When You Grow Up

Get out a pen and paper. Seriously. I'll wait.

Okay, now write down your age 5 career goals. Write down that job you wanted to have "when I grow up"

Now, move ahead five years and write down your career goals for age 10, 15, 20, 25 . . . you get the picture. Write it down for every 5 year period of your life so far.

Look at your list. Are you doing what you intended to do with your life?? Are you doing ANY of those things?

As our passions and interests grow and develop we forge hobbies and sometimes careers. As I've written about before, a great life is like a great improv -full of limitless choices.

That doesn't mean that our choices don't come with a PRICE. You have to be willing to pay the price to achieve the dream. If you want to become a concert pianist, you pay the price of TIME. You spend hours and hours at the piano. If you want to be a doctor or a lawyer you pay money and time as you work towards your degree. If you want to be an actor, you pay the price of slogging through bad productions and missing out on a social life. (I can't, I have rehearsal.)

Look at your list. Are you doing ANYTHING that you'd planned on doing? If you are, that's great! You get a gold star, an A+ and a standing ovation. Seriously. I'm proud of you and I have a strong feeling that you are happy in your life!

Are there any career goals on your list you wish you'd pursued? Circle them.

Write down the (honest) cost of pursuing that long-lost dream career.

Write down the (honest) cost of NOT pursuing your long-lost dream career.

Those are your pros/cons. So, what are YOU going to be when you grow up??