Early in the planning process, you need to find out evertyhing you can about the field you think you want to go into. What exactly do you do day to day in this career? What are the trends? Hoe did others get their start? How do you get ahead? What are the negatives, the benefits? Make a testdrive in your dreamjob:

•  Talk to people who are doing what you think you want to do. Maybe follow them for a day.
• Read biographies of successful people to see what it took.  Are you wiling to move back  home with your parents during the startup phase of your career? Work a second job? Work in the garage? Move to another city?
• Go to trade shows, make lunch dates with people in the field you are interested in, do informational interviews, look at interviews online.
• Research gives you more confidence. The more you know, the less you stress. Absorb all the information you can, and then go with your gut. Let your instincts be your guide. Make informed decisions about how much you want to earn, whom you will work with, what tools and talents you need to master, the hours, the environment, the stress level. Then you can move forward with a sound decision about what you want to do. You can avoid quite a few pitfalls this way.