How to Choose a Career When You Have Too Many Interests

I spent 3 hours choosing a number for my business name. A business that helps people stop overthinking.

60 was memorable, but with my accent people might hear 16. 25 had a nice sound, but it felt too round, and overthinkers have way more than 25 tabs open. 82 means something to me, but did it look like I was trying too hard? 67? Just no. 50 could sound like 15 after a long day of talking.

My head hurt. The day was almost over.

Then I heard one of my favorite preachers yelling in my head: “If you keep saying there’s too much to choose from, just pick something and move already!”

Years ago, that same line offended me. I was trying to choose a career, and I had an answer ready: I have so many interests and skills, and I want to make sure I choose right.

If that’s your answer too, keep reading. Here’s why more options keep you stuck, the excuses that make it feel reasonable, and how to pick a career anyway.

Why too many options keep you stuck

More options feel like freedom. In practice, they often make people choose nothing.

The best-known example is the jam study. Psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper set up a tasting table in a California supermarket, showing 6 jams on some days and 24 on others (Iyengar and Lepper, 2000). The big table drew more people: 60% of shoppers stopped, against 40% at the small one. But only about 3% of people at the 24-jam table bought a jar, compared with almost 30% at the 6-jam table (Collins).

One fair caveat: later attempts to repeat the study got mixed results, and nobody is fully sure why (Harford). Choice overload doesn’t hit every decision the same way.

But if you have 9 career ideas and have picked none of them, you already know how it feels. Every option you add makes the others look a little worse, and the safest move starts to look like waiting.

The excuses that keep you stuck

Being stuck rarely announces itself. It shows up dressed as something responsible.

“I’m still researching.” Research helps until it turns into a hobby. If you’ve read the same kind of article for six months and haven’t talked to one person who does the job, you’re collecting articles. Nothing has been decided.

“I’m waiting on God.” I believe in prayer and I believe in direction. I also know that a lot of direction shows up after you start walking. Waiting can be faith, and it can also be fear with better manners.

“I want to make sure I choose right.” This one sounds the wisest, and it keeps people stuck the longest. There’s no way to be sure in advance. Most of the time, we don’t know something is IT until we start moving.

These are the nicest wrapping paper stuck ever came in. They feel like progress, and nothing moves.

How to choose a career when you have too many interests

1. Split your list in two. Write every interest down, then sort them into the ones you’d want to be paid for and the ones you’d rather keep as hobbies, volunteering, or weekends. Most lists shrink fast once you admit some things are better unpaid.
2. Cut the career pile to 3. The jam table with 6 options sold better than the one with 24. Three is enough to compare and few enough to act on.
3. Pick the one you can test fastest. Not the best one. The fastest one. A conversation with someone who does the job, a short course, a weekend of shadowing, a small paid project. You’ll learn more in one week of doing than in a month of reading.
4. Set a window and stay in it. Give the test a fixed time, like 90 days, and decide in advance that you won’t reopen the choice before it ends. Reopening it every Tuesday is how 3 hours turns into 3 years.
5. Keep the rest alive in small ways. Choosing one path doesn’t kill your other interests. Many people pick a main road first and keep the others as side projects, or blend them in later as they gain experience.

You’re only choosing a next step. That’s a much smaller decision, and you can make it today.

Questions people ask

Is it bad to have too many interests?

No. Range is useful in almost any career. It only becomes a problem when it keeps you from picking anything at all.

What if I choose the wrong career?

Then you’ll know something you didn’t know before, and you’ll choose again with better information. Most careers change direction more than once. A wrong first pick costs less than years of not picking.

What is choice overload?

Choice overload is when having more options makes a decision harder, slower, or less likely to happen. The jam study above is the classic example.

Can I combine my interests into one career?

Often, yes, but usually later. Many people start with one main path, build skill and credibility there, and then bring their other interests into it.

So, how did the number get picked?

After 3 hours, I took the next random number that came into my head. 71. I picked it and went with it, and that’s how 71 Tabs got its name.

The preacher was right. Pick something and move.