Studies show a direct link between a person's personality and his career. Indeed, if you are an extrovert person, you would do well in roles such as sales, marketing, public relations. But an introvert person would be better off in roles that do not require public dealing.

To know your personality in detail and its implications on your career, appear at personality tests such as Myers Briggs Test Instrument (MBTI).

(c) Values

Values are what you consider important and valuable. Values differ from person to person and can range from things like money, prestige and power to more subtle things like respect, harmony and independence.

Your values hint towards kind of work that will suit you. For example, if you value "achievement, "you would do well in roles that regularly throw challenges at you. Someone else, however, may value "helping others" and, therefore, would do well in occupations that provide an opportunity to serve others.

To know your values, ask yourself what is important to you, make a list and prioritize items. You can also use value inventories on Internet to identify your values.

(d) Interests

Should work be interesting? Yes, for an important reason: If your work arouses your interest, you are going to do well. History shows that great achievers always pursued what fascinated them. Akio Morita shunned option of joining family business of sake brewing to pursue what he was interested in: an electronics start-up. And he created Sony.

Doing work that interests you can have a lasting impact on your career. To uncover your interests, find out what fascinates you and draws your attention.

Knowing your strengths, personality, values and interests is like having a compass with its needle pointing towards right direction for your career.

Atul Mathur © 2004. All Rights Reserved.

If you imagine that her feelings and needs are like a child within, you can begin to see why she doesn’t feel good about herself. Treating herself badly will always result in feeling badly. You might be tempted to think that she treats herself badly because she doesn’t feel good about herself, and that’s true, but she will not feel good about herself until she treats herself as a worthwhile person. Her good feelings will come from her loving action toward herself. The more loving action she is willing to take on her own behalf – taking physical, emotional, financial, organizational, relationship, and spiritual responsibility – better she will feel about herself.

How can Anna be motivated to take loving care of herself when she doesn’t feel good about herself? It seems like a vicious circle, yet there is a way out. Anna doesn’t feel motivated to take care of herself because she thinks that who she is, is her ego, wounded part of herself whom she doesn’t like. Yet if Anna opens to knowing who she really is - that she beautiful and perfect child of God, that her essence, her true Self is a spark of God, created in image of God - she will want to take loving care of this wonderful soul within.

When Anna begins to take loving care of herself, her wounded self – part of herself that has low self-esteem – begins to heal. The more Anna feeds herself well, gets enough exercise and rest, speaks up for herself and tells her truth, takes care of her financial situation, organizes her time and environment, treats others with kindness and compassion, and opens to her spiritual Guidance or Higher Power, better she will feel about herself. Self-esteem is result of taking loving action, not cause of it. Since we all have free will, we each have choice to take loving action on our own behalf.

It doesn’t matter how badly you were treated as a child, or how badly your parents treated themselves. Your actions need never be governed by your past. If you devote yourself, moment-by-moment, to taking loving action on our own behalf, you will discover that result is high self-esteem.