I wanted to be a foreign aid worker but my mom said they were all religious (I guess she was thinking of missionaries) so I gave up that dream with great sadness.

After half a century my dream finally became somewhat of a reality when I began sewing washable sanitary pads for girls in Malawi, where 30% of the female population can't afford such basic human needs. Poor girls must stay home from school during their periods, leading many to give up & drop out entirely. This is not just a personal tragedy either, as female education is directly & invariably linked to lower birth rates, lower infant and maternal mortality, and higher income for families.

I will probably never visit Malawi, but being able to help girls and women there in such a direct and practical way is the most meaningful thing in my life.

I enjoyed my childhood and had so much fun that I wanted to remain a child forever and never grow up so I never gave any thought as to what I wanted to do/be as an adult. After I graduated from HS I just went where life took me and it has been a wonderful adventure and has ended well for me so far. Life is good.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."
Douglas Adams

In order of occurence:
Horse
Veterinarian
Lobbyist: , turns out there's not much money in lobbying for bringing back the buffalo. Ah.. youth.
Artist... pfffft

I wanted to be a rock musician as early as 5 or 6 when I found an eagles greatest hits tape and played it til it spit it back out at me. Check.

Then I was big into wanting to be a ninja and/or go into the military, a la the turtles or GI Joe. I’m glad I went with ninja. Not formally got a high belt or anything but I’m getting serviceable with a bo staff and nunchaku.

Also really wanted to be an astronaut. That’s the only one I haven’t come anywhere close to yet, but I do still want to get off this planet more every day. So here’s hopin.

When I was little I wanted to be a dentist!! My dad was a surgeon and OB/GYN and we had a neighbour who was a dentist. They traded services. I wanted to be a dentist because I wanted to be like her. But I also wanted to be a writer, artist, and fashion designer (historical costumes mostly). I wrote and drew a lot when I was a pre-teen and teenager. Then I wanted to be a veterinarian (because I love animals) or an archaeologist (I wanted to be like Indiana Jones). After high school, I was accepted to two local universities, one for the Science program and the other for the Archaeology program. I got a scholarship to the Archaeology program so I went there and got a degree in Archaeology (otherwise, I would have gone into the Science program and then vet school).

I had a paper route and there was a Mortuary on the route that intrigued me. herses,limos etc. It got me interested in Egyptology & Embalming. I decided that I waned to own a Mortuary. After military service I went to college on the Korean GI Bill, Served a two year apprentiship, took state exams and got liscensed as a Funeral Director/Embalmer and went to work for a large Funeral Home. Made a good living but not enough to buy my own business. After a thousand funerals and hundreds of embalmings I left the business, went back to school and changed careers.

I wanted to be a character animator. I loved drawing and animation and was headed in that direction until computers came along and I realized how good I was at digital graphics. That seemed like a more practical choice so I pursued that instead. I did graphics for years until vision issues forced me out.

Aging blows.

Having been brainwashed to be religious, I wanted to be a religious leader. I outgrew that silliness, though.

i wanted to be rich like the Beverly Hillbillies

I drew since I was 4 years old and totally self taught. I was encouraged by friends and family throughout school and upon graduating high school enrolled in a community college (because that's all I could afford, no dad's or rich grandparents to pay a free ride for me). I had practiced my craft for the first 21 years of my life and had gotten proficient in learning different artist styles. I could from within my mind's eye reconstruct a painting or drawing from art history and even once duplicated a fellow classmate's project from sight alone.

You could say I envisioned that I'd be an artist since I was 8 years old.

Sadly, being poor and having no rich relatives burned that dream out of me. For five years I toiled working two full time jobs while predominately sleeping in my car to get a two year degree. I learned that it wasn't talent that made you get noticed in the art world. No, it was if your parents or relatives were wealthy and had connections. That you'd get "sponsored" and introduced to the right people and "rub shoulders" through those connections that would even allow you to get a shot.

I had none of that. I had serious and honest discussions with my professors, directors of the program and personal reflection through observation. I'd already lived the starving, homeless art student. Did I want to live the rest of my life the starving artist as well?

I decided to switch majors after the first year and move from Fine Arts Major to Graphic Designer. I'd always played around with computers since I was 11 - 12 years old. So learning to combine my artistic skills with computer applications was actually pretty easy. I created a portfolio, worked on business/creative projects for small businesses and even saved up some money to get a custom metal case built for my portfolio.

The day I graduated college (five years later) I had saved up money for a at least six month and promptly quite the two full time jobs I'd been slowly giving my life's energy to... It felt so good to be free of dead end jobs that paid me horribly.

I'd broken the cycle, got out of the trap both sides of my family were generational trapped in. Heck my Sis and I were the first in my immediate family to go to college (granted I could only afford community college, my sis had a full ride into state college.. I suck at tests so no scholarships for me)

Sadly, right out of the gate I lined up interviews at a few agencies in town. 9 out of the 10 I applied to, denied me because I lacked a Bachelor degree. No reviewing my portfolio, not interview period.

