If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it;
that is your punishment.
If you never know what you want to be, if you live what some might call the dynamic life but what I call the artistic life, if each day you are unsure of who you are and what you know, you will never become anything, and that is your reward.
I first discovered this quote via the wonderful Stephen Fry.
It makes me so happy.
Those of us who don’t have clear, bell-like vocation calls, have other joys.
Do you know what you want to be?
Or are you still living the dynamic life?
To-Do Items:
Be richer than you are now = saving money.
Be a cook = Cincinnati Cooks.
Be a singer = singing lessons.
Better clothes = monthly budget to purchase clothing.
Eating the foods you like without gaining weight = special diet.
Stress free career or volunteer with job coach.
Being able to cope with coworkers = people conscious.
Learning to play an instrument = music lessons.
TV Star = YouTube.
Win American Idol = High goal.
Politics = City Council, volunteer campaign worker = League of Women Voters.
Public Speaking = Join Toastmasters.
Learn a foreign language = Hawaiian, Spanish, French, Japanese.
Learn to speak & write Hawaiian, Spanish or French.
I’m saddened that providing a service to the community and to be able to make a living at it is deemed a punishment. But then, that’s Oscar for you.
But that’s not his point at all Barbara! There are so many rewards for people who know what they want to be – clarity, direction, belonging… For those of us less gifted with a clear path, this quote gives us something to feel good about.
Oddly enough, I do… now. But it took me roughly 25 years to get here, and I spent at least a decade struggling to reconcile what I wanted with what I could feasibly do. As it is, I’m compromising so that my pays-the-bills career will actually pay the bills, but I’ll find a way to get the skills I want in a trade I like so I have an enjoyable fallback/extra source of income. [sigh] If I had only been allowed to get a trade as a teenager, I’d be employed…
This certainly gets you thinking. Do you know what you want to be? I am currently working with women who want to be leaders, which means different things to different people. The first thing we do is write out that vision – what is the career plan? I want to invite your readers to take advantage of a free leadership training for women http://leadershiptrainingforwomen.net/ that will help them answer that question of “do you know what you want to be.”
Love the graphic! Thanks so much. JJ DiGeronimo, http://www.purposefulwoman.com.