Be What You Want to Be 557.5
"What are you gonna be when you grow up?" It's a serious question. As kids, we knew we were going to be something and to be something was to be someone. Even as our ambitions changed, we knew what we were going to be was important and it was our choice.
When I entered UCLA Law School in 1964, I wanted to do good, yet when I graduated three years later, I just wanted to do well. My life’s mission had changed, not as the result of conscious choice, but as a surrender to the momentum of an elaborate matchmaking ritual, the ultimate competition to get job offers from the most prestigious employers, to get the most hard-to-get jobs.
Money was definitely a factor, as almost all of us had student loans to pay off, but the larger force was a desire for validation. I was, by inclination and training, highly competitive, and getting a coveted job was the ultimate trophy. Intoxicated with a desire to win, I abandoned my wish to be significant in favor of being successful.
I was lucky. The tax firm I wanted to work for didn’t make me an offer, so I took a teaching position at the University of Michigan Law School. I loved teaching and stayed with it for nearly 20 years before I founded an ethics institute in honor of my parents.
You may start out intending to be the captain, but if you’re not careful, you may find yourself drifting in another direction, a passenger on your own ship. Your life is too important to be little.
Be what you want to be.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Comments
Those who are weak, like me, allow society to channel our life course. The phrase "be what you want to be" always was and always will be like a honey to my ears but a fearful stress to my soul. Different culture has different expectations of course. Society pressure and judgment really...really do channel the life course.
Posted by: Daniel Kim | March 13, 2008 1:20 PM
When I was young, I'd say things like "I want to be a police officer." My father would say "You'll never make any money doing that!" Now I have a high paying job that is luckily challenging. It wasn't always so in my career. Do/be what gives you a sense of purpose and fullfillment. Chasing the almighty dollar is a fool's race.
Posted by: John | March 14, 2008 6:19 AM
I am speaking to a group in April at a conference about dreaming a dream and making it happen. Your comments about "Being What You Want To Be" are right in line with my presentation. I hope my audience will enjoy me as much as I enjoyed this.
Posted by: Gerri Warden | March 14, 2008 6:50 AM
The process of choosing a life-work is often more a process of preparing in a field that one loves, then being open to try out something unexpected.
As a girl, my sights were always set in the realm of science. Forty years ago, people assumed a biology major would be a teacher or a nurse. I always replied, "NO WAY!!"
I was encouraged by my parents, but especially my dad, to do my best at something I loved, but also to look for ways to create a 'spillover of good' into other people's lives.
My first job was as a research chemist. Then, after a 12-year 'reprieve' during which my family was my main focus, I heard a radio interview that launched my current career as an abstinence educator--something I don't think anyone EVER says they want to be when they grow up! This work, however, has blended my passion for science with tons of 'spillage!'
Best of all, I have never, in eighteen years, awakened thinking I didn't want to go to work!
Posted by: Sharon Hedegard | March 28, 2008 6:53 AM