How are your career list-making skills?

Ok, I know I said I was drowning in lists yesterday (nothing's changed - still drowning), but I came across a terrific article in Business Week about career-changing that offers an excellent list-making exercise to help you sort out what you want to be when you grow up (which is what I'm trying to sort out right now, remember). Do read the whole article, but it comes down to this:

1. List every job you've ever had, no matter how unimportant, and under each entry list three things you enjoyed about the job.
2. Make a list of how you spend your discretionary income. This will point out what is important to you.
3. List all the dreams and ambitions you had/have that have gotten sidetracked over the years because of the real world (mortgage, car, kid's college fund, etc.).

Now, I don't know about you, but this is going to take lots of thought and time, especially the job list. My first pay-check job was at a really low-rent discount store in Chattanooga, Tennessee called Raylass (my mother knew the manager and that's how I got the job - network, network, network). It was so depressing - I was working the month of December (senior year of high school) and through the Christmas holidays. I even had to work until midnight on Christmas Eve - woe was me! I'll have to think hard about 3 things I liked about that one, although I do remember getting some really cute underwear at a discount outta the deal.

So, when I'm not painting this weekend (not the glamourous-artsy-kind, the room-trim-kind), I'll grab a gin-and-tonic and start my list. I suspect it will be very revealing!