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So I realize there’s a thread in General titled “What you wanna do?”and it has some great responses to it, but this topic is something I’ve been thinking a lot for months now. Instead of asking what you want to do, and having to regard professions according to their salary, I'm curious what you really want to do. The post is kinda long and I might not be entirely too coherent, but I'll try to justify that it's a blog post and that I'm attempting to sort my own thoughts out.
Here are some hypothetical criteria that I thought up for consideration.
If...
1) There is demand for all kinds of work, and at the same time, the demand is not derived from shortage.
2) Your reward for doing work is simply increasing degree of enjoyment rather than monetary reward.
3) Simply doing any job, however simple it is, is sufficient enough in providing a comfortable lifestyle for your family.
4) The primary driving force in society is finding and doing what you love, instead of making enough money.
5) Assuming you will work hard at what you love to do.
6) You can switch fields of study whenever you choose without financial consequences.
7) Assuming the world isn’t as materialistic as it is.
What would you do for a living? I will explain the basis behind each assumption. By the way, these are assuming that there is sufficient wealth in the world and designed so that I can ask "if it wasn't for the money, would you still be working at your job?"
Note: I know this isn’t possible in the real world and there are models of this and that etc. that it doesn’t work with. I’m not interested in perfect real world applicability because I understand we all need compromises in the real world and some things will not change.
For the first assumption, consider that maybe 1 doctor may be sufficient for your town, state, nation, the world etc. but having more doctors is also not a bad thing. Having 1 pianist doesn’t create a shortage, but still, the world can support having 100 million pianists and it’ll be ok. It’s assuming that there’s no restrictions on jobs due to supply/demand.
For the second assumption, would you be or want to be a lawyer, accountant, doctor, senior manager if say, a health club personal trainer is getting paid as much as you? I’m not assuming that there aren’t diseases, or crimes in the world, so there probably will be people who genuinely want to work in those fields. And remember my first assumption, even 1 person in the world doing the job is sufficient (but more on the job is ok too). Do you still want to work years in those fields if it wasn’t for the 6 digit salary? I realize those jobs get paid a higher salary because of the technical difficulty and training required, but if you know others have the job covered and the salary wasn't important, would you still want to work on that job?
For the third assumption, I’m assuming you’re actually doing something. Whether you’re studying, watering plants, skateboarding or writing stories full-time, you’re actually engaged in anything other than being lazy and not doing anything productive.
For the fourth assumption, if people did not ‘judge’ you on how much your salary is, or how much shit you own, but rather on how fully you’re living your life. This is assuming there’s a driving force that motivates you to search for what you love to do. If then, would your primary concern with life be on obsessing on the latest Gucci, Prada, etc. that are only a means to show off your material wealth? And I don’t mean to play down on fashion here. If your passion is fashion (yay for rhymes) maybe you'd want to make the latest designs or critique the newest trends, but I doubt anyone’s primary drive would be to simply be a loyal consumer.
Next assumption is that you love what you do and it is so rewarding that you’ll give it your best effort. You’ll constantly be working to improve and you’ll pay attention to meticulous details. If you love physics and become a physicist, you’ll read and research on the latest ideas, do experiments and attempt at broadening the human knowledge. Or maybe you want to be an actor, but not because of the fame and fortune, but because of the limitless expressions and the ability to impact others with your art. It’s an assumption that you will want to hone and get better at what you do.
The sixth assumption is that you don't have to be stuck in one profession forever. For instance, let's say you love soccer and want to play soccer as a living. You reach your 30’s and you still love soccer, but you can’t play as competitively as the youngsters because of your age. You can still choose to continue being a soccer player, soccer coach, etc. but you also have the option to start studying in a different field and go in a completely different direction. This is in accordance with assumption three. As long as you’re working at something, even if it’s just studying, you can still make a comfortable living.
And the last assumption I already touched on, but it’s assuming that your primary purpose in life isn’t just to buy shit. Or showing off to others how much shit you already bought.
You still have to take into account age, morality and social limitations. For instance, if you want to be a professional gymnast at the age of 40, well it might be a little hard to win an Olympic gold medal. Also, you can’t claim to want to have sex for the rest of your life. If you love sex so much, you need to be a prostitute and actually have sex all day and still run the risk of contacting STDs. Why? Because I think it's fair to assume that the majority of people have goals in their minds and don't want to have intercourse all the time, and the only way you'd be able to satisfy your thirst would be to take whatever customers that come to you.
