Üsküdar University Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, met with young people in an online interview titled “Career Planning and Career Choice” organized by the Youth Platform Badi Event. In the highly engaging meeting, Tarhan emphasized the importance of character in career planning, stating, “First character, then career.” Tarhan, using the bee analogy, also addressed candidates, saying, “If we establish our decision scheme correctly, we will advance on our career path.”
“When uncertainty is removed, one can easily move forward on the path of life”
During the online meeting, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that humans can gain meaning on their life path and eliminate uncertainty, providing information about career choice.
Tarhan; “Career choice is important in this respect: in the life we are living now, we have come from infinity and are going to infinity. A parenthesis has been opened in the life we live here. Unlike other living beings, humans have metacognitive genes. These are supra-mind genes. Due to these supra-mind genes, humankind has free will. When we look at the genetic codes of other living beings, they are focused on eating, drinking, reproducing, and sheltering. In other words, the lowest step of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is common. It is related to the common needs of humans and animals. They eat, drink, and do not know they will die. One of the genes is the gene for perceiving death. Another gene, for example, is the gene for perceiving the concept of time. One of the supra-mind genes is also the gene for searching for meaning. It only exists in humans. There is also a gene for searching for novelty... With these genes, humans think, ‘Why did I come to this life?’ ‘What is the meaning of life?’ ‘What is my purpose?’ and after determining their purpose, the purpose adds meaning to them. When meaning is added, uncertainty disappears. When uncertainty is removed, one can easily move forward on the path of life,” he said.
“If we establish our decision scheme correctly, we will advance on our career path”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan stated that it is necessary to use the decision-making mechanism correctly in career choice, and that progress can be made when the decision scheme is established correctly. Tarhan; “Maslow added to the Psychosocial Needs Pyramid. At the base, there are physiological needs like eating, drinking, and reproducing. The second is the need for trust, the need for reliability, related to the basic sense of security. After that, security needs such as loving, being loved, respecting, being respected; love needs, respect needs. After that, it is called the need for self-actualization, but later he places the need for ‘self-transcendence’ above it. Its equivalent is the need to transcend oneself. Later, one of the famous psychiatrists, Yalom, talks about the four fundamental anxieties of humans. These are meaning, uncertainty, loneliness, death... If humans find solutions to these, they acquire a meaningful purpose in life. They can make healthy decisions while moving along the path of life. Since humans have free will, we make a decision every minute. A thought, a feeling comes to our mind. Someone says something, we read something somewhere. Our brain says do, don't do, appropriate, inappropriate, valid, invalid, safe, unsafe, and while doing this, we choose one. Our decision mechanism works like this. Therefore, it is necessary to make correct decisions in career choice and on the path of life. That is, if we establish our decision scheme correctly, we will advance on our career path,” he explained.
“Not just academic success, but life success is also important”
Emphasizing the importance of having social and emotional skills, Tarhan said; “When we talk about career decisions, we should not see it only as career choice. You are also choosing a life form. You are creating your life philosophy. The life philosophy we create is a part of our career. First character, then career... In other words, not just academic success, but life success is also important. That's why one of the most important 21st Century skills is having social and emotional skills. Before, the focus was always on academic skills and technical skills, but in the 21st Century, it is seen that social and emotional skills are very important. It became even clearer after artificial intelligence. It has come to the forefront much more now. In other words, people with social and emotional skills will progress on the right path in their careers in the future,” he said.
“The goal pyramid must be well-defined in career choice”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that it is necessary to set goals first when progressing on the path of life; “Firstly, a person will perform a psycho-SWOT analysis on themselves. One sets a strategic goal. After setting the goal, one analyzes, ‘What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses?’ One lists their strengths and weaknesses. Then, one lists the threats and opportunities when pursuing this goal. When progressing on the path of life, it is necessary to set goals first. That is the first condition... You will set a goal. You cannot plan a career in any way without setting a goal. You will decide what kind of person you will be when you reach the end of your life. Will you be benevolent or malevolent? It is necessary to decide this at the end of life. This is related to life success. The other is related to technical success, academic success. It is necessary to be able to distinguish between the two. For this reason, when making a decision in career choice, the goal pyramid must be well-defined,” he stated.
“A person without ideals drifts along…”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan stated that the cure for laziness is motivation; “If a person sets a goal, they can analyze their needs. They ask, ‘What do I need to reach this goal?’ When a needs analysis is done, need awakens desire. When desire awakens, motivation begins. The cure for laziness is motivation. Need activates motivation. Motivation means to activate oneself. You see a person working day and night. You ask where this person finds that energy. This person has a cause to get tired for, to sweat for, to suffer for, to put effort into; they have troubles, they have ideals... A person without ideals drifts along. Therefore, we must know what we are prone to. We must know what we want,” he explained.
