This analysis is most useful if your decision lends itself to quantification in dollars and cents. I did a cost benefit analysis during my first year in the engineering program to compare a career as an electrician to that of an Electrical Engineer. The time to payoff was longer than I had expected, about 12 years overall, but obviously 4 of those years I was earning reduced wages, and also paying for school.
I want to help you understand the diagram above, so let me give some definitions. If the chart already makes sense to you, skip the definitions.
Variable/stochastic: Definition of “stochastic”: randomly determined; having a random probability distribution or pattern that may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted precisely.
Estimable: Capable of being estimated.
Intangible: Something that can’t be nailed down.
Why would I do a Cost-Benefit Analysis?
Determine the soundness of a decision.
Provide a basis for comparing alternative decisions.
What does the process look like? Where do I start?:
Brainstorm costs/benefits.
Assign a weight or dollar value to each cost and benefit.
Compare the overall costs to the overall benefits, (assess the alternatives)
Cost-Benefit ratio: cost divided by benefit. The closer the ratio is to zero, the more likely you should implement that course of action.
An activity that would cost $10k, but only provide $10k worth of value would be a waste of time!An activity that would cost $10k but would provide 100k worth of value sounds like a sound investment.
Be careful when you are doing analysis of this type. You need to take into account the time value of money. The value of $1 now is not the same as the value of $1 when you are 60 years old. Both because you could invest that $1 in the interim between now and when you are 55, and because earning $1 will likely be significantly easier when you are 55 then it is now.
I’ve been analyzing how I spend my time for the last few days.
As I write these words, I’ve undertaken a project that is very large: I’m building my own house from scratch with no assistance from a construction crew, just me, with a few friends and my wife lending a helping hand from time to time.
If I wind back the clock 5 years, I was spending an immense amount of time on schoolwork in a degree program that I had interest in, electrical engineering.
Wind back the clock 5 years from that, and I was spending an immense amount of time on schoolwork that I had no interest in.
My point is, as I’ve gone from financially insecure to financially secure, I’ve also gradually moved from work and school relating to subjects that were of minimal interest to me, to ones that were exciting to me and that I’ve always had a basic curiosity about.
From that viewpoint I’ve basically moved myself from doing things that were fun and or satisfying, but I had no intrinsic interest in, to things that were fun, satisfying, and I was also interested in. It was merely happenstance that the career path that that I chose also happens to be incredibly challenging, it also rewards those who choose it with higher than average career earnings.
But honestly, we live in the United States of America, and there is so much cash floating around out there that basically any career path can experience a similar trajectory. Which brings me to the point of this post. Any pursuit that we choose as humans must satisfy an innate curiosity that we have (and some people are obviously more curious then others) and when it doesn’t, we will inevitably be dissatisfied with the way that we spend the vast majority of our time. The average person will probably struggle to locate more than 60-70 hours of “free time” per week. If 40 of that is spent at work, what are the chances that you can really satisfy that desire to pursue hobbies and interests in the remaining 25 hours? Perhaps you can, but I think your chances would be significantly better if your career would also provide at least some satiation to your interests.
Here is where people get lost; your career cannot be 100% pursuing your hobby. Every person I’ve ever discussed work/career/life with has always expressed a few things that they wish their job didn’t require them to do. I’ve even had the conversation with people who made their art into a career, (think pottery studio owner) and these people complain about the administrative tasks that are draining for them. You must analyze what your deepest curiosities are about, and then pursue a career that begins to help you satisfy those curiosities.
It is human nature to be dissatisfied with the career that you’ve chosen, but if it is assisting you in your pursuit of a hobby, it becomes a much easier choice to stay with a company or a career path.
Granted, I do have a certain advantage over many people because both myself and my wife know how to live within our means, and that has set me up to pursue school as an adult without crushing student loan debt. But this path is open to far more people then might initially consider it, since the beauty of student loans is that if you carefully choose a higher paying career that aligns with your interests you can use your earnings AFTER the degree program to pay for current expenses.
