Rethinking Traditional Success Part 3
Even if you don’t have to pay for it yourself, if you don’t end up using what you’ve learned in college, then have you considered what a waste of time that might be for you? If you know, or even have a feeling that you won’t use much of your college education towards your career have you considered how that might actually set you back in your professional life?
A former colleague of mine, who I consider a dear friend, used to talk about this concept at work when we made an eye-opening realization. We had 4 more years of work experience than any of our peers who went to college, and that was precisely why we were able to secure better paying positions than many people we knew. Of course there are industries where you will be limited in how much you can grow or climb the ladder without a degree, which is a fair point, but if you are going to be in a field where you won’t even use your degree, what’s worth more to you? 4 years of school that won’t do anything for you, or 4 years of work experience which will put you ahead of your degree-holding peers? Have you considered that experience is FAR more valuable than education in certain careers?
My favorite example of this comes from one of my idols, Anthony Bourdain. He describes working in a professional kitchen as a “meritocracy” and he couldn’t be more right. If you want to be a successful chef, or a cook of any kind, the best thing you can do is to get good at your job. You are rewarded for your ability to perform tasks, plain and simple.
By and large, nobody in the kitchen cares about your college degree, or your education at all really. Some of the most successful, highly sought-after, and well-paid chefs in the world haven’t even finished high school. Yet their skills and experience command the respect of their peers and a much higher salary than your average C-student college graduate. It’s an industry where the best way to succeed is to work your way up to the top. Culinary school makes great cookbook authors, but COOKING makes great cooks. If you want to be a chef, why on Earth would you waste 4 years that could be spent working your way up the ladder and making progress on your goals on an expensive piece of paper that says you know a lot about literature? It doesn’t make much sense when you think about it that way.
We don’t leave enough space for people to live their lives the way they want to. We like to talk about things like diversity and inclusion, but are we really practicing it if we’re trying to make everyone the same? That’s not diversity, it’s not inclusive to try and squeeze diverse people into the same the cookie cutter. Diversity and inclusion are about making the world more accepting of the varied ways people present themselves and their varied interests.
I want to put what we’ve been talking about into some context for your own life. Be honest with yourself for a moment, really honest. Do you love your life? Do you like where you’re at? Where you’re headed? Do you enjoy what you do with your life every day? Not that every day has to be a good day, but overall are you happy?
If you’re truly happy with your life and how you spend your time, you can put this book down. But only if you can say you’re truly content with how you live your life and the direction it’s heading long-term. Only if you’re confident that you’re not going to wake up in 20 or 30 years in the throes of a mental breakdown because you’re trapped in a life that you never really wanted. Only if you’re confident that the direction you’re heading is the one you intended on setting for yourself. Not because you think it’s what you’re supposed to do, but because it’s something you know you’re meant to do.
Thanks as always for reading,
Aaron Frank
