The importance we put on our job title versus the actual work we do is intriguing. Many of us have it set in our minds, what we want to be when we grow up. And if we don't achieve that, then too often, we feel like we failed.
That's why we need to ask ourselves, are we putting too much emphasis on a specific title and not enough value on the type of work we're actually doing?
Maybe you ARE doing what you've always wanted - but just in a different capacity with a different title.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
My initial career goal was a bit different. Actually, it horrified my mom when I revealed what I wanted to be when I grew up on live TV.
Now if you grew up in the Edmonton area in the seventies you may remember the local children's show Popcorn Playhouse!
It was filmed every weekday, and the host “Klondike Eric” Neville would ask children in the audience what they wanted to be when they grew up. I remember hoping he would ask me. And he did! As he pointed the mic towards me, I proudly declared I wanted to be a Call Girl!
Fortunately, Klondike Eric asked me a couple more questions to clarity that I meant to say “Cowgirl”!
Of course, I never pursued either of those professions... but it got me thinking about how and when you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up. Was your dream job based on a specific title? Or to work in a particular field?
Years after declaring my initial career goal on live TV, I decided that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.
Writing excited me from an early age! Any kind of book or history report or any opportunity to tell a story excited me!
But then I was told in high school that writing wasn’t a “Real job.” That I’d never make enough money to support myself. Sadly, that mindset discouraged me from pursuing my DREAM JOB of being a writer.
So, I took another creative, more responsible path into visual design and communications.
Although I enjoyed that field, it still wasn't writing. As a result, focusing on that specific job title and not achieving it left me feeling empty. As if I failed in my career... and life.
In fact, according to several surveys, only about 1-in-10 of us are working in our childhood dream job. That particular title that we had decided on when we were younger.
What's sad, is that about 90 percent of us are no longer even pursuing that dream job.
The most common reason? The need to support their family. They couldn't risk doing something that they'd always dreamed of because they felt they couldn't earn enough.
We put so much pressure on ourselves - and even our kids - that we set ourselves up for failure when we're focused on a particular job title rather than what it is that we like about that job.
Instead, we should ask ourselves if it's a specific industry we want to work in. Is it helping people? Creating technology? Working outdoors or in an office? Is it being a team player or working independently?
When we allow ourselves to dream, not just bigger, but wider, we open ourselves up to greater opportunities.
Rather than setting ourselves up for what we may perceive as a failure, we're broadening our expectations and opportunities to succeed.
When I repositioned my childhood dream of becoming a "Writer", to dreaming of a job where I could write, I no longer viewed, what for decades, I had perceived as my own career shortcomings and failures.
I realize that I'd been so focused on the positions I had held, that I didn’t see the obvious. That even though I never held the formal title of "Writer" or "Copywriter", I WAS a writer!
A big part of every position I held involved me writing in various capacities! Writing was an integral part of my career. No matter what the industry... position... or profession.
That’s when I finally realized that my lifelong dream DID come true. I get to write for a living!
So now, instead of asking "What" do you want to be when you grow up, we should be asking "What do you want to do" when you grow up?
