Discovering that I'm a multi-potential-ite.

Yesterday, I with through this seminar called “Afterburner.” It’s essentially a group of classes put together from former veterans and USAA to teach Soldier’s how to succeed once they get out of the military. It’s an amazing seminar, and if you’re a Soldier who will be getting out soon, I HIGHLY recommend it. You will learn more in that one day, then you will going through the entire ACAP… TAP…SLAP… whatever they’re calling it now.. process.

During one of the breaks, this former F-16 pilot, who now works as a consultant, asked me “Liam… What do you want to do when you get out?” I replied… “Well… I have a general idea, but I cannot pick one thing out specifically.” He then asked “What are you good at?” I said… “well… a lot…” He said “What do you mean?” I replied, “During my time in the Army, I’ve learned how to shoot down planes, repair a radar, repair a big rig, drive a big rig, heck I even have a CDL and I’m certified to drive buses. Then, the Army taught me how to lead Soldiers, do paperwork, and some kind of cool camping tricks. That was just in the first 8 years. The next five years, I learned how to read people, identify potential insider threats, run an investigation, elicit information from people, analyze massive amounts of data, and teach other people how to do it. Not to mention, my dad taught me as a kid how to fix electronics, wire a burglar alarm, build a computer, fix a computer, plumb a house, troubleshoot a network connection, work with wood, and fix a car.” 

He looked at me kind of perplexed and then asked… “Do you have your degree?” I laughed and said… “Yeah about that. I’m on my last two classes.” He said “Oh that’s awesome! What will your degree be in?” I smirked and said “Independent studies.” He said, “I’ve never heard of that degree. What is it?” So… I answered, “It’s kind of a general education bachelors. It works with cognates. So, half of my degree is in computational science (computers), and the other half is in social sciences (people). Oh, and I also have a minor in intelligence studies. Not to mention the random other 40 college credits I have in religious studies and psychology that don’t apply to the degree. I’m probably one of the few people who has a 3.84 GPA… and 160 college credits.”  We concluded our conversation with him offering varying suggestions on possible career field, which… of course, all of them interested me, but I couldn’t single one out that I liked better over the others.

One of his suggestions was to watch “TED Talks” on the different career fields I’m interested in to maybe help narrow the field down a little bit.

So today, I did just that.

I watched about ten “Ted Talks” and I was no better off than I was before, but I came across a video that piqued my curiosity. Ironically, the title of the “Ted Talk was “Why some of us don’t have one true calling.” So of course, if I can’t pick one specific topic out on “what I want to be when I grow up…” I’m going to watch a video why I'm having a hard time figuring it out.

As it turns out… I’m a multi-potential-ite. That one 12 minute video sums up my entire life. Here, you know what, I’m not even going to say anything else about it… Just watch the video. You can find it here. 

  

So now, the question is, how do I take this new information and use it to get a job when I get out? How can I use it to find a job where I’m not going to get bored? Honestly, I think that’s my biggest fear of getting out. Getting stuck in a job that I’m bored with.

What are your thoughts?