When passion and ability collide, in the case of adults, they often prioritize ability over passion when making choices. However, when it comes to teenagers finding their career path, I believe passion is more important than ability. Why is that? Hello, I am Quobadis, a youth counselor at the 5th floor counseling research center. Today, I would like to talk about the topic of which path to choose between doing what you love and what you are good at when teenagers are looking for their career path. So, should you do what you love or what you are good at? It's a very common question. To rephrase it in practical terms, we can say that the question is whether passion or ability should be the main criterion for career choices. Depending on the situation and context, the answer to this question can vary greatly. However, from the perspective of teenagers looking for their career path, when it comes to passion and ability, which one should be prioritized?

If someone were to ask me what the criteria for an important career choice would be, I would definitely say interest. Why is that? I meet high school students one-on-one in a coaching environment to explain the reasons. In the process of making choices, it's about what you like, your interests, and abilities, in other words, what you are good at. When your interests and aptitude clash, it's often necessary to prioritize abilities over interests. However, when it comes to young people finding their career path, I believe that interest is more important than abilities. This is because young people often lack sufficient opportunities to verify their own abilities. Therefore, they may have insufficient grounds to judge in which field they are lacking skills. In my case as well, I value abilities over interests in choosing a career path.

It's hard to find the kitchen. If I explain a bit more about my case, when I was in middle and high school, I was very interested in finding a career. Since I was in elementary school, I used to look at things like student notebooks and pick out what I liked while watching things like plays. However, the jobs that I liked almost 100% required speaking in front of people. But during my middle and high school years, the thing I was least confident about was speaking in front of people. When I was in 2nd grade, there was a situation where I had to speak in front of about 30 weak classmates. I was so nervous that even my head was shaking. It was so embarrassing that friends, juniors, and seniors all witnessed it. I remember thinking at that time, not doing it in front of people.

I thought I would never have a job speaking, but when I thought like that, I couldn't dream anymore. Because I removed and excluded everything I liked but was unsure about, there are no more jobs that interest me. But now, how about me? I can confidently speak in front of many people for 5,000 won. I overcame the fear of speaking in front of people in my fourth year of college. Since then, I have become someone who can enjoy speaking in front of people. However, I didn't realize this change during my middle and high school years. But if I had known that I would become like this, I wouldn't have worried so much. Looking back, I had a wrong belief during the time when I was dying.

I think my current self will find it difficult to change in the future. Even now, it's hard for me to speak in front of people, and I've had this mistaken belief. However, when I meet high school students, I see many students like me who are struggling with their current weaknesses and are worried about speaking English in the future. But it's not uncommon for this misconception to be a misunderstanding. Therefore, if it's still challenging to make an objective judgment about one's abilities, it's crucial to approach challenges with curiosity. Generally, there is a certain correlation between interest and ability. So, if you like something, there's a high chance that you have the potential to do it well. Therefore, if you are interested in something, there is a high possibility that you also have the potential to do it well. However, having such potential doesn't mean that having an interest will immediately lead to success.

You have to challenge yourself with interest and effort to fully bloom your potential, right? Actually, at first, I wasn't very skilled, and it didn't seem like I had much talent, but by having interest and working hard steadily, we can often see people becoming the best in their field. Moreover, there are those who overcome seemingly impossible handicaps and achieve their dreams. Among the students I know, there is a case like this. There was a student who originally aimed to become an aircraft maintenance technician. However, before entering the 12th grade, they realized they couldn't become one because of their visual impairment. So, they found themselves in a situation where they had to give up their dream. As a result, now that they are in the 12th grade, their sense of purpose has disappeared, leading them to wander. But then, they met someone in that situation. But I don't know what they said to that student.

If this could be done as desired, what would you like to try? I heard it like this. Oh, rather than becoming a pilot, I want to work in the field of design. At that time, I thought that it would be difficult to enter an art college if you were not talented. However, upon rethinking, isn't it a great handicap to have three different fields like Beethoven, who couldn't hear and kept saying that he couldn't even conquer life? So now I have doubts about that. As I looked into it more, I found out that even a national level 3 athlete can switch to industrial design. So, what happened was, this student, in May of their 3rd year in high school, decided to take the college entrance exam with determination. They started preparing for the art entrance exam. Well, this friend liked drawing, but they really enjoyed creating things.

I noticed that during the process of preparing for college entrance exams, I ended up deciding to focus on stage design. However, in the end, what happened was that in that year, with incredible technical skills, he joined a theater and stage art department in Seoul. He was in charge of that at school. He was a senior in a free high school, and in May of his third year, he thought it was already too late to start art. However, despite being late due to exam preparation, he had such a strong passion that he was able to achieve his goal. This is how we can see it. As I coach teenagers on career paths, I occasionally meet students who aspire to become singers, entertainers, athletes, or even professional gamers. However, when children want to challenge themselves in these fields, parents tend to worry because these areas require special abilities compared to typical professions.

You know, sometimes you think you can do it, so you try a challenging task, but the possibility of not succeeding is high. Over time, there have been quite a few cases where young people have come with their children, expressing their desire to pursue a career in the entertainment industry or sports field. However, even in these cases, I clearly state my principles. The criteria for judgment are strong interest and passion. In these fields, competition is generally more intense than in typical fields entered through studying, and stability is also significantly lower. Despite being aware of these realities, there are friends who cannot control the passion boiling inside them. In the case of such friends, it is impossible to stop their passion. Therefore, in the end, they persuade their parents. However, if their passion to take on such a field is strong enough to face the risks, then...

Such students, when they engage in conversations like this, eventually face reality. Therefore, they start thinking about finding a different field. Among those students lacking passion, there are many who are only interested in the entertainment industry or sports games as a means to avoid studying. So, if a student has an interest in a particular field like this, it is even more necessary for them to reflect on how much they truly like it, how passionate they are about it. Also, parents should not necessarily oppose it. Instead, it is important to help the student reflect on whether their child really has a passion or interest. In fact, when you try out the title of the teenage empire, what should you decide between what you like and what you are confident in, it is more about the student's decision than the parents'.

I often can't find what I like. I don't know what I'm interested in. This is often more of a problem. That's why I want to emphasize once again that for teenagers, interest is the most important issue. Interest is the most important criterion for career choices. In my videos, there is a video that contains advice on how to find an unusual job. If you refer to that video, it will help you find your interest. I'm going to introduce a coaching review related to the topic of passion. It's a coaching review left by a second-year female student. She received career counseling because she was under a lot of stress due to career concerns. She said she didn't know what she liked or wanted to do, so she was just thinking about majors that would help with college entrance exams and employment. However, through counseling, she realized what she liked and what she was interested in.

I was able to find my aptitude, so through counseling, my stress decreased, and it was very helpful. This is what they are saying. Now, everyone, today, our youth are trying to find their career path, what is more important between doing what they like and what they are good at. I talked about this today. Did it help you in any way? If it did, please subscribe, like, and turn on the notification. Your support is always welcome. I will come back with more great content next time. Thank you.

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