A Cold Hard Dose of Reality December 27, 2007
Posted by Michael in Economics.trackback
Joan of Argghh tells some truth, backed up by the Brazen Careerist. I wish I could figure out how to get my kids to listen to her.
Joan’s point: forget the old shibboleth about “doing what you love.” Instead, do what you are good at and make some frickin’ money.
Being valued in the form of money? I know, it’s a shock to the system of people under 40. If younger people would only understand how awesome they’ll feel at 40, how much energy they’ll have, how much happier they’ll be, well, they’d take a major chill pill from all of their life-drama and just get busy with making a bit of cash at Cogsworth Cogs, invest it wisely, and still have a lot of life ahead of them after 25 years of simple work. In fact, they’ll have more than most.
Dream-jobs are mostly for dreamers.
shibboleth
Hey, do you know the story behind this word?
Nope, Bart, it’s a mystery to me. Why don’t you tell us?
So I guess I should be making money as a guy who likes to drink beer?
You can apply at the A-B brewery, Eddie. It’s right near my old place in the South Side. We could smell it all the time.
I should temper that post with the reality that I still check the want-ads every morning. You just never know…
Thanks for the link-love, Michael!
(The avatars around here are so apt.)
Michael:
The Brewery has one of the greatest smells out there. Nothing like the smell of malted hops.
If younger people would only understand how awesome they’ll feel at 40, how much energy they’ll have, how much happier they’ll be,
yeah right. Im reminded of a line from On Golden Pond:
How does it feel to be 80?
Twice as bad as it felt to be 40.
That post is just advice from a parent who wants their lazy kids to get out of their house and get a job.
Maybe 10 percent of the people in the world really know what they want to do with their lives. Half of them will never achieve that. Half of the ones who get what they want will realize that it really wasnt what they wanted at all.
If your young and you know what you want to do - GO FOR IT. If youre old before you find out what you want to do - it may be too late. Sorry. But if not - GO FOR IT.
No matter how much a job pays its not worth it if your not happy. You aint got to worry about enjoying having a huge nest egg at retirement if youre dead of a heart attack at 50.
Its stupid to work a job that pays well but never gives you the time off to enjoy it. Try to find something that pays ok and gives you enough time to actuallyt go out and have a life.
Dont waste your youth busting your ass in some shitty job. No matter how much money you make it wont be worth all the wasted years. Time is the most precious resource we have.
Dont get married when your young.
Dont have children when youre young.
Dont get into debt when your young.
Find out what you want to do. Find out what makes you happy. Keep that goal in mind and work toward it. Its ok to work shitty hours at a shitty jog - as long as youre working towards your goal.
If you spend your entire career working towards “being secure” at retirement you might as well be dead.
Live while youre young. Work at a job that you enjoy and that you can make a comfortable amount of money. Save what you can and let the chips fall where they may.
And if you never figure out what you want to do with your life - Fuck it. Just enjoy every sandwich.
Amish, my “lazy kid” is into his second career. His first began at around age 14 with construction, and he wrote code until he was 25. He turned down a job at Microsoft, and gave up good pay to pursue his passion.
And it has turned into work, just like everything else. He’s happy, but he knows, now that he’s married and hoping for kids, that he’s gonna have to hunker down and do the 60 hours a week that his passionate profession demands as a chef. And he won’t get very rich at it, unless he embraces the hell of competition and goes all out.
Dream on…
I am an artist, and have no delusions of supporting myself with my art. I work for the reward of the cash that brings me the means to pursue my art. Art as a profession can be every bit as brutal as some corporate project management job. Go read the entire article at Brazen Careerist for more perspective.
But I will tell you that 40 is still very, very young. Only silly youngsters think that 40 is old. Your advice is romantic in the grand sense, and I don’t fault it, it just won’t mean as much when you’re 50 and staring at your lack of marketability. Just read today’s Day By Day cartoon. Chris Muir gets it.
For amish*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTQfERb9HVk
*With whom I agree, life is too short to have a crappy job. Now that I’m getting up in age I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen who’ve died before they ever got a chance to enjoy life.
My perspective might be a little skewed because I’m one of the fortunate few, I think, that has been able to turn a hobby into a well paying career. I love what I do but it hasn’t always been that way. I was a middle management drone getting the bonuses and stock options and working those 60 hours a week. Travelling 50% of the time and never getting to see my kids. I am so glad I came to my senses at 40 and got out of that rat race. Its going to cost me a few dollars when I retire but I figure my boat will be paid for by then and I can dig my own worms. And I will have had that extra time with the people I love.
