Sharing the many nuggets of wisdom I gained from learning about career counseling and it started to come together when sharing with my eldest son who is a sophomore, to create a Tip Sheet (to copy the awesome Dr. John Sommers Flanagan). One thing in particular that caught my attention is the distinction between indecision and indecisiveness. As I began to write it out, I realized, “Oh this is really a blog post. I think people would benefit from learning this!” So here is my attempt at summarizing the nuggets of wisdom I learned from C29 Career Counseling class with Dr. Spencer Niles! I guess I will put a “Reference” list at the end because most of this is straight from my lectures or textbook.

Nugget 1:

There are different styles of decision making. Technically, research identifies 8 decision-making styles:

o Planful
o Agonizing
o Impulsive
o Intuitive
o Compliant
o Delaying
o Fatalistic
o Paralytic (too scared to choose)

According to Niles et al. (1997) “students who rely on a systematic/internal decision-making style tend to be less advanced in their career development and less confident in their ability to complete career development tasks than students who rely on systematic/external style.” In other words, being a systematic thinker who approaches decisions in a rational and logical fashion is good, but you will make better decisions if you do it while processing your decisions verbally, involving other people’s input (external) rather than just processing your decisions in isolation, silently in the private world of your mind.

Nugget 2: There is a big difference between indecision and indecisiveness. How so? Indecision indicates a lack of knowledge. This can be easily fixed by acquiring knowledge or clarifying a misunderstanding which can help someone or yourself make a decision. On the other hand, indecisiveness indicates something is going on with the person’s personality/character/mindset pointing to underlying i.e. anxieties or insecurities.

Nugget 3: There is always a gap in knowledge before you make a decision, a gap between what you know and what you don’t know when you are attempting to make a choice.

The goal is to make an informed choice. Once you make a choice, the gap then tends to be filled in, then you learn more, it is a continual process of learning. 

In developing a career, we are in the process of continually implementing (applying) and then adjusting to choices you make. The process of growth and decision-making must begin with taking action, what you learn from taking action will shape your behavior and future decision making related to your career development. When you take action, you begin the process of learning something new.

References

Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2017). Career development interventions (5th ed.). Pearson.

Niles, S. (2024, March 30). Career Information and Resources [Lecture]. Canvas@William and Mary.