Scott Couey

"When I grow up I want to be a cartoonist!"

When you were a child, you probably got the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question from the adults around you. We had hopes and dreams of becoming something cool and exciting – a rock star, a policeman, a fireman, or even a super hero. The logic of a child is just priceless. I told everyone who asked me that I wanted to be a cartoonist because (and I quote) “Cartoonists don’t have to wear a tie to work.” It didn’t matter that I had no drawing ability whatsoever, I had made my mind up and was going to be a cartoonist.

As we grow up, we realize how humorous those thoughts of our future career were and how realistic we need to be as adults. This weekend, I went to my high school reunion and several people had changed in appearance, but no one shared of their adventures as a super hero (or even a cartoonist). Most of my former classmates are now parents, teachers, police officers, or work for the government. How did we make such drastic changes in our career choices?

I was talking with one of my mentors last week and he shared with me a list that has helped him with his career choices. He said that you need to constantly be asking yourself the following questions:

• What do you want people to say about you?
• What is it about your job (or previous jobs) that you love?
• What do you want your ministry to be/look like in 20 years?
• What are your passions?
• When have you been in the zone?
• When did you experience greatest success? Failure?
• Where have you had the biggest impact? Least?
• In what do you take pride? Of what are ashamed?