Now that I’m getting up in age I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen who’ve died before they ever got a chance to enjoy life.
yep. Getting old is no picnic, its true, but there are a lot of people who never even get the chance to find out. And thats much worse i think. The only thing worse that dieing young is gettin old without ever having lived.
You know how many times my mother left Tennessee? Once. She went north during the War to work in a factory. She never saw the ocean. She never traveled to another country. Nothing. Hell i offered to pay for her to take a trip somewhere. Wouldnt do it. Waste of money.
Whats the point of saving and saving? You cant take it with you.
She wasnt cheap or anything. She was just very “responsible.” And thats good, but damn - we only have one shot at this - live a little.
I was going to link the Who doing “My Generation” but i think ill link them doing “Summertime Blues” instead.
Eddie Cochran knew what i was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5euZ3YWLXQ
Nobody wants a crappy job, but there are plenty of folks who waste good years carping about their job when they should be using it as a toll to get them where they want to be.
Why is that so hard to understand? Yes, I’ve known many folks who’ve died too young. I know plenty of others who, in their dotage have fears in abundance because of finances.
It’s a choice, a gamble, sure. But the odds are still in favor of you living much longer than you ever imagined. If you’re just killing time in a job, surely you’ve wasted your life. If you’re working for something bigger, say, a future, then even if you don’t arrive there, you’ve accomplished much more than morose grousing about pissy jobs.
And yes, I’ve danced thru many a crappy job. It’s attitude, not current positioning that makes “work” bearable.
I think we all have had to put up with crappy jobs and I agree with you Joan that you might as well make the best of a bad situation but I don’t think anybody should settle for that. I don’t think its bad career advice to do what you love. The Brazen Careerist says “Career decisions are about what kind of life do I want to set up for myself?” and that is just wrong, imho. She elaborates that we have other things that we ‘love’ so there is no need for a job we love. These are not mutually exclusive concepts so I’m struggling to understand her point. Fully 1/3 of my life involves my work so its a high priority for me to spend that 1/3 on something that makes me happy. What is wrong with that?
But the odds are still in favor of you living much longer than you ever imagined.
tell me about it. I was counting on doctors finding cures for all the shit i was putting my body through by the time i was old. And if that failed i was sure when i was ten years old that we would either get nuked by the commies or that the world would end in 2000. And just my luck - neither one of ‘em happened.
And yes, I’ve danced thru many a crappy job.
well its easier to do when strangers are sticking dollars in your g string
you know a job i wouldnt mind having? Radio DJ. I like music. I like politics. I think i would be pretty good at it. Of course it couldnt be a job at one of the radio stations they have today. Too scripted. Cant play what you want to play. FCC breathing down your neck.
Maybe one of those Satellite stations.
DR4.
Heh. I didn’t deserve that, but it was funny all the same!
Funnier if you ever saw me dance.
:o)
BrewFan: “never settle” is why I keep looking at the want-ads.
I am SO selling my store this year.
After that…no idea. Don’t give a shit, frankly. I’m a crash n’ burn type, and no blog posts about responsible stewardship of one’s future will ever change this. I know because I have tried.
There ain’t nothing to do with me Daddy, like it or not this is it. It doesn’t get much better.
Anybody want to buy a store? Owned by a little lady that only drove it to church on Sundays…
Is cat food on sale this week, or what? I do likes me some salmon n’ giblets.
I hope you get a bazillion dollahs for it and retire to the beach.
you know a job i wouldnt mind having? Radio DJ.
I quit a job for what I thought was going to be a better job. That turned out horribly, and when I left that job, after 3 months, I didn;t know what I wanted to do. So I went to broadcasting school.
I always wanted to be a DJ. But I now had a mortgage, 2 kids and needed to make money. And I quickly learned that there was no way I was going to make a decent living as a DJ, at least not without taking jobs for nothing or almost nothing, for a long time.
So I took a shot at my dream job. Then back to the real world.
My dream job starts next week — getting paid for doing nothing.
I deserve a raise.
On the other hand, my dad loved his job in the Air Force. So much so, that he refused to get his recently discovered heart problem checked out because he thought he would lose his flight status, as he had his retirement all planned out and that included the extra pay he was getting for flying.
He died of a heart attack at 53. Never got a chance to retire. Never met my kids.
Pisses me off to this day.
that sucks