What a loaded question!
Ask most 8-year old children and they can give you an answer on the spot without hesitation. Most may never actually fulfill that 8-year old dream, some may not get what the job actually entails or the rough road it might take to get there. Some with clarity and wisdom of aging may just simply choose another path.
Now ask a 40-year old woman who has been out in the workforce 20+ years and see if you get an answer at all.
For me I might think "well I am already grown up, aren't I?"
Well in years here on earth and measured based on the legal driving, smoking, voting and drinking ages then yes, technically speaking I am.
Being as career-minded as I am and a sometimes* workaholic there must be a next step, a career challenge, another rung to climb on the ladder. Unfortunately I fear that I find myself on the rungs of the wrong ladder.
So if I can't identify the right ladder, or the answer to the big "what do I want to be when I grow up" question, then what do I do?
Well for now I take on the exercise of personal branding. (This topic, I assure you, needs to be addressed as its own subject in next blog post.)
But to finish this post I guess I will just jot down the non-specific, not-quite-tangible answers that come to mind when I ask myself "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
I want...
- a career, not a job. I had one once. I recall it vaguely and believe it went out with the Hefty bags during a file purge at my last place of employ.
- to LOVE what I do. Unrealistic @ 100% okay, but I think 85% is a totally reasonable number.
- to be engaged, challenged, measured and held accountable.
- to work in an environment where my level of standards is met or exceeded. Ideally I'd like to go back to the 1990s when I felt they were at their highest.
- to suit up and be in the game
