find work i'm passionate about

http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/04/7-questions-to-finding-your-true-passion/

in the last few weeks i learned that a friend of mine has a buddy who’s an urban planner, my friend c works in gis and can fill me in on the urban planning thing, another friend of mine is a city planner in illinois, and yet another friend i found out today majored in landscape architecture. i think i’m onto something…

it seems like it would be a nice culmination of all the things i think are important/am interested in, e.g, the environment, public policy, urban sprawl, law, economics, etc., as well as tap into my skill sets, math, analytical mind, budgeting, etc.

if there are any murps out there who have any advice for a gal like me, i’m all ears!

^{yes, i realize this would require going back to school – again – but hey, if it gets me out of accounting….}

some of my sentiments haven’t changed at all, which is probably a good thing – at least my feelings about some things are still the same. i am hopeful that will give me the lead in to whatever it is i do next.

some of my sentiments, however, are 180 degrees from where i was when i first wrote them a year ago. for starters, i don’t think i can tolerate another minute where i work now. before, it wasn’t horrible. now every day is an exercise is soul-sucking misery. i sure can pick ‘em.

but, i’m trying to keep my chin up and at least put a game face on even though i am slowly dying inside.

i really feel like the way for me to go is to do something completely different. too bad i can’t get a job doing what i know how to do let alone something i’ve never done before. gah!

the environment
civil liberties
fostering intellectual persuits
ridding the world of worthless crap that just ends up in landfills
eliminating most taxes
exposing corruption

there are others. i’ll add them to the list as they come to me…

it was pretty good. it was about what i expected, we did a questionnaire/quiz thingie that is supposed to help identify what someone is good at doing and what someone’s interests are and gave some suggestions of possible jobs. we talked about other stuff, interviews and resumes a little bit, and all in all, it was pretty good. we got a good career change book, too, one that i hadn’t heard of, and i’m going to start reading it and see what i can figure out. i may or may not come up with anything, but it can’t hurt to try, right? wish me luck with that, too.

it might be a bunch of crap, that remains to be seen. for now, i am hopeful that the career change workshop thingie i’m going to on friday is going to help crystalize whatever thoughts i have floating around my head about what direction i should take my career. worst case scenario: i’m out $120 and a day of vacation. wish me luck.

1. flexible schedule (i can make my own hours)
2. wear whatever the hell i want
3. be able to live in a foreign country or two
4. work with principled people
5. be totall f’in’ awesome, whatever it is i end up doing. i wanna be gooood at my job, kicking ass and taking names, as it were.
6. i want to be able to keep all the money. top of the heap. chief muck-a-muck. big kahuna. ME. this isn’t in a selfish and greedy way, either, i’m just sick of working really hard and watching other people live the good life because of it. this is going to require me to take a chance, go out a limb, etc., but i think if i find the right thing, i can do this.

for starters, this entry only has an indirect connection with this particular goal. ironically, i wrote several months ago that i actually like my job, and for the most part, this is still true. granted, i’m a little bored, but i’m more concerned, irked might even be a better word, about some things i learned last week from a current co-worker and a former one. there’s no need to go into the details here, but let’s just say, there is a lot more bullshit going on around here than i ever realized. this revelation is most depressing. i can hardly look at a handful of my co-workers the same way anymore. yeah, sure, i should probably stick with my initial assessment of these folks, but it’s kind of hard to do when i have two people i think i can trust telling me i can’t trust any of the others. greeeeat.

so, i guess this leads me to my point, which is, in addition to finding work i actually like doing, i think first and foremost, i’ve got to find a place to work where people are principled. of course, i’m going to have to stick around here about three more years if i don’t want to pay the company back for my education, so i’m probably just going to have to keep my mouth shut, come to work, do my job, and wait it out. sad.

but i’m in the same circular pattern about trying to find something that truly suits me, so i’m going to focus on finishing my accounting degree and working at my current job, which i actually like, for a few years first before i try to tackle this one again.