When I Grow Up I Want To Be Many Things
“So, are you a rapporteur by profession? Do you do this full time?”
It was 7am in the morning, I had just settled down for a short stopover at Bole Airport (Addis). The plan was to recline and catch up with sleep having left home at 3am to catch an early morning flight to Khartoum for a medical conference. However,the gentleman I just met wanted to know my credentials for being on that particular flight. He was the client, so I was obliged to respond in a manner that demonstrated my skills.
“No, I am a farmer, a teacher, I’m trained in finance, and I love words, so I sometimes do rapporteur work. I did the report for your conference in …..(insert date and place here)” . There was no chance of me catching up with sleep, we spent the rest of the stopover talking about why I don’t just do one thing like he does, and life generally.
Our conversation got me thinking about the way we approach life. At about 9 years old, people start asking you what you’d like to be when you grow up, and the expectation is that you should want to be one thing.
As a 9 year old, I wanted to be a doctor. Until I was 17, I actually wanted to be a doctor. Then I grew up and I wanted to be an accountant. Then I became an accountant. A few months into that, I wanted to run a business. While running the business, I desired to be a blogger, so I launched this blog. Somewhere along the line I wanted to be a farmer too, so I became a farmer, then I started teaching and training, so I became a trainer, and now I am running a business once more, while doing all those other things.
I do not have a career.
I have never had a career plan, and it would be a waste of time to ask me what I will be doing 5 years from now. If I will be alive in 5 years, I will be doing interesting work. That’s the only sure thing.
Truth.
I do not mean to throw shade at career plans, but I feel like life should be about being the things you possibly could be, and trying new things. If I had a career plan when I started out, it would have resembled something like this:
Accountant——>Chief Accountant——–>Finance Manager——–>CFO———>Big corporation CEO
Just looking at that gives me a headache. First, the chance of making it to CEO in corporate Kenya would be slim because I suck at politics, and I’m terrible at sucking up. Now,let’s imagine I learn how to do the two things, and I become CEO. What happens to the other things I want to be?
The second most likely scenario is that I get stuck on one of the steps because I am poor at the politics, but since finance is all I know to do, I end up being CFO for life.
Is it wrong to have a career plan?
No. If you love your profession and you would like to rise up the ranks in an organized fashion, then by all means you do need a plan and a good one. Consult your mentors, come up with a solid career plan and work hard to make it happen.
However, my issue with career plans is that a lot of us do not necessarily like our professions. We landed on them by accident (like my accounting), or because we thought they’re fun only to realize they’re not, or to please our parents. We have other things we would like to be, but fear holds us back.
How about dumping that career plan for a year, taking time out, and figuring what you really want to be next?I took 1.5 years off without much money or a plan and with a child (I’ll be sharing how that worked out). If that’s too brave a move, spend your weekends doing the things you want to be. Instead of watching TV after work, learn a new skill, meet people, doing the things you want to do, take on new challenges. It doesn’t have to make you money, often the stuff will cost you money, but it will open up your world in ways you never imagined.
The beauty of growing up is that once you grow up, you can be many things!
