news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060612/cm_usatoday/heygradshaveyoufiguredouttherestofyourlifeyet
USA TODAY Opinion Hey, grads: Have you figured out the rest of your life yet? By Chris Ballard Mon Jun 12, 6:58 AM ET In 1995, I graduated from college and embarked upon what in hindsight could be considered a three-part plan to horrify my parents. First, I moved home and, under the auspices of "rehabilitating after finishing up finals," slept until noon and serially viewed HBO movies. Next, I found work as a bartender, which allowed me to continue my sleeping patterns and, as it turned out, my drinking patterns. Finally, some months later, I took a job selling vacuums door-to-door, a vocation that hadn't been on my parents' short list of expected careers for their second son. Eleven years later, I can see that there was some unexpected value in that summer of apathy and Anchor Steams. I mention this because thousands of young men and women have been graduating from college, leaving the cushy first-class environs of academia for the knees-to-the-chin coach class of the working world. Each grad will be expected to have lined up a career track that is both viable and fulfilling. People are expected to know what they want to do with their lives at an increasingly tender age.
Jeb Bush , for example, middle-schoolers will have to declare a "life major" before entering high school. At the same time, Americans expect more from their jobs than at any other time in modern history. Whereas once it was enough to enter the family business, or earn a solid day's wage, people now aspire not to a job but, in the secular sense, a calling. A study led by New York University business professor Amy Wrzesniewski found that Americans see their work in three distinct ways: as a job, a career and a calling. Furthermore, Wrzesniewski found that how people classified their jobs had no relation to whether the job was higher-paying or considered more "prestigious," two reasons many graduates are lured into careers. While researching a book about people who are very good at unusual jobs, I found something grads would be wise to consider: the perception of autonomy is often more powerful than actual autonomy. The people I spent time with - characters that included a "lumberjill" and a wall-walking repairman - were often fine with their long hours and the way their professions at times consumed their lives. The reason: They felt they were doing the work of their own free will. No problem Put in 12 hours a day because you want to chase iridescent-winged Morpho butterflies through remote rainforests, and it is perfectly OK because it is a choice you are making. The trick, of course, is finding a profession that makes one feel this way. A career counselor I met claims he can tell someone his or her ideal career in less than three minutes.
The point is, sometimes you have to muddle around to find your way. I learned a valuable lesson from knocking on those doors: I was not meant to be a salesman. I also learned that I'm fascinated by people who do interesting, unusual things. In turn, a couple years later, I realized that I enjoyed immersing myself in their worlds and writing about them. So, to those accepting diplomas this month, I'd offer this piece of advice: Don't worry if you haven't figured out your "life major" yet. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, only 50% of Americans say they are more than "somewhat satisfied" with their jobs. To expect a 22-year-old to get it right on the first try is unrealistic, if not constricting. Chris Ballard is author of The Butterfly Hunter, and a staff writer for Sports Illustrated magazine.
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