Many of us as first-gen students have done this passively, as we take the bus into school, as we wait for our food in a restaurant, or in the back of our mind when we’re at the gym. But how often have you been able to really sit for a period of time and think about your future and what you want from it? I have been doing this exercise with my students recently, to help them start to think about what they want from a future career and life in general. Try it out and see what you find.
Find a quiet space to sit and set a timer for 10 minutes. Close your eyes and try to visualize your future career. Think through a day in your life of a career you would be really happy with. Try to walk through the scenario in your head, your work, your home life. It can be as realistic or as unrealistic as you want. After the five minutes is up take about 20 minutes to journal about the following topics. You can write in short descriptive sentences, entire paragraphs, or even just words that come to mind.
Things to note in your journal:
Physical aspects: Setting, Environment, Travel, Indoors, Outdoors, Sitting, Standing, Surroundings, what are you wearing?
Actions:
What are you doing? Who are you interacting with? What types of interactions are you having?
Feelings:
How does the work you are doing make you feel? How do you interact with the people around you? What types of feelings do you want a career to generate for you? What kind of values are you embodying in your life and work?
Life:
What does your work life balance look like? What does your home life look like? How close is your home to your work? How do you get to work each day? Who is in your household?
After you complete your journal answer the following questions:
- What stood out to you about the exercise? Did you notice any patterns in the things you visualized?
- Did anything surprise you about the things that came to mind? What was it?
- What aspect of your visualization stood out the most to you or had the most impact? The physical aspect of the place you were working, the type of work you were doing, the feelings the work produced?
- If you had to make a list, what would you need to accomplish over the next five years to make progress toward this goal?
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