Also, being a Starcraft forum, please think twice before you say you want to be a progamer. Sure, it’s easy to make the connection between ‘I love gaming’ therefore ‘I want to be a progamer.’ But you have to assume that you love gaming so much that you’re willing to practice 8+ hours a day and wanting to be the best gamer you can be. Remember, you can do other jobs too while still game as a hobby.
Some things to consider. When I asked myself what would be a job I loved, I thought up 3 things.
1. It has creative productivity
2. It can leave a legacy
3. It’s a field where I can help others
The field of arts is probably what most people associate with creativity. However, I feel there simply isn’t enough emphasis on creativity, and that creativity is probably the single most important determinant in figuring out what you’ll love to do. Musicians, actors, artists, writers, even photographers realize how creativity plays a part in their profession. I don’t believe anyone that claim that they’re not creative; they simply haven’t found the field where they can be creative in. The reason most people hate their jobs is because it is repetitive—they don’t feel they’re being productive and secretly wish they’re in a field where they can express their creativity. Journalists can be creative. Tattoo artists can be creative. Even sports players and doctors can be creative in their individual fields. It's how much control you can exert over your work. Creativity is the reason why youtube and UCC are so popular. Of course, there's a lot of free content that you wouldn't be able to get so easily otherwise, but mostly, you watch these clips of people’s creativity and you become inspired and feed off their creativity.
In terms of legacy, I think it’s really closely tied together with creative productivity. However, even though your creativity might not play a big part, some people are happy working in fields such as construction. Your labor will result in something you’ve worked on and it's something you can leave behind even if you age and die. Even though you won't be credited for it, you can become old and always be able to say that you built that tower or that magnificent bridge. Still, legacy is probably much easier to create through creative input.
The helping others part is more of a socialistic notion but it’s something that I think is worth thinking about. Usually when I think of happy people, it’s not people who has wealth. It’s those people going out there, being ecologically-conscious and helping out others and inspiring. And it doesn’t have to be working with medicine in Africa or saving the whales. If your creative work can impact others and inspire them in some way (e.g. a rapper with a message), that’s also a form of positive impact you can have on others.
I hope this provides an opportunity for anyone that managed to read through the wall of text to think about 'what do you really want to do?' And please consider the long term satisfaction. It should be something you enjoy working for it at that very moment, and also something that you can look back and be content with. For instance, if you say what you really want to do is simply retiring and traveling the world, I think it'll become pretty boring after 10 years or so. It should be fine if you're doing photography, or writing about different parts of the world etc. but I think a vacation should be nothing more than a short break. There should be a point when not being productive gets old and you ask yourself 'what have I been doing?'
As for me, I can't claim that I have any answers for myself. I'm 24, still asking questions and still struggling. This may all be wishful thinking and there's a point where you might just make compromises and move on with your life. However, I don't want to wake up in 30 years and regret not setting aside time and thinking this through. So what about you? What do you really want to do throughout your life?
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I would love to be an Aerospace Engineer and work on rockets that would go into space or some kind of Astrophysicist and search for life on other planets/habitable planets. It would be hard for me to imagine a job for me that could be more fulfilling than one of those two, despite the obvious workload they entail.
Edit: Or do something like reviewing/benchmarking computer hardware like those guys at Tom's and Anandtech.
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FuDDx
United States5008 Posts
I wanna be the best air bender.
I wanna shape air and package it in latex.
I wanna make loads doing it!
I will do these things!
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pure mathematics. it has creative productivity, very real potential to leave a legacy, and a decent chance that someone will find a use for your results.
edit: OR mad engineer bent on world domination.
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1. Chef - Last semester, I discovered the joy of cooking as a means of becoming more self-sufficient. Learning from recipes, the Food Network, and my mom has made me into a decently skilled chef. I've cooked dinners for 5, 10, 20, 40, and 60 people, and even though it's really tough, I thoroughly enjoy doing it.
2. Professional musician (piano/violin) - I love music, and I love playing with orchestras. The fame attached to it wouldn't be bad either. Not having time to practice now really makes me miss it...
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I've spent 4years in a job that I do not like because I have no idea what I really like to do.
