What do you want to be when you grow up?

19.03.09

I always had a problem answering the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It plagued me.

The problem was that my answer was never just one thing. One teacher asked me the dreaded question and my answer went something like this: “I want to have my own company, teach people, be an author, help people, etc etc.” I remember her telling me I should pick one thing on that list that I like more than the other things. I tried so hard to narrow down the list but fast forward and I still do not have just one thing I want to be. As a twentysomething the question has morphed into the classic cocktail question, “What do you do?” This turns out to be a long and rather interesting conversation.

There was a period in my life when I was envious of the people who love something so much that they want to do that one thing for the rest of their lives. And chances are they will do that one thing very well and be some sort of expert in their field. I am very passionate about entrepreneurship and I love having my own business. I definitely want to start more businesses throughout my life but I wouldn’t want all those businesses to be in one field. I want to try different things. Many people tell me that it is just because I have not found the one thing I truly love to do yet. I do not think that is true.

Society puts a lot of pressure on us to find that one “career.” Then I look at surveys like the one conducted by careerbuilder.com which shows that only 39% of American workers under the age of 25 are satisfied with their jobs and I feel like I’m on the right track because I love waking up and getting to work. It has taken me a long time but I am finally comfortable with the fact that I am probably never going to only want to do one thing.

I think we put too much pressure on kids to find a precise answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” No wonder there are an alarming number of young people working at jobs they just aren’t passionate about. Right now I am teaching a high school entrepreneurship course and a lot of the students are not quite sure what they want to do following high school. Some of them have started small businesses already or are launching a small business in the summer and many of them feel discouraged by not knowing exactly what they want to be doing in 5 years.

My message is this: Don’t feel bad if you don’t have a single answer to the question or if you can not answer the question at all. It has been quite a while since a teacher asked me to name one thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life and I still would not be able to give her an answer today.

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Natalie MacNeil

Natalie MacNeil is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of She Takes on the World. She is also the Co-founder of award-winning digital media firm, Imaginarius. For more information about Natalie, visit NatalieMacNeil.com.

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  • Sharon

    I totally agree. I think that a better question is “Who do you want to be?” I’ve also grown to dislike the “What do you do?” question at social gatherings. It’s often because we don’t know what else to ask. It’s the least awkward question to get to know someone a little bit better.

  • Natalie MacNeil

    You make a good point Sharon. I suppose we do ask the “what do you do” question because we can’t think of something else to say. Society needs a new conversation starter!

  • Joanne Tombrakos

    I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up…and I am a lot older than you and probably most of the women who read this blog!
    I think pigeon holing yourself into just one thing is attaching yourself too tightly to the outcome. What you want to be is more of an evolving journey. It might start out one way and turn out to look much differently than you thought.