(no subject)
It's an odd quirk of mine that I like watching interviews, especially with interesting people. They don't necessarily have to be successful (though many interesting people are, and I have a theory that Interesting is part of Successful in many fields), but it's generally assumed that they are, because some production company somewhere has decided they are important enough to interview.
Today I went on a binge. I must have watched two or three dozen on the marvelous hellspawn known as YouTube. They were all in the vein of "Advice for Young BLAH" or "Advice for Beginning BLAH."
They were all eerily similar. In fact, in nearly every single one of them (except "Advice for Stockbroking Newcomers," which was about as close to tripe as one can make a video), the message boiled down to, "Just do it." Sadly, Nike has perverted that into something corporate ("Sir, how can I live making only four cents a day?" "Just do it.").
It's true though, you know. If you want to do something, and if you really believe in what you're doing, the only thing stopping you is laziness or procrastination. And you can choose what you devote your time to.
I think that's one of the main differences between me and my parents. (I'm disinclined to generalize this because my family's situation and history is not entirely normal.) My parents chose occupations for the money. They did the best they could and busted their asses so they could make money and live comfortably. This is what they chose because they knew it could make them comfortable later. But, in the name of this comfort, they sacrificed happiness. They didn't always enjoy their jobs. I saw this when my father would come home late at night bitching about his coworkers.
See, for me, enjoyment of my job is critical. I'll be doing it for 30-odd years. I better like it. That's why I'm currently in science. I like science. Perhaps, though, I realize now that it's not really the experiments I like. These tend to go wrong and generally involve a lot of grind. (To those in the field, this "grind" is referred to as "controls.") I don't mind grinding, and sometimes it's enjoyable, and it might be inevitable in any job. But every occupation has different grinding.
I like the idea of getting paid to think, but have come to the realization that there's far more than one way to skin a cat in that sense. For now, I'm going to keep on my path because I'm stubborn and it has plenty of enjoyable moments. But I'm not so sure I'm tunnelvisioning any more.
Perhaps that's part of growing up.
Today I went on a binge. I must have watched two or three dozen on the marvelous hellspawn known as YouTube. They were all in the vein of "Advice for Young BLAH" or "Advice for Beginning BLAH."
They were all eerily similar. In fact, in nearly every single one of them (except "Advice for Stockbroking Newcomers," which was about as close to tripe as one can make a video), the message boiled down to, "Just do it." Sadly, Nike has perverted that into something corporate ("Sir, how can I live making only four cents a day?" "Just do it.").
It's true though, you know. If you want to do something, and if you really believe in what you're doing, the only thing stopping you is laziness or procrastination. And you can choose what you devote your time to.
I think that's one of the main differences between me and my parents. (I'm disinclined to generalize this because my family's situation and history is not entirely normal.) My parents chose occupations for the money. They did the best they could and busted their asses so they could make money and live comfortably. This is what they chose because they knew it could make them comfortable later. But, in the name of this comfort, they sacrificed happiness. They didn't always enjoy their jobs. I saw this when my father would come home late at night bitching about his coworkers.
See, for me, enjoyment of my job is critical. I'll be doing it for 30-odd years. I better like it. That's why I'm currently in science. I like science. Perhaps, though, I realize now that it's not really the experiments I like. These tend to go wrong and generally involve a lot of grind. (To those in the field, this "grind" is referred to as "controls.") I don't mind grinding, and sometimes it's enjoyable, and it might be inevitable in any job. But every occupation has different grinding.
I like the idea of getting paid to think, but have come to the realization that there's far more than one way to skin a cat in that sense. For now, I'm going to keep on my path because I'm stubborn and it has plenty of enjoyable moments. But I'm not so sure I'm tunnelvisioning any more.
Perhaps that's part of growing up.