Follow your dreams..

Heckler

Anyone done so ?

When I was a kid I wanted at various times to be an astronaut, a cowboy, fireman, policeman, soldier. Usually some kind of manly pursuit.

Now I'm mid 40's and stuck in a **** paying boring factory job.

If I had my time back I'd like to have tried out for the Army.

I don't think any kid dreams of being in IT or working for a big pharma company.

So have you realised what you wanted to do from an early age ?

If so Well Done !!

Boom_Bap

I want to be a tree




I only expect about 2 people to get the reference.


I also wanted to be the kind of guy that had a great rolodex of niche references, so check that box off

Heckler

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I want to be a tree




I only expect about 2 people to get the reference.


I also wanted to be the kind of guy that had a great rolodex of niche references, so check that box off

Very prudent.

Hector Bellend

Personally, I've never understood the desire for a "dream Job".

There are no "dream jobs". They're jobs. You can have a job you enjoy or even love. If so, you are very much in the minority.

For me you have to live your life and not work it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I never dreamed about the job I ended up in but I absolutely loved it. I always went with the flow and decided to be the best at whatever I ended up doing.

amcalester

I work a "boring office" for a MNC that pays well and allows me to spend time outside of work doing things I enjoy but it is no way my dream job.

For me it's a price worth paying.

I know people who works in jobs they love but don't earn as much as me and for them that's a price worth paying.

Personally I like having a big paycheck.

the beer revolu

To be honest, I was in my forties and didn't have a clue what I really wanted to do when I grew up.

A chance chat lead to me investing a small amount in a startup distillery. Then an injury knocked me out of the industry that I was in and I ended up working in the distillery for free.

After a couple of very, very skint years (no social welfare as I had been self employed) I finally started getting a wage.

Been getting paid for over a year and the distillery is doing really well and is expanding.

Kinda feels like a dream come true but a dream that I didn't know I had.

Heckler

Hector Bellend wrote: »

Personally, I've never understood the desire for a "dream Job".

There are no "dream jobs". They're jobs. You can have a job you enjoy or even love. If so, you are very much in the minority.

For me you have to live your life and not work it.

I understand what you are saying but for some people their job is a type of calling. Doctor, teacher, lawyer, police, soldier.

Most of us just grind away in an office or factory.

I don't mean "dream job", my dream job would involve supermodels, cocaine and speedboats.

I mean did you ever want to do something when you were younger but find yourself just mundanely doing the opposite ?

Irish Guitarist

I used to love anything to do with technology that had buttons you could press. My sister used to bring me shopping and when she drew money out of the ATM I was fascinated by. When my father bought the second television we had during my lifetime it came with a remote control. I was obsessed with pressing buttons to the point that I would mess up the stations by trying to tune in new ones over the ones that were already on it.

I was fascinated by films that had anything to do with some kid hacking into the Pentagon and at the time I thought Superman III was the best one because of that 'super computer' Richard Pryor built.

I got a Commodore 64 when I was 11 or 12. It wasn't quite like what I had seen on television but it was a start.

Now I have a laptop whose computing power is more advanced than anything that kids hacked into the Pentagon with in eighties films. That was pretty much my dream as a child. To have a computer that did things (anything really) when I pressed buttons. Either that or to meet the Transformers.

Mister Vain

My dream was to be a car sales man. Weird I know. I now work for a small pharama company.

mariaalice

There was a quote from an ordinary member of the police in Manchester. He said when he joined the police he thought he would spend most of his time catching criminals and the like, versus the reality of mostly dealing with individuals with mental health problem and drink and drug issue.

No Job is perfect and all have their boring stressful aspects.

StereoSound

My dream was to be a race car driver.

myshirt

Always wanted to be a Lion Tamer, but became a Chartered Accountant.

On a serious note, if you study human behaviour you will know that the majority of us are governed by debilitating fear. If you are saddled with Debt, busting your bollix working, and putting your hand into your pocket to feel nothing but your leg, it is just not practical to become a Lion Tamer. There are bills to be paid, a wife with paw out on a Friday, and children with hungry bellies. People are scared. People have responsibilities. People like certainty.

DEFTLEFTHAND

mariaalice wrote: »

There was a quote from an ordinary member of the police in Manchester. He said when he joined the police he thought he would spend most of his time catching criminals and the like, versus the reality of mostly dealing with individuals with mental health problem and drink and drug issue.

No Job is perfect and all have their boring stressful aspects.

I think a lot of people who join the police have romanticised notions of it.

I'd imagine that quickly changes once they become active.

Witchie

I wanted to be a writer. Got talked out of it, worked in various careers but now I write for a living and have gotten to travel while doing so.

