How childhood dreams can make your professional future better
Fire brigade, space travel, treasure hunts in the jungle: Somehow that was the plan – and then it just turned out to be the desk job. But in the dreams of back then there are Easter eggs that can help make your career path more exciting from tomorrow.
So I actually wanted to control the Enterprise. Alternatively, a small X-Wing, but since I’m prone to seasickness, that might not have worked anyway. But about the Enterprise, that was the plan back then, in the mid-late 1990s. Or Lara Croft. When research spaceships slowly became unlikely with the Millennium, I would have loved to have become Lara Croft.
What could not have become of the children from back then? We wanted to hunt for lost treasure, save the world, save other worlds, become creatures of change, play football, learn magic, uncover secrets and here we are. At our desks. Alternatively, at the dining table. At least with a computer screen and pretty sedated for most of the day, with the exception of the fingers. I really want as many people as possible to enjoy their jobs, but the truth is: Most of us have become significantly more boring than we had planned.
I wanted to become a marine biologist, became a management consultant and later a founder. The passion for everything that lives in the water is unbroken 🌊🐠🐙
– theL (@ theBigL123) May 19, 2021
When I ask people about their childhood dreams, they usually answer with: “Um …”, and then there is a pause, then a very lively conversation in which everyone involved gets bright eyes. Childhood dreams were so damn long ago. But they mean something to this day. They remind us of the first long-term plans we once had. If I ask my two-year-old what she would like later, she says: strawberries. In a few years the answer will be different. It will be shaped by your ideas, longings and desires. In the first few years it will not be shaped by expectations of the labor market or house prices.
Restaurant critic (after “Brust oder Keule”), children’s book illustrator (because annoyingly there are so many books without pictures).
Is: torn.– recover (@readers hunger) May 19, 2021
And these ideas, longings and desires say something. Even if they are never realized, many of these plans were dreams that have been with us for a long time. They influenced hobbies, the choice and involvement in school subjects, which books we read, which films we saw, which sports we were enthusiastic about. Dreams shape life.
Also interesting: “Without goals, work becomes meaningless” – Jan Hugenroth from Next Matter
How to interpret childhood dreams
We can start with this knowledge. The career paths that we have actually chosen can also benefit from childhood ideas. Think of it as a game:
- What ideas did you have for your future when you were little and thought free?
- What were the stories you told yourself about these dreams like?
- What skills are in these dreams? What actions, training, trips?
- Are you still up for it?
Don’t just think about big, bold dreams. What other ideas did you have? As usual, I ask with ulterior motives. Because these desk jobs of today are sure to bring joy to many of you. But they can become a wasting routine and that is neither fun nor creative.
Actually I wanted to become an archaeologist, I made it into the trade, it’s similar, dusty in any case
– Lettuce (@strandbaendit) May 19, 2021
If you ask about your childhood dreams, you can discover passions that have been lost in your own biography. And these passions can still enrich adult life.
Veterinarian
But account management in a digital agency is almost the same.
Everyone is taken care of, sometimes it’s like a zoo and the office kitchen smells like a stable.– Mrs. Gummy Bear (@Cyberchamaeleon) May 19, 2021
If you wanted to hunt for treasure, you might want to plan a round trip to important Maya places. Those who would rather have become a marine biologist could finally study for a diving license. Yes, Corona, I know, but that will also pass. First read a book about it or go to the aquarium. If you wanted to become an explorer, you can soon go to the climbing hall or plan hiking trips. If you wanted to design games, you could play one again – or learn pen & paper.
As a child I wanted to become a psychologist, which I found really exciting. Now I’m a librarian … and I have the feeling that there is not much difference for the customers 😂
– BᵢbFₗₑdₑᵣₘₐᵤₛ (@bib_fledermaus) May 19, 2021
The reward of children’s creativity
It makes sense because you will see new things. Hear new things, learn new things, feel new things. That stimulates creativity. Many of us have been told that dreams are unattainable and that skills are ultimately useless. The decisive factor was a stringent career path, if possible with specialization and then hone your career up to the second child, then persevere until you retire. Free thinking? Dangerous.
Indeed Muellmann, zoo director and astronaut. In this order.
Muellmann, because they were always so nice to ride on the running board
– Sascha (潘 賞 世) Pallenberg (@sascha_p) May 19, 2021
But that’s not how it works today. Our truths have changed: interdisciplinary thinking helps solve problems. Creativity makes you smart and happy. The role as a purely functional member of the workforce is outdated, today it has long been known that people work best when they can act out several facets.
There can be much in the passions of childhood that inspire today’s work. At that time we were still free to choose what we wanted. It is therefore worth taking a look at the dreams of the past – and dreaming all over again with the freedom of today.
Kind: A magazine for Typo3 news
Is: magazine and platform for the digital future.😇
– t3n magazine (@ t3n) May 19, 2021
