The other day at lunch one of my co-workers asked me what my dream job would be.
Last week, a different co-worked asked me what superpower I would have if I could have any superpower, and I said I didn’t know. One person claimed invisibility, another mind control… I mean, telepathy would be neat, but seeing as how it’s not a real thing, it could be anything. And my nature is to pin things down, so I would have to explain just what kind of telepathy I meant.
So I just said I didn’t know and let the moment pass.
I gave the job question a bit more thought, because I had heard a talk on strategic planning just before lunch. I was thinking about what my personal plans and goals were, and I gave a real answer.
“I think I’d be a travel writer. Travel to exotic locales and write about them. And then get paid enough for writing about them to travel to the next place.”
My co-worked seemed unimpressed by this answer. His answer was the more typical kind of answer people give for this question, like saying “I’m fine” when someone asks how you are. A playboy billionaire, maybe superhero on the side.
Sure, being independently wealthy would be fun, or, at least, it sounds like fun to me. But it isn’t a job. It isn’t work. And it certainly isn’t a calling.
In one of the afternoon sessions for the day-long workshop I was attending, the speaker asked us what we had wanted to be when we grew up. And I remembered that when I was young I wanted to be a doctor and cure Multiple Sclerosis. I don’t necessarily remember this from when I was young. I remember this because my mom (who has MS), reminds me of it on a monthly (at least) basis.
But in the end, that wasn’t my dream job. It wasn’t a job that I wanted to work towards, and I didn’t. I started to dream other dreams. I landed in the job that I have through luck and some hard work, but I never went to school for this particular job. I never dreamed of working with software, but it turns out that I’m good at what I do.
But I would absolutely love to write and publish Hike with Me: Machu Picchu…