HOW OPRAH INFLUENCED MY CAREER DECISIONS: Why You Need to Pick a Lifestyle Before Choosing a Job

I'm very busy and very important. Can't you tell? Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

Hot on the heels of Labour Day weekend, much of the world's younger population has gone back to school. The hallowed halls of learning institutions everywhere have once again been filled with eager (???) students.

But here's something that we as a society are remiss in telling young people - or ANYONE looking to re-train - about picking a career: it's not just about what you want TO DO, but about how you want TO LIVE, because the job you choose will dictate your LIFESTYLE.

Before you pick a vocation, know yourself and understand your habits; then see what careers interest you in that particular life rhythm.

What do I mean?

If you're someone who thrives from having a regular routine, don't get a job where you'll be required to do shift work.

If you're a morning person, don't get a job that requires you to work nights.

If you want to have an active family life, don't get a job that requires you to work loads of overtime.

Now this might sound like - duh - incredibly obvious advice to those of us who've had a few jobs and have kind of figured this out through trial-and-error.

But no one bothers to spell this out to young people who are just starting out on the path of higher education.

This is also a super important point for someone if they want to re-train later in life, which more and more people are now doing. (Imagine that; we didn't know ourselves enough as teenagers to appropriately choose our "forever" path...)

I know I'm adorable; does that qualify me for this job? Photo by Mikhail Tyrsyna on Unsplash

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FANTASY vs REALITY: How Oprah Got Involved

I went to college for media communications and trained to become a news anchor.

WHY?

Because I knew on some level that I wanted to use my voice. 

At that time - in the late 90's - Oprah Winfrey and her talk show were going strong and I watched everyday. And since a news desk was the platform that Oprah started on, that was the path I thought I needed to take if I wanted to use my voice.

But by the time I graduated, I realized that wasn't my path. Producing television is all about "hurry up and wait" - everyone has to be ready by shooting time, but then you have to stand around and wait while whatever's gone wrong is fixed (and something almost always goes wrong). 

And you can't go anywhere, because the minute the problem is solved, you have to be ready to start rolling. 

This is very, very boring.

Also, the schedule of a news anchor is irregular; the hours of work depend on how long it takes to write and produce that day's stories, and on what shift you're doing.

Morning news? Be prepared to start work at 2:00 AM (!) for the 6:00 AM broadcast. You'll likely be done your workday by noon, but then you're living off-peak because no one else is off at this time. (You also have to go to bed really, really early because you're getting up at 1:00 AM.)

Midday news? Here you'll get a normal schedule starting your day at 8:00 AM for the noon broadcast, and finishing around 3:00 PM.

Evening news? You'll start work at 2:00 PM to be ready for the 6:00 PM broadcast and likely finish at 9:00 PM. (You're eating dinner really early or really late.)

11:00 o'clock news? You'll start work at 7:00 PM and finish at 3:00 AM (!) (Who else is up at this time? That's right: NO ONE.)

The job of a news anchor might sound glamorous - because OMG you're on the TV! - but it's basically shift work.

See what I mean?

This is why you gotta ask: What will my day-to-day life look like if I do this job?

Also - hilarious side-note - I personally hated the news. I never watched it before college, and I've never watched it since, but while I was in college, I had to live and breathe the news and I LOATHED IT. (News production motto is "If it bleeds, it leads" and the focus on negativity and sensationalization of bad news really got me down.)

This all seems ridiculous now to my adult self - I went to school to train in a job based around something I subconsciously knew I had zero interest in. I followed someone else's path (Oprah's) instead of my own.

But I didn't really know myself back then. Not enough to understand that who I was, what I needed, and how I wanted to live were not in line with my chosen field of study.

That's why "How do you want to live?" is as important a question as "What do you want to do?" because inevitably, what you do will dictate your lifestyle.

I live to work; that's why I'm so busy and so important. Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

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Advice from the Rearview Mirror

Everything seems so obvious in hindsight, but in the moment, it's just not.

So here's my advice - either to would-be college students or to adults looking to make a career move: first ask yourself how you want to live.

• What is the work schedule you want to keep? Do you want to work on peak (9:00-5:00) or off-peak (anything else) hours?
• Are you a morning person or a night owl? When do you want to be able to get up and to go to bed?
• Does eating matter to you? (No, really.) Do you require a lunch break or can you skip meals regularly if required?
• Are you ok being on call, working nights, weekends, overtime, etc?
• Traveling for work: yes or no? If yes, how often? Once a week? Once a month?
• In a typical day, how do you want your time to be allotted? Independent work or team collaboration? (And how do you feel about meetings...?)
• Do you want to live to work or work to live?

Ask yourself all of those questions first.

Then make a list of careers you think would be interesting and that might fit your profile. 

And then find people who work in those industries and talk to them to find out how they live and what the demands and expectations are on their time, and then see if that lines up with how YOU want to live.

Every job has an associated lifestyle, and what I'm saying is; in choosing a career, choose the lifestyle FIRST, and then see what types or work fit into that lifestyle.

If you don't, you'll spend your life fighting your true nature, and that never works out in the long run.

As for me?

I'm very happy using my voice right here; no news desk required.

I'll fight you, but I'll never fight my true nature. Photo by Manja Vitolic on Unsplash

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You might be asking yourself "How does this topic relate to recovery from binge-eating?" What I found is that - for me - finding new ways of thinking about life and its challenges helped me to stop stress-eating, and has been a very big part of my ability to stop binge-eating.

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