What can I do to start off my career in the right direction?

Good morning!

Good question and the first step in any plan is preparation which you are doing. From my personal experience, I would suggest going to college to help you figure out career you would be good and happy at. This will give you time to figure out what you want to do with your life. I would suggest trying to find something that makes you happy. If you can find something that makes you happy and pay good that's even better of course :)

A good plan to start with once your in college is talking to your guidance counselor about trying to find some tests to take to find out what your strengths are and what you grade out good in. If math skills are your strong suit than maybe an engineer or accounting. If you like helping people, you could consider nursing degree as this is high demand and good profession. Going to college will help you figure out what you like and want to do with your life.

Once you are in college and decide a field you want to go into it is very important to try to find like summer intership to work at to ensure that you like this type of work and get you experience to put on your resume. I would also suggest trying to join some type of group or fraternity or take advantage of your college resources. This will help you build network of friends and connections who might know someone to help get your foot in door when you are out of college.

I hope this helps some. These are the steps I took in becoming successful. I went to college, tried to make connections with groups and form friendships, worked at an internship and I was able to land job in finance as an underwriter. I wanted to help people qualify and find their dream home. By majoring in finance and getting my degree and following these steps and plan I was able to get this job when I got out of college. 20 years later I can say I have a lot of satisfaction and pride as I help people obtain homeownership. Good luck with your dream!

Find what you like first! Your career or life will be successful if you like it. Your passion will be revealed and infectious if you do what you like. Don't worry too much about money, being a CEO in 20 years if you haven't found what you like yet.

Try to create a spreadsheet with excel and take notes about things/tasks/projects/school events/courses you like and you don't like. Revisit the list every 3-6 months until you can narrow down to a group of things that can lead to some career options or professions later on

If you're graduating from high school, a great way to start out your career would be to attend college.