DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THE POWER OF THE WORDS WE USE?
Using the proper language when speaking to our kids and helping them cast a vision for their future can be so instrumental as to whether they feel like they have to do something or they’re inspired to do something; whether something is an obligation or it’s something they’re being called to.
In today’s episode, we’re talking about one simple word change you can make as you’re continuing to inspire that entrepreneurial spirit in your kids and helping them explore what’s next for them in both leadership and profession and possibility.
Let’s raise them up right!
IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:
[1:42] What’s Your Dream Job?
Two super common questions when we’re talking to kids are: What do you want to be when you grow up?; and as they start to get older, our next question is: What’s your dream job?
One thing that we really believe at Luminary Leadership, especially in the work that we’re doing alongside kids and these entrepreneurs that are raising this next generation of leaders, is how we can help our children really be inspired about what they’re really being called to and not fit the traditional molds of today’s society.
What’s your dream job? Should those two words really be put in the same sentence in that way? To me, the word “job” is very traditional, and it’s a message of punching a clock and showing up to do your part and then get paid. It’s very transactional. Don’t get me wrong, working for someone else is fine. We talk a lot about the idea that just because we’re developing the entrepreneurial spirit, it doesn’t mean that our kids have to become entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit embodies so much and there are plenty of people who go on to have successful lives and careers as intrapreneurs, working within someone else’s company but making a massive impact and still embodying the entrepreneurial spirit.
But, do we want our kids dreaming about things like a job? Is that the message that we want to send them, even if it’s not intentional? Maybe it’s time that we take the focus off the job part, and we start asking some other questions that help them figure out their dream life. What they’re actually being called to, not necessarily what they’re going to do, but who they’re called to be. Then they can start to identify what that could look like in a career path.
[4:09] Who Do You Want to Be?
Many of us grew up with that “job” mentality: What’s the most logical next step for me, in order to bring home a paycheck?
But, what if we approach this from an inspired place of: Who am I called to be and what container will support me in doing that? We also have to make sure that we’re reminding our kids that we have to pay our dues in pursuit of that dream. That might mean taking on some jobs that they don’t love in the process to learn skills and work ethic and pay those dues as they work up to something else but their eyes have to stay on that vision of what they’re really called to and that dream life they want to live.
So, instead of asking: What is your dream job?, we can ask them: How do you want to spend your days? What impact do you want to make or who do you want to impact, help and serve? What change do you want to see in the world? What problems can you solve? What gifts have you been gifted that could be used to serve somebody else?
We need to help them really see the value and the worth in themselves, before they go back and answer the career path question. Answers to these questions are going to be so much more powerful. So instead of all the focus being on “what you want to do?”, try shifting it to “who do you want to be?”
[7:01] Answers Come to Those Who Take Action
When we give our kids the freedom to start to explore, it will guide them down the right path, and then they will try things to help them identify what is right for them.
Answers come to those who take action and giving them the space to actually take action and see what is right for them is really powerful.
So, as you approach these conversations with your kids, no matter what age they are, try this process. Try asking some different questions and see what they come up with. Then you can help them make the right connections and visualize the right processes to step into that as they approach adulthood, in a way that’s really going to align them with who they’re called to be.
I hope today’s episode has inspired you to take a different approach and to try out this process. If you do, make sure you share it with us and tag us @elizhartke .
If there’s a topic, a question or a guest you want to hear on the show or an idea you have for us, just reach out and share that.
We do this for you so the more you tell us the more we can serve!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:
