When did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

First time : high school senior: decided to go into nursing.

January 1998: perceiving a call to ordained ministry.

I declared a sociology major when I was still in my first term of freshman year. I knew it was the right choice in my sophomore year. I’m a junior now and I have no doubts it’s what I want.

When I was four I wanted to be a “nurse for flowers” (ie work in a garden center) alternating with being a “liberrian.”

When I was seven I discovered archaeology and stayed fascinated for five years with both archaeology and the idea of working in a museum.

When I was twelve I found out about Jacques Cousteau and decided to become a marine biologist. I carried on with that idea all the way through college.

Then I got a job as a Plant Inspector (checking out nurseries and garden centers) for the state (so back to “nurse for flowers”).

However, then the museum bug bit me again so I went to graduate school to become a systematic terrestrial malacologist with a minor in Botany, and eventually became a science curator in a museum. The whole time I also secretly wanted to work in a book store.

Now I am a bookseller and I garden when I can, so I seem to have pretty much stayed on track since age four.

I’m 52, and I still haven’t decided. I have taken the attitude that I will surf the wave, because that’s a hell of lot easier than fighting the wave. Life takes me where it takes me, and there’s little I can do to change it.

What? I still don’t know! I may never know!!!

When I was in high school, I was in the Air Force JROTC program and that was the beginning of my interest in the military. It is something that I have always enjoyed and appreciated and here I am today with 20+ years (and counting) in my military career.

I wanted to be a CPA since I was about six years old. I’m not sure why. So 18 years later I take a college level accounting class. I fucking hated it. I made it about a week before swearing off anything that had to do with accounting.

I was 24 when I started college full-time.

@loser

Amen to that….

When I was 6 or so I discovered that I was really good at convincing people to do things.
When I was 10 I discovered that I could read people and was good at working with them.
When I was 12 I discovered that I was good at public speaking.
When I was 18 I discovered that being “good” at public speaking was actually a bit of a gift.
When I was 20 I discovered that I was rather brilliant at managing people.
At 21 I discovered that I could take risks and make things turn out well.

I’m 22 and have no idea what I am going to do with my life…..and I’m okay with that….I have plenty of time, I have marketable skills (sorta)...

PS. Suggestions welcome :-D

I’m 41, and I still haven’t got a clue either. I’m not sure that I ever will completely figure the answer to that one out any time soon.

It’s more like life figured out what to do with me…....

I think I started lining my stuffed animals up and teaching them at age 3 or 4. Weird, though, I don’t ever recall having to administer assessments or measure proficiency…seems like I appreciated their differences.

I haven’t. And it seems the harder I try to figure it out, the less I know what I want to do.

When I was 14 I casually mentioned to a friend how many songs I’d written and he was fascinated. Until that moment I’d assumed that all kids write songs but don’t become songwriters, just like all kids draw but don’t become painters. When I went around the classroom and realised nobody else had ever written even one song, I decided that’s what I wanted to do for a living. As it turned out, I couldn’t find people to sing my songs, and I had a fairly good voice, so I started singing them myself instead, but it’s not far from the original idea.

@hitomi why don’t you get into sales. Or if you like reading you can be a lawyer.

Yeah I am not really sure I know what I want to do either. However I do know what I want. And that is to do pretty much what ever I feel like doing. So that kind of conflicts with most high paying jobs. So I keep coming back to owning businesses and what not. But then I don’t really know what to do regarding that. Any suggestions with that one guys?

I figured out when I came to the Pacific Northwest that it was the right landscape for me. I figured out jobs so I could stay here. I never had any ambition about jobs. Just wanted to stay here.
Now I want to leave.

Newer thought about it so far..

I wanted to “help people” when I was little; maybe a nurse or a teacher. In HS I developed a fascination with Psychology and pursued that through college (gearing toward social work). Toward the end of college I realized my compassion far exceeded my common sense and decided social work probably wasn’t for me. Many teachers/profs tried to steer me toward Law School; but it seemed like too much work and I wanted to be done with school. Looking back maybe I should have…

I did really interesting long term temp jobs for a couple of years and then ultimately entered the business world in HR. I was moved into management and ultimately into regional mgmt. Got married; had my first child; went back to work. Had my second child and decided to stay home and raise my own kids.

Many years later I consult when the mood strikes me and the money is worth the effort. I volunteer a lot (mostly in the social assistance field where I thought I would end up 100 years ago). I enjoy sitting on the board of several active and prolific organizations and I’m still doing the Mom thing.

Somewhere along the way my path veered crazily away from my vision, but I’m content for now. Although I have to say, truly, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up! “The rest is still unwritten.”

@LKidKyle1985 Sales is just so BROAD…my problem is that I don’t even know where to begin…and the job market is rubbish at the moment so…...

In the military service. I decided to become as far from a soldier as possible; artist.

23 years and still working on that one. :D