What needs to be pointed out is that there are serious flaws in the ways many people make career decisions.The first is complacency2）。They ignore challenging information about the choice they make and take the attitude that “It won't affect me ”or“ it will never happen.”

　　A second flaw is defensive avoidance.When confronted with a decision and unable to believe they can find an acceptable solution，some people remain calm by resorting to wishful thinking or daydreaming or even procrastination3）。

　　A third flaw is hypervigilance4）。This occurs in career decision making when people believe there is not enough time to find a solution and they panic.They search frantically for career possibilities and seize on hastily contrived solutions，overlooking the consequences of their choice as well as other alternatives.People who are in a panic sometimes do not think clearly or logically.

　　The best coping behavior is vigilance.Vigilant decision making occurs when people believe that 1）a choice should be made，2）they can find a solution，and 3）there is enough time.Under these conditions，people evaluate each alternative，and work out contingency plans in case one or another risk appears.

　　Keys to Career Planning

　　1.Study yourself.This is the key to career planning.Understanding what you are like，what you value，and what you wan t to become is the foundation for all career planning.In studying yourself，you examine your strengths and weaknesses，your goals，and the trends in your personal development .The self－understanding that you gain enables you to imagine how certain occupations may best fit your personality，interests，abilities，and goals.All career decisions require us to learn both about ourselves and about work，and to integrate5） these two kinds of knowledge.

　　2.Write your career goals down.A technique useful for organizing ideas about your career development is to actually write them down by time blocks in your life，for example，ages nineteen to twenty－two，twenty－three to thirty.……Writing something down forces you to crystallize6） your thinking and to reorganize fuzzy and half－formed ideas.It may lead to new insights about your possibilities and may help you to see new relationships，patterns and trends，or to identify gaps in your thinking a bout your career development.

　　3.Set up some hypotheses or predictions about yourself in a career.Consider the kind of person you are，what you're likely to be like，what changes are likely to take place in an occupation，what basic problems you might meet，and what you need to solve your problems.These hypotheses，or educated guesses，should represent your understanding of yourself at present，what you can do，and what you will do.

　　4.Review your plans and progress periodically with another person.Every so often，take stock of your situation and consider what steps have to be taken next.Taking inventory of progress and planning further steps can help you cope with the changes that you undergo and the changes that take place in the lab or market.Talking over your plans with a college counselor，your parents，and your friends helps you define your goals and improve your career plans or make them work.

　　5.If you choose a career that does not fit you，you can start over.Today，growing numbers of people are changing careers or getting second starts in careers that have greater appeal to them.Society no longer attaches the stigma7） of “instability” to the idea of career hopping，as it once did.Motives or reasons for changing careers vary widely，but many people move because they feel stale or fed up with a grinding or dull routine.For some，a second start grows out of the realization that what they want out of life is not what they are doing，and they decide to do these things they enjoy and believe to be important.Certainly，time spent in one occupation is likely to narrow the range of later occupational choices，very few people have the motivation and financial resources to start a completely new career in midlife.Most people move to a related field that involves a minimum8） of new training.

　　Career planning does not guarantee9） that all the problems，difficulties，or decision－making situations that face you in the future will be solved or made any easier.Nor can any formula be given to do that.But career planning should help you to approach and cope better with new problems，such as deciding whether or not to enter educational or training programs，deciding whether or not to change jobs，and analyzing the difficulties you are having with a situation or a person.