The one interview I got the guy showed up late, acted like he was doing someone a favor just to let me come into the office. He asked me a few questions asked if I could use a camera and if I knew how to do photo touch up in Photoshop. I offered to show him several designs I had done and the series of photos I'd taken during my photography classes in college. And that I'd be happy to provide support and learn the skills necessary to assist the current photographer.

He wasn't impressed and flat out stated I didn't have the experience or education he was looking for.
In a twist of fate, a fellow classmate was offered a job at the agency... I helped him finish up all of his portfolio pieces.. so did he really get the job on his own merit?

Eventually I got a break to work for a internet startup.In one year my department grew from two people (yours truly included) to a team of 14 people. We'd built up our advertising and marketing and production efforts to garner sales starting at a $2,000 a month to near the end of the year $1,200,000 in gross sales. We'd worked on advertising on 24 websites and ad networking platforms. I'd managed 40,000 product photoshoots and even dabbled in some VRML product shots for a demo to management.

Then, the executive board sold the company and proceeded to screw everyone out of their fair share of the company. I ended up having to sue the new owners in a class action lawsuit to just get my back pay of $14,000.. The $250,000 in "stock" turned in to $250.00 and I had to pay $400 to withdraw it.

That experience made me want to leave..

So I left moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma for what I "thought" was a new job building another startup. Eight months later and four full credit cards. That turned out to be a total lie.. and I ended up on the streets.
Still those eight months weren't totally worthless. I spent most of the time teaching myself how to program and learn my way around unix.

That didn't stop me from getting kicked out of my Apartment though...

After a while living under a bridge.. I saved up enough change to swallow my pride and call my dad.
He dropped everything and flew across the whole US for me and picked me up literally the next day.

Two weeks later, I got hired at my first agency job as junior programmer.

Sadly, this wasn't a happy ending for 20 more years I hoped from one role/job to another here are a few titles and roles I've held.

Graphic Designer
Software Engineer
Information Designer
Curriculum Designer
Instructor
Solutions Architect
Application Architect
Technical Director
Business Analyst
Animator
Illustrator
Desktop Publisher
Diplomat
3d modeler
Sound Engineer
Inventory Manager
Product Sourcing Manager
Warehouse logistics Manager
Founder and Business Owner

And the list is still growing

I’m still trying to figure this one out

As a young boy my ideas were much like yours and "cowboy" was on the top of the list. My formative years were mostly spent in the country but I grew up when television was just becoming big in America. Cowboys were all over the TV.

Sorry, I had to chuckle, but how could you Not have wanted to be a cowboy? We are the same age and have very similar growing up experiences. My list would have been shorter - cowboy, policeman, fireman, and perhaps an armyman. The cowboys had a better costume and generally were allowed more personality than the others as depicted on TV (Joe Friday and Bill Gannon didn't leave much room for expression beyond "just the facts" ). The truth is, I didn't think but about career or jobs until I was much older and into my teens. By then I was so confused by changes in my life, I didn't know much about what I wanted out of life.

Paleontologist. One of those annoying kids who knew how to pronounce all the dinosaur names.
Ended up doing a geology degree, but don't work in earth sciences.

I wanted to be an artist and a writer. That sort of happened.

I always wanted to be a lumberjack

Seriously though until I was about 6 or 7 I was absolutely convinced I was going to be an astronaut one day. Then it dawned on me there weren't that many opportunities, so I settled for fighter pilot. But I spent from age 10 ish to maybe 25 terrified of flying and a lifelong pacifist so that didn't work out too well either. The rest of my childhood I was TOLD by my mother that I would be a doctor or an accountant, so I made sure that didn't happen and eventually ended up driving a cab for 25 years. I also remember at some point in my childhood lying awake all night quite often, terrified at the prospect if not being world famous one day. It's funny how we change!

Hoped to be either an architect or a horse trainer.

Astronaut
Until January 28, 1986

Electronics and TV and radio repair. I wound up in industrial electronics from a repair and applications standpoint.

Radio DJ.

I wanted to be a fighter pilot!! I was pissed that I was a girl, as girls could not do that. I flew later, but a Cessna 172, nothing nearly as exciting as what I'd hoped! Instead, I followed my plan B, which was a business education, sales, and management! I still stare in awe at military jets!

I wanted to play for the New York Yankees.

2 things: either a musician/music teacher or a park ranger. At least I got to be one of them

I was really afraid to dream then because we were in so much mess that the struggle to survive was on the mind every day. I was afraid that dreaming would bring me crashing hard on the ground if the dream did not come true. I was not ready for that huge disappointment. I have been a non-dreamer and ultra pragmatic ever since.

I made plans and I decided to be perfect in execution every time. So much so that being a perfectionist caused me and the people around me some agony. I do not that any more but I still decide what to do and pursue it hard.

There was only one thing I was very sure of - Getting the hell out, out of town, out of the country.

I had three aspirations. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be a spy, a writer or a businessman.