Okay! It’s Saturday. I’m in my home office pondering the question, “What’s your dream job?” All right, I’m not pondering it, as I already know the answer, “I don’t have a dream job.”

I did have dreams about certain jobs in my younger days. Until reality slapped me in the face in my senior year in high school, I dreamed of being in the U. S. Air Force and becoming a pilot. What could be greater than helping protect your country and fly through the clouds as part of your service?

When the pilot thing went the way of the wind, I still wanted to be of service somehow, so I went into law enforcement. Maybe I couldn’t fly at Mach 1 with my hair on fire, but I could drive fast, help keep my community safe, and play with guns!

My law enforcement career turned out to be interesting, fun, rewarding, and extremely educational in some ways. After law enforcement, I had other vocational experiences, but none were dream-job caliber.

I served as an adjunct professor at my Alma Mater for a decade. I also became a public speaker and life coach, ending my employment history as a real estate broker.

All of my jobs had positive and negative aspects. They were also educational. For example, they helped me understand there are no dream jobs. The dream part is what you do with the job, how you see it, and yourself.

The fun thing about my vocational odyssey was how various groups or entities received me. I have a wall full of plaques awarded to me because of one position or another. Some are serious, and some are fun. All are meaningful.

All of those acknowledgments make me feel good about the job I did. Still, they do not elevate my jobs or positions to dream status. The reality is the dream part comes from little or unexpected things.

In one case, a young man took part of his Christmas break from college to look me up at the police department. I had detained him and some others when he was a pre-teen. He wanted to thank me for how I handled him and his buddies. He credited me with helping him make it to college and be able to take the next step in his career goals. Click here to read that story.

I could share other stories about people I interacted with over the years. Many believed I helped them achieve their goals. However, the main point is this. It’s not a job that is great or a dream. It is how you perform it and how you handle yourself that leads to the satisfaction or dream part.

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