My Career Path and Growth Mindset Reflection

Justin L’Heureux

Professor Pfaff

IDS 1107

15 October 2021

Coming into college I had a rough idea on what I wanted to do with my life. After the

completion of this class, I have a much better grasp on what I want to pursue in life. This class

has taught me valuable information on how to get started with my intended career, how to build

my social circle to further develop my career, how time can impact careers, and how to properly

use the growth mindset for setting career goals and overcoming obstacles. I wanted to talk about

my short term and long term career goals and how to achieve these goals, some obstacles I may

face along the way on my career journey, and how to utilize the growth mindset to help

strengthen my goals.

To start off I didn’t really have many career goals coming into college. The only thing

that was set in stone was that I wanted to pursue a career in the health field because I enjoy

helping people. It gives me a sense of joy and is fulfilling knowing that I’m helping a person in

need. My very first career goal was that I was going to become a veterinarian because of my love

for animals. I didn’t some further digging and found out that this wasn’t the right career path for

me, so I scratched that career goal. For a little bit, I was also looking at becoming a physician

assistant because that’s what my cousin is currently and it seemed like a pretty promising path,

but I later found out that they don’t make that much money. One of my other goals is that I want

to become financially stable later in life so I don’t have to live paycheck-to-paycheck. Becoming

a PA was out the window. Then I stumbled across the anesthetic careers. This immediately
intrigued me because it’s in the health field, matches my career interests, and pays substantially.

Thus, leading to my current long-term career goal which is becoming a nurse anesthetist.

Feeding off that another long-term career goal that I have is to properly balance my family and

work life. I find that many people today don’t draw a line between their family and work life,

which is causing both to deprecate. Drawing a line between work and family life and setting

aside time for both is crucial to having a stable, healthy, and balanced life. Now we can talk

about some of the short-term career goals that I have. Some of them include passing my general

education courses required to become a nurse. Then become a registered nurse (RN) and gain

some hands-on experience in a hospital environment. Then complete all the proper certifications

required to become a nurse anesthetist. Some other goals that I have along the way are landing an

internship and getting my doctorate degree.

There will be many obstacles along the way. It’s inevitable because life always likes to

throw curveballs. Some obstacles that I can think of include the educational requirements for

becoming a nurse anesthetist will be changing from a bachelor’s/master’s degree to a doctorate

degree. This means that in order to become a nurse anesthetist in the next few years, I must

complete my doctorate. Another challenge is actually getting into CRNA school. It's very

competitive and requires lots of tests and exams to even get in. My mom tried to become a nurse

a few years ago, but she couldn’t pass the TEAS test in order to be accepted into nursing school.

Another obstacle is balancing my load when in CRNA school. I have read online that CRNA

school is very rigorous and requires hours upon hours of study time. I will have to set a more

specific schedule and block out times every single day for this. The final obstacle I can think of

is the student debt at the end of everything. Accumulated, it’s about 100,000 dollars of student

loans that I will have to take out for all the schooling. Although, once I land a job as a nurse
anesthetist it won’t be very long until that debt is paid off, but if it takes me a while or I find it

difficult to land a nurse anesthetist job, it will be very burdening carrying that debt.

Even though there are many obstacles, it’s all part of pursuing a career and with a growth

mindset obstacles can become motivators. By properly utilizing the growth mindset, you turn

obstacles into things that push you to do better. For instance, if I fail to get into CRNA school the

first time I apply, instead of getting bummed and depressed I can use the rejection to better my

understanding of the material and work harder to get into CRNA school the next time around.

Perseverance is very important in career fields, so it’s important to never give up and use the

failures as opportunities to grow as a person and succeed. It’s not easy to get into the habit of

using the growth mindset, but using it enough times will program your brain to subconsciously

resort to using a growth mindset when negative things come around. The difference between a

fixed mindset and a growth mindset is that a fixed mindset leaves no room for improvement

while a growth mindset leaves nothing but improvement. Having a growth mindset is crucial in

working towards any career goals and goals in general.

In conclusion, everyone has their own unique career goals in mind when proceeding

through life. Everyone has their own obstacles that they must work through. Everyone has their

own mindset and way of thinking when faced with hardship. I discussed my short-term and long-

term career goals, the obstacles that I may face on my career journey, and how a growth mindset

is crucial when faced with these obstacles. It’s all about how you react and set yourself up in life.

If you have a strong foundation in life, then the rest will be so much easier. A strong foundation

is important when pursuing a career.