Growing up I assumed you had to choose a career path and it would inevitably remain your career for life. It’s almost a torturous thought, to have unlimited choices in life yet forced to choose only one. So, Dave Evans’ talk Designing the life you really want, which we saw this week in class, gave me insight into this life dilemma. He basically said, we have enough desires to fill over 8 lifetimes but we simply do not have enough time in our lifetime. We have to be honest with what we want out of life experiences, our expectation of income, and keep our minds open about the future job market. In reality jobs are created and destroyed daily thus no career paths are certain and it’s important to remain adaptable. My project this week is to come up with 3 possible future selves; one in which I’ll be doing what I’m studying; the second where my career disappears tomorrow; and the third is if I didn’t have to worry about money what would I do. The following are my plans, evaluations of those plans, and my overall conclusion.
To begin, I’m an Economics major because my ideal path would be to become an Economic Consultant/Advisor and gain enough experience to ultimately develop Economic Policies. This six letter plan would be titled “My Life as an Economic Consultant”. I followed the five year layout plan for this map as you can see in the pictures above. Year one, I would finish my senior year, apply for an Economics Graduate program, and complete my current internship with flying colors. In the second year of the plan I would get into a top ranked Economic Grad-program, plus begin a great research internship. In my third year of the plan I enter my second year of grad school, and with great references I lock down a position at a Consulting Firm. The fourth year of the plan I graduate and enter a fulltime position on a fast track to a senior analyst. I would like to travel directly after graduation before starting beginning heavy work. In my fifth year I would like to be a 2nd year analyst with a new salary and buying my first home.
The second version of my life, is based on the idea that tomorrow my industry collapses. This version would be entitled “My life working for corporate law ”. Year one, I finish my degree, but my intended industry has collapsed and there wont be jobs when I graduate. So in my second year I take the year off to travel, figure out life, spend time with family, study for my LSATs, apply to Law programs (to study policy in any form). The third year of my plan I would be heading into a Law School. The fourth year would be characterized by my second year in a law program and an internships. The fifth year I would be graduating from my program, and prepare to take the bar exam. I would study like crazy, take it, and if I pass reward myself with travel and family time before entering fulltime work.
The final scenario is to imagine I was financially secure and could pursue any passion or interest. This version would be called “Life with all my wildest dreams”. I would still finish my B.A. as I only have a year left, but I wouldn’t stress about grades and grad school. Instead I would only take classes that were of interest to my endeavors. I would want to be a real-estate mogul, and pursue acting eventually. Year two I would begin by traveling. I would spend time with my family to ground my principles. I would also plan to meditate to reflect on my traveling experiences to come up with a business that could help global outreach for unequal living standards. In year three I would take my knowledge and attempt to create this business idea. I would also look to pursue my selfish interest of acting if no good I would drop it and focus on clothing and my real-estate. I would plan to take as many vacations as possible. In the fourth year I would expand my business to help increase living standards. In year five I would hope to continue to travel, and raise a family.
Overall it was interesting to attempt a 5-year plan for these scenarios. I used an overall number rating system to judge each situation. What I found was I would be happy in almost any of the choices, but it would take different level of resources, decisions, and influence. In the end it was an interesting exercise to alternate my one track mind.
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