We all remember the age-old question people asked us when we were kids: What do you want to be when you grow up?
For the first 15 years of our lives we had the luxury of going through unlimited career phases. By the age of 16, I’d aspired to be a pediatrician, a dentist, an orthodontist (lots of medical stuff), a geneticist, a teacher, and a book editor – in that order.
The older I’ve gotten, though, the less people have asked me this. Now, at the ripe age of 20, I’ve realized why: the things we “want to do when we grow up” are the things we’re going to be doing 2, 5 or at the most 7 years from now. They’re the jobs we’ve been working towards in our classes. They’re the opportunities we hope to gain from our internships. They’re the skills we hope to acquire through our current experiences.
That’s why we have to stop saying, “I’ll start/do/consider ____ when I get older.” We’re “older” right now.
If you’re a business major who plans to be closing deals on the golf course by age 40, you should be on the driving range (at least) by age 20.
If you’re an English or Journalism major who plans to work for a major news outlet by 35, you should be writing every day now.
The twenties are the time to be developing the habits, attitudes and skills that will be the foundation for the goals we want to achieve in our thirties, forties, and even fifties.
If you know what you need to do to get where you want to be, why not start now?
For the first 15 years of our lives we had the luxury of going through unlimited career phases. By the age of 16, I’d aspired to be a pediatrician, a dentist, an orthodontist (lots of medical stuff), a geneticist, a teacher, and a book editor – in that order.
The older I’ve gotten, though, the less people have asked me this. Now, at the ripe age of 20, I’ve realized why: the things we “want to do when we grow up” are the things we’re going to be doing 2, 5 or at the most 7 years from now. They’re the jobs we’ve been working towards in our classes. They’re the opportunities we hope to gain from our internships. They’re the skills we hope to acquire through our current experiences.
That’s why we have to stop saying, “I’ll start/do/consider ____ when I get older.” We’re “older” right now.
If you’re a business major who plans to be closing deals on the golf course by age 40, you should be on the driving range (at least) by age 20.
If you’re an English or Journalism major who plans to work for a major news outlet by 35, you should be writing every day now.
The twenties are the time to be developing the habits, attitudes and skills that will be the foundation for the goals we want to achieve in our thirties, forties, and even fifties.
If you know what you need to do to get where you want to be, why not start now?