'Perfect' is hyperbole, of course. If there is a perfect life path out there you don't want it. Life without challenge or struggle would not just bore you; it would make you a twit. What I mean by the perfect career is a career that fulfills you, and that you enjoy and are proud of. It's a career that makes the struggles and challenges worthwhile, and unless you're a survivalist or independently wealthy it's one that pays the bills.

Only the very lucky decide early what they want to be when they grow up, possess the support and capabilities to realize their dream and love it when they get there. Most of us have a diverse, dynamic array of talents and interests, as well as social and financial pressures that bring struggle to the realization of our perfect careers.

If you don't know what you want to do but are at a point where you feel it's time to decide, take a day off to follow yourself around. Interview yourself. Find the nearest job center and fill out interest tests and surveys, or see if they have a career counselor. Find the nearest learning center and check out courses and workshops offered at local colleges and universities or in the community. Write lists: favorite pastimes, things you are good at, secret or not-so-secret obsessions, aspects of work that you enjoy and those that make you grumpy. You likely won't come up with your perfect career that day, but you'll have a clearer idea of your field of interest and of some of your available options.

Some fields of interest are deemed socially more desirable than others. If you aim for a career in engineering or business you are unlikely to be met with opposition. However, if you are a collector, an athlete, an inventor, a student of the general sciences or - worse - of the arts, prepare to defend your life's path. Believe me, it is worth defending. Your dreams depend on it.

Generally when those around you question or discourage your path, they think they are acting in your best interests. These are people who, when they ask what you do, they mean, "how do you make money?" It's true - while an engineering student is virtually guaranteed a well-paid, permanent position on graduating, the painter or collector of interesting rocks may need to supplement their career with a job, especially in the early years. And so what? When you've written your Pulitzer Prize winner, when you've run your first Death Race, when you discover your first star, nobody will care that you work at a convenience store.

If you have chosen a unique, creative life path that isn't necessarily lucrative, it's time to start busting your hump. If you are a dancer, dance every day. Cultivate relationships in the dancing community. Go to auditions and look for dancing contests, contracts and lessons. In other words, be a dancer. Eventually, you will be paid to dance. Perhaps you will be paid well enough that you no longer have to clean hotel rooms, drive a semi truck or sell real estate to get by. The perfect career, and only about a trillion hours of blood, discipline, practice and fleeting moments of pure grace, beauty and joy to get there.

Copyright (c) 2008 Brooke Consulting Co.