It’s Summer Activity Time! (Quit your groaning over there, Kiddo.)

Take out a piece of paper and draw three columns. In the first column, write out the summer jobs you held as a kid/ tween/ teen/ young adult … however you got paid before you became a Responsible Adult with a Real-ish Job.

(And if you’re at a loss here because the only work you did as a 15-year-old was direct your team of nannies what Polo shirts to pack for your summers abroad, you can click the little X in the top corner and exit this conversation. Love you anyways!)

You can expand this list to include part-time, intern, or volunteer jobs you worked at in those formative, acne-riddled years. Got the list ready?

In the middle column, write all the things you loved/ liked a lot about each job.

• Maybe you had a paper route and you loved that you got to organize your own little empire: the most efficient route, the payment collection schedule … maybe the running of a wee-sized business stirred the entrepreneurial spirit within you.
• Maybe your job as a busboy let you bond and laugh with coworkers equally disenchanted with All Things Food Service. You might have learned that social connection is crucial for you to feel alive.
• Maybe babysitting lit your caregiving flame from within, and that you felt valued when you looked after other people’s needs.
• My first job at 12 was as a telemarketer and I loved the thrill of making a sale; I learned that I liked the ability to impact my own income and ring that little bell every time I sold a coupon book to a stranger on the phone. (OMG should I get a bell for my office that I can ring every time I book a keynote talk? OF COURSE I SHOULD.)

The last column is for the stuff you disliked/ hated with all the disdain in your jaded adolescent heart.

• Maybe your lawn-mowing job taught you that working for unsatisfied customers would never make you happy.
• Maybe working at the mall was mind-blowingly boring for you and highlighted that you need a faster pace to stay engaged.
• Maybe helping out at your Dad’s business every summer made you realize you wanted to build something of your very own … and that some family is best kept at a distance?
• I worked as a sports camp counsellor one summer and it reinforced how much I dislike sports, kids, and the outdoors. But it was a blast for other reasons and I love that I gave that job a go anyways.

Even though this seems like a “what vocation is right for you” exercise, I’m less interested in how these insights might steer your career and so much more interested in how you felt about recalling the range of jobs you got to dabble in. (If you had just one job at Bilbo’s Burgers every summer and holiday season, well, play along anyways.)

For many of us, the variety platter of jobs and volunteer gigs gave us exposure to things we didn’t know we needed: opportunities to zero in on interests that clicked with us, a heightened awareness to steer clear of things that deenergized us, and chances to try things on for size. This is why I wish we could do a summer rotational program as adults, just to try even more things on for size.

When was the last time you tried a new thing on for size (and not new jeans)? Like a new hobby or theater show or community event or chance to help out as a volunteer? When I was in college I answered the phone at a support line for women in prison just because it sounded interesting (AND BOY WAS IT INTERESTING). I also volunteered for a woman who just gave birth to twins; she needed a morning a week to just sit in the shower alone and cry get clean, and I learned that I like to help people and also not ever reproduce.

When was the last time you dabbled in a new activity or initiative at work? Or in your neighborhood? Or on one of those mission vacations?

I’m not suggesting you get a parttime job if you’re already overwhelmed. Maybe I am suggesting you check for volunteer opportunities in your area that fit into your schedule—even if it’s once a quarter. It’ll help you feel like a good person, it’ll actually help someone else, and it’ll liven up your experience of being alive. Anyone want to start this Summer Sampler Platter of Jobs for Adults with me? We’ll start by scooping ice cream. That sounds like a great gig.