Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sunday Reflection: Dream Job
"Dream job" was the topic for haiku Friday, and the idea has been in my mind the past few days. The truth is that I have my dream job-- a vocation so fulfilling that I couldn't have imagined it when I was a student at law school.
In short, I get to teach smart students, write about things I care about, and try to change the world in those ways compelled by my faith. I am constantly in contact with brilliant people, some of whom agree with me, and others who don't. Every day, I am in contact with one collaborator or another, and that is one of the great joys of my life.
When I was interviewing at law firms back when I was in law school, I pondered long and hard the question of how to find out the truth about work conditions at a particular big law firm. After all, an associate or partner was not going to tell someone being recruited the whole truth, at least not in any clear or obvious way. Their job was to accentuate the positive. I developed a technique that seemed to really work: When I was interviewing, I asked the lawyer I was talking to what they would do if they didn't have this job. Some people perked up and described wholly-formed schemes to be a store owner or a comedian or a screenwriter or a professional sailor. They had an escape fantasy. The (fewer) people, genuinely happy as a lawyer at a big firm, had to think about it for a while-- they didn't spend their time imagining a different existence.
I have no escape fantasies. And I give thanks for that.
In short, I get to teach smart students, write about things I care about, and try to change the world in those ways compelled by my faith. I am constantly in contact with brilliant people, some of whom agree with me, and others who don't. Every day, I am in contact with one collaborator or another, and that is one of the great joys of my life.
When I was interviewing at law firms back when I was in law school, I pondered long and hard the question of how to find out the truth about work conditions at a particular big law firm. After all, an associate or partner was not going to tell someone being recruited the whole truth, at least not in any clear or obvious way. Their job was to accentuate the positive. I developed a technique that seemed to really work: When I was interviewing, I asked the lawyer I was talking to what they would do if they didn't have this job. Some people perked up and described wholly-formed schemes to be a store owner or a comedian or a screenwriter or a professional sailor. They had an escape fantasy. The (fewer) people, genuinely happy as a lawyer at a big firm, had to think about it for a while-- they didn't spend their time imagining a different existence.
I have no escape fantasies. And I give thanks for that.
