My favorite question to ask people who I have just met, or haven’t known for long, and one that really helps in understanding a person’s motivations and personality, is one of the simplest.
What was the first thing you wanted to be when you grew up?
If you’re asking a woman, make sure to toss in the corollary, “And don’t say ‘princess.’ Everyone says ‘princess.’” I’m not trying to be sexist here, but after having asked this question for years on end, I have noticed that most women will say ‘princess’ at the first pass.
When you ask someone this question, you find out a lot about where they started. A police officer or firefighter was concerned about public safety. A doctor or nurse wanted to help individuals and families. A construction worker wanted to create and help build something with others. An astronaut wants to explore and find new things to share with others. Whatever it is, the position has something to do with their earliest impulses towards others and some core concepts about society and others.
A good follow-up to the question is, “What do you do now?”
Besides the implied disconnect between original intentions and current execution (in a statistic I just made up, around 3% of people get the job they first wanted), you can track the progression and development of your conversation partner’s career path. Although few people end up with the job that they first wanted, many of them still have a tangential relationship between the two. The core values or underlining reason behind the first job that they ever wanted can still be found in their current vocation.
It’s also a good question to ask yourself. Why did you want that first job? What led you to your current field? Why do you have (or are you searching for) that career? Have you moved away from your original plans, and if so, why? What changed?
Answering these questions can help you to determine your real motivations for your present employment situation, and might give you some insight on where you want your career to go next.
And if you’re wondering, I wanted to be a T-Rex when I grew up.
Love this, love this, love this.
A t-rex would be pretty awesome. I wanted to be a trash man.
What does that say about us? I’m not sure, but I’m glad you aren’t a T-rex because dinosaurs do not blog, and as much as I still respect trash men, I’m pretty sure that’s not what I want to do now.
I wrote something about this when my blog first started in July. I asked people to share what they wanted to be when they grew up, what are they now, and what do they want to be. If you get a minute, check out my archives for July and check that article!
Thanks for commenting, Rich! I looked at your post, and I have to admit, being a Ninja Turtle was probably #2 on my list. I think that the TMNT and T-Rex careers are clear indications that we wanted to be awesome.
One of the things I noticed in your post is that you mentioned that the main attraction for you was how cool and fun the job seemed. Maybe the correlation is that you wanted to make sure you had a job that you love going to every morning.
And for anyone skimming the comments who wants to see that post (which I recommend), just click here: http://is.gd/5GgPT