careering
October 18, 2006
"A working class hero is something to be." ~ John Lennon
The other day, I mentioned to my co-worker, Bart, that I must have had 10 or 15 different jobs in my lifetime. He laughed and suggested I write them all down. Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. A sober realization suddenly struck me. I am probably the least successful white guy in the world.
I am task oriented, not goal oriented.
Now that I'm 30, I have no other excuses but to take a good, long look at myself. As the philosopher observed: A life unexamined is not worth living. So I stared at my stubbornness and narrow focus. I may have worked hard but I rarely worked smart. Therein lies the crux of the problem, the flip side to the secret of success, at least success as measured from a money standpoint. Because, in an age of wealth manipulation and specialists, one must specialize in order to succeed.
Yet does happiness lie in either wealth or specialization? To become successful, how much of oneself must an individual swallow to achieve the material objects--new car, fine home, nice clothes, spending cash and sizeable nest egg--that most Americans consider the outward signs of success?
Or does success lie in happiness, in satisfaction, in pride of honest workmanship? The only thing I do know for certain is that I've had a helluva lot of different experiences. The sort of experiences that, if a person continues to do them for very long, become jobs if not careers, rather than experiences.
So, maybe I do suck afterall...
"A working class hero is something to be." ~ John Lennon
The other day, I mentioned to my co-worker, Bart, that I must have had 10 or 15 different jobs in my lifetime. He laughed and suggested I write them all down. Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. A sober realization suddenly struck me. I am probably the least successful white guy in the world.
I am task oriented, not goal oriented.
Now that I'm 30, I have no other excuses but to take a good, long look at myself. As the philosopher observed: A life unexamined is not worth living. So I stared at my stubbornness and narrow focus. I may have worked hard but I rarely worked smart. Therein lies the crux of the problem, the flip side to the secret of success, at least success as measured from a money standpoint. Because, in an age of wealth manipulation and specialists, one must specialize in order to succeed.
Yet does happiness lie in either wealth or specialization? To become successful, how much of oneself must an individual swallow to achieve the material objects--new car, fine home, nice clothes, spending cash and sizeable nest egg--that most Americans consider the outward signs of success?
Or does success lie in happiness, in satisfaction, in pride of honest workmanship? The only thing I do know for certain is that I've had a helluva lot of different experiences. The sort of experiences that, if a person continues to do them for very long, become jobs if not careers, rather than experiences.
So, maybe I do suck afterall...