind a number of times before you start work, but by thinking about careers early, you can start learning more about them and even take some courses to prepare you. At the very least, thinking about the future might keep you from slacking off in courses you might need later on.
If you go to college, you'll be expected to declare a major within a year or so. Again, be thinking about what you want to do when you graduate. With an eye toward the future, some athletes decide to major in business or communications. Both can be excellent preparation for sports and sports-related careers.