Don't have loads of money but am living my dream.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Witchie wrote: »

I wanted to be a writer. Got talked out of it, worked in various careers but now I write for a living and have gotten to travel while doing so.

Don't have loads of money but am living my dream.

That's the good thing about having a dream like that. It's never too late to become a writer.

Carry

I actually fulfilled my dream I've had as a teenager, though it took the scenic route to get there, with lots of detours (which I consider as enriching in hindsight).
As a teenager I didn't count in though that dream jobs involve hard work, paying bills and a mortgage and that even dreams can get boring.

But here I am, doing what I always wanted to do and living as I imagined it, more or less, even if I don't have much money. But I think that if a job is truly fulfilling money is secondary.

My current dream job is doing eff all, just pottering around, reading lots of books and contemplating life. Might get there eventually.

Thespoofer

I was watching Chris Evans TFI Friday a good few years ago ( he can be annoying though) and one statement he made always stuck with me.

At the time he had millions to his name but was working around the clock and was often burnt out from the busy schedule he had.

He said on numerous occasions when he used to make his way to the studio, I presume, on a Friday evening, there was a builder looking type guy in a flat and Evans was able to see into this guys kitchen and often saw the guy cooking a big steak in the pan and he was the happiest looking man at that moment, leading Evans to question what happiness was really all about.

I don't know why I'm posting this here but maybe happiness isn't what other people try to project on you. Happiness is in the small stuff.

Hector Bellend

Heckler wrote: »

I understand what you are saying but for some people their job is a type of calling. Doctor, teacher, lawyer, police, soldier.

Most of us just grind away in an office or factory.

I don't mean "dream job", my dream job would involve supermodels, cocaine and speedboats.

I mean did you ever want to do something when you were younger but find yourself just mundanely doing the opposite ?

I just wonder how many of the people who call their job a calling,dont feel like theyve had enough by the time they hit 45 or 50.

It wasn't me!

When I was much younger I wanted to be self employed fishing at sea. Liked the notion of the work and the self reliance. When I was about 13 or 14 I decided I wanted to join the army. Went to college, thought about going into teaching (Thank **** I dodged that one). Worked a few heavy industry jobs in factories and warehouses. Then I joined the army and am loving it.

DanMurphy

Always wanted to write for a living but got no encouragement.
Quite the opposite in fact.
The 1960's mindset in our house / school, was that a laborers son would be a laborer, just like his Daddy, and silk purses were not made from sows ears.
My second choice was soldiering, and spent 30 years in the Army, all the while dabbling with writing, and scribbling for Magazines in my spare time.
Though I made very little money, seeing my books on Eason's shelves was reward enough.

Beethoven9th

Heckler wrote: »

Anyone done so ?

When I was a kid I wanted at various times to be an astronaut, a cowboy, fireman, policeman, soldier. Usually some kind of manly pursuit.

Now I'm mid 40's and stuck in a **** paying boring factory job.

If I had my time back I'd like to have tried out for the Army.

I don't think any kid dreams of being in IT or working for a big pharma company.

So have you realised what you wanted to do from an early age ?

If so Well Done !!

Dreams dont pay the bills !

I knew what I wanted to do when I was about eleven, and that's what I aimed for and worked towards and it's what I do now. A fair bit of it is routine and uninteresting, but the satisfaction I get from the rest of it more than makes up for that.

Are Am Eye

myshirt wrote: »

Always wanted to be a Lion Tamer, but became a Chartered Accountant.

On a serious note, if you study human behaviour you will know that the majority of us are governed by debilitating fear. If you are saddled with Debt, busting your bollix working, and putting your hand into your pocket to feel nothing but your leg, it is just not practical to become a Lion Tamer. There are bills to be paid, a wife with paw out on a Friday, and children with hungry bellies. People are scared. People have responsibilities. People like certainty.

Hmmm. ?

Beethoven9th

Beethoven9th wrote: »

Dreams dont pay the bills !

Tell that to Bill Gates or any reasonably successful entrepreneur. :rolleyes:

I've lived three of my dreams and earned enough money to pay all my bills doing so.

I lived in Australia (childhood dream - bloody flying doctors tv show looked so cool)
I lived and traveled throughout Asia, having lived in Tokyo, Taipei, and various parts of China (Those dreams/fantasies of Asian women... hmm...)
And now, I'm following my dream of designing and selling computer games (marginal success but I'm getting better results as time goes by).

I'm nowhere close to being rich or wealthy, but I can pay my mortgage, all my other expenses, and with money remaining for modest savings.

Manic Moran

Tell that to Bill Gates or any reasonably successful entrepreneur.

That more or less matches with what my wife and I have concluded. The people who make it rich tend to work for themselves, not other people or companies. Sure, there are exceptions, going from factory floor worker to CEO of General Motors, but they are not the rule. Our other conclusion is that if you really love what it is you are doing, the chances are you'll be better at it than most, which can also be leveraged.

