The Seven Stories career exercise is probably one of the better ones I've heard as far as giving unsure people an idea of what they want, and a not terrible conversational gambit. This exercise is much better than a computer algorithm, or personality test. Here's how it goes: for four or five days, you write down a list of things that gave you a sense of accomplishment, at least twenty five or thirty, rank the top seven and then find common threads between them. This is supposed to give you a good idea of what career you want to enter (and heaven help you if the things you enjoy doing aren't things that the market pays lots of money for). This is another extension of the "do what you want, not what pays well" attitude that most college-bound young people share. I am not telling you what is on my list.

Liked what you read? I am available for hire.