The moral of the post is that when you have the financial security to do so, making the move to a job that satisfies an innate curiosity of yours can be a very satisfying and engaging life choice, and will definitely increase your satisfaction with your career path.
If you are this far through my blog post, I already know something about you… you care more than the average person about what you end up doing with the majority of your time. Make your job have elements of your hobbies, and you will not dread the morning commute to work.
I hope this post gives you some food for thought. Here are a few steps to get you heading in the right direction:
Never give up, and don’t settle. If you are late in your career, or far into schooling for the wrong thing, and you aren’t sure you can make the switch, believe me, it is possible.
Don’t expect everything about your job to be perfect. Even if you are in a good job, there will likely always be things that will bug you.
No regrets. If you know you will get to the end of your life and regret what you are doing right now, stop doing that thing as quickly as possible. You are never as stuck as you think.
Write down the things that you research and the things that interest you the most. This is an exercise that you can do in one sitting, or sit on it for a few weeks and write down thoughts as they come to you. One of the ways that I discovered my life path was that I spent a ton of time researching Nikola Tesla (a famous electrical engineer) my senior year of high school. I also read a TON popular science magazines as a kid. My curiosity was captured and it (eventually) directed my career path.
The overall 6-year graduation rate for first-time, full-time undergraduate students who began seeking a bachelor’s degree at 4-year degree-granting institutions in fall 2012 was 62 percent. That means that roughly 1/3 of people who start an undergraduate program don’t finish it.
2. Skilled Trades:
You don’t like school, or you like working with your hands. This was the reason that I initially went into the trades for work. I didn’t believe that school was “for me”. I wanted to work with my hands, and I knew I could succeed at it.
3. You Will Be Successful Regardless
Perhaps you are incredibly gifted. There is a famous study that indicates students who were accepted into elite schools, but went to less selective institutions, earned salaries just as high as Ivy League grads. In other words, successful people are going to be successful regardless of what advantages they are given.
4. Low ROIon college for your career path
High loans/low wages. Many students who graduate have debt that exceeds their annual starting income by 2x or more. This seems problematic. I graduated with less than 1/3 my annual income in student loan debt, and I didn’t pay it off only because I wanted to use that debt to build my first house.
5. You Have Connections:
I’ve run into several people over time who got a good job that they shouldn’t have been able to get because they (or even their parents) were friends with the hiring manager or business owner. Most of the people that I’ve met like this were still working on a college degree, but they were doing it part time because they were also gaining valuable experience. If you have connections, use them!
6. You Don’t Know What You Want To Do:
If you don’t know what you want to do, no reason to waste time and money on a degree. College is expensive and shouldn’t be undertaken on a whim. Do research. Assure that you will succeed in school.
7. You Lack Self Discipline
If you aren’t certain that you will be able to succeed at college level academics, I’d HIGHLY recommend that you search for a career path that would allow you to avoid it. First of all, if you flunk out of or cannot finish for personal reasons, you’ve wasted an incredible amount of time and potentially a lot of money as well. Just wait, your life situation may change in such a manner as to set you up for better success later. But perhaps right now isn’t the time.
Reasons to go to College:
You Lack Self Discipline
I want to stress that you won’t succeed in college without a significant amount of self discipline before you begin, but if you have an interest in something but lack the self discipline to successfully self study that topic to mastery, college may be the route to go. There are people out in the world who can master any topic they put their mind to. My brother happens to be one of them. He completed his bachelor’s degree using primarily CLEP testing. He did it on an accelerated schedule by taking a lot of credits, and while doing so he worked a full time job and had two small children, and carried a 4.0GPA. That is serious discipline. If that isn’t you, then consider college as an alternative. Speaking from my own experience, college vastly improved my self-discipline. During my high-school education I wasn’t forced to keep track of my calendar because of the home-school setting that I grew up in. It was only after several years of college that I developed the ability to work ahead on assignments. College was very good for me in that respect.