I started out considering living my mother's dreams. Doctor, lawyer, consort to a queen, that sort of thing. Ended up, like I presume many lads, trying to follow my dad, he was a diplomat. Unfortunately, because diplomats work abroad in countries where the schools don't teach Irish history, I was at a disadvantage in the civil service test. Oh well. Still did well, 1,023 out of 13,000, but they only wanted the top 100 or so.

Did decide, after college, that I didn't want to be a laywer, so I went off on a tangent in IT just to pay the bills. It was OK, but neither particularly financially rewarding nor fulfilling. As a sideline, I decided to join the military (like many others here, apparently), because I wanted to, not because I had to.

Best damned move of my life, it opened a lot of doors and opportunities, as well as providing a number of financial benefits. Keeping it in the background, I was then able to turn my passion (military history) into a civilian job. Better yet, I love travel, and I now get paid reasonably well to travel the world and check out tanks and warships etc. This brings us back to the original concept. I'm one of the best at what I do, but I suspect it's only because I enjoy it. My -capacity- to do the job would doubtless be the same, but my motivation to get out there if I didn't truly enjoy it wouldn't have been sufficient to make the most of it.

My daughter wants to be a paleontologist. This 'phase' has been going for enough years now, I think she actually might follow through with it. No way in hell she'll make millions doing it, but you know, after enjoying my recent working years, as long as she can cover the bills, live comfortably enough, and most of all, she's enjoying the one life she gets, I'll support that, and help her make it.

Manic Moran

Manic Moran wrote: »

That more or less matches with what my wife and I have concluded. The people who make it rich tend to work for themselves, not other people or companies. Sure, there are exceptions, going from factory floor worker to CEO of General Motors, but they are not the rule. Our other conclusion is that if you really love what it is you are doing, the chances are you'll be better at it than most, which can also be leveraged..

Well, with the emergence of the "gig" economy and the movement away from your job as your primary income, quite a few people are becoming sole traders. The US has seen a massive rise in the number of people starting a one-person business not accountable to any employer, and not employing anyone else. These small businesses are designed to provide an income for the person without the hassle of starting a traditional company.

I know quite a few people who have become "digital nomads" within the last few years. I'd do the same except I don't enjoy the work associated with it, and I haven't figured out a more enjoyable niche for myself. The Internet provides a wonderful avenue for finding independent incomes.

My only problem is figuring out what I love to do. Still, I'm enjoying learning game development and making small(ish) profits from it. I'll do it for a while longer and see how I feel about it. In all likelihood, I'll return to Asia as a teacher since it was fun (12-14 hours work a week), and do something else for my main income.

Sleepy

As a child, my dream was to be one of the Lego master builders - the guys that do the models I used to drool over at the annual Arnotts Lego exhibition (wish they still did those!). I'm not sure when exactly I let that dream die, perhaps when my mother encouraged us to follow more academic pursuits, perhaps because of my own materialism and desire to be rich, perhaps, more likely, it was down to my not having the amount of lego required to get really good at large scale building or simply that as a teenager, I was far too interested in following the herd and fitting in and LEGO was a rather geeky hobby for a teenage boy.

I've sort of come back to it as an adult and father though, our house has lego on every second shelf!

myshirt

Keep trying to pack in my job with the Samaritans but they always talk me out of it.

cantdecide

My dream was to become a mechanic which is a pretty modest dream by many standards but I was that kid that took stuff apart to see how it worked. I still love arsing around with technical things and am planning some winter project for next year already. I wasn't strong enough to stop my dad talking me out of an apprenticeship when I was young and I spent most of my life dithering about career stuff. I do ask myself if I'd still have the same passion for mechanical things if I'd done what I wanted to do when I was young or if it would be a chore by now. I suppose I'm lucky that I always find the interesting side of whatever it is that I'm doing. I really just enjoy learning and problem solving.

Donald Trump

Thespoofer wrote: »

I was watching Chris Evans TFI Friday a good few years ago ( he can be annoying though) and one statement he made always stuck with me.

At the time he had millions to his name but was working around the clock and was often burnt out from the busy schedule he had.

He said on numerous occasions when he used to make his way to the studio, I presume, on a Friday evening, there was a builder looking type guy in a flat and Evans was able to see into this guys kitchen and often saw the guy cooking a big steak in the pan and he was the happiest looking man at that moment, leading Evans to question what happiness was really all about.

I don't know why I'm posting this here but maybe happiness isn't what other people try to project on you. Happiness is in the small stuff.

Why should Chris Evans feel entitled to happiness?

As a ginger bollix, he should just be happy at not being locked in a cage

Ipso

D'yer wanna be a space man and live in the sky