I’ve been reflecting on retirement and how I think its a bad idea. I’ll write more about that later. But the thought was a natural segue into why people choose the careers they do. It got me to thinking about the only advice I ever received on career selection.

Twenty-nine years ago, in 1981, I was an 18-year-old college student gathered with a group of about a dozen other student leaders in a conference room of the Rodeway Inn in Jefferson City, Missouri. Dr. Larry Case, then of the Missouri Department of Vocational Education and now the Executive Director of the National FFA Organization, said “Pick a job that you’d rather do than go on vacation.”

That advice seemed a little silly at the time. What kind of work is better than non-work?

Through the years I’ve come to understand Larry’s wisdom. But I think it falls short. The second commandment should be like the first: Pick a job that you’d rather do than retire from; a job you never want to quit doing. Now THAT’s a career decision!

Many of us took a job because it was offered, or the pay was better, or we were pressured into it by parents or friends. Few of us ever just stopped and asked ourselves “What would I get such a kick out of that going to work everyday would be like a kid walking into a toy store?”

“Unreasonable,” you say? I don’t think so. I just think so many of us made so many bad vocational choices and are now stuck with them because of obligations like kids, marriages, and mortgages, that we don’t want to admit the truth.

Ever once in a while it is wise to go back into your mind and ask yourself “Is this really what I want to be doing with my life?” Then, act accordingly.

I am.