"What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?" A Terrible Career Question

The worst career question to ask someone: "What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?"

The word "what" implies that you have to pick just one thing. That you have to decide, finally, for good, what you want to do as a career. Well, the truth is you don't have to decide one thing.

The next part of this question I don't like is the word "BE".  Who says that you have to "be" anything? You don't have to pick just one thing, and you don't have to be what you do. Just because you like to do things, doesn't mean that's who you are and that has to be your identity. You can have lots of different interests. You're going to have a whole bunch of different ways that you apply your skills and talents. So you don't have to "be" any one thing. 

And the last part of this question I don't like is "when you grow up". Well, when does that happen? You know, that sort of implies that there is some time in your life when you've suddenly arrived, and you have to have it all figured out and we need to start adulting. Well, frankly, I don't ever want to grow up, and I don't think there is such a time. 

The better question that I ask is "What types of things do you want to do next?"

Let's change the mindset a little bit, open ourselves up to possibilities, and realize that we have all sorts of things that we can do going forward.

"Professional" Anything

Look at your interests, look at your skills, the things you like to do, and if you want to make a living doing that, go for it! Go find people who are doing something associated with that and see what they're doing. Ask questions and find out what sorts of opportunities are out there that maybe you hadn't thought of before.

Your Field vs. Your Occupation

The difference between a "Field" and an "Occupation" is a great concept that comes from the book "What Color Is Your Parachute?" by Richard Bolles, probably the most famous and bestselling career book of all time.

Whenever you're looking at a job opportunity, be sure to identify the field and the occupation. Because you may find that even though you've never done that particular job, if you've been working in the field for a long time, or if you have experience in that field, you probably already speak the language. And so finding other work within that field can actually be fairly easy.