what and what is

when you're in college or graduating college and people ask you, "what do you want to do?", how do you understand that question?

do you think about what you want to do as in what type of profession you want to pursue or do you think about what you want to do as in WHAT IT IS that you want to accomplish?

the most important way to understand the phrase "what do you want to do?" is in manner of the latter, which focuses on what it is that you want to accomplish in life.

the profession you work is best understood as HOW you might go about achieving WHAT IT IS that you want to accomplish.

while thinking about what you want to do is necessary at times, it is infinitely more important to always be thinking about what IT is (or are) that you want to accomplish.