2. You are Greedy
You want a decent paying job (especially if you don’t want to work in the skilled trades). If you want a job that clears 6 figures, you’ve got to show your future employer that you’ve got self discipline. The easiest way to do that is by finishing school.
College is not a magic pill that you take once and it solves your career problems forever. College is a key that opens the door to potential career fields you otherwise wouldn’t have had access to. It doesn’t guarantee a job, and it certainly doesn’t a successful and interesting career. But decent grades coupled with some club involvement and/or summer internships virtually guarantee successful employment upon graduation or shortly thereafter.
3. You are interested in a career path that requires a degree.
The chances of you being able to break into a career path without the required schooling are low, very very low. I don’t know how to emphasize this, but especially when you start looking at some of the higher paid positions, you won’t likely be able to work your way into those positions without the required schooling.
4. You don’t like menial labor.
The vast majority of jobs that you can get without an undergraduate degree tend to include a fair amount of drudgery. These jobs usually get more appealing once you have some experience and your wage becomes too expensive to pay for low skill, simplistic, or mindless tasks, but it may take you as long as several years to get to that point. I have friends who have worked very unpleasant jobs for many years, simply to get to the point where their job was almost as pleasant as mine was from day one.
5. You want to broaden your worldview.
It is hard to quantify what it means to be in relationship with people from other cultural backgrounds. If you haven’t gotten the chance to do this during your adolescence, it can definitely be a formative experience that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.
You are on the fence. You’ve thought about it, and you can’t force yourself to decide. Perhaps you’ve even developed analysis-paralysis. I can relate. I just agonized over what chewing gum to buy for the last 20 minutes. On the scale of significant to insignificant, that’d be a zero. The following are the coping mechanisms that I’ve developed to handle these situations.
Ben Franklin’s decision making strategy:
I’ve used the following decision making matrix for years. I’m not sure where I picked it up, but I recently listened to Ben Franklin’s autobiography, and discovered that he practiced this method, so the idea is far older than I am.
This works best when there are only two options to choose from, if there are more than two, then you’ll need to use another method.
First of all I try to list out the positives and negatives of the decision, either on a piece of paper with two columns or in an excel document.
Once I have a list of the positives on one side, and negatives on the other, I try to cross out items on each list in such a way that things of matching importance are crossed out together. If one item on the positive side is worth two or three from the negative side, I’ll cross out the four of them together.
The Regret Minimization Framework:
If you are inherently a risk averse individual, you may need the assistance of the Regret Minimization Framework. This framework basically asks you to project what you will be feeling at the end of your life, say at age 80, when you look back over your life. Will you regret not attempting a course of action more than you would pursuing the course of action and it being a failure? Whichever course of action causes greater regret is the route you should NOT pursue.
Giving yourself a Timeline:
You have to give yourself a deadline to make the decision. That means you set a calendar reminder for yourself, and if you haven’t already made the decision by then, you make it that day. If you don’t feel that you can do that yet, then give yourself a deadline to give yourself a deadline.
If you don’t have a timeline, it isn’t going to get done. This is true for things in the short term (because they get pushed to long term), and for projects in the long term (because they get pushed to “never”). Goals, more than anything else in life, help you focus your energy.
Choosing to not make a decision:
You will think that this is a cop-out, but sometimes passivity isn’t a bad thing. You may notice that you don’t have the capacity to spend sufficient time making an informed decision; perhaps that decision shouldn’t be made yet. This gives you freedom to tell people why you haven’t decided. You need to step back from some of your other responsibilities so that you have capacity to deal with it.
If you know that you can put it off a little longer with no repercussions, it is fine to delay the decision, sometimes clarity comes with time or new information arises that makes making the decision simpler. Sometimes you are stressing yourself out over something that will resolve itself. That being said, you probably didn’t read this article because you are having trouble putting off making the decision.
To be clear, the decision making strategies in this article are not valid in a “think on your feet” scenario; if the decision needs to be made in the next 20 minutes, these strategies may not be able to help you.
