When I Grow Up........

“What do you want to be you when you grow up little girl…hmmm???”
“Oh golly-gee willickiers I don’t know! Maybe a Hairdresser, or a Veterinarian or maybe a Marine Biologist!!!”

Fast forward 25 years later…

What do you want be when you grow…wait a second…you’re like thirty years old…why are you asking this question again? Oh yeah…you followed the dream of a five-year-old that had no clue what a loaded question they were really answering. Like anyone really knows what it’s like to be anything without truly experiencing it.

According to the book (and associated college class) Design Your Life by two Stanford Professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, it turns out this may not be the best question to ask when determining the career path that would be most fulfilling to you. I know you’re wondering “fine, how am I supposed to determine what career path I would enjoy most”, well no worries…I’ve got an 8-Step Approach to get you on your path.

1.) Make Sure Money does not Play a Role in Your Decision Making

Not the money spent on an education (marine bio, remember), not the money that your family has or never had and not the money you’ll make or won’t make. Take the money completely out of the equation. If you make the decision based on money then you’ll most likely spend your money to justify the misery you’ll experience while earning it. This will eventually increase your standard of living thereby, yup you guessed - making you more attached to the misery for the money.

2.) Make a list of FIVE Things you Appreciate about your Current Job

Yes, I know you’re unhappy where you are, but you need to find at least five things about your current job that you appreciate. You don’t want to rush this type of decision; you may need to straddle things for a while and making the most of your current occupation will only increase your current happiness. You want to ensure that when you start down this path to your career calling that your focus is always ahead, always looking towards what you want; not looking behind and moving away from what you don’t want.

3.) What Would you Like to Do/Learn if you had the Time and Resources

If you were well rested and weren’t worried about money, time or responsibilities what activities or topics would you like to do or learn about? Obviously write these down.

4.) How Do You Want to Feel at the End of the Day?

When you’ve ‘clocked out’ at the end of a work day how do you want to feel? Do you want to feel that you: contributed to society, helped an individual, created something, were mentally or physically challenged etc.? Visualize yourself leaving work, and your smiling about the day you had, what are you smiling about?

5.) Make a list of Your Preferences

a. Indoors or outdoors

b. Set schedule or flex schedule

c. Time based or outcome based

d. Working with others, by yourself or a mix

e. Travel or no travel

f. Shifts you’d want to work

g. Autonomy or clear direction

h. Routine or varied

6.) On to the Google Machine

Take your answers from steps three and four along with the list of preferences from step five and enter them into the google machine with the keywords: job, career, occupation or vocation. Look for the ones that fill the majority of the boxes (and note which preferences were most important to you) and start making a list. No judgment (AT ALL) on what comes up until you research and dig a little deeper.

7.) Fill in the Blanks

a.) If you could have a cup of coffee with anyone to learn about what their job was really like it would be ______ (fill in the blank)?

b.) Ask yourself if you had a friend or family member that came to you and said “I’m thinking of going into _______(fill in the blank)” and you jumped up and down for them with complete cheerleader excitement and spirit. What would you fill in the blank with?

8.) Start Finding Connections

Based on the google machine results, and your answers from step seven write down the careers you’re most interested in (DO NOT THINK ABOUT LOGISTICS). Start figuring out how to connect with people who are in those careers. Use social media, ask friends and family, just start talking to people that are actually in those fields. Go one step further, maybe see if on one of your days off you could shadow them at work. Listen if you want to change careers, you’ll have to start using your own personal time to make it happen, so get use to that idea.

I know eight steps seems like a lot, but believe me you will gain valuable insight into your current core values and working through all of these steps will start opening your eyes to all the possibilities that you were unaware of. You’ll start seeing what could be for yourself, bringing needed energy and excitement to the present, making it easier for you to start taking action.

If you’ve completed the eight steps, and you’re energized and ready to take the next step but are unsure what that is, REACH OUT TO ME. Let’s set up a time to chat, I’d love to hear about the new life path you’re about to embark on.

Elizabeth SimmonsJuly 26, 2020Comment