I met one of my sons for lunch last week and he surprised me by saying he was considering taking some writing classes. This is a kid (early 20s) who dropped out high school six months shy of graduation because he got so interested in web design and the money he was being offered. He now makes almost as much money as I did at my last FT job.
But he’s now starting to think about what he really wants to do career-wise. So I shifted into advice mode a little bit, explaining my definition of a vocation, a calling, and why it’s important to me to not just have a skill or craft or interest area that I feel passionate about but to be using those skills for something that the world needs, something that gives it all deeper meaning.
And I suggested he do the exercises in What Color is Your Parachute? since he talked about how he wanted to work with people more, maybe outside more, maybe traveling, maybe learning photography, etc. The exercises in the book are so helpful for sorting out and prioritizing those aspects of a job or career.
Today I sent both he and one of his brothers a pointer to a transcript of a Dick Bolles chat (author of Parachute) that I thought was pretty good.
So maybe I’ll drag out my old stuff when I last did the exercises so he can he see how I’ve struggled. Who knows, I might even learn something by revisiting that stuff.