What do you want to be when you grow up?
When I grow up, I want to be a ballerina. When I grow up, I want to be a Women’s Olympic Rower. When I grow up, I want to be a CSI, a naval architect, a florist, a Broadway singer, a forensic psychologist, and many more.
As you can see, my list covers the gamut. From childhood through college, I always had an answer for that question, often influenced by my interests at the time.
If you ask me that question today, I have no idea what I would say.
I think it’s because the question has changed. We all descended upon the workforce to find that titles aren’t always synonymous with experience, performance, or knowledge. Some are used to lift you up, anchor you down, or “place” you, regardless of your background. It’s hard to trust them anymore. What we can trust is action.
The question should be, “What do you want to do?”
I want to conduct good business practices, to lead, to inspire those around me. I want to sing to a crowd of thousands, choreography movement, and paint the world.
I want to make a dent on this world.
Action is dynamic. It is living and so are we. When you can do, you aren’t limited by a role. Our future is filled with focusing on our passions. I am passionate about business, but I would never say, “I want to be in the C-Suite of a Fortune 500 company.” There are enough people out there who do think this way, many overlooking the accomplishments you need to get there. Those accomplishments are nothing but action.
Doing also broadens the possibilities. I may never paint professionally, but it’s something I can always do. My back may limit my own dancing, but I can always bring movement to others.
Begin to think of your world in terms of action. Do all of your dreams open up all of a sudden? Do you see all the pieces? You might find your goals are more feasible when you start seeing the actions instead of a limiting role. Perception and your state of mind can change everything.
I want to make a dent on this world. What do you want to do?
Photo credit.
I want to enhance the Arts, and awareness of same, through the use of my writing and speaking abilities. I am still working on the how.
Ty, I love your connection to the arts. I think like me, it’d be fabulous if everything could be rolled into one, but if it’s not, you’re going to find a way to do it anyhow.
Honestly? I don’t know yet- I have a few ideas based on which of my passions I’d like to pursue.
Patrick, you have a lot of passion. What I love about thinking in terms of action is you don’t have to choose just one thing to do!
[…] The Action of Growing Up […]
This gives me LOTS to think about….I’ve actually been asking myself the “What do I want to do/be when I grow up?” question quite often these past couple of months. Old and new passions have sparked this life-direction ambiguity. But more and more, I’m beginning to be “okay” with not knowing the answer, despite my tendency to want to plan my whole life out.
Tasha, as I said above, thinking this way makes it feel like you don’t have to choose one thing. I always have a hard time with decisions if I feel like I exclude too much. Thinking this way has had a huge positive impact on how I plan ahead. I hope that you find the same!
I asked myself this question awhile ago. I am constantly adding and subtracting things from this statement. But in a nutshell, “I want to establish a career in management/strategical development specializing in managing human capital and developing talent.”
I am passionate about animals and their well-being. I work as a Marketer and really enjoy that as well, so I would love to be able to incorporate the two. I’ve also always dreamed of opening a doggie daycare.
[…] I previously wrote “I want to make a dent on this world,” I truly believed that I have every opportunity to accomplish that. I just need to do my part. What […]