Everyone wants to have a fantastic career. We study, work hard and do everything we can to have the best career we can achieve. It’s OK, but very often we are pushed by others to do something we’re not happy about. But they say we should do it. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
You have a talent - embrace it.
We all have talents. Our parent’s job (and ours a little later in life) is to find these talents and build upon them.
In the movie “Good Will Hunting” there is this scene where the main character is happy being a regular worker on a construction site but his best friend tells him he’s going to kill him if he doesn’t develop his talents. It’s a great scene and shows that you shouldn’t neglect your talents. Embrace them and develop them.
In the holy bible there is even a chapter depicting how God will look through our life and see what we’ve done with our talents.
Career vs Happiness
When I was fresh out of the university many people advised me to work for a big corporation. They saw my 2 college degrees, 4 fluent languages and saw me as a prefect guy on his way to the top climbing up the career ladder in the corporate world.
I chose not to. I went for my own small internet consultancy that after years of trying out different things finally built Nozbe. Now I consider myself the happiest man alive doing what I love every day and my talents and language skills help me along the way. I haven’t wasted my talents. Even though at first many believed I would by taking a different route than the most logical one.
As with everything, we should seek balance
Just because we can choose a career in the corporate world, doesn’t mean we should. Just because we can take the obvious route, doesn’t mean we should.
I’m not trying to blame corporations here. It’s just an example. We are not destined to do something because our talents say so. We should strike for balance and find what we love by using our talents along the way.
You are who you want to be
You don’t have to be a partner in a law firm just because you were a straight-A law student. If you want to build a startup or run a small law practice - go for it. Or if you want to save the whales, by all means, do it. Find what you love and use your talents to get there. Don’t do something because people tell you that if you can do it, you should.
You should find what you love.
That’s the only thing I believe you should do.