You just strike me as very fatalistic. As if it’s beyond your control whether or not you can live a happy life . Like it’s some kind of crap shoot or something (assuming you live in a free society). Those of us who live with purpose know that is complete garbage. I had no clue what I wanted to do until i was about 28. i spent several years moving down a path that later proved to have no value in my career. but that is irrelevant because i’ve always acted according to a guiding purpose and set of values, so i’ve always been happy. sure i could be making x% more if i had known from the get-go what i wanted to do, but that is not a failure.
My guess is that you had some big disappointment in your life and you let that failure define you. just a wild ass guess.
I thought i was going to be a professional baseball player up until my 2nd year in college, then a poker player… I think if i wasn’t such a proud person i would either be playing double A or wandering some third world country.
I didn’t say that. I think it’s beyond your control whether you can PREDICT your life. Not whether you can find happiness in it.
So wait, are you a person (“those of us”) who lives with purpose, or did you have no clue what you wanted until you were 28.
Incidentally, that’s exactly my point… most of us take a while to figure things out, and then have to adjust through life as we go along. Hopefully, over time, we make better and better decisions.
None of this means you can’t be happy. It just means that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Your ability to be happy is a different quality.
The thread question is about whether you find your career or your career finds you… my point is that for most of us, it’s an iterative process of hits and misses and figuring out what works. When you look back on your life, it can look like it’s all one big plan from the beginning to the end, but there’s actually a lot of trial and error going on too.
As for happiness, that’s a different story that probably involves a certain amount of trial and error. Finding happiness is as much about learning about yourself and what motivates you and makes you happy. It can be hard to be happy when you are constantly worried about next month’s rent or tomorrow’s meal, but even poor families are able to find simple ways to be happy, even if they might find more ways if they weren’t poor.
When I started college, I was an idealistic dude. Thought I’d be an econ major and save the world from itself. Then I realized that econ majors typically became baristas because not many people hired econ majors. So I switched to accounting/finance. Graduated. Realized that there were no jobs because it was 2010 and I went to a hacksaw non target, lib arts college. Went to grad school for my MS in finance. Couldn’t get a job from that. Took a couple months and became CPA eligible and got a job in big 4 in audit (worst job ever). Did a bit over a year there, passed all my CPA exams, and leveraged my industry experience from audit into an industry research and consulting firm. Better pay, hours, benefits, more interesting work, etc.
Now when I was in school I never would have plotted this course. I figured I’d get a job straight from undergrad, but alas, that didn’t happen. I figured I’d be in big 4 for years. Again, that didn’t happen. The key to careers, and life in general, is to be flexible. Understand that while you may think you have a goal, life will throw curve balls at you. Its up to you if you capitalize on them.
when I was in big 4, I had a chance to get on a project that most people thought as a dead end, career wise. I met some of my best friends on that project and we are still close years later. I applied for my current job on a whim because I was bored and pissed off. 2 weeks later I had an offer. Life happens. It’s all about what you do with opportunities.
^ 1% of marwardis control 25% of India’s GDP and marwardi is probably one of the most successful communities in the world…so there is no shame in being a marwadi (even if i am not a marwardi)
Where did you get that figure? and what does 1% of marvadis controlling 25% of GDP mean?anyway why do you think i implied that being a marwadi is something to be ashamed of? it is not.