My mother would take me to symphony concerts when I was a child. I was so bored! There was no action! Then she told me to watch just one or two musicians throughout a piece to see what they did both while they were playing and especially when they weren’t. That kept me awake and attentive! I began to look around the theater to see the lighting, the sound equipment, architecture, what the ushers did as well as the conductor and musicians. Then she allowed me to audition for a play and I was introduced the the backstage “magic” by being cast in a professional-style community theater. Decades later, a BFA and lots of theater technical skills, I’m still excited by the ‘magic’ created in the theater. Yet I also know the hours, hard work, conflict management, budget and procurement, creativity and discipline required to create the magic. I watch a movie seeing not only the story, but also the costumes, settings, and FX guessing how they did that. All because I was exposed to live theater, not just the TV.
Travel had a similar impact on my career. And I see it happen to others as well. It can be travel just to a different neighborhood, or around the world. My first trip outside the US exposed me to people from all over the world. I heard, for the first time, that US policies and actions weren’t adored and multi-national companies weren’t great saviors to developing countries. I find going outside my neighborhood exposes me to different perspectives that improve my outlook on many issues.
The more we are exposed to things both within and outside our daily lives, the more we can explore to find meaningful work/career options. Then we can can look into the knowledge and skills we need to make that contribution.
Whether watching the fireworks on the 4th of July or the bugs near the picnic blanket, we can help others (especially children) explore their work/career interests everyday by being curious. Asking questions such as:
“How do they do that?” “How does that work?”
“Why does that happen?”
“How could that be better?” ” What do I want do about it?”
“What would it be like to do that for a living?”