It’s one of the questions I dislike the most – where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years.  At the beginning of my career, the answer seemed easy.  I had a plan to get my Master’s, at one point I was working on my administrative degree at Xavier, and I would be an elementary principal.  Then circumstances changed.  My answer shifted and now I would get my PhD and teach college.  Then things changed again.  I was asked to run for board president of an organization I strongly believe in. In order to do this the best I knew how, school went on the back burner.  Then another board and another election and plans changed again.  And all of a sudden I went from 30 to 60.

Where did the time go?  It’s not that I haven’t been busy, but that straight road to my goals has taken many turns and I’ve never actually arrived where I thought I would.  Is this a bad thing?  Does this mean I never really had goals to begin with?  Or did it mean I went with the flow, looking at opportunities and weighing their importance at the time they happened?  I have never stopped learning, I just learned different things than I expected.  And isn’t that the point of life?

Our culture expects us to do certain things at certain times.  We attend school for 12-13 years (depending on Kindergarten), get our degree in four years, wait a year and get married, wait a couple of years and have our first child and another couple of years to have our second.  Then we pursue an advanced degree and keep climbing up the ladder.  But these are just that – cultural expectations.  Somehow we have everyone convinced that the only way a person can be successful or productive is if we follow this roadmap.  And if that’s what someone wants to do, good for them, but does it define success?

This above formula leaves out some basic character traits.  Has the person learned to be kind and respectful?  Are they an asset or do they somehow contribute to society?  Are they more of a hands-on kind of person who can fix things?  Maybe they don’t wear a suit to work but they get their hands dirty helping people with things they need.  We tend to look down on these people as they don’t have the same credentials as the rest of us so-called academics, but where would be be without them?

Maybe the person is a thinker and creator.  Perhaps making a 6 figure salary is not important to them and money is just a means to buy things they need to survive.  They learn on their own but never earn the elusive piece of paper.  Are they less intelligent than those of us who pay the big bucks to work for the piece of paper?  Or do they choose to use their life in a different way?  Is it any less productive or is it just productive in a different way?

As an academic myself, I sometimes find myself thinking everyone should get a degree in something, when maybe an apprenticeship or training at a technical school would fit some people better.  We preach differentiation when we teach and yet we expect every child to have the same goals and be on the same timeline.  That’s just not how life works, especially if you’re following your passions and are open to opportunities.

If you look at the latest statistics, only 58.3% of those who enter college will finish within 6 years.  Here we are preparing every kid to do this and only a little over half will actually finish.  I’m sure their goal was to finish and follow the cultural formula.  Now what?  And do we as a culture look down on these people or do we embrace them for their differences and encourage their individual life adventure?  Are we focusing on their strengths or are we judging them because they don’t demonstrate the strengths we think they should have?

Sure, I finished my undergrad degree – on the ten year plan.  And sure, I have numerous credits from several institutions of higher learning, but I have never earned the elusive paper.  But oh how I’ve learned, in my own way, in my own time.  So, now I’m 60 and the question is again, where do I see myself?  Because of my years of taking advantage of opportunities, I feel prepared for several options, depending on how things fall together.  Does it seem a little flakey?  Perhaps.  Will it be an adventure?  You bet.  One thing is for sure, I’ll never see myself bored.