5 helpful hints to deciding what you want to do when you grow up

What do you want to accomplish in your life? Did you ever stop and wonder how some people get everything they want out of their lives? Do you believe that some people are just “lucky?” Or do you believe that people who actively participate in their life create the life they want?

Throughout the past year, I encountered a significant epiphany: I realized that I could be “one of those people” you know, the type of person who does everything he or she ever wanted to do and more.

As I observed the human behaviors of those around me, I recognized: people who work in their preferred jobs, participate in their favorite activities, enjoy life; embrace new opportunities, and set and achieve goals are people who believe they control their lives.

Interesting, I thought: “life and happiness is really this simple?” I just think about what I want out of life and then I plan to make exactly what I want happen!?”

To start planning for the future, I knew that I needed to refine my career goals. I do not believe that my careers define me, nor do I believe that my career determines my happiness; however, I do have a strong drive to improve our health care system and the nursing profession, so to me, loving my career is a high priority.

What and who do I want to be when I grow up? This is the question we asked ourselves, many people ask themselves this question even after they are all grown up. Here is how I used laser beam focus to determine what I want to be when I grow up, if you are still thinking about what you want to be, maybe you will find the tips helpful:

1. Reflect on Past Experiences & identify the highlights:

I needed to hold onto the components of my career that love. I definitely wanted to continue to work within the wellness profession, hands down. I also wanted to work with people, not over the phone, but in person: real, live, people. I want a strong sense of purpose; I want to contribute and improve the nursing profession and most important, the greater good of society.

2. Reflect on Past Experiences & identify the challenges:

I needed to relinquish the components of my career that I did not enjoy. The first on my list: living in a cubicle. I do not know who thought that shoving someone in a 5.5X5.5 space without sunlight for 8 hours every day, five days every week was healthy? I knew that I needed to “let go” of cubicle land!

I also needed to “let go” of the restraints of time: showing up at work at specific times and leaving at specific times for no apparent reason, just to say I was there

I need autonomy. I need to experience forward growth and daily challenge in a supportive workplace.

3. Identify your strengths:

Targeting my weaknesses is easier than targeting strengths. Sometimes we get so caught up in weaknesses that we do not allow or minds to think freely and creatively. We hold ourselves back from living because we cannot gravitate toward our natural talents. I recognize that my signature strength is sociability! I genuinely love people, and I truly and passionately want to encourage others to achieve everything they dream in life. I am also driven, motivated, and committed. I need a career that will embrace my energies and strengths.

4. Define what you love:

I love school. I enjoy learning, researching, and thinking. I enjoy community, diversity, and charity.

5. Calculate: Strengths+ loves+ challenges + keep

Once I determined my strengths, loves, challenges and keeps, I arrived at my final career choice: Nursing Professor. Why? Because as a professor I can focus on wellness research, influence and mentor new nurses, build wellness education into the foundation of the nursing career, enjoy a flexible schedule that provides autonomy, challenge, diversity, and I can ESCAPE the cubicle- YAY!

Identifying my career is step one. Planning is step two. Over the past year, James and I have planned our lives in preparation for our new career change. We organized our finances, sacrificed, paid down debt, learned to live minimally, applied to colleges and universities, interviewed and finally arrived at step three: we will both begin working toward our PhDs (mine in nursing and his in engineering) starting September 8, 2010.

I believe in loving what you do, identifying what you want in life and going full steam forward until you get exactly what you want. For me, earning my PhD is something that I identified, planned, and will achieve. Maybe for you, your dream is to be a stay-at-home mother, a writer, a photographer, a janitor, a dominos employee…what you do is not importance, but feeling connected, committed, and excited about who you are through what you do will generate tremendous joy and happiness in your life.