From the author: The article was published in regional media (Gomel, Republic of Belarus) June 2011. The last school bell rang. Former schoolchildren are faced with a choice that will forever determine their future. Each of us, including me, faced this choice. And today we will try to figure out how to take the first vital step and not make a mistake. If you have dreamed of becoming a doctor or an astronaut since childhood, and still have no doubts about the correctness of your choice, you have no problems. However, many children have absolutely no idea “who to be” and where to go and whether to go at all when their school years are left behind. It’s good when the problem of choosing a profession worries you - this means your social and psychological maturity. It’s worse if you don’t care yet... Difficulties in professional self-determination usually arise in two categories of guys. The first ones have not yet found anything interesting in this life. It so happened that teachers were unable to create in them a love for any subjects, and their talents are still buried in the ground. Such guys can study well, but they are not interested in anything, their life is rather boring or simply monotonous. So they cannot decide what they would like to do - because nothing particularly attracts them from what surrounds them in the world, and in general they have little orientation in the world of professions. The second category of guys is very active. They are interested in everything, they simultaneously attend three clubs, five electives and ten sports sections. Moreover, they succeed. However... they also cannot determine what they like more, what they would like to connect their life with. How to understand yourself? When choosing a profession, the correspondence between a person’s psychological characteristics and the corresponding characteristics of the profession is very important. The profession should be interesting. It requires that a person has professionally important qualities. Therefore, when choosing a certain profession, it is important to realize whether you have the abilities corresponding to this type of activity. In a situation of doubt, choose the profession where your abilities will be maximally realized; in this activity you will achieve the greatest success. There are many cases where a person who has no ability for music, but passionately wants to study it, managed to develop an ear for music. The main thing is interest; The main thing is to know that abilities are formed in activity. On the other hand, interest is also not a completely stable thing. Many kids think they love a certain subject, but in fact they really like the teacher. In addition, it is difficult to understand whether you will like psychology or economics - you didn’t study anything like that at school... In order not to make mistakes, you need to expand your horizons in relation to the world of professions. Having understood your abilities, interests and personality traits, you will begin to choose not a profession, but a university or faculty. Try to find out which majors and specializations correspond to the type of activity that interests you. The decision-making should be based on many factors that are no longer of a psychological nature: the reputation of the university and the competition, the opinion of friends, parents, the cost of education. And always remember: the final choice is yours, because by choosing a profession, you choose your destiny. A profession should bring pleasure and ensure maximum realization of your capabilities.