Three or More Options
Perhaps you’ve come to situation where you’ve got many options. You don’t know how to narrow the playing field to only two. I don’t have a perfect recipe here, I can just tell you what I do. I keep looking until I find some kind of information about the options that I care about, and then I eliminate all but two of the options based on that criteria.
Rational Decision Making Process:
This is most useful for larger problems that you don’t feel were adequately handled by the other suggestions on this page, and is a decision you feel needs significant effort.
1. Identify the Problem – What is the key issue?
2. Establish Decision Criteria – what is important to the decision?
3. Weight Decision Criteria – Some Criteria are more important than others!
4. Generate Alternatives – What are the options?
5. Evaluate Alternatives – This is based on the weighted decision criteria
6. Choose, or go back to step 4 and alter the alternatives.
Once you’ve chosen, be sure to write out your thinking so that when you look back over your notes from the process you can nail down why that one decision rose to the top. If steps 1-6 are too involved, then just use Bounded Rationality, which would allow you to choose the first alternative that is satisfactory and doesn’t require you to spend the additional time to attempt to find the optimal solution.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
If your decision is one that can be easily quantified in dollars and cents, then using a Cost-Benefit Analysis makes sense. I did this when I went back for my undergraduate degree. If you need this method, see my post where I discuss using the Cost-Benefit Analysis.
Action Priority Matrix
This matrix is useful for determining where to place your goals.
It is often helpful to compare different options by placing them in this matrix, helping you know whether the alternative is a “low hanging fruit” with high impact and low effort.
Risk vs RewardMatrix
Alright, so this one looks similar to the last matrix, but in this case, we are analyzing the risk of the project. If the decision has some level of risk, it can be useful to try to pinpoint where on the following diagram the activity lands.
Using Chance
In cases where you truly can’t make up your mind, and there doesn’t seem to be an obvious leading choice to make. I use chance. For years I believed that chance had no place in decision making. It never seemed to work for me. Even after I flipped a coin to decide, I wouldn’t be able to force myself to follow that course of action. What I realized is that flipping the coin is a test to see if you really care about something. If I flip a coin and I truly don’t care, then I will easily be able to go with the outcome dictated by the coin. If I care, and flip the coin and don’t want to do what the coin says, then I do the opposite. This only works in cases where there is no clear choice.
So you’ve decided you want to move, but don’t know where you should apply for jobs; or maybe you are ready to settle into that early retirement you’ve always dreamed of. Hear me loud and clear: where you live does matter! I have read multiple academic papers that claim that where you live generally doesn’t have a significant effect your happiness. But I don’t buy it. For one thing, self reported “happiness” is a very suspicious metric. How can I tell how happy I am if I don’t know how happy I would have been somewhere else? I believe now, and always have, that we need change in order to be happy. But that’s a topic for another day.
These are the metrics that I analyzed when considering where to live:
Proximity to Family
If you want to escape your family, increase the distance between yourself, if you want to stay close to your family, don’t underestimate:
Flight Time
Does the location you are considering have easy access to a major airport? The closer the airport, the higher quality of life you will have during vacations, and the more likely you are to go visit your family.
Drive Time
Similar to airports, everyone has their limit for how much drive time they can handle. Know your limit, and make sure you are closer than that. I break trips into: Day trips(less than 2 hours drive time), Weekend Trips (less than 6 hours drive time), and Week Long trips(less than 24 hours drive time). The distance I’m willing to drive is colored by the fact that I’m now paying for 6 plane tickets every time I travel somewhere for vacation.
If you are fortunate enough to have family support (especially if you have or are going to have children) don’t underestimate how nice it is to be near family. Many grandparents love to watch their grandkids. Even if they don’t, I can’t tell you how useful it is to have someone who’s stuff you can borrow. My dad owns a skid-steer and a flatbed trailer, and if I lived a little nearer, I could borrow it anytime.
Climate and Geography
So maybe weather doesn’t matter to you. But some people insist on having snowy winters. Some people insist that they love HOT days. I’m of the opinion that the more days that I can be outside enjoying the outdoors, the better. So weather with highs in the upper 60s to the mid 80s are ideal for me.
