How to Build a Professional Career Worth Living
Debunking mainstream advice with a bit of common sense
When I read things like “you too can become a 6-figure entrepreneur” or “follow your passion and you will be happy” I get nervous. This kind of marketing triggers most people into long-term career failure.
I have seen it. After 20 years of professional sports, investment banking and entrepreneurship, I have experienced my fair share of mistakes and how easy it is to fall for career advice that appeals to our emotions but does not favour longer-term success.
Most career advice is out there to make us feel good with ourselves, so that we buy things. We all have a tendency to agree with what justifies our beliefs, don’t we?
It’s time to call a spade a spade.
Change Your Idea of What “Making an Impact” Means
I see young people starting their careers with a lot of enthusiasm. But after a few months, they become bored and disappointed, their most common feedback being “I am not making an impact”. But as my ex-colleague at Goldman Sachs Joseph Mauro famously said one day, you have to “stay on the bus.”
We can make an impact every day by being proactive with small actions, but we discard this as…
