"What Do You Want To Be?"

The Single Most Evil Question You Can Ask a Kid

“What do you want to be?”

It’s the single most evil question you can ask a kid.

Guaranteed to produce feelings of inadequacy compared to all their peers who do seem to have it all figured out.

The reality is that many adults who are already ‘being’ something don’t know the answer to that question. In fact, some will never even figure it out.

Do you remember being asked that question when you were young? I always hated being asked that question, because I didn’t know.

Now I know the truth: nobody knows. At least not for sure. And even if they claim they do: it’s a lie.

Unless they are already doing it, nobody knows with certainty what it’s like to do something until they’re actually doing that something.

My grandfather always wanted to become a pediatrician and pursued a career in medicine. Then he discovered he was unable to put a needle in a kid and decided to become a cardiologist instead.

And even then, you still don’t know if there was something else you could be doing better instead.

The best advice I can give you: don’t worry about what you want to be, worry about what you want to do.

In short: stop thinking, start doing. Doing will provide more new information than just thinking.

Trying many new things will make you feel uncomfortable. That’s a great place to start from.

In fact, after some point, thinking will foggy your mind, create doubt, and inject your plans and ideas with false speculation. Get all the cards on the table and stop worrying about the inadequate number of cards in your hand, you can’t draw reliable conclusions from.

Don’t worry about who you want to be. Worry about the things you do. And try something new. The biggest mistake is not to make mistakes.

What I would answer today: I still don’t know. I do know I am mostly doing things I love.

That’s satisfying enough of an answer for me.