Who Do You Want To Be?

Posted on October 15, 2008
Filed Under Career Development

When we were kids, we all used to talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up. Doctor, Lawyer, Firemen, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys (yeah, that was mine, but at 43 it may not happen) all those grown up jobs seemed so cool. What we never thought about was ‘who’ we wanted to be. What about these cool jobs was going to be rewarding and make us happy, what was our passion. Today for many career professionals, what they do for work and what their passion is are frequently different things.

For many people it all goes south straight out of college. In college most of us find a major we really like, but come graduation can’t seem to find a way to apply it in corporate America. Eventually we do find a job, get married, have a kid or two, and a mortgage or two and wake up ten years later wondering how we got to where we are and why we are unhappy. The reality is that corporate America is a trap, especially if you end up in a job you’re not passionate about, because by the time you realize you’re trapped you’re often making too much money and have too many bills to do anything about it. How do you walk away from a 70-80k/yr job to try something new when you’ve got bills and a family. For most, you don’t.

Some people have change thrust upon them via layoffs, downsizing, or something similar, but just because you lose your job doesn’t mean you know how to change to a more meaningful career. Here’s some ways to do that.

Figure out what you’re passionate about and then look at opportunities in that industry. If you’ve been in sales for 10 years, but would rather be a teacher, then go teach. If you can’t afford the pay cut try finding something on the side to supplement your income until you can, a lot successful teachers also are successful realtors. Yes you need to realize that following your dreams can sometimes mean sacrificing too.
If you don’t know what you’re passionate about try taking a career assessment. There are many great ones out there, if you’re unsure of where to start drop me a line and I’ll point you in the right direction.
If you know your passion, but are unsure of how to make the move there are also many excellent career coaches and mentors that excel in making your career dreams reality. Again if you need help getting started, I’ll be happy to help.

Finding out who you want to be and then becoming that person isn’t always easy, but the road to career enrichment is worth the trip. Afterall you’ve got nothing to lose except that job that’s making you miserable.

Until next time…

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1 Comment »

Comment by Marcia Robinson Subscribed to comments via email

2008-11-07 23:17:21

This is an awesome question and one a lot of people ponder for sure. My goal was to fly airplanes and I am happy my father didn’t say “No” and instead encouraged me.

What I have discovered years later though after multiple careers, that it is less about what you want to “be” and more about what you want to “do”.

Too many people think of career and job titles rather than look at job descriptions. eg I use all the time is the college student who is set on “be”-ing a Vet, until they realize what Vets actually “do” - work with sick animals.

My career blog has a lot of helpful career advice about how to make some of these life choices.

Marcia Robinson’s last blog post..30 Career Lessons from Barack Obama’s Campaign

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