“Do what you love, what you're good at, and what pays well”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan drew attention to three parameters in career choice; “Firstly, a person determining their goal, their ideal. Then, while pursuing the goal, you will look at what you love to do. ‘What do I love to do?’ ‘What am I good at?’ ‘What do I need?’ The person will ask these three questions. Do what you love, do what you are good at, and do what pays well. These three parameters must be together. For example, some people are money-oriented. They are after money. They say, let it be a well-paying job. And they do good work. They do good work and they do well-paying work. They make this choice well. Because they know it well, they succeed. They become rich but unhappy. They say, ‘I do a well-paying job, I do it without loving it, but I become rich.’ Rich but unhappy types emerge. So, what needs to be done here is to evaluate the three parameters together. For example, after setting the goal, you will say, I will do what I love. On this path, you will say, I will do something I am good at, something I am prone to. The third parameter is that you will say, I will do a job that makes me self-sufficient. If you are excessive here, excesses will make you lose. If these three are present, you will reach your goal,” he said.
“Don't be afraid to make mistakes”
Tarhan emphasized the importance of self-assessment, noting that a person who cannot perform this assessment cannot develop self-awareness. Tarhan; “The best method of self-knowledge is learning by experience. Getting to know yourself by experiencing. That is, you will go or you will not be afraid to make mistakes. Only the dead do not make mistakes. Apart from that, everyone makes mistakes. In fact, Mandela has a very beautiful saying. Mandela says; ‘I never lose. I either win or I learn.’ So, he actually learned even when he lost. By experiencing and learning, you get to know yourself. Most importantly, it is one's ability for introspection. Self-criticism and questioning oneself, that is, internal assessment, self-assessment. A person who performs self-assessment will look at themselves with a third eye. They will say, ‘This is my strength, this is my weakness.’ A person who cannot perform self-assessment cannot develop self-awareness. And when they cannot develop self-awareness, they continue to make mistakes,” he stated.
“When making a decision, one must be like a bee”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said that it is very beneficial for a young person planning a career to get the opinion of their family; “Their opinions are reference points for them, but not decision points. When a person is to make a decision, they must be like a bee. They will take from their mother, take from their father, take from their relatives, take from society, take from television, take from books, and in the end, they will make their own honey. They will make their own decision. That is, they will bear the responsibility for the decision they make. If they want to be both successful and happy in life, they will take risks. They will take calculated risks. Risks are taken at every age. Someone from outside might come and cause harm, but life does not progress without taking that risk. Riding a bicycle is a risk, but if you don't ride, you cannot reach your destination. Getting into a car is a risk, walking on the street is a risk. It is necessary to take risks, but you will take calculated risks. In these risks, people learn things. Also, think outside the box. That is, think not only about what you learned from your mother and father but also about what you did not learn from them. Look at yourself with a third eye. Question what you hear. That is, trying to understand, asking the question ‘Why?’ when information comes into one's life is very important. ‘Why is this right, why is this wrong?’ A person who asks this makes very few mistakes,” he explained.
“The shortest path to reaching a goal is to be patient”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the most important need for a person going towards their goal on the path to success is patience; “The shortest path to a goal is patience. Patience is a meditative act. Patience does not mean withdrawing and waiting, but active patience. That is, you set a goal, and in reaching the goal, you err once, you err twice, you err three, four, five times, and then you succeed. That is, there are impatient people in life. For example, waiting for a bus, getting annoyed because the bus didn't come and leaving, then the bus comes. However, if they had persevered there, waited a little longer, they would have caught it. Similarly, in life, those who are patient can catch many opportunities. Those who are not patient cannot catch them. The shortest path to reaching a goal is to be patient. It is necessary to know this,” he said.
“Past experience, present gift, future investment”
Tarhan gave advice to young people in the highly attended and engaging meeting; “The past is a treasure trove of experience. Today is a gift. The future is an investment. They should look at life this way. They should not live in the past, but they should draw lessons from the past and turn the accumulations they gained through trial and error into capital for today. You will manage life like resource management. You will manage the time resource in life this way. That is, you will manage it like you manage monetary resources. Our past is our psychological and social capital. Our future is also an investment. When you wake up in the morning, say ‘Thank goodness I woke up. My limbs are working. My health is good. I have many things’ and see that day as a gift. The affairs of people who focus on the negative always go wrong. You will analyze, you will continue your life focused on the positive…” he stated.