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August 5, 2007

What do you want to do when you're done?

I can't tell you how many times a week I am asked this question. Yet, after about a million polite answers and a handful of honest ones, I am still unable to really answer the question. I attended a workshop last month for students and new professionals in relationship research and it really pressed me to carefully consider what I actually want to do when I'm done. I am curious how many of us really know. I have always been of the mindset that what will happen will happen and if I seize opportunities as they arise, it will take me somewhere -- hopefully somewhere that I want to be. Beyond that though, I really never put much thought into it. I realized after talking to others in the stage I am in or beyond that this mindset just may not fly. It seems as if in order to succeed, I should have been more deliberate about each decision I have made. So where I am now is soul searching and trying to figure out exactly who I want to be professionally. Have any of you struggled with this? Do you feel as if you have a clear idea of what you want to do when you're done with school? What is it that you have decided?