2.0 Career Basics Course: Summer 2025, Day 4

"I think that one of the biggest differences between our generation and our parents’ is that we understand the power of building intersectional movements. The urgency of our climate crisis, paired with the fearless leadership of our generation, is creating a new standard for how we need to view this issue. ... Our generation is tearing down the walls that have divided us.

From Mauna Kea to Flint, Michigan, to the front lines of nearly every major environmental action, we’re reminding the world that indigenous people and marginalized communities need to be at the forefront of this fight.

As our ability to communicate has gotten easier, the lines that have separated us are fading. Across industries, countries, religions, professions, and academic paths, people are really starting to get it. We’re acknowledging that struggles for justice—whether they be environmental, social, political, or racial—are intrinsically linked, and so are the solutions to these crises. Our neighborhoods, our communities, and our homes are just as much a part of our environment as the oceans, forests, and mountains.

So where do you fit into all this? The misconception that activism has to look and feel a certain way is dying out as our generation is rejecting the limitations placed on us and seeing the bigger picture. Maybe you see yourself as an architect who will build more energy-efficient homes. Maybe you see yourself as a farmer growing local, delicious, organic food for your community. Maybe you see yourself as an artist who will help expand people’s consciousness.

Being a part of these movements begins where you’re inspired to plug in."

~ Imaginary Borders, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez , a pocket change collective

Today's Exercise:

Describe Your Dream Job* (or portfolio of jobs)

"Now is the time to embrace your daydream. This is the moment when you channel the electric experiment that comes from imagining limitless possibilities and fill in the details and subtleties that transform that thought into a clear picture with you in the center.

Here are three questions that will help you bridge the space between the idea and the reality.

1. What do you want? Make a list of everything you want in life ...
2. What path do you want to walk? This question is rarely asked with as much depth as the first, yet it is the key to your happiness ...
3. How can this path help you get what you want? Our brains are wired to synthesize and make sense of disparate information. By asking how your path can help get what you want, you will begin to see answers that you didn't realize were possible.

People most accidentally trade their quality of life (or ideal path) for what they want because they mistake the most readily accessible way as the only way to get something. ...

However, if you answer the questions above in earnest, the answer to the third question -- how that path can help you get what you want -- may not lead to the fastest journey. It will most likely not be the easiest. Often it will require you to look hard for role models and cobble together stories that make sense of possibility a reality.

But it is possible. Harder, but possible."

Note: This is either ...

• Way 10, if you reference the 50 Ways to Get a Job: An Unconventional Guide to Finding Work on Your Terms, or
• Way 7, if you reference the 2018 version of the book, which I have.

Doyle's note: Sometimes, perhaps more often than not, a "dream job" is something that we figure out ... more of a journey than an exact destination since we ... and the world ... are always changing. Sometimes, we're waiting for opportunities, or we're preparing for new opportunities, and sometimes we take what's available and make do while holding on to our dreams ... and a career that brings them forward.

Doyle's response:

For me, at this moment in my life, without about 100 days or so my 66th birthday, these are important questions and ones that I find myself returning to on a regularly basis; when I'm at my best, I'm able to weave and return to these questions daily on a daily basis during my morning walks with my daughter's dog, Carlos - a Corgi/Australian Shepherd rescue do.

My friend/colleague, Scott Downs, whom I've mentioned in other posts, has introduced me to Agile Planning and Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 thinking about this. More about this later, but essentially developing a North/South Star or direction, more intermediate steps towards that goal, and then smaller chunks of time, perhaps two weeks or a month, in which you introduce daily steps towards the bigger journey. So that's a process by which I'm trying to think through these questions.

Here are a few short notes, more to follow across this journey over the next 10 Weeks.

1. What do you want? At this moment in my life, and this will be different for every individual, it's TIME. Time to be present for myself and others in the accompaniment of their journeys and stories, and time for deeper discernment about the path that I want to (or must) walk. (2023)
2. What do you want? I'm looking for a quieting, as it were; I've been a collector of things, of books, etc, and now, as part of a general pruning, it's time to (re)evaluate what's being held and why in order to discern greater clarity for the next stages of life, career, and learning. (2025)
3. What path do you want to walk? A path toward great integrity, authenticity, and radical justice (note: I'm still trying to figure out what each means to me) -- that very much includes being in service of others and what matters to them. Less about being "in the center" and more about "being around the circle." (2023)
4. What path do you want to walk? When we first contributed to this series, I was thinking about "walking" metaphorically. However, now, I am both physically walking (with Carlos, our Corgi/Australian Shepherd) and cycling along Lake Shore Drive and being open to spontaneous conversations that arise, and cycling for prayer and meditation. I have found that "moving" has greatly facilitated the thinking and discernment process. (2025)
5. How can this path help you get what you want? Frankly, I know that I will be happier, healthier, and a more loving person. Like many of you, I've always told myself that it's a balance between "keeping the lights on, paying your bills, and being responsible to those in your care." All great and wise leaders, including Dev Aujla whose text serves as our map, encourage us to think that this is not a "question of THIS or THAT," but rather -- in the great tradition of Chicago Improv, a "question of THIS AND THAT." (2023)
6. How can this path help you get what you want? This path will help create the necessary space and time in my life to be open to what's next, to be in service of others, to accompany them on their journeys and their life's work, that is, what they are called to and their reason for being in this world. I do see myself volunteering more, giving blood more regularly, and being present for myself and others. (2025)

So here's to this honest journey. More to follow.

Looking ahead: "Schedule A Vacation Buffer"

All the best to everyone; thanks for accompanying us on this journey.

Gerald and Al Nunez

P.S. We would like to welcome Parian Hatami as a new collaborator for this 2.0 Career Basics Course, Summer 2025. We first met during Upkey 's Virtual Internship Program and have remained colleagues since. Parian's fields of interest include: Mathematics, Marketing, EdTech, business strategy designing, data work & management skills.

Appendix:

The Career Basics Course was originally offered across 10 Weeks, beginning in February 2023.

Here's a link to the companion article from two years ago:

• Career Basics Course: Week 1, Day 4