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"Higher education is often described as an investment. But it’s still unclear if it pays off in happiness." Nothing, nothing will guarantee happiness. Or a goo

"Higher education is often described as an investment. But it’s still unclear if it pays off in happiness." Nothing, nothing will guarantee happiness. Or a good life. Make the best decisions you can, by which I mean try to make decisions that you will not regret later. (Have I made a crap-ton of mistakes in my life? Sure 'nuff. Would I make different decisions if I could, even knowing what I know now? Probably not.) And for the love of Pete, stop denigrating those who have made different choices. Sure, it may make you feel better about your situation temporarily, but it is very, very unappealing.

d4mi3n 6y ago
> Make the best decisions you can, by which I mean try to make decisions that you will not regret later. (Have I made a crap-ton of mistakes in my life? Sure 'nuff. Would I make different decisions if I could, even knowing what I know now? Probably not.) I can't agree with this enough, and it's a very powerful mindset. As a personal example, there was some point in my mid/late 20s where how I made decisions changed. Less of "will I regret doing this" and more "will I regret NOT doing this". It's amazing how much happier and content with my life I was when I removed speculative regret (what if..?) in favor of actual regret. Turned out I regretted a lot less and enjoyed much more when I actually got out and did.
- mcguire 6y ago
  When you are young, you have a lot of options that you will almost certainly regret later, when you realize that they have closed off other options.
arcticbull 6y ago
I find the idea of a "guarantee of a good life" very strange, and super myopic. There are no guarantees in life, everything is probabilistic. Based on other people's outcomes you can do your best to infer which decisions increase the likelihood of your desired outcome. Want to be rich? I can't guarantee that -- though I would say give what other self-made rich people did a go: move somewhere where you're in the path of money, with other like-minded people.
AsyncAwait 6y ago
> Make the best decisions you can, by which I mean try to make decisions that you will not regret later. This can be hard as a young adult, when everyone in a position of authority is telling you your entire childhood that not getting a degree means you're a failure. It's kind of a lot to ask of 18 year olds to truly be able to weight the significance of a student loan for example.
- mcguire 6y ago
  Student loans make it more complex, but I know a lot of older people who regret not going to college, both because of the opportunities they didn't have later in life (my mother, for example) and because of things they were interested in but never had a chance to learn (a retired friend who would have loved chemistry).
  - AsyncAwait 6y ago
    > I know a lot of older people who regret not going to college Sure. There's an equal amount of young people who regret going. Not that they regret the education received per se, but do not feel that its value is anywhere close to the amount of student debt they are in. Undergraduate courses should either be publicly funded or employers should adjust their expectations. Part of the problem is that nowdays college degrees are required even for fairly low-paying jobs, which wasn't always the case.
jimbokun 6y ago
In high school, I had a part time job planting trees, but knew I was going to a university that I was proud to get accepted to and excited to have that opportunity. But kind of thinking maybe I shouldn't brag about that to the other kids who were doing this same job, but wouldn't have the same opportunities for higher education as myself. Then one day, the subject came up, and the other guys were like "Thank god I'm graduating and won't have to waste any more time reading and studying and sitting in a classroom. I can work outside and make money instead." And I realized not everyone's path to happiness is the same. On the flip side: I spent another summer working with a couple older gentlemen driving a tractor. I said something like "This isn't so bad, working outside, breathing fresh air." They told me in no uncertain terms "Get a job doing something in an office with air conditioning, you don't want to still be out here doing this when you're our age."
- opportune 6y ago
  The best job I ever had was life guarding a pool barely anybody used. 70% of the time it was empty and I just browsed my phone. It paid $9.25/hr. Some of the other lifeguards were in their 60s or 30s and as a college student, at first I was judging them a little that they were doing such a menial job in their prime earning years. Then I realized that if they were happy with their current standard of living their life probably had no work related stress whatsoever and they kinda had it figured out. Now I make over 10x more and am constantly stressed out and anxious taking my work home with me everywhere, and I envy those people quite a bit.
  - nevertoolate 6y ago
    Find a job which pays you enough and you are not over stressed. If your job is too hard for you at the moment you need to find a way to be able to improve your skills

d4mi3n 6y ago

> Make the best decisions you can, by which I mean try to make decisions that you will not regret later. (Have I made a crap-ton of mistakes in my life? Sure 'nuff. Would I make different decisions if I could, even knowing what I know now? Probably not.) I can't agree with this enough, and it's a very powerful mindset. As a personal example, there was some point in my mid/late 20s where how I made decisions changed. Less of "will I regret doing this" and more "will I regret NOT doing this". It's amazing how much happier and content with my life I was when I removed speculative regret (what if..?) in favor of actual regret. Turned out I regretted a lot less and enjoyed much more when I actually got out and did.

mcguire 6y ago
When you are young, you have a lot of options that you will almost certainly regret later, when you realize that they have closed off other options.

arcticbull 6y ago

I find the idea of a "guarantee of a good life" very strange, and super myopic. There are no guarantees in life, everything is probabilistic. Based on other people's outcomes you can do your best to infer which decisions increase the likelihood of your desired outcome. Want to be rich? I can't guarantee that -- though I would say give what other self-made rich people did a go: move somewhere where you're in the path of money, with other like-minded people.

AsyncAwait 6y ago

> Make the best decisions you can, by which I mean try to make decisions that you will not regret later. This can be hard as a young adult, when everyone in a position of authority is telling you your entire childhood that not getting a degree means you're a failure. It's kind of a lot to ask of 18 year olds to truly be able to weight the significance of a student loan for example.

mcguire 6y ago
Student loans make it more complex, but I know a lot of older people who regret not going to college, both because of the opportunities they didn't have later in life (my mother, for example) and because of things they were interested in but never had a chance to learn (a retired friend who would have loved chemistry).
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  > I know a lot of older people who regret not going to college Sure. There's an equal amount of young people who regret going. Not that they regret the education received per se, but do not feel that its value is anywhere close to the amount of student debt they are in. Undergraduate courses should either be publicly funded or employers should adjust their expectations. Part of the problem is that nowdays college degrees are required even for fairly low-paying jobs, which wasn't always the case.

jimbokun 6y ago

In high school, I had a part time job planting trees, but knew I was going to a university that I was proud to get accepted to and excited to have that opportunity. But kind of thinking maybe I shouldn't brag about that to the other kids who were doing this same job, but wouldn't have the same opportunities for higher education as myself. Then one day, the subject came up, and the other guys were like "Thank god I'm graduating and won't have to waste any more time reading and studying and sitting in a classroom. I can work outside and make money instead." And I realized not everyone's path to happiness is the same. On the flip side: I spent another summer working with a couple older gentlemen driving a tractor. I said something like "This isn't so bad, working outside, breathing fresh air." They told me in no uncertain terms "Get a job doing something in an office with air conditioning, you don't want to still be out here doing this when you're our age."

opportune 6y ago
The best job I ever had was life guarding a pool barely anybody used. 70% of the time it was empty and I just browsed my phone. It paid $9.25/hr. Some of the other lifeguards were in their 60s or 30s and as a college student, at first I was judging them a little that they were doing such a menial job in their prime earning years. Then I realized that if they were happy with their current standard of living their life probably had no work related stress whatsoever and they kinda had it figured out. Now I make over 10x more and am constantly stressed out and anxious taking my work home with me everywhere, and I envy those people quite a bit.
- nevertoolate 6y ago
  Find a job which pays you enough and you are not over stressed. If your job is too hard for you at the moment you need to find a way to be able to improve your skills