The Happiness Project: The $10 Million Dollar Question

If money was not an issue, what kind of job would I have? I’ve had to think about this one a lot since I’ve never considered this even as a possibility. I’d probably continue working in my current position at BYU’s Human Resource Development office for a little while longer – just until I felt like I was at a point where someone else could transition in easily.

After that, I’d love to try my hand at little part-time community jobs for a while – like working at the library, the art museum, a local Red Cross, an outdoor guiding company, or even the Forest Service. I love the idea of having a little care- and worry-free job that makes a direct impact on the people I serve. The rest of the time (since those jobs would only be part-time), I’d play like crazy until I got sick of it. I’d ride my bikes a lot, go backpacking and hiking, learn to canyoneer so I could take some friends that didn’t know how. I’d take road trips all over the U.S. to see all the places that I’ve been wanting to see – like the Appalachian Trail, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Nantucket, Louisiana, Mount Rushmore, Vail, Aspen, Montana, the Oregon Coast, Williamsburg, New York City, and South Carolina.

Then after I got sick of all that free time (I actually handle my life much better when I’m on a routine), I’d work for a non-profit that took humanitarian trips all over the world. I’d love to help plan the trips and then go on them myself to provide the humanitarian aid to the people. After a while, I’m guessing I’d probably get sick of travelling all the time, so I’d quit that job and then take up a job at a local non-profit that helped only local people – because they need help as much as anyone else in the world.

This plan is definitely different from my actual career plan. My actual career plan needs me to assume progressively more responsible positions (at least to a certain point) so I can continue to provide for myself and save for retirement. My current career plan involves upward movement progression, while my dream career plan would provide a broad and varied progression for me such that I would learn many different things. My current plan doesn’t provide a whole lot of time to do all the stuff on my bucket list, which I suppose isn’t such a bad thing since I fear I’d get sick of doing all my playing if it was concentrated into a shorter time period like in my dream plan. But who knows if my health and future family might limit how much of my bucket list I can do later in life?

Besides the lack of a $10 million trust fund, the main thing I think is preventing me from doing my dream is that is seems impossible to change fields of employment at will like that. Most employers have their pick of job applicants right now and they prefer someone who has experience in that field. The other big thing that is preventing me from pursuing this dream is my desire for stability. My dream seems like a nightmare to my desire for stability. I feel safe and secure with a stable job, while job-hopping and traveling in between jobs without the comfort of $10 million dollars scares me to death. I don’t know how I’d make it work financially.

If I my dream career plan doesn’t happen? What will happen to me? I think I’ll still achieve my best possible self. I wonder if I could actually be successful in achieving my best possible self on my dream plan. Moving around all of the time like that and traveling so much probably wouldn’t be good for a family, a garden and yard, or for my hopes of being involved in my community – accept that my dream jobs would eventually have me dedicated to my community through service. My dream plan would be awesome for my goals of researching family history since I could travel to places in my family’s history. And it would be perfectly aligned with my goal of traveling or living in many locations. So those two things will probably take a smaller role in my current career plan, but they won’t be impossible to accomplish.

I’m fairly passionate about my current career track: human resources at BYU. BYU is the epitome of my ideal organization. I have opportunities for growth and progression and I feel like what I do makes a difference for the organization and the students we serve. Although, I have to say I’m feeling an itch (maybe a prompting?) to move elsewhere and try my hand at something entirely new, and yet it scares me a great deal that I won’t find another organization like BYU – that I’ll have to make some compromise and that I won’t love it as much as I love BYU. But I think I’d be much more passionate about my work, if I had the freedom of $10 million dollars, since I could pursue my dream plan for work and life.