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What do you wish you had more of in terms of status? Or where you wish you had followed the crowd?

LAC-Tech 5y ago
Just wish I'd played the game more. Focused on grades, internships, prestigious companies. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a sob story. I'm just very career & success focused in my 30s, and was too school for cool up until my mid 20s.
- balaji1 5y ago
  Not about a sob story. But it seems like a lot of people wish they had not been too cool for school. Many times, too cool for school phase also includes rebelling against parents. There is a lack of enough guidance or mentors for youngsters. So if the youngster doesn't have enough self-discipline and a vision, he/she is going to be confused. And a mentor has to be a wholistic mentor for many facets of life. Also not enough parents are looking out for their kids through adulthood and having their backs. Elders are not able to allocate enough time for their adult children. Their priorities are spread too thin. They struggle to communicate with the children.
zdragnar 5y ago
Not my personal experience, but that of some people I have known: Accruing status typically also means accruing wealth and / or connections. At any point in time, you have options. You might have a legacy of influence you have spread. It is easier to focus and work harder when you are younger. Getting a new career off the ground when you have kids is easier if you've built up a nest egg, which is easier if you've moved up the chain early. Marching to your own drum, deviating from society's expectations might leave you with a legacy of "he went to various places, looked at the things there, and made short term friends along the way" can, at a certain point in your life, feel quite unfulfilling. You end up having passed up the opportunities to put away for the future, or failed to establish a longer term network. At the end of the day, there are both extremes, and everything in-between, and then some more. Every choice comes with trade-offs.

Just wish I'd played the game more. Focused on grades, internships, prestigious companies. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a sob story. I'm just very career & success focused in my 30s, and was too school for cool up until my mid 20s.

balaji1 5y ago
Not about a sob story. But it seems like a lot of people wish they had not been too cool for school. Many times, too cool for school phase also includes rebelling against parents. There is a lack of enough guidance or mentors for youngsters. So if the youngster doesn't have enough self-discipline and a vision, he/she is going to be confused. And a mentor has to be a wholistic mentor for many facets of life. Also not enough parents are looking out for their kids through adulthood and having their backs. Elders are not able to allocate enough time for their adult children. Their priorities are spread too thin. They struggle to communicate with the children.

zdragnar 5y ago

Not my personal experience, but that of some people I have known: Accruing status typically also means accruing wealth and / or connections. At any point in time, you have options. You might have a legacy of influence you have spread. It is easier to focus and work harder when you are younger. Getting a new career off the ground when you have kids is easier if you've built up a nest egg, which is easier if you've moved up the chain early. Marching to your own drum, deviating from society's expectations might leave you with a legacy of "he went to various places, looked at the things there, and made short term friends along the way" can, at a certain point in your life, feel quite unfulfilling. You end up having passed up the opportunities to put away for the future, or failed to establish a longer term network. At the end of the day, there are both extremes, and everything in-between, and then some more. Every choice comes with trade-offs.