As children, most of us were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Now we are grown up \u2013 at least in the literal sense. It can leave us with the feeling that it is \u2018too late\u2019 to pursue that childhood dream, even when we still have our lives ahead of us. Of course, this isn\u2019t the case at all \u2013 but how do we actually go about achieving them?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to kick us off with an idea that might seem antithetical to this blog. Let go of the dreams that no longer serve you. Quite simply, if you don\u2019t want to pursue sport or medicine or theatre anymore, make space for what matters now. There are hundreds of books and films and musicals about never giving up! <\/em>and following your dreams! <\/em>In reality, it\u2019s normal for your goals to shift over time. What\u2019s important is that you do what feels right for you. Sometimes that means deviating from what you originally had planned.<\/p>\n As children, our world views are limited. We don\u2019t immediately recognise the career options beyond doctor, firefighter, or celebrity footballer. As adults, we might pursue something tangential to these original ambitions. For example, if your childhood dream was to be an athlete, you might go on to take an interest in coaching or sports therapy.<\/p>\n Of course, if you still want to be an athlete then go for it! But don\u2019t let an \u2018all or nothing\u2019 mentality obscure the alternatives. Very few of us have the careers we dreamt of when we were kids. This isn\u2019t because we failed or gave up; it\u2019s because we thought more broadly more about ourselves, our interests, and what we can offer the world.<\/p>\n Look for the underlying theme in what motivates you. Have a go at brainstorming the roles and organisations that relate to these themes. You might find our Get Started: Career options guide<\/a> useful.<\/p>\n For previous generations, working in the same sector or even the same job for life was the norm. The pace of change was much slower, which meant more certainty and stability, and less room for opportunity. Nowadays, people are making career changes throughout their working lives. Not only can we move up the career ladder if we wish, but we can also move across job roles to gain new skills and experiences.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all seen those online listicles about celebrities who started writing\/acting\/singing later in life. And while it\u2019s fair to say these are exceptional cases, there\u2019s no reason we shouldn\u2019t be inspired by them. Is it really \u2018too late\u2019 to do what you love? Or do we put too much pressure on young people to \u2018make it\u2019 (whatever that means)?<\/p>\n Whether this move is achievable will depend, to some extent, on the skills and qualifications you need to make your career pivot. If you are a current student, this is a good time to think about the next steps needed to realise your dream. If you\u2019re a graduate, you might want to note down the transferable skills you have gained from employment, and consider how you can apply them to your next job. Check out this video<\/a> on pivoting and changing career direction.<\/p>\n So where do you stand with your dream currently? Is it waiting in the wings while you build your skill set? Is it a hobby that helps you unwind? Is it something you could pursue by volunteering, perhaps, to get a foot in the door? All these things are okay. If you\u2019re engaging with your dream, one way or another, you are still following it. And if it makes you happy, keep going!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As children, most of us were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Now we are grown up \u2013 at least in the literal sense. It can leave us with the feeling that it is \u2018too late\u2019...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1443,"featured_media":2423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[4,54,10,666,413,41],"class_list":["post-2421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-advice","tag-career-choice","tag-career-planning","tag-dream-job","tag-motivation","tag-skills"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2022\/02\/randy-tarampi-U2eUlPEKIgU-unsplash.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1443"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Expand your horizons<\/h2>\n
Drop the \u2018now or never\u2019 mindset<\/h2>\n