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Play golf professionally. I just love everything about the game. I literally love every aspect of the game. To me going out and putting for six hours would not be work, just enjoyable play in the outdoors. As such, I can't think there is anything I'd rather be able to do with my life, for my main career, than play golf professionally.
The only resveration I have about that if that playing golf doens't do much for the betterement of society or individual lives on the whole; and this is quite important to me, so while playing golf might be my ideal career choice it would not be all I want to do with my life.
Also, raising kid's is something I absolutely want to do.
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Professional rally driver in the WRC.
Or working in the field of nanotechnology.
I'd have tried to achieve my former idea, but I wasn't born rich enough to do it.
That said, I don't want to go into med because of the money.
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United States2822 Posts
Off topic - Sulli is super cute.
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Writing fiction, doing photography, and some opinion writing when I feel like it. Also Bartending.
I have NO idea why I want to Bar-tend, I just do.
Also I wanna move to a city with more sun than Vancouver, Spain/anywhere in the Mediterranean is my ultimate goal
what I am on the path of doing: reading fiction and making portfolio to transfer to a creative writing major in a Victoria, taking pics and learning photography, looking for job as waiter to move up to bartender eventually.
ballin, though i shouldn't brag since I have a luck background of supportive parents.
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Become a professional producer in (jazzy/soul) hip-hop. Inspired by Nujabes and other talents ages ago.
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a rentboy dealing exclusively in kpop babes
i really dont know, i used to really enjoy football and futsal but not to the point of playing 24/7. i also like gaming but once again not competitively, maybe something like testing or such? musician wouldnt be bad either
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Become as realised as Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. It doesn't matter what "I" do or whether "I" enjoy it.
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Pure math 
I am doing this btw
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On April 05 2010 16:13 Cube wrote:
pure mathematics. it has creative productivity, very real potential to leave a legacy, and a decent chance that someone will find a use for your results.
edit: OR mad engineer bent on world domination.
I study pure math and compsci atm and I can tell you this:
pure mathematics. it has creative productivity,
reaction: Definitely, it is fantastic and great fun
very real potential to leave a legacy,
reaction: Look around, so many people so smart so good at it. Look back, people did AMAZING things I can never match, probably won't leave a huge incredible legacy, not as far as I can see...
and a decent chance that someone will find a use for your results.
reaction: Math library is full of esoteric theorems that nobody ever read/care unless someone is in your field. Once you are into that field, total number of people who actually understand you is probably less than 10,000, if not ALOT less.
On the other hand, if you helped develop Ipod or mousePad the number of lives you touch is far greater.
So basically pure math is mostly, I think, self motivation and culture and passion. You don't do it for "the glory" per se, you do it because you love it so much.
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I would really want to make a living playing guitar. Just music.
That or art, just painting.
Not on demand, just do it whenever I want, whatever it feels like. And make good music, good art...
That or just do math puzzles, so fun!!
Or code something great, not huge infrastrucutres, maybe, but mostly small things for fun...
I just want to play games and not hard work lol keep everything small and light-hearted
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On April 05 2010 16:03 Sulli wrote:
Some things to consider. When I asked myself what would be a job I loved, I thought up 3 things.
1. It has creative productivity
2. It can leave a legacy
3. It’s a field where I can help others
i definitely agree with this. like you, i'm also lost and confused. i've been asking myself this same question. anyway, i want to be a history and literature geek/expert. i want to write a history book about my country but in contemporary style.
but i guess, this is too late for me. i can't pursue this mainly because of financial reasons. it's hard to get rich with this kind of job here.
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i would snowboard all winter and windsurf all summer. not even professionally; i would rather just be mediocre and do it for fun with no pressure, and be thrilled every time i land a hard trick
but it sounds like you're asking more about careers 
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On April 05 2010 18:01 The_Australian wrote:
Become as realised as Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. It doesn't matter what "I" do or whether "I" enjoy it.
I just wikied this guy out of interest. I really want to read more about this and explore it, can you tell me more?
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On April 05 2010 19:14 SlayerS_BunkiE wrote:Show nested quote +On April 05 2010 16:03 Sulli wrote:
Some things to consider. When I asked myself what would be a job I loved, I thought up 3 things.
