Pathfinder Inquiry 1: Career Fantasies
Jan. 29th, 2006 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaSo I got this book called The Pathfinder by Nicholas Lore in hopes it would help me figure out what kind of job to look for, and it's got some exercises to write out. At this moment I don't feel like digging out a notebook and writing longhand.
1. "Take a few minutes to look back at your own childhood visions of the future. What seemingly perfect careers did you imagine as you were growing up? How did you feel when you imagined yourself in the midst of one of those fantasies?"
When I was really little I wanted to be a ballet dancer. I gave that up fairly quickly. Later I thought maybe I'd want to be a scientist, doing research I guess. For the rest of my childhood, I wanted to be an engineer when I grew up, designing stuff like, say, cars or buildings. The idea was very vague. I never spent much time imagining what it would be like to actually design things. When I daydreamed myself away, it wasn't into my future self. It was into other magical worlds, where I was at least as likely to be a spectator as to be a participant.
2. "What dreams of the future lure you away from tedious times today? What do you imagine yourself doing?
If I could do anything at all, money being no object... well hey, I'd be a lady of leisure! I would garden and keep pets and travel and study all those things I want to learn. But, career-wise.... I'm thinking of adult education, as I think I've said -- teaching English as a foreign language, or computer skills, or possibly being a math or science teacher, though I think that'd be more of a grade-school thing, not adult ed.
I'm considering more school in order to become a statistician, to turn raw data into meaning for whatever research project I might find interesting. I see this as a versatile job I could do for lots of different organizations.
I also still think about what it might be like to be a slick computer programmer, putting together... well, I'm not sure what I would make. Probably not games; that industry sounds too high-pressure and fast-paced for me. Something useful, I'd hope; something to improve people's quality of life. And I would like to know enough about system administration to administrate a home network of my own.
Oh yeah, and I've fantasized about writing and illustrating children's picture books. Maybe writing books for older people too.
I suspect there are other careers I would enjoy that haven't even crossed my mind.
3. "Go back through all of your childhood and current career fantasies. What stands out as the most important qualities that made these fantasies so compelling? Did you seem to be much more enthusiastic in your fantasies than you are in your present work? Were you doing work that was especially meaningful, where you had some special talent or climbed to lofty heights? What gratifying elements do different fantasies have in common?"
I don't want to be bored. At the same time, I feel afraid at the idea of having a job as mentally taxing as some of my college classes. To be produce mediocre or even erroneous work when people are depending on me, when I can't ask the teacher for the right answer, is a frightening thought. But on the first hand, I don't want my brain to wither.
Hmm... they all call for some level of creativity. And I would like to be helping people; that quality is fulfilled to some extent in my current job, though it's not terribly direct. Also, I would like to be recognized and pointed out as commendable for my work. I don't know if that kind of answer is what this question is asking for, but I want people to be proud of me. It has been a long time, I think, since people were proud of me.
4. "Which of these important qualities would you like to have as a component of your future work, if you could?"
Creativity. Intellectual stimulation. Helping others (this should be fairly easy to satisfy).
5. "Are you willing to make a promise to yourself that you will include any of these elements as absolutely definite, nonnegotiable components of your future career? Mark which are definite commitments and which are just wants."
Of those three qualities, creativity is the only one I could sacrifice. The other two are necessary.
6. "If you are not willing to make a definite promise that you will have all of these components be a part of your future career, why not? Write down all the good reasons why having it all would be impossible or too difficult."
I would really like to have all three. I don't know why I feel that I can't have it all... well, I sort of know. It's because life has not gone according to script. But this is about ditching the script and directing the show myself, so, yes, I promise that creativity, intellectual stimulation, and helping others will be a part of my career.
1. "Take a few minutes to look back at your own childhood visions of the future. What seemingly perfect careers did you imagine as you were growing up? How did you feel when you imagined yourself in the midst of one of those fantasies?"
When I was really little I wanted to be a ballet dancer. I gave that up fairly quickly. Later I thought maybe I'd want to be a scientist, doing research I guess. For the rest of my childhood, I wanted to be an engineer when I grew up, designing stuff like, say, cars or buildings. The idea was very vague. I never spent much time imagining what it would be like to actually design things. When I daydreamed myself away, it wasn't into my future self. It was into other magical worlds, where I was at least as likely to be a spectator as to be a participant.
2. "What dreams of the future lure you away from tedious times today? What do you imagine yourself doing?
If I could do anything at all, money being no object... well hey, I'd be a lady of leisure! I would garden and keep pets and travel and study all those things I want to learn. But, career-wise.... I'm thinking of adult education, as I think I've said -- teaching English as a foreign language, or computer skills, or possibly being a math or science teacher, though I think that'd be more of a grade-school thing, not adult ed.
I'm considering more school in order to become a statistician, to turn raw data into meaning for whatever research project I might find interesting. I see this as a versatile job I could do for lots of different organizations.
I also still think about what it might be like to be a slick computer programmer, putting together... well, I'm not sure what I would make. Probably not games; that industry sounds too high-pressure and fast-paced for me. Something useful, I'd hope; something to improve people's quality of life. And I would like to know enough about system administration to administrate a home network of my own.
Oh yeah, and I've fantasized about writing and illustrating children's picture books. Maybe writing books for older people too.
I suspect there are other careers I would enjoy that haven't even crossed my mind.
3. "Go back through all of your childhood and current career fantasies. What stands out as the most important qualities that made these fantasies so compelling? Did you seem to be much more enthusiastic in your fantasies than you are in your present work? Were you doing work that was especially meaningful, where you had some special talent or climbed to lofty heights? What gratifying elements do different fantasies have in common?"
I don't want to be bored. At the same time, I feel afraid at the idea of having a job as mentally taxing as some of my college classes. To be produce mediocre or even erroneous work when people are depending on me, when I can't ask the teacher for the right answer, is a frightening thought. But on the first hand, I don't want my brain to wither.
Hmm... they all call for some level of creativity. And I would like to be helping people; that quality is fulfilled to some extent in my current job, though it's not terribly direct. Also, I would like to be recognized and pointed out as commendable for my work. I don't know if that kind of answer is what this question is asking for, but I want people to be proud of me. It has been a long time, I think, since people were proud of me.
4. "Which of these important qualities would you like to have as a component of your future work, if you could?"
Creativity. Intellectual stimulation. Helping others (this should be fairly easy to satisfy).
5. "Are you willing to make a promise to yourself that you will include any of these elements as absolutely definite, nonnegotiable components of your future career? Mark which are definite commitments and which are just wants."
Of those three qualities, creativity is the only one I could sacrifice. The other two are necessary.
6. "If you are not willing to make a definite promise that you will have all of these components be a part of your future career, why not? Write down all the good reasons why having it all would be impossible or too difficult."
I would really like to have all three. I don't know why I feel that I can't have it all... well, I sort of know. It's because life has not gone according to script. But this is about ditching the script and directing the show myself, so, yes, I promise that creativity, intellectual stimulation, and helping others will be a part of my career.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-29 05:57 pm (UTC)It's interesting, your choices for jobs you'd like to do. I've spent all of my life, since I was 14, either building something that others needed (like good, sturdy homes) or working directly with them to help them heal and feel whole, or teach the young. All of those jobs, however, have left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled for what I really feel passionate about; or there's so much inner-office politics and beaureacracy that I can hardly stand being in the job.
Lately, I've been re-thinking things; I feel that I should have taken the same course one of my jr. high friends and I originally planned to do together (something he's actually doing, today) and work in the Forestry Service as park rangers.