There are other things to consider: for example, if you like to garden, how much precipitation there is, and how long the growing season are become important.
If you Love fall colors, then you need someplace with a cold enough climate, as well as deciduous forest.
For the love of Pete, do not settle in Northern Minnesota or North Dakota. Winters there are brutal.
Depending on how far north you are, the days can get very short in the winter, which makes going outside that much harder. For example, the length of a day in December in Anchorage, Alaska, is less than 6 hours. So if you work during those hours, you may not see the sun except during the weekends.
Here are some websites I’ve found useful when looking at weather:
Yes, it matters how much you can make. But it also matters what the cost of living will be for you in that area. The older you are, and the less likely you are to settle for an apartment with multiple roommates, the more likely this is to to make a difference. When I entered the location search scene this time, it was with a wife and 4 kids. So the expense of real estate became an important consideration.
This website will allow you to search by job title and area, and see what the median wage is:
Remember that it doesn’t matter how much you make, what matters is how much of what you make you can save.
If I were to move to silicon valley, the area with the highest wages for my career, I wouldn’t be able to purchase a home, and my rent would be over $50,000 a year, which makes it pretty difficult to save, even at wages coming in over 85k (gross) for entry level positions.
Another important consideration is that of taxes, this website allows you to compare different area’s tax rates:
Early career go-getters will suffer if forced to work in an environment that does not reward their energy and enthusiasm. Larger metropolitan areas tend to have a greater selection of positions, leading to a easier and shorter job search for the kind of position that you want.
Aesthetics:
We each have our own preference, which I believe can change, but if the area doesn’t have at least one of the following, you might want to consider why you chose that location over another similar location: Clean Cities/Mountains nearby/Water view/Beach/Low Crime
Recreational Opportunities
Proximity & Quality of Outdoor recreation:
How close are national parks to your location?
How many trails are listed on Alltrails (a good proxy for accessibility)
Child-Rearing Environment
For those of you have kids, a spot for the kids to safely roam outdoors might be an important consideration, as well as good schools.
Absolute Deal-breakers:
You need to consider what is important to you. The following were deal-breakers for many US cities that I considered:
Cost of Living (COL) too high to allow me to purchase a house on a reasonable timeline
Commute to work of over 40 min
Mediocre Weather (or smog)
Lack of proximity or access to Mountains
Other:
There may be some intangibles that just can’t be qualified. Maybe you don’t want to be associated with Idaho because Idaho is only known for it’s potatoes. Or maybe you don’t want to be in a place with lots of hippies. Maybe you have connections to an area due to childhood stories or visits. Maybe you have a friend that moved to an area, and you’d love to live close to them. Wherever you go, make sure you make an informed decision, as moving is a lot of work, and you don’t want to discover that you don’t like the place you’ve moved to after just a few months.
So you are 17-25 and unsure what you want to do with your life…
I’ve been where you are. In fact, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life until I hit 25.
I’ve lived in the Eastern, Central, Pacific, Mountain, and Alaska time zones since leaving home. See my post on choosing a geographical location. I’ve also worked in 4 wildly disparate career categories. So I feel like I have a pretty decent grasp of what the United States has to offer for a young person like yourself.
Picking a career can be hard. Even deciding if you want to go to college can be difficult, let alone what to study or which school to pick. Read on for a few of the pointers that helped me in my own personal search for the perfect career:
Interests:
If you are fascinated by a subject, and you want to/are willing to study it in your free time, you might want to pursue a career in that thing, whatever it is. Think about what you spend time doing, and what you would like to spend more time doing if you could.
Talents and Skills:
If you have a talent that you’ve practiced hard to get good at, and you are the best person you (personally) know at that thing, you should probably consider how you can fit your ability in that area with your calling/vocation in life. It might not fit with any of the careers that you are aware of, but ask people that you respect if they know of ways to apply those skills in a career path.
