A passion!

Today I watch the Road-trip Nation documentary called The Open Road. It's about a bunch of college kids going on a road-trip across the United States trying to find out how people became what they are today. The career paths they choose and how they got there weather it was in a mail room or fishing. They capture this by traveling to different places to meet successful people throughout the US and interviewing them. People like the VP of Cartoon Network, the founder of the Genome, and Michel Dell. Very successful, powerful people who got to where they are today with there passions in life. One thing that really stood out to me more than anything else was the interview with the lobsterer. The guy was in college and lobstering for extra money and he decided his passion in life was lobstering. He is really happy and that is all that matters to him, it is not about the money. I really hope I find something I have a passion for, lobstering might not be my calling but I really hope I find something worth doing. Something that makes me happy, paycheck or not. What I really got from this movie was its not about monetary success its about personal success. And I feel like no one in my family had a choice to do what they really wanted to do in life. They all did what they had to do to financially stable. Everyone had to worry about supporting there offspring so no one could do what they really wanted to do. I really doubt my father wanted to own a cleaning company, if he had the option he would have been an engineer or carpenter of some sort. And my grandfather was happy living the farm life but he could have never supported 6 kids and a wife with that so he drove a truck and was never home. Everyone had to do what they had to do, there were no other options. And I feel like I have so many options that I am confused with what I want to do. I don't know....

The "noise" the pressure I'm encountering comes from my family rather than friends. My mother pressures me to do something I want to do. My father is very practical and wants me to make money, it's all about the "American Dream." I feel like he has the ideology that his kids should be more successful than he is. He is way more successful than his father ever was, but that was a completely different era. I live in an era where more and more people are lucky to be making what there parents make. I don't know it is just so frustrating. Now my grandfather is a lot like me, and he is a person who is very grounded and quiet but when he does say something it is defiantly the important thing. He said that if he could do it all over again he would come to america earlier in life and move to california and have a farm. I love the man to death and he is his happiest and proudest when his garden is fully blown and I want to experience that sort of happiness when I complete something. He has a passion. I want to find my passion.

I learn a lot better through experience so the way I learn about new careers is through my connections. The people I talk to every day. When that fails me I could go online and look up career descriptions and so on. The internet is a very useful tool. I can even go to JMU career website and look up jobs under my major. There are plenty of sites that will help me.

Values and Interests

When I was asked to throw values away to save the world I felt like I was throwing away a piece of me. When I got down to the last four values I was very unsure about my decisions. The last four values all had to do with the way of life and independence. I felt like the value, independence was the most suitable. I do like to do things my own way and I like having the ability to do things my own way. I feel like if i had to work under someone or under restriction I would suffocate. My next value was way of life, I really did not think I was the type of person who want to make lot money and live an unhappy life. I do not know, maybe I am venting a little in this blog. Ok back to career stuff. Independence and way of life go perfectly with entrepreneurship. No matter what type of business you own and operate you have the ability to do what you want to do freely and if everything goes right you will eventually, through hard work achieve the desired way of life. I have been dreaming lately and after completing the exploration project part 2 that event planning could be something I could look into. My values, but particularly a meeting I had with my academic advisor has gotten me to take a look at communications major. Earlier in the semester, when I had just begone my GCOM class I thought to myself if only there were something I could do with this major, a career of some sort. But after our meeting and the exploration project I might consider communications as my major. I might not go so far as to declare it but I defiantly will think about it more often. I feel like I could do well academically in a communications major. I feel like any major will be difficult but communications seems like it is a major that is not to far out of reach.

When it comes to my decision making I feel like the map is telling me to go down a spooky path but once I get through that path the light will be there. In plan english, I feel like I need to try communications out before I take the big leap. I need more info. about it. I need a break from all the drama before I can make a wise decision.

Me, My Self, and My Decision

After receiving the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator results I was surprised. According to the results I am a ENTP type. Which means I am a Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinker that Perceives. According to the hand out i represent 5% of the American population. I wasn't surprised to here that! Just kidding. Now I hadn't seem my results until after I self-ranked myself. It turns out I know myself really well because I got the same results as the Myers-Briggs test. The first characteristic I founded was Extrovert meaning I am a people person. I love to interact with others. This is very true, I work at a pizza shop and all day long I interact with many different types of people and I love every minute of it. I would rather talk to a person face to face then text or write. When ever my hall orders delivery I take it upon myself to place all the order for everyone. I would love to be in career where I get to interact with a lot of people. When it come to processing information I received the Intuitive characteristic meaning I focus on the future. I try to make thing more efficient. I like to make the work environment efficient. In fact at the pizza shop I reorganized the salad and deli stations so that sandwich's and salads would come out quicker. I love learning new things that will help me in the future. I also follow vibe which sometimes get me into trouble but I can't stop myself and now I can blame I on my personality. I really believe I got decision making characteristic from my father. I am a Thinker meaning i tend to make decisions without thinking about a persons feelings. It all about the business. I got to do what I got to do. I analyze the situation to a tee and then I find a solution, it may not be universally accepted but it must be done. My organization is completely Perceiving and there is no doubt about it. I leave my "schedule" loose. When I say "schedule" that is when I make one I never go through with the thing. I try but I just get lost in everything I am doing. I always have so much to do or at least I feel that way. I am the ultimate procrastinator but I have been better about it this year (except for the exploration project).
Learning about your personality really helped me dicier the type of work environment that would be ideal. I would love to be in a work environment that is full of different people and is constantly changing. Learning new techniques and improvements constantly occurring. I really don't want to sit at a desk. I am not really sure which major would lead me to this type of career but I feel like the only profession that would suit my personality type would be an entrepreneur of some sort. I know a lot about the restaurant industry, so that might be an option. The only problem with that is my mother would KILL me. I want ed to open up my own place after I got out of high school. I found the perfect location and everything. But my mother didn't want that life for me. Now an IHOP at the location I found is grossing $26.000 a month. Pretty good especially since the rent was at a very reasonable price. Ever there will always be opportunities out there. I feel like I should be creating the ideal work environment and I want to be in power I know it sounds selfish but I feel like that's the only way I will be happy. But then again I have never really worked under anyone, so I could not tell you if I like working for someone else or not. But I love throwing ideas out there and changing the way things go.

When it comes to my decision making I still have no clue on which way to go. The map has five different arrows all pointing in different directions. I think I need to scope out the area before I make a move. I really have no idea on which major I interested in. I feel like I should look into more majors. Nothing has caught my eye and dragged me under its wing. I have no clue on what I want to do.