Aptitude Assessment – How Your brain is wired for success

Why “Pursue Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice
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When mentoring high school students, I avoid saying, “Pursue your passion.” While it might sound inspiring, research from Stanford University highlights several reasons why this advice can be misleading. Here are three critical points:

1. Passions Change Over Time
   What a student is passionate about in high school may not hold the same significance 10, 20, or 30 years down the line. Passions evolve as people grow, learn, and experience new things.
2. Passion Alone Doesn’t Guarantee Success
   Just because you’re passionate about something doesn’t mean you’ll excel at it—or that anyone will pay you to do it. A fulfilling career requires more than enthusiasm; it requires aligning your abilities with opportunities.
3. Multiple Passions Create Ambiguity
   Students often have more than one passion at a time. Telling them to “follow their passion” doesn’t help them decide which path to take—it leaves them more confused about where to start.

Instead, I encourage students to focus on their aptitudes, which are their natural abilities and talents. Unlike passions, aptitudes are stable and measurable, providing a solid foundation for long-term success.

What Are Aptitudes?
Aptitudes are your brain’s natural strengths—how you’re wired to think, solve problems, and process information. These aren’t necessarily physical skills but mental abilities, such as spatial reasoning, learning, or problem-solving. Advanced aptitude assessments evaluate these traits and reveal where someone’s true potential lies.

Here’s an over simplistic analogy example:
Grab a pen and write a grocery list. Which hand did you use? Let’s say you wrote with your left hand. That’s your brain’s natural wiring. Sure, you had to practice writing as a child to improve the skill, but now it feels effortless.

Now try writing with your other hand. Can you do it? Technically, yes. But it’s awkward, slow, and probably less legible. With enough practice, you could become proficient, but it would never feel as natural as using your dominant hand.

This is what aptitudes are like. They reflect the tasks and activities your brain is naturally wired to handle with ease. By identifying these strengths, we can determine which career paths will feel like writing with your dominant hand—natural, engaging, and sustainable—and which will feel like forcing your non-dominant hand to do the job.

The Role of Aptitudes in Career and College Planning
An advanced aptitude assessment measures 19 dimensions of how your brain is wired. With this information, students can pinpoint careers that align with their natural abilities and avoid paths that might lead to frustration or burnout.

Burnout often stems from working in roles that clash with your natural wiring. Maybe you’ve developed the skills to do the job, but it still feels exhausting. Or maybe the job doesn’t challenge your brain enough, leaving you bored and disengaged.

High school students usually have no idea what career path they want to pursue, which makes it hard for them to choose the right college or major. This lack of direction is one reason why nearly 80% of students change their major in college. Without clarity, their decision-making process feels like a compass spinning next to a magnet—completely aimless.

Why “Normal” Isn’t Good Enough
Let’s talk about what’s considered “normal” today:

• Taking five years to complete a four-year degree.
• Graduating with excessive student debt.
• Being underemployed after earning your degree.

Does that sound appealing? Not to me. As Dave Ramsey says, “Don’t be normal.”

Since aptitudes stabilize around age 15, I recommend students take an advanced aptitude assessment during their sophomore year of high school. This helps them understand how their brain is wired and gives them a sense of direction. It’s like removing the magnet from the compass and letting them discover their “True North.”
 
Passion Is the Fuel, Not the Track
To be clear, I’m not anti-passion. Passions are important, but if you lead with your passions, it’s like putting the cart before the horse. Passions should act as fuel, not the guiding track. Think of it like a train: passion powers the engine, but without a track (your aptitudes), the train doesn't know where to go.

By understanding their aptitudes, students can channel their passions in a direction that leads to long-term success and fulfillment. And as they grow and their passions evolve, their aptitudes remain a steady guide, helping them make confident decisions every step of the way.

So, the next time you hear someone say, “Follow your passion,” remember: passions can ignite motivation, but it’s your aptitudes that lay the track to a life that truly matters.

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