Examining Lifestyle Goals and Factors The career you choose helps determine the lifestyle you will achieve, and your lifestyle might impact the career you choose. Your lifestyle is the way you reflect personal values, standards, and attitudes in your life. The things about your job that affect the way you live your life are lifestyle factors. There are five basic lifestyle factors you to consider when making decisions about the career: Location Salary Education Time Environment

Lifestyle Goals and Trade-Offs Lifestyle goals are the things you want in life such as a family, where you want to live, how much money you have, and how much free time you have for friends, sports, and other activities that you enjoy. Selecting a career path that gives you the opportunity to achieve your lifestyle goals will make you a happier, more satisfied person. A trade-off is a compromise, or giving up one thing in order to get something else. Focusing on the things that are most important to you and setting priorities can help you make the best decisions.

Recognizing Needs vs. Wants A need is a something you can’t live without. A want is something you desire. Humans need certain basic items to survive. We want things to improve our quality of life, or achieve a certain lifestyle. Our wants and needs and how we achieve them influence the career decisions that we make. Economics is the study of the way people use resources to achieve their needs and wants. Physical needs are basic items you need to survive. Psychological needs are things that affect the way you think and feel. Wants are things that are not necessary for survival.

Measuring the Value of Work Value is a measure of the quality or importance of something. Recognizing value of work in a career will help you choose a career that is right for you. When you work, you contribute to the success of the economy Goods are things you can see, touch, buy, and sell. Services are work that one person does for other people, in exchange for payment. Work produces the goods and services that people need and want. Employers measure the value of work in terms of productivity.

Different Values of Work The community measures the value of work in terms of taxes. A career can meet emotional needs by providing respect, satisfaction, and pride. When you have a career that meets emotional needs, it helps you feel good about yourself. Jobs you have when you are still in school provide the opportunity to gain knowledge that will be valuable as you begin to plan and search for a career. Throughout your life, work is valuable because it provides an opportunity to learn new skills and information.

Examining Career Trends A trend is a general move in a certain direction. An employment trend is one way the labor market is changing over time. The labor market refers to a situation in which workers compete for jobs and employers compete for workers. Knowing how to identify employment trends can help you choose a career. The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed people looking for jobs Technology has a strong influence on employment. Lifestyle trends affect employment. When people have an increased lifespan jobs are affected.

Flexible Lifestyles & Diversity Retirement is when someone leaves a job or career after many years and does not return to a paid job. For some of people, the biggest reward is job security. Entrepreneurship is a trend resulting from a desire for independence, the possibility of great rewards, and even the lack of more traditional opportunities. Today, workers are more flexible, or willing to make changes. A nontraditional occupation is any job that a man or woman does that is usually done by someone of the other gender. Increased cultural diversity in the population leads to increased diversity in the workplace.

Chapter Review The career you choose helps determine the lifestyle you will achieve. An employment trend is one way the labor market is changing over time. A need is a something you can’t live without. A want is something you desire. Value is a measure of the quality or importance of something. A career can meet emotional needs by providing respect, satisfaction, and pride. Technology has a strong influence on employment. Increased cultural diversity in the population leads to increased diversity in the workplace.

Activity #1 Lifestyle factors are things about your work that affect the way you live your life. Imagine you can choose your work or be an entrepreneur who starts up your own business. Describe your ideal or dream situation for each of the following lifestyle factors. Location. Where do you imagine yourself living as an adult? Describe the location. Work environment. Would you like to work inside? Outside? Alone? With others? Explain Time. How many hours per week would you want to work and what time of day would you want to work? Why? Salary. How important is the amount of money you will make? Explain. Education. How much education are you willing to get? Explain. Based on your answers to the lifestyle factors, what type of work/business would meet your dreams? Explain your answer. Of all the lifestyle factors listed, in which area would you be the least willing to make concessions? For example, you might be unwilling to work 40 hours a week because you have school and family obligations. Explain your answer.

Activity #2 Think of something you have that you really wanted and thought you could not live without. Then answer the questions below. Describe what you wanted. How long did you have to wait to get it? Describe how you got the item. Was it a gift? Did you save your money to get it? Once you got this item, what happened? Was it as good as you had hoped? Did you soon lose interest in it? How often did you use it? What did you learn from this experience about wants and needs?

Group Activity The value of work is measured in many different ways. Some business owners pay themselves a very high salary. Some receive a smaller salary, but place high value on the benefits their business provides others. Working in pairs, discuss the value that could be gained from starting each of the following types of business. Restaurant Graphic design studio Childcare center career counseling company Home health care company Auto repair and mechanic shop Plumber List two other types of businesses that you would be interested in starting up and explain how you would measure their value. What types of businesses do you think are valuable to certain people or society, but do not make significant/large profits for their owner? Why do you think this is?