4 Reasons Why Your Parents Are Wrong About Your Career
How fear of disappointment dictated your life path.
Let me ask you something, are you happy with your career? Really though. Do you wake up to your dream job or do you tolerate it for 5 days a week? Let’s think back a minute. When you were in high school and inching closer to graduation and nearing that leap into the real world — how did the conversation with your parents about your future go?
Did they encourage you to pursue that safe job, or want you to attend their alma mater and study for 4 years? Our parents have a greater impact on our careers than we realize. Your environment and the setting you grow up in can influence your career path. When I was in high school most of the kids in my class went on to school or a career that had some correlation to what their parents did or are doing.
Some went into the nursing field because it's what their mom does. Most of the guys pursued some agriculture career or trade school. I’m not saying there's something wrong with those things, but those things don't always fit and suit everyone.
Some of us want to blaze our own path.
Our parents want the best for us and want to see us excel and be successful. But their thoughts and opinions on what we should do with our careers aren’t always right.
Let me tell you 4 reasons why your parents are wrong about your career.
The Internet
In 2021 you can start a business online in 10 minutes with no money. Your dreams of being a business owner are at your fingertips. YouTube and other informational websites allow learning a new skill and accessing infinite information. It has never been easier. It can teach you the how-to of anything you're interested in learning.
Now, of course, not everything you read online is true. There’s a lot of false and misleading information floating around. Websites claiming to give you access to special training and premium information for a fee to scam you for your money. As always, do your own due diligence.
With so much information readily available at the click of a search bar — some good, some bad, the need for years of studying at a university and accumulating hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt in student loans isn’t as justifiable.
Your education is important, of course, but something about going to college for 4 years and racking up boatloads of money in debt and graduating into the real world only to find out the jobs you worked and studied to apply for are paying measly wages doesn't sit right with me. Seems criminal. That's not always the case, but it does happen. With the internet, the world is abundant and opportunities to make money are endless.
Old School
I love my parents to death, they’ve instilled valuable morals and ethics into me that have helped shape myself and my life to be where it is today. But they’re so old school in their thinking and ideology that their thought process on careers is working a soul-killing job to pay the bills is “how it’s supposed to be.”
I believe in hard work, persistence, and patience are the keys to success in anything. But this generation and day and age are different than it was 25+ years ago. I want to share a tweet I come across that has some relevance to this story.
You can see the number of likes, retweets, and responses it received. What that says to me is there's a lot of people out there with the same thought process. Working a job for over half of one's life just doesn't appeal to everybody, especially one that makes you unhappy.
Same Mistakes
One reason why parents often try to decide their kids’ career path and sway their educational decisions is that they don't want their kids to make the same mistakes they made when they were at that point in their life.
Through their life journey and the trials and tribulations they’ve faced, they want to protect their kids from failure by using their own mistakes and experiences. At times, to their kids' own detriment.
Some parents get overprotective and fail to understand that kids have to go through their own experiences and make their own mistakes. That’s where growth and learning happens.
Money
Money is a major deciding factor in every career decision we make. Life is expensive and almost everything takes money. Obviously, your parents want you to get a well-paying job when you graduate and go on in life. They don't want you living in their basement forever.
But one key element that gets left out is, too often in life, people get caught up in chasing the materialistic side of life and think that money is the answer to all the problems.
Now, I’m not saying that financial freedom is a bad thing by any means. There comes a point where one has to take responsibility financially and make ends meet. Being financially free unlocks greater opportunities to do the things we really want to do.
But too often people choose majors and their careers based on money alone. Then years down the line hit points of unhappiness with their career because it’s not what they really wanted to do and what makes them happy. Money can blanket and blind people and causes fake happiness. Then later realize how unfulfilling their career actually is.
In closing, we love our parents, and most of the time they just want what’s best for us. But we have to make our own way in life and stop basing decisions on what other people think we should and valuing other people's opinions. Only you know what will make you happy. Happiness should be the deciding factor in anything we do in life. It’s the ultimate ROI.
