When I grow up I want to be a...
Anne Wilson SFHEA
Award-winning Women’s Development Trainer | Licensed Springboard trainer | WHEN Facilitator | AGCAS President's Medal 2024 | Leadership & Team Development | Strengths Practitioner | Career Coach | Blogger | Speaker |
As adults contemplating career change, we often look forward for guidance. Yet sometimes, the most profound insights come from looking back—back to the playground, books, and the family dinner table. Let’s explore how your early childhood influences can be harnessed to shape the career choices and changes you make.
The Games We Played
Remember the games? you enjoyed playing as a child? Whether you were building sandcastles, leading expeditions in the playground, or solving mysteries with friends, these games were more than just play. They were the first expressions of your innate talents and interests.
Ask yourself:
Your early preferences can point towards a career that resonates with your core motivations.
Characters who inspired you
The heroes and heroines of your youth—whether through books, films, TV or role models in your life often embody the traits you aspire to.
Reflect on:
Family ‘Rules’ and Their Impact
Family dynamics play a subtle yet significant role in career choice. The spoken and unspoken ‘rules’ within families can either set you on a predefined path or spark a rebellion that leads you in a completely different direction.
Consider:
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Understanding the influence of your family’s expectations can empower you to make career choices that are uniquely yours.
Tracing the Threads of Influence
Our lives are tapestries woven from countless threads of experience. Some of these threads can be traced back to the earliest days of our lives, influencing our decisions in ways we might not even realise.
Explore:
An example
A student was weighing up her decision to study for a Masters in Criminology. The course was close to her family home. Her dilemma: was this a decision based on cost and pragmatism or was it the right choice for her? She wasn't 100% sure of her motivations in applying for the course. It transpired in discussion that her childhood interests were almost all connected to solving problems and whodunnits. She'd enjoyed Cluedo, read Agatha Christie books, moving on to crime writers and murder mysteries.? Her preferred films and TV programmes followed a similar pattern. When she was able to recognise this pattern of sustained interest, she felt confident and validated in the choice she'd made.
By recognising the patterns of your past, you can make informed decisions that align with your true self and which lead to fulfilling careers.
In conclusion, the games you played, the characters you admired, and the family rules you lived by all leave their mark on you. By reflecting on the influences of your childhood, you can gain clarity on the things that matter most to you.? Embrace that child, listen to their stories, and let them guide you towards careers that will nurture and fulfil you.
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.? ? E.E. Cummings
See these related posts on IKIGAI and? Strengths.
First published on www.thecareercatalyst.co.uk
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Associate Director for Regional Engagement, University of Warwick
6 个月This is a great blog, Anne Wilson SFHEA. Very thought provoking, if not a little bit depressing to realise how much better our choices might have been if we had made these connections earlier. I will definitely think about this when my own kids get to the point of making decisions - thanks!
Careers and Employability Officer at St Brendan's Sixth Form College. MA Career Guidance with QCD
6 个月This is so powerful, it's great to have this line of inquiry into careers thinking mapped out into each area to consider against one's childhood and early influences.
Helping high achieving women to step into their ‘impossible’ vision and turn their heart and soul desires into reality | Breakthrough call ￡99 | In Person Mastermind | 1:1 Coaching | DM me
6 个月Great post. Looking for the patterns of what gives you (or used to give you) energy is far more helpful than trying to conform to career tests or what you're already skilled at. Skills and strengths are important and not the whole puzzle!
SFHEA | PhD Career Coach | Researcher Development consultant | Career education workshops and webinars, 1-2-1 career guidance and coaching | MBTI Practitioner
6 个月Thank you for another inspiring blog Anne Wilson SFHEA. I think these are especially useful exercises to coax people away from thinking only about career possibilities connected with their academic subjects. From my own perspective, I wanted to be a vet when I was young, but now I realise that it was 'helping, nurturing and supporting' that was at the heart of my interests, as well as autonomy and freedom (I was a bit of a wild child!). Now, as an independent careers adviser I think I've managed to incorporate those aspects pretty well, not to mention working with very nice people ??
?? Level 7 Qualified Registered Career Development Professional (RCDP) ?? Personal and group guidance for individuals, schools, and charities ?? Career education workshops ?? Creator of Shape of Career Cards ??
6 个月These are great questions, Anne and think it’s so useful to look at the strands of who we are that run through. My husband has a super serious photo of me as a baby as the call ID on his phone and I can see that personality in who I am now. And like you say, childhood games, childhood heroes, there’s a reason. Very Savickas!