Ability:
This is your raw potential. What you are capable of at your very best. You haven’t developed a skill yet but you know that you could. This is your maximum potential under the right circumstances. For example, not everyone can succeed at math. You may be one of those people. If that is the case, engineering is not for you, no matter how interested you are in it. Engineering Technology on the other hand, perhaps. Even if you are great at math, perhaps you lack people skills. You didn’t get the opportunity to develop them in the environment that you grew up in, but you are confident that they will come. Start to try things out to see if you can master them, the more things you try out, the more you know what you have the ability to succeed at.
Self Discipline:
Certain careers take significantly more self discipline. If this isn’t something you’ve cultivated yet, consider whether you think you’ll be able to, or whether you’ll need to downgrade your aspirations to fit your lack of self discipline. (Keep in mind that you can increase your self discipline, this happens for many people as they age. For example, I personally wouldn’t have been able to finish an engineering degree had I started it directly out of high school, or if I had, my grades would have been far far worse.
Finances:
Not everyone is in the position to move forward with a college degree because of their finances. Very few people can live for free (though school can be almost free if you are smart, see my post on going to college for $75 a week). If you haven’t developed the necessary nest egg for school, consider living cheaply and working your tail end off until you have what you need. Be careful though, many people lose sight of their dreams and settle into a life of tedium because they don’t see progress toward their goals here.
Your Support Network:
Going to school is a difficult undertaking for more than the person who chooses it. It can be hard for their family and friends as well. I chose to go back to school later in life. I was able to choose that because my wife was supportive and did what it took to keep me in school. If you are a single dad, or you are providing for an elderly parent, excelling at school is going to be a lot more difficult, and you may need to take easier classes, or less classes per semester to maintain your sanity throughout school.
Other Things To Consider:
The biggest thing I can emphasize when considering your career path is to think ahead. Right now your interest is theater? Great, but be aware that you will probably not be among the stars of the stage. The chances of you landing a solid acting career are slim, and even slimmer if you aren’t willing to slog through several years of rejections before you get there. The data is in, and it shows that only about 2% of actors make enough money to live on. For every Morgan Freeman there is, there are literally thousands of extras who never get beyond the occasional un-credited acting part. Temper your dreams with reality. Get input from people you respect (real input, not just asking them to encourage you in the direction you’ve already chosen to go). If you like Computer Science and Pottery equally well, choose pottery as a hobby and the other as a career.
Be aware that your preferences change over time, so even if you don’t mind being a starving artist now, there may come a time when it gets irksome.
Start to try things out to see if you have interest in them, the more things you try out, the more you know what you find interesting.
Kids are expensive. If you plan to have children, consider choosing a higher paying career, even if your job satisfaction is slightly lower.
Not everyone who tries to become a full time artist will succeed. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run into over time that have an “soft” degree of some kind who went back for a second degree, or leveraged their experience to move into another more lucrative but less desirable field. So when you are thinking of what career to pursue, be aware that those with extremely high job satisfaction often have a higher attrition rate because more people want those jobs than there are jobs available.
Please don’t be like me. A significant portion of my thought process for where I went to college directly after high school was something like this: “I want to go someplace that sounds fun”. My brothers had gone to a small college in southern Wisconsin that sounded like something from a dream. Cool people to hang out with, inter-mural sports 6 nights a week, and a cush job nearby that made paying for it all easy (notice that even 18 year old me thought about the financial side of things). They said the academics weren’t too challenging, which was a huge plus for me. I loved hanging out with people, and the way my brothers described it, there was a lot of that happening there. That was it. I asked my brothers whether I would be able to pay for it based on what I had in my bank account, and they said that I’d be fine if I could get the job that they had done: driving school bus. That was my entire economic analysis of where to go to school. No other opportunities were seriously considered. No idea what I would do with the degree when I graduated. And no awareness that technical schools existed where I could go to school for free… More on that in my other post here.
Other Options Besides College:
Cross cultural experiences:
Peace Corps: This is honestly a giant boost for your resume. I don’t exactly know why this is, and it isn’t something that people advertise, but everyone I’ve ever talked to in hiring has immense respect for someone who devoted a year of their life to a greater cause.
