The Juice Within “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?”

I’ve talked with more than a few people who are feeling unsettled at work – they want something different, but don’t what that is. 

We humans have limited our career options by thinking within boundaries – job descriptions, degrees, roles – all of which are made up by humans. 

Yet we all have a natural essence, or way we were born to express, which doesn’t have boundaries.  As we’ve tried to fit our natural essence into a boundary, we’ve pinched off part of ourselves and are only expressing a portion of our full potential.

I developed an exercise to help my coworkers re-connect to their natural essence.  One of the questions I ask is one that kids hear over and over:

How did you answer the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”

My daughter has a cute photo of her 4K classmate’s answers – they range from gardener and zoo keeper, to pro football player and scientist.

It might seem like a cutesy question, but there’s good information if you dig a little deeper. 

The first question, along with this second part, came from my teacher Marilyn Alauria.  She teaches her students how to align with their soul.  One of the questions she asks is the first one, but then she takes us a little deeper with this juicy question:

“What was the essence of that job that you were attracted to?”

As kids, many of us are pretty tuned in to our natural essence.  We couldn’t put words to it, but we had an idea of how we’re meant to express.  Since the adults we were around focused on these things called jobs, we learned to take our essence and match it to the closest job that we knew in our world at the time.

A few examples:

When I was little, I knew I was here to help people live healthier lives (essence).  The job that seemed the closest to that was a doctor, so I grew up wanting to be a doctor (job).  After some inner work, I know I’m an energy healer and realized the essence was correct.  Yet I had no idea what an energy healer was, so there’s no way I could have answered the question with the accuracy I now have.

One coach I follow, Anna Tsui, said she wanted to be a singer (job) so she could use the power of her voice for good (essence).  Now she’s a coach that uses her voice to share wisdom that changes the lives of those that follow her.

Someone I coached at work wanted to be a comedian (job) to make people laugh (essence).  Now he’s a project manager who leads big groups of people.  He uses his essence to lighten meetings, which puts people in the mood to be more collaborative.

When work feels unsettled, many start looking for new jobs thinking the job is the issue.  I challenge that by saying that fulfillment is an inside job.  A powerful way to feel fulfilled is to discover, and then allow, your natural essence to shine. 

Maybe you can change jobs and find something that more closely matches your essence.  But also maybe, you can stay where you are and find ways to infuse that essence into your work right now.

Finding who you are and what fills you up is a lifelong journey.  This question won’t give you all the answers, but is a great place to get you started.

Intersted in learning more about aligning to and living from your natural essence, which I call your soul?  Schedule a coffee and let’s chat more!