unable to focus and choose a pathway to pursue for Master's and career

[alwaysbamboozled]

I'm 23 turning 24. I've been stuck in a rut and staying with my folks for a whole year now after my bachelor's. I feel really shitty about my situation.

I've been keen on pursuing a master's, but it got delayed due to a variety of reasons lately. But now other issues have cleared up and the only problem left is to figure out a subject and course to choose. For reference, I majored in Sociology with double minors in IR and gender studies.

I love sociology but I just know pursuing an MA in sociology won't grant me a great job right off the bat. and I'd like to look into master courses that will land me more technical high-paying jobs (and I need high-paying jobs to not just support myself but also my ageing parents).

But there's just so much on my mind, The younger me always wanted to pursue art and design, but I don't have that option now. I feel stuck in this endless cycle, I'd like to make a smart decision quickly and work towards it. But the possibility of it being the wrong decision is holding me back. I am completely unable to work or even think properly. I feel like I don't even know where to start.

tldr : unable to focus and make some important life decisions

[BLC89]

Hello alwaysbamboozled,It sounds like you are trying to make the perfect decision and that's a lot of pressure.

It's fantastic you are planning for the future and thinking of different repercussions of different decisions.

Can you take a step back and think on, instead of perfect with all the constraints you have - high paying job, taking care of parents etc - and just imagine ideal for you?

If you could wave a magic wand and have anything you wanted, no money issues, what would you do? What would you fill your days with, art, design, travel? Just take a mental vacation and visualize that type of ideal.

Then come back and look at your ideal and how you can support parts of that with a masters degree in a lucrative field.

If nothing is a fit then you pursuing a high paying masters degree will be absolutely miserable and tough to get through.

If you love sociology could you pursue something like corporate cultural structure in light of forthcoming AI shifts? You could be a facilitator/trainer of corporate change - very lucrative - or some other facilitator of large group dynamics and change.

Then you get to keep the sociology you love and that will help you stay engaged and excel in that field.

Use your clever mind to take what you love like design and combine it with sociology and support/facilitate/train the forthcoming groups/companies that will be hugely impacted by the shifts due to new tech.

I think you are stuck in a societal box of "perfect" job instead of using your "out of the box thinking" brain to create something that suits you and how you see and move through the world.

Don't let society restrict your options, you have something to offer that no one else can. And maybe that job doesn't have a name yet because it's waiting for you to create it.

As best you can relax and let your imagination create what feels right and you will know how to get there.

ADHDers have always been trying to fit society, make something that fits you instead.

I hope this helps or gets the wheels turning.

Good luck,

BLC89

[STEM_Dad]

BLC89 makes some excellent points.

I've seen such changes in the working world in just the last 5-10 years, I can't imagine how things will be changed in the next 5.

As a college graduate, even with a bachelor's degree, you are already one step ahead of a majority of the working population (like me).

~~~~~

Here are some things you can do to get ideas:

1) Ask younger you.

• When you were a kid, what did you want to do when you grew up?

2) Brainstorm. Think of things that you are interested in. Don't consider whether you can make money at them, or not...just assume that you can.

• Brainstorming rule #1: no limits, do not filter anything that is coming out of you, just write it all down.

3) Think of people and types of work that you admire.

• Now consider if you want to do anything like that work, or perhaps something related.

4) Look at current job postings for mid-career to senior level positions.

• What catches your eye? What captures your imagination?

• Don't just look at the usual job boards, look at the out-of-the-ordinary ones. (If you consider yourself an idealist, then check out idealist.org/)

~~~~~

Maybe take a look at this career:

User Experience design

Technology+Design = UX

UX is a relatively newer career path, probably only as old as you are. It has been projected to continue growing. (Some naysayers do claim that it will become obsolete, but they are much in the minority.)

Although I think that UX is partially based on psychology, perhaps sociology would provide a good perspective in that type of work.

[STEM_Dad in reply to STEM_Dad]

alwaysbamboozled , I learned the hard way (School Of Hard Knocks) that sometimes you just need to make a decision and go with it.

Living with ADHD, it's especially important to pursue something that you find truly interesting. That's because we have an interest-based attention system. (However, we also tend to have multiple interests. So pick one and go with it! You can change your mind and direction later on.)

When I was in college, I changed my major several times because I had lots of interests and I kept trying to figure out which one would lead to a successful career. Big mistake! I figured out after I ultimately dropped out still short of a degree that I should have gone with a more general option. (All of my majors were based on math and physics. I should have gotten a degree in one of those fields, then maybe picked a more specific Masters degree.)

• I found my career field (Information Technology) after leaving school. School only partially prepared me for this. My interests, self-directed learning, and on the job experience have been the majority of what has made me do well at it.

• The lack of a bachelor's degree has been the biggest issue with my career advancement. You've got that already, so that helps you get one rung higher on the ladder from the start.

~~~~~

There is no strategy, process, or career assessment that will tell you definitively what to pursue. They can give you suggestions and ideas, but then it's up to you to decide what ideas to accept or reject.

Too many options leads to indecision

Here's a decision making strategy that I figured out to help me be less indecisive, by limiting to only two options at a time.

1) Start by choosing an option that would be satisfactory. That is your default choice.

2) Compare the next option to it. If the previous one is better, it remains your default choice. If the new one is better, it now becomes your default choice.

3) Repeat step 2 with each of your other options.

~~~~~

The world will continue to change, so always be prepared to change with it. Be ready for anything. Because maybe you will be one of those people who changes the world.

[Queen_of_Tara]

You are already doing great planning and have doe so to get where you so that's great. Feel good about that!!! For what to study, if you want to go faster in finding a job, how about looking at it backwards and finding some actual current job openings that fit what you want to be doing and look at the skills and training/degree needed. And then, think about those examples you find, not to apply for the job, but to figure out which course of study and school etc will best qualify you. If experienced is needed, (and it can't ever hurt right?), consider applying for a lower level job or even a free internship/volunteer position (5-10 hrs a wk to get experience to out on your resume?). I hope this or some other advice here will help you in your planning. On top of that, I should add, don't just base your decision on money. Look at jobs and study areas that you find interesting and things that you are good at. I decided to get an English degree (BA and MA)- and didn't pursue Political Science/pre-law - because I liked to read and write and was good at them...so English was my love and my skill set. For most of my career I was in marketing, digital marketing at a large medical company. I started as an intern while in grad school and worked up to Webmaster although I have to say it wasn't a mapped out plan in advance. But my point is that doing what I loved allowed me to match my skills and experience to jobs I was interested in. I've worked in marketing, HR, healthcare administration, and now non-profit medical research. Using the same basic skills and strengths that I started with. Just food for thought. Best of luck, I'm excited for you!!

[_Sarah_J]

Link to the book What Color Is Your Parachute? :

a.co/d/2e1uyZr

I feel like you included the part about wanting to be an artist/designer because on some level that’s still what you want to do. There are definitely lucrative careers in design. Design vs tech: which would most give your ADHD brain its much needed stimulation? Which would satisfy your ADHD need for a continual stream of new and interesting environments, ideas, and offer a life not chained to a desk? Etc. You see what I’m getting at.

I regret having spent most of my life trying to fit myself into the non ADHD world. It doesn’t work. Be you. The only way you’ll achieve real success is by respecting and nourishing your creative mind, and believing that it is absolutely possible to find success by being who you truly are.