Today my friend brought up a question that I have never been asked before. She asked me, "What career path would you choose if money weren't involved?" The first thing that came to mind was that I would still want to be involved in healthcare except it would be more specific, such as working in a clinic in a third world country. Then I said I wanted to be like Andrew Zimmerman, someone who just traveled the world trying foods of many different cultures. Afterwards I said another option was to be able to use art in my career if money wasn't involved, for example being an art teacher. I thought my answers said a lot about myself in terms of the things I believe are important for me to feel complete: Helping others, traveling, and art. I think we should all really think about this question once in a while to ensure that we would still love what we do even if weren't paid for it.
So, what career path would you choose if money weren't involved?
So, what career path would you choose if money weren't involved?
I think whatever you end up doing should be a mean to an end. It doesn't have to be the end, just a way to get there. What you end up doing as a job may not be something you love, but it should be a way to help you get to what you love. Life is so short, it would be a shame to leave opportunities for regrets.
ReplyDeleteIdealistically, I believe I don't have to love what I do, as long as it will get me to what I love. But realistically, so much of our lives is spent working, that it inevitably becomes a part of our lives. Thus the jobs we choose, the career paths we follow, need a balance between what we hope to reach, and what we can obtain. By taking money out of the equation, unfortunately, I think it will also take a good deal of satisfaction out of reaching that goal.
I will be working at a business firm upon graduation. I love programming, and although this might not be the ideal job for me, I think it will help me reach my goals of creating something awesome. Like many others, even if I wasn't paid to program, I still do it in my leisure time because I truly enjoy it, so maybe without money involved, I may find myself laboring away at a start up.
I agree that we will all take on jobs at least once in our life that we will not enjoy, but will ultimately lead to where we want to be. It's the chance of reaching what we ultimately want in life that keeps us moving. Money of course, comes with a lot of things that can make people happy. But by removing it from the picture really makes you look at things in a different light and may change your view of how you think you should be spending your life. You'll be working for most of your life, so you should at least feel fulfilled when you're doing it. At least to me, money should be the added bonus, not the main reason. It's an extreme case for many of us to think of what we would do if money weren't involved, but I think it can get a lot of us out of the mentality that money is the sole reason that is driving us towards the goal. It's ideally how I want to view people doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. when I seek out their guidance; that they are there because they want to be, not just because the money they will earn from doing that job will get them what they want.
ReplyDeleteI just hope that people really do choose their career based on what they love and not the money involved! Even if they are though, I think you can tell those that truly care about their job from those that don't. For me I have always enjoyed what I am learning/doing, so maybe it is harder for me to step away and look at this. I really can't imagine myself in a different career path.
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