I graduated from engineering school 20 years ago and I've gotten to do a lot of interesting, satisfying projects since then. The advice that I give my kids (and

I graduated from engineering school 20 years ago and I've gotten to do a lot of interesting, satisfying projects since then. The advice that I give my kids (and anyone else who asks): 1) Pick one or two things at a time to get good at. When you start feeling like you've pretty much got that nailed, then pick some other way to challenge yourself. Ideally one intellectual challenge and one physical challenge. 1a) This becomes much easier under pressure. For example, instead of just "oh I want to learn something" it needs to be in the service of some larger goal. Maybe it's for your job, maybe it's for something you're doing as a hobby, but it needs to be a Project, not learning as an end in itself. 2) Incremental progress is the only kind of progress that exists. Make incremental plans. Celebrate small victories.