1. It has creative productivity
2. It can leave a legacy
3. It’s a field where I can help others
i definitely agree with this. like you, i'm also lost and confused. i've been asking myself this same question. anyway, i want to be a history and literature geek/expert. i want to write a history book about my country but in contemporary style. but i guess, this is too late for me. i can't pursue this mainly because of financial reasons. it's hard to get rich with this kind of job here.
Looking at the portion that you quoted from the OP, I think I was a little misleading by claiming that I "thought up" those 3 things. I've been spending a lot of time on TED.com listening to talks, talking with people around me and those 3 criteria were such recurring themes that I eventually simply "narrowed down" to those points. If there's anyone who isn't too familiar with the site, I encourage you to visit TED and listen to ideas of people who are out there trying to make an impact.
For folks that were able to respond immediately with what you love to do, I say that's awesome and I secretly envy you.
For others, I'd like to present some videos that provided me with some ideas to reflect on:
+ Show Spoiler +source: http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_vaynerchuk_do_what_you_love_no_excuses.htmlsource: http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html+ Show Spoiler +This post is compliments of one of old University professors in Accounting who has over 10 years of experience lecturing students. He also worked in Deloitte for several years, and enjoyed a very prestigious career in accounting.
The problem is not the CA designation. The problem is not the Big 4. The problem is not CA marketing.
The problem is you.
The problem with too many students is they are “happiness deferrers.” They try to defer what they really want in life, by thinking, that once they reach a certain goal, they will be happy.
Life is too dynamic for a certain goal to bring happiness. People often feel disappointed when their magical moment comes and it is not what they expected.
I had one friend, who worked as an investment banker his whole life, thinking that after 65, his life would be bliss. He worked probably 60-80 hours/week for his whole life in a prestigious banking firm. By the time he retired, I would imagine he had well over 10 million dollars in savings.
One week into retirement, he is bored and angry.
“This is it?”
He chased the Freedom 65 dream, only to find out that his most physically capable years were behind him.
The reason why too many people stay in jobs they don’t like, is that they are afraid of uncertainty. They prefer unhappiness over uncertainty.
There is never a best time to quit a job you don’t like. Life is never a straight path, and you will never get a sign where all the arrows point in the right direction.
“I don’t like working at Deloitte. But I’m only 16 months away from my CA designation, so I might as well finish it.”
“I finally have my CA, but I should stay until manager. Then I will leave, cause I will have more experience.”
“Well.. I’ll be up for promotion soon, and will hit the 6 figure mark. I might as well stay”
These are all excuses. The economic recession is this year’s excuse.
Deep down, I think people try to fool themselves. Being Unhappy but occupied means you don’t have to answer the question of what you truly want out of life. Career progression is not progression if you are in the wrong career.
The best is yet to come is the most foolish saying in the world.
Don’t be a happiness deferrer. source: http://iwanttobeaca.blogspot.com/2009/08/happiness-deferrers.html
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There are a few things that I would really enjoy doing, and a lot of them are drastically different from each other. I'm actually really good at picking up new skills early on, but I don't have the self-discipline or motivation to follow up and really practice to get better at things. I tend to just be really good at something and then be bored of it and feel arrogant about that particular thing, or I try something new and am really bad so I quit or don't try because I feel really stupid.
Fiction Author- I wish more people could still make a living off of this, and I wish I didn't feel guilt while doing it because I feel like I should be doing school work instead.
Musician- I am deeply rhythmically challenged and can't sing whatsoever, but I think that would be so satisfying to create original songs and play them.
Stunt Car Driver- Whenever I'm driving I want to just put the pedal to the floor and try to drift around corners and do exciting things like that. It would be amazing to know how to do those things and get paid for it.
Astronaut- I have no math or science interests, but I think that would be really interesting to live totally isolated from society for a long period with just 3-4 other people. Sometimes when I'm bored I fantasize about what it must feel like to be sitting in a rocket as it takes off, how that would feel.
Fighter Pilot- It would feel so amazing to go at those kinds of speeds, like complete physical freedom. I live in a really small town and I've never even been on a plane before, but I think it would feel so amazing to be going really fast and turn sharply and be pressed back in your seat.
Advertising Creative Director- I watch really annoying advertisements all the time and I think I could make better ones. It's probably one of my more possible ideas but I just have this negative feeling about it because I wouldn't really be contributing much at all to society.
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EPT
