What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

When I was in college, trying earnestly to plot out my future, I was shocked by the answer I received from my mother when I asked, "How did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up?"  She replied simply, "I still don't know."  I'd just assumed that my career-woman mom who seemed to have it all together must have had some master plan for achieving success.

Well, more than a decade later, I still couldn't tell you exactly what I want to be when I "grow up".  My resume definitely shows the marks of ADD (though I was undiagnosed until recently).  I've been a college professor, proposal writer, web designer, high school math teacher, and am currently a software engineer who is also an independent consultant for Thirty-One Gifts.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!

Whether you're an ADDer or not, statistics show that you're much more likely to change careers today than did generations past.  So, if you're considering a switch because of the bad economy or you're just looking for a new challenge, a great website I came across called My Plan (myplan.com) can be a useful tool in exploring your options.  It offers detailed descriptions of different careers (including any required training and salary ranges) and also has the following career assessments:

• Career Values Assessment (Measures your underlying needs and motivations) - FREE
• Career Personality Test
• Career Interest Inventory
• Career Skills Profiler

Give it a shot.  It may help point you in the direction!