How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You)

[Jabberwocky]

This is from an often really good blog, wait but why?

Full article here: https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html

I?m just gonna share the subject lines and images. It?s a long entry, so give yourself plenty of time to go through it. It may be my favorite entry Tim has done yet, and I hope you enjoy. How I wish I?d read this when I was in high school or college...

Here is a teaser:

Your Life Path So Far

For most of us, childhood is kind of like a river, and we?re kind of like tadpoles.

We didn?t choose the river. We just woke up out of nowhere and found ourselves on some path set for us by our parents, by society, and by circumstances. We?re told the rules of the river and the way we should swim and what our goals should be. Our job isn?t to think about our path?it?s to succeed on the path we?ve been placed on, based on the way success has been defined for us.

For many of us?and I suspect for a large portion of Wait But Why readers?our childhood river then feeds into a pond, called college. We may have some say in which particular pond we landed in, but in the end, most college ponds aren?t really that different from one another.

In the pond, we have a bit more breathing room?some leeway to branch out into more specific interests. We start to ponder, looking out at the pond?s shores?out there where the real world starts and where we?ll be spending the rest of our lives. This usually brings some mixed feelings.

And then, 22 years after waking up in a rushing river, we?re kicked out of the pond and told by the world to go make something of our lives.

There are a few problems here. One is that at that moment, you?re kind of skill-less and knowledge-less and a lot of other things-less:

But before you can even address your general uselessness, there?s an even bigger issue?your pre-set path ended. Kids in school are kind of like employees of a company where someone else is the CEO. But no one is the CEO of your life in the real world, or of your career path?except you. And you?ve spent your whole life becoming a pro student, leaving you with zero experience as the CEO of anything. Up to now, you?ve only been in charge of the micro decisions??How do I succeed at my job as a student???and now you?re suddenly holding the keys to the macro cockpit as well, tasked with answering stressful macro questions like ?Who am I?? and ?What are the important things in life?? and ?What are my options for paths and which one should I choose and how do I even make a path?? When we leave school for the last time, the macro guidance we?ve become so accustomed to is suddenly whisked away from us, leaving us standing there holding our respective dicks, with no idea how to do this.

Then time happens. And we end up on a path. And that path becomes our life?s story.

At the end of our life, when we look back at how things went, we can see our life?s path in its entirety, from an aerial view.

When scientists study people on their deathbed and how they feel about their lives, they usually find that many of them feel some serious regrets. I think a lot of those regrets stem from the fact that most of us aren?t really taught about path-making in our childhoods, and most of us also don?t get much better at path-making as adults, which leaves many people looking back on a life path that didn?t really make sense, given who they are and the world they lived in.

So this is a post about path-making. Let?s take a 30-minute pre-deathbed pause to look down at the path we?re on, and ahead at where that path seems to be going, and make sure it makes sense.

Enjoy! I loved it especially the illustrations. Especially the Yearning Octopus:

 

[Ds]

I like the anaology?that we were born tadpoles and didn't chose the river. I can relate there so much

The job I have now is the first job I've ever had that offers health,vision,dental and life insurance, paid holidays, PTO. Now that being said, I'm not making as much as I was when I was doing linework(then again, I was spending every penny I had on drugs, and booze & be broke before the weekend was up).
tho I'm not bringing home as much, I am starting to notice that I have moneys in my bank account come next payday. So that being said, coming from someone like me that used to blow his entire paycheck, to learning how to save money over the course of 2 weeks is amazing in it's self.

I'm not 100% happy where I'm at because of the 3rd shift hours I work, I am grateful that I do have a job, and am able to pay rent and bills and not live under a bridge somewhere.

possibly a year or 2 down the road, I will look into getting another job at another treatment center, somewhere closer to home. somewhere that would pay a little better, I really like the experience I am getting here now, will help me get a-better paying job in the future.

 

[Shady's Fox]

hello there! Now, I'm preparing a nice presentation for my students on how to choose your career wisely. This picture is simply awesome, and I introduced this idea that you are the creator of your life, CEO. I often advice my students, take the risk, don't stop here and be confident in your comfort zone.

Yeah but don't work yourself too hard.