The Daily Bones

TAG | Jobs

Apr/10

29

Quarter Life Crisis? Read this

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Nearly every time I have a conversation with college or high school friends leads to discussion about discontent with their employment situation, and hints at the so called “quarter life crisis”.  We’re all frustrated with our jobs for various reasons, and it seems to be quite the common theme of our generation.  It seems to be a bit more frequent with my college friends.  We all grew up in relatively similar situations: suburban upbringing, relatively stable family life, excelled in high school, went to a good private college.  After a reasonably successful 4 years, we got jobs in or near big cities, that pay well, and are considered the “right path towards a career”.  But we’re not satisfied.  Something’s missing.

Today, on Hacker News, an article was posted from 2002  that’s a must read for anyone feeling frustrated by what I described above.

Link to “What Should I Do With My Life?”

Some pertinent quotes:

“People don’t succeed by migrating to a “hot” industry (one word: dotcom) or by adopting a particular career-guiding mantra (remember “horizontal careers”?). They thrive by focusing on the question of who they really are — and connecting that to work that they truly love (and, in so doing, unleashing a productive and creative power that they never imagined).”

“Your calling isn’t something you inherently “know,” some kind of destiny. Far from it. Almost all of the people I interviewed found their calling after great difficulty.”

“The ruling assumption is that money is the shortest route to freedom. Absurdly, that strategy is cast as the “practical approach.” But in truth, the opposite is true.”

“Intensity comes across as a pale busyness , while passion is meaningful and fulfilling. A simple test: Is your choice something that will stimulate you for a year or something that you can be passionate about for 10 years?”

“You’ll be a lot happier if you aren’t fighting the value system around you. Find one that enforces a set of beliefs that you can really get behind. There’s a powerful transformative effect when you surround yourself with like-minded people.”

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