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Well said. Educators and parents don't do a great job of saying "if you want to be A, then you should work on your V skills" or "while you may be passionate ab

Well said. Educators and parents don't do a great job of saying "if you want to be A, then you should work on your V skills" or "while you may be passionate about C, it is not a career.. have you considered D,E,F?". And also for those going off to college it would be useful to have the hard conversation early "while it may be fun to live in G HCOL city for 4 years, if you want to make a life there, you are going to need a HCOL paying job like H,I,J.. so maybe don't pursue low ROI degree K". I definitely interacted with a lot of younger millenials/GenZ in my career who were constantly changing jobs laterally because nothing was a "good fit". So they spent the first 5 years of their career churning water instead of doubling their salary. This is the kind of thing that sets a person back for life. To me it's like "wow yeah you don't find working on a CRUD app / BI analytics / retail website to be the most life affirming thing in the world?" Guess what, as Mad Men said.. "that's what the money is for". People can have hobbies!

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
He didn't mean it in this way at all (it was really a reference to how to live in a racially discriminatory society) but I always liked James Farmer's > We do what we have to so we can do what we want to
- cwalv 3y ago
  The surprising thing, tho, is that even if you win the lottery, so that you end up not really having to do anything, you'll still find out that "work" is a requirement for a fulfilling life.
  - ponector 3y ago
    Work is a requirement for fulfilling life, not job. Winning lottery you can do any work, not just grinding 9-5 pointless job.
    - steveBK123 3y ago
      Yes and no. Found money is easily lost. And when a savings rate turns into a burn rate, the nest egg quickly evaporates. Play with any retirement calculator and shift your retirement age forward even 5 years. The problem is 5 years less new saving, 5 years less returns on peak nest egg, 5 years more spending down the nest egg, (and also not collecting social security yet because too early). For someone who didn't already have strong passions and hobbies that don't have high burn rates, filling 50 hours/week without spending down savings extra fast is hard. You can also become alienated from those around you and the ordinary rhythms of life.
- steveBK123 3y ago
  Yeah, exactly. I think a lot of "follow your passion" types also miss that a lot of passion businesses are 90% business (sales/marketing/accounting/leasing/HR/administrative/paperwork/phonecalls/BS) and 10% the thing you were so passionate about. It's important to at least like what you do, and to find some purpose in how you fill your time. But it's a rare person who actually finds doing their job more pleasant than sitting on a beach / reading a book / watching a film / scrolling HN / etc. I've worked with some, and I don't really envy them. There are limits in each direction.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    I like the word "dignity". It is important that as a society, we allow people to experience dignity in their work, no matter what it consists of. This is different from the question of how much they like it and how much they get paid. All jobs, no matter what they pay, should bring sense of dignity to whoever does them (and in our current economy, most jobs should pay more than they do).

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago

He didn't mean it in this way at all (it was really a reference to how to live in a racially discriminatory society) but I always liked James Farmer's > We do what we have to so we can do what we want to

cwalv 3y ago
The surprising thing, tho, is that even if you win the lottery, so that you end up not really having to do anything, you'll still find out that "work" is a requirement for a fulfilling life.
- ponector 3y ago
  Work is a requirement for fulfilling life, not job. Winning lottery you can do any work, not just grinding 9-5 pointless job.
  - steveBK123 3y ago
    Yes and no. Found money is easily lost. And when a savings rate turns into a burn rate, the nest egg quickly evaporates. Play with any retirement calculator and shift your retirement age forward even 5 years. The problem is 5 years less new saving, 5 years less returns on peak nest egg, 5 years more spending down the nest egg, (and also not collecting social security yet because too early). For someone who didn't already have strong passions and hobbies that don't have high burn rates, filling 50 hours/week without spending down savings extra fast is hard. You can also become alienated from those around you and the ordinary rhythms of life.
steveBK123 3y ago
Yeah, exactly. I think a lot of "follow your passion" types also miss that a lot of passion businesses are 90% business (sales/marketing/accounting/leasing/HR/administrative/paperwork/phonecalls/BS) and 10% the thing you were so passionate about. It's important to at least like what you do, and to find some purpose in how you fill your time. But it's a rare person who actually finds doing their job more pleasant than sitting on a beach / reading a book / watching a film / scrolling HN / etc. I've worked with some, and I don't really envy them. There are limits in each direction.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  I like the word "dignity". It is important that as a society, we allow people to experience dignity in their work, no matter what it consists of. This is different from the question of how much they like it and how much they get paid. All jobs, no matter what they pay, should bring sense of dignity to whoever does them (and in our current economy, most jobs should pay more than they do).