Step 1. What you do

Which electives have you decided on? Should you choose a project-oriented course and test your skills from your studies in practice? Or how about a stay abroad? Maybe you’ve thrown yourself into volunteering or a student job and are gaining experience of how the outside world works? Maybe you’re discovering career opportunities you didn’t know would be open to you. And discover something new you want to learn.

Your choices shape your profile in the direction you find exciting and makes sense to you. While your plans shouldn’t be set in stone at this point, you should occasionally stop and ask yourself what options and freedoms of choice you want to make use of – and why.

What, then, is the ‘clever choice’? It’s choosing what you learn the most from. Ask yourself what you want to learn, become good at, and develop. Seek out something new once you’ve learned enough of something. ‘New’ is not only about new subject areas, but perhaps rather new ways of working. By varying your working methods, you learn new things, even if the topic remains the same.

When you’re vacillating between a handful of exciting options, think about, for example:

• Is it time to take a more theoretical approach or instead focus on solving specific global challenges?
•  Do you want to stimulate your creativity and ability to think outside the box, or become insanely good at the classic, academic virtues?
• Do you want to practise working alone or with others – and should they be people who share your view of the world or someone with other academic and personal takes on things?

We often look for the right choice. But often it doesn’t matter that much whether you choose option A or B.

What you do after making your choice is far more important for your learning. Whether you get involved, try out new ways of doing things etc.

Don’t ask whether your choice will get you anywhere. Instead, explore what opportunities you have to commit yourself and practise whatever you feel like doing right now.