What I Thought I’d Do vs. What I Did: Professional Edition

I always thought I'd be an artist...

I made a list of all the jobs I’ve had. I was curious. Would I learn anything? Would it be a mirror into my soul that would reflect something I never recognized? Most importantly, would it amuse my kids? “Dad, you delivered pizzas?” “Yes, someone had to pay for college…” Zinger.

Why bother making such a list? My favorite thing about being retired is the amount of free time I have for new hobbies like self-improvement. Well, it’s an old hobby but a new version. When I worked in high tech, I was constantly learning stuff to either keep my job or get a better one. After retiring, self-improvement has become more of a forensics project: What the heck happened at that company? 

Also, I’m operating under the assumption that I have another 40 years, so I still have time to make improvements and, in my mind at least, I’ve only just begun :) As a bonus, I could share some life hacks with the offspring. Besides, what else can I do with all this free time? Finish a middle-grade sci-fi novel?

After I wrote my initial list of jobs, I realized I had scoped the task incorrectly. Really, What I really wanted to see was the list of all the responsible roles, not just jobs, I’ve had.  What positions did I assume where someone expected me to perform and meet some standard? Here’s the list starting from when I was 12.

This can be a humbling and empowering experience. For shits and giggles, I fed it into ChatGPT and asked what it would say about such a person. It said I had a diverse skill set, was tech-savvy, and had an innovative mindset. Oh, don’t stop! Makes me want to make a T-shirt.

My list confirmed what I already knew. I wanted to be useful while being creative and smart. I wanted to help people be successful at work, or at least not get fired. And I didn’t want to be poor. I guess I knew all that.

If nothing else, I suspect this is a great conversation topic for a family dinner at Thanksgiving. Instead of politics, asking about personal histories could actually make people closer. It could happen.