Christian Mission Work: If your church supports anyone, contact them and see if they need any help, or know of someone who does. This would be for those who would like to combine their volunteer service with something that they value, their relationship with Jesus.
Experiences in the USA:
Bible School: This is the route I personally did after High school. A solid choice if you feel uncertain about what you believe and you’d like to gain clarity about the Bible.
Wilderness Mentoring Camps: I have several friends that either run these or have attended them. They seem to be a mixed lot, with some being good, and others being a miserable experience. You should definitely talk to someone that has graduated from the program before you embark on this one yourself.
Start Your Own business: You can literally start your own pressure washing or lawn care business for a couple thousand dollars. See here for some other business ideas.
Work in a Factory: This is not something you want to do long term. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain perks, but it certainly isn’t the type of career that anyone should pursue unless life circumstances have closed all other doors. The remuneration is terrible.
Work in the trades: I worked in the trades for about 3 years full time, and an additional 2 years part time. I loved it. But the chances of sustaining a life altering injury are very high in this career. Accidents happen. The pay is fine, and most of these career paths allow you to open your own business (if you have the desire) after you have about 10 years of experience. But be prepared to “pay your dues” no one is pleasant to you in this type of position until you have proven yourself. And even then, many of the individuals you work with are, how do I say this delicately, “rough” / “real pieces of work”. Also, many of the jobs that you work (especially early in your career) may not cover vacation days.
Other: There are a few of you, probably less than 1 in a 1000, who have the chutzpah to do your own thing. Start your own business, succeed on your own, get excellent at that skill, and make money doing it. Go for it. Do it. Don’t be afraid of failure. Be afraid of not trying. The best time to fail in life is when you are young. That is because you have so many opportunities to recover after your failure. Also, when you are young you don’t have a lot of the baggage that you acquire later in life. You only have a finite amount of time, and if some of it is being eaten up in a relationship with a spouse, with kids, with maintaining a home, etc, you won’t have the time to focus on making that thing succeed. Also, unless you wait until later in life, when you’ve already amassed a decent amount of money, it can be very difficult to pursue something as risky as going out on your own or starting your own business when you have a family to support.
Specific Actionable Steps:
The following website will change your life if you let it:
It gives the wages of all the different jobs, and also has a write up about the amount of schooling that each career takes. I HIGHLY recommend it during your career search process. There is also a section on that website about what each career is like. You should read every article you can on the subject of your interest.
Please also consider reading my article on whether college is a good choice for you or not. For those of you who’ve already decided to go to college, how should you decide where to go to school? There isn’t any way around it, it takes work. Sit down and make a list of every school that you’d be willing to attend. Get on their website and look up their yearly tuition price, add $1500 to that number for fees and books. Multiply that price times the number of years you will be at the school, and that is the cost of attendance. Make an excel spreadsheet that has each of these numbers next to the school name, and list any other factors that would bring the cost of attendance up or down (expensive rent/living with parents/etc). A website like US News can make this process a lot quicker. I’d highly recommend using that site or a similar one, even if you have to spend a few bucks for a subscription.
Key Takeaways:
Okay. Here it is. If you walk away from this post with anything, make it this. Everyone has different interests and talents, but most people are not exceptional at anything. That isn’t a bad thing. I’m not exceptional either. That means that I probably am not going to make a good living as an artist, surfer, or some other job where the job satisfaction is VERY high, but median pay is low. This is why I went school for engineering. It was the shortest degree program I could find where the median wage over your career was north of 6 figures. Even a mediocre engineer makes good money.
You have the ability to DO HARD THINGS! I can’t stress this enough. YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS! School will be hard. Especially if you chose a career that has high expected earnings once you are done. People don’t know what they are capable of until they choose to try.
Don’t be afraid of taking a leap and failing. You found out something that you couldn’t do (at least at this point in your life). Find something else. And don’t be afraid to come back and try again, but give yourself some time to mature and gain some skills before you try again.
