Make a wish! What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

In this series, College search 101, we’ll look at some tips and tricks to help you find the right college.

Before we start digging into the meat of the series, let’s take a quick look at why education is so important.

What do I want to do with the rest of my life?

It’s a question we ask ourselves at regular intervals – during high school, during college, at our first real job, at our second, at our third . . . I think you get the picture.

Birthdays are especially bad for pushing us to reconsider – Jerry Seinfeld said it best:

“Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year’s gone by and how little we’ve grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it’s not to be. That for the rest of our sad, wretched, pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably. Happy birthday? No such thing.” (Episode no. 56)

Depressing, isn’t it?

Regardless of whether it’s a birthday or not, everyone has moments of dissatisfaction, and usually, it’s because some need isn’t being met.

What does everyone need?

Now, I’m not going to be all Abraham Maslow about the whole thing and discuss hierarchical needs, but the fact is that we become most dissatisfied when there are deficiencies in our lives.

The deficiencies that move us to take action are:

• Physiology (eating, drinking, sleeping, warmth)
• Safety (security from crime, unemployment, illness, accidents)
• Love (belonging, friendship, intimacy, family)
• Esteem (confidence, achievement, respect)
• Self-actualization (morality, problem solving, fulfillment)

Whenever one of these things is missing from someone’s life, they are driven to take some sort of action.

As much as I hate to say it, many of the stressors and deficiencies in our lives are related to our jobs and levels of income.

It all boils down to how much we like what we do each day, how much money we make, and what we do with the money once we have it.

Do you like what you do each day? Need more money?

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I physiologically well? Am I healthy? Do I have enough money to make healthy choices?
• Am I safe? Is my family? Would I benefit from making more money and moving my family to a safer place?
• Am I happy in my relationships? Do my finances place unnecessary strain on my family or the people I care about?
• Do I like what I do for a living? Would I make more money if I were better at my job or if I went down an entirely different career path?
• Does what I do every day bring fulfillment to my life?

When people are honest with themselves, they usually admit that a better job or more money will make them happier.

If you don’t believe me, answer this question – what would you change in your life if you had another $1,000 each month?

Would the change make you happier?

That’s what I thought.

For most people, the answer to the question “what do I want to do with the rest of my life?” is very, very simple.

I want to have a better job and make more money.

The next post in this series will look at how continuing your education will increase your earnings by an average of $1,030.31 each month.

Need help finding the right college? Click to get started now!