Jobs aren’t everything, but it’s how we make money
And money can’t buy happiness right?
But money can alleviate stress.
Not having money to pay bills, the mortgage, to buy food, to repair the car or house, to maintain a status that we put on ourselves – it can lead to a stressful way of life.
A stressful life can lead to physical issues like high blood pressure, weight gain, or premature death, it can cause a strain on relationships.
And then credit card debt? Americans have something like over 1 TRILLION dollars in credit card debt… this is a credit card crisis. Spending money that we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like… for what?
All this being said because – well – what the fuck is work all about?
Growing up, I don’t really remember being taught to think about a “career” or asked what job I want to do. I mean, preschool is literally my only memory of giving this job/ career thing a thought (I wanted to be a cop like every other preschooler)
Am I the only one that feels like this? I can’t be. I just know I never really gave a thought to this whole job or career thing.
Now, at 28? This thing is feeling “heavy” at times.
Even the jobs I had were really short term solutions – a way to make money, save money, and to fund my passions.
Some jobs i’ve held
- Retirement home kitchen
- Valet lot attendant / manager
- Real estate Agent (and flipped some properties)
- Fine dining Server
And the point is, none of these jobs seemed like I would make a “career” out of it. What even is a career?
A career is an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for advancement.
And while I still don’t know what I want to do for my “career”, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to figuring that out.
It’s like the archaeologist gently brushing away dirt and debris to reveal the artifact underneath it all – a process that can take years to do, and I am finding that my journey with this career thing is very similar.
Here are a two quotes that kind of hit home to this career idea too:
- “Begin with the end in mind”
What do I want the end of my career to look like? I know I don’t want to be the person working 80 hours per week. Money isn’t everything to me, but I know it’s important. I don’t want to be struggling in my retirement years either, that means I need to start planning for that now. I don’t want to go into tons of debt either to get a degree, for me to figure out I don’t really even like that line of work. It’s a lot of what I don’t want, and I feel like it’s getting me closer and closer to what I do want.
I want to be able to work full time, maybe 40 – 50 hours per week, and get paid a decent wage, maybe not right off the bat, but with time. I want to be able to still pursue hobbies, spend quality time with my family, and one day operate a business. Maybe not one so big that we’d sell for a million dollars, but one that we can operate profitably and efficiently and make a really good living from it.
- “People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade”
I am at fault for thinking like this. I try to cram as much as I can into this year, while not really thinking about where I’ll be or where I want to go ten years out.
10 years ago I was 18, not thinking about anything worthwhile, just worrying about what party we are hitting that night and where we can roll up at.
Being 28 now, I can kind of feel how time flies by. It’s already April 2024…
10 years from now, I’ll be 38…
Instead of thinking, where do I want to be at 29? Why not think where do I want to be by 38?
It seems to take some pressure off… maybe that’s a good thing – to give myself room to work and time to see things through
Maybe that’s a bad thing because then I could get lazy…
That’s an important point because these past 10 years, although i didn’t know what’s up with this career thing – I have been putting in work on the self development side.
- Reading 10 pages per day minimum
- Started saving for retirement in my roth IRA
- Eating healthy
- Working out
- Mediating
- Completing ultra marathons
Developing the awareness to know when and if I am going off track, mixed with these strong healthy habits to help me get back on track.
1% better each day
Joe DiAndrea 