How People End Up With Boring, Dead-End Jobs

Sad though it surely is, most of us do not end up in the jobs that we dreamed of when we were younger.

In fact, most of us won’t end up with jobs that are even close to being as exciting or as inspiring as the ones we used to tell people we wanted when we were five or six.

When we were young and we believed anything could happen, we wanted to be

• astronauts,
• rock stars,
• the owners of huge international businesses,
• action heroes,
• superheroes…

So the question then becomes: why are so many of us stuck working in offices? Why are so many of us entering data into spreadsheets?

Why is it so common for us to work late hours in jobs we hate? Why does ‘success’ mean more responsibility but no more job satisfaction?

How did this happen?

The Unfortunate Story

The answer varies from person to person but unfortunately there are a few consistent elements that seem to hold true across the board.

Many of us will go through essentially the same story that will lead us to the same end destination.

It starts early when we’re at school and we’re forced to start specializing and choosing.

Which course at school is most likely to help you to become a bestselling author? Or a pop star?

Hmmmmm…

We end up biding our time by doing something that we enjoyed at school – history or geography maybe.

Then we go to college and we study that course for a year or three, only to find ourselves back at home living with our parents and without a job when we leave.

If we want to get back our independence, then we’re going to need to take on a job just to pay the bills.

So we start working for our friend’s Dad’s company.

Or we work in a supermarket…

…maybe a bank clerk.

Then we get a few promotions and we find ourselves climbing the ranks – actually, we’re on an okay salary.

And it’s just as well too – because our responsibilities are beginning to increase as we find ourselves with partners, maybe wanting to buy a house, maybe with children…

…before you know it, you’re ‘area manager’, or you’re ‘director of logistics’, or you’re a bank clerk.

They’re not bad jobs…

…do they excite you?

But you have kids on the way and you really need the money, you say.

So now might not the time – you might be thinking – to do something foolish like

• starting your own business, or
• changing jobs, or
• taking out a loan.

Nor do you have the time in the evening to do the things you want to do…

It Doesn’t Have to End This Way

But here’s the good news: the story isn’t over yet.

You can still be what you have always dreamed of being.

All it is going to take, is for you to acknowledge just how important your dream is to you and to decide that you’re not going to settle for the way things turned out.

That may have included being laid off because of a pandemic…

There’s still time…

Image by magnetme from Pixabay

PS: I created a new series on freelancing. Check it out here.