We just woke up out of nowhere and found ourselves on some path set for us by our parents, by society, and by circumstances. You can buy it here.įor most of us, childhood is kind of like a river, and we’re kind of like tadpoles. PDF: If you want to print this post or read it offline, the PDF is probably the way to go. Thanks, as always, to the small group of ridiculously generous, ridiculously patient patrons who have stuck with us through such a slow period. I’m hoping this WBW Dark Ages era is nearing its end, because I miss hanging out here. The last year has been pretty frustrating for me and anyone who likes Wait But Why-a lot of build-up of ideas with none of the satisfying release of those ideas on the blog (most of my last year has been spent working on another, way longer post). For those of you yet to start your career who aren’t sure what you want to do with their lives, or those of you currently in the middle of your career who aren’t sure you’re on the right path, I hope this post can help you press the reset button on your thought process and get some clarity.įinally, it feels very good to put this post up.

You’re not a pro at this, but you’re certainly more qualified to figure out what’s best for you than our collective un-self-aware great uncle. This post isn’t me giving you career advice really-it’s a framework that I think can help you make career decisions that actually reflect who you are, what you want, and what our rapidly changing career landscape looks like today.

Except in this case, instead of tuning it out, we pay rapt attention to every word, and then we make major career decisions based on what he says. Society is like that great uncle, and conventional wisdom is like his rant. When it comes to careers, society is like your great uncle who traps you at holidays and goes on a 15-minute mostly incoherent unsolicited advice monologue, and you tune out almost the whole time because it’s super clear he has very little idea what he’s talking about and that everything he says is like 45 years outdated.

Society tells us a lot of things about what we should want in a career and what the possibilities are-which is weird because I’m pretty sure society knows very little about any of this. This is a post about something I’ve been wanting to write about forever: careers. Hey readers! Quick note before we jump in:

How to draw octopus tentacles