“Before the reward, there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap joy.” — Ralph Ransom
Who do you want to be when you grow up?
Do you remember being five years old and rattling off the list of different careers you planned to juggle as a grown-up?
It went something like “teacher, mom, veterinarian, rock star” or “firefighter, astronaut, scuba diver, cleaner”.
The plan was always to have one day for each job, no problem.
Then we grew up and came to believe that there is one job per life, and career aspirations are roughly limited to being only a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or teacher.
But I think the truth is this: many of us still have the little voice inside that does want the mix-and-match career.
Now, let me convince you that it’s still possible.
You are limited by creativity & self-awareness.
When I was in high school, I was tormented by the constant question of how I would manage to spend the rest of my life doing only one thing.
Well-meaning family members and teachers would make suggestions based on what they knew about my interests, hobbies, and strongest subjects. Some suggested I go into journalism because I liked writing. Others pushed me to consider academia or marine science or teaching, and the list goes on.
The unsolicited advice was overwhelming, and somehow never seemed to really touch on the fact that I didn’t want to choose, to cut out activities I loved because they didn’t fit into what some third party could fit into a job description.
Nor did I want to combine and water-down my love for creative-writing or my curiosity toward scientific research.
Eventually, I realized that it was entirely possible to have a career that included time and space for creative writing, and exploration of research, design, and engineering.
While I’m still in the process of shaping that career, that multifaceted, many-faced life, I now know it’s possible.
PSA: The barriers to achieving your dream career are not as high as you think.
If I could go back to my high school self and give her one piece of unsolicited advice, it would be this: that you can have exactly the life you want, even if it doesn’t make sense right now how you will get there.
The problem is that most of us assume the barriers are high and give up in favor of having an easier answer to the “so…what do you do?” question.
Self-Awareness: Getting Clear On WHAT Career To Create
When we are “sold” on the notion of certain careers in high school or college, we feed on the glamor of all the different life paths we can pursue.
If you’re a software engineer, you will be at the forefront of an AI revolution, they say. If you go into medicine, you will save people’s lives.
And as the list goes on, the indecision goes.
Often, when what we really feel is “I want to do everything, but realize I can’t” or “I’m not excited about it, but sure”, we float along towards one of the well-charted career paths.
There is nothing wrong with this, but you should also know there’s another way.
Instead of doing a side-by-side comparison of the glamorous parts of each career and title, think about your criteria first.
What skillsets do you want to be using on a daily basis? How flexible do you want your calendar to be? What lifestyle do you want to sustain? Do you have an accurate perception of the money you need to make it happen?
Get clear on who you want to be within your career (because you will be spending about 80,000 hours on it throughout your life), then reverse engineer from there.
Think in terms of experiences, not titles.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “I want to be a doctor” when they had no interest in the day-to-day of that profession, I could retire early.
The same goes for titles like “CEO” or “founder”. It sounds cool as a title but is grueling work in practice.
Thinking about careers through the lens of titles is misleading in this way. Instead, let’s consider creating a mental image of your perfect work day.
You can use some of the below thought exercises to help.
Thought Exercises
Consider these questions as though you were already in your dream career:
- How does your day feel?
- Who are you working with? What community surrounds you?
- What problems are you solving? What skills are you using to solve them?
- What are your hours? When are you getting home?
- What deliverable(s) are you creating, if any?
Creativity: HOW To Create Your Vision In Real Life
Once you can begin to visualize your ideal career, it’s time to start creating it.
This looks different for everyone, but I will focus on two aspects I have used in my own life to develop a growing network and skillset.
#1: How To Create Your Dream Career Network.
Talk to people.
This is the most underrated way to chart your path to the life of your dreams.
It’s how you will find out about job openings.
It’s how you will discover what working in a certain field (or multiple fields) is truly like.
Furthermore, it is how you will discover what is possible. You will probably be surprised.
#2: How To Create The Skillsets Of Your Dream Career.
Instead of taking an online course, try to build your own projects using the skills you want to acquire.
If you think that sounds ridiculous because you don’t have those skills yet, this is exactly the point.
Research suggests that one of the best ways to learn a new skill is to apply your knowledge.
Applying your knowledge through a project also allows you to build a portfolio. This gives you something to point to when others ask for proof of your skill set.
To support this with technical knowledge, use the typical online courses and YouTube videos.
How To Recognize If You’re On Track, Just Not There Yet.
There is also such a thing as being on track to your dream career in terms of your habits and mindset, but just not having the results manifest yet.
If you’re wondering if this is you, ask yourself: If you keep up what you’re doing now, will you be there in 5-10 years?
If the answer is no, try some of the exercises above.
If the answer is yes, keep your vision clear to maintain consistency & motivation.
Thought to Action
- Conversation: Engage in curiosity-based conversations with more people from outside your area of expertise, your industry & your culture.
- Journaling: Use journaling to track your progress in all areas of your life, including when you are advocating for the issues you care about.
- History: Learn from the creative geniuses of history how to leverage the tools we have today to generate impactful solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
- Self-educate: Leverage the plethora of free podcasts, YouTube videos, Coursera courses, and more to expand your mind and empower you to solve the problems you care about.
- Habits: Apply these 3 methods to start thinking outside of the box by switching up your routines and changing the way you look at the world around you.
Sources
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/jrit-06-2018-0013/full/html
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