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What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

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Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#151

Post by kerng »

samstave wrote: post #34
marnett wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so?

For me, as I got older, lost passion for what I had been doing for 20 years - and being on the old end of the ageism-specrum-stick... it is hard to deal with. I have left 'Silicon Valley Tech' -- as I am no longer interested in any of the things I did before and seek positions which are more fulfilling in other industries and pay about 25% of what I used to make...

What I struggle with is the issue of health insurance. What are really the options of safety when chasing your post-tech dreams? That risk and uncertainty is what keeps me from moving on with just taking a few years to try something else.

Just the other day I met an artist, 50 years old, he currently plans take multiple years of to travel the world and make and display art - just like that.

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#152

Post by war1025 »

kerng wrote: post #151
samstave wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, as I got older, lost passion for what I had been doing for 20 years - and being on the old end of the ageism-specrum-stick... it is hard to deal with. I have left 'Silicon Valley Tech' -- as I am no longer interested in any of the things I did before and seek positions which are more fulfilling in other industries and pay about 25% of what I used to make...

What I struggle with is the issue of health insurance. What are really the options of safety when chasing your post-tech dreams? That risk and uncertainty is what keeps me from moving on with just taking a few years to try something else. Just the other day I met an artist, 50 years old, he currently plans take multiple years of to travel the world and make and display art - just like that.

If you have very little income, health insurance actually becomes affordable. The trouble comes when you make enough not to qualify for subsidies but work for an employer that isn't large enough to negotiate good rates.

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#154

Post by sandoooo »

>As a psychologist, I specialize in mental health challenges associated with high-pressure careers. People like Dan show up in my office every day — so often, in fact, I had to build a company, Azimuth Psychological, to focus on serving their needs.

Native advertising.

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#155

Post by sjg007 »

nugget wrote: post #7

In my experience extreme workaholism can often be a way to avoid or defer major life decisions that someone doesn't want to make or even consciously recognize. High status careers are often structured, full of positive feedback loops, and well compensated, all of which can strengthen the urge to defer existential questions about meaning, purpose, community, and identity until some unspecified future date, even (perha…

Existentialism is a trap. Camus pretty much nailed it but here it is in comic/essay form:

https://moretothat.com/the-meaning-of-life-is-absurd/

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#156

Post by walshemj »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #100
echelon wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you intend to sell your large cap holdings as they accrue in value every year? How do you rebalance your portfolio to account for under performers and handle cap gains? Sorry for asking so many questions! This is super informative. Thanks! :)

I haven't fully considered this, as I haven't crossed that bridge. A naive approach would dictate holding a 100/0 stock/bonds portfolio, which would never necessitate rebalancing. To date, I've likely experienced some drift, but not meaningfully since my portfolio composition was 99/1. However, of the stock portion of my portfolio, I do plan to hold about one-third international; so I should rebalance annually. This…

They way I do this (in the UK using ISA's and mostly Investment Trust based) is when an individual stock gets to big relative is to stop reinvesting dividends in that stock and reinvest that dividend in other's.

At the moment I just invest once a month combining last months savings with accrued dividends - which rebalances a little.

For example I have stopped reinvesting in Witan, Lowland and TR Property - in favor of smaller holdings - which at the moment looks like this.

BANKERS INV TRUST ORD GBP0.25

CQS NEW CITY HIGH ORD NPV

BT GROUP ORD GBP0.05

LAW DEBENTURE CORP ORD GBP0.05

JPMORGAN EMER MKTS ORD GBP0.25

POLAR CAP TECH TST GBP0.25

SCHRODER ORIENTAL ORD GBP0.01

CITY OF LONDON INV ORD GBP0.25

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#157

Post by lettergram »

nugget wrote: post #7

In my experience extreme workaholism can often be a way to avoid or defer major life decisions that someone doesn't want to make or even consciously recognize. High status careers are often structured, full of positive feedback loops, and well compensated, all of which can strengthen the urge to defer existential questions about meaning, purpose, community, and identity until some unspecified future date, even (perha…

It’s interesting you say that... arguably I am an extreme workaholic, I work 70+ hours every week. I learn all I can on top of that.

I get satisfaction from it, but it’s not my identity. If I was a janitor, I’d try to be the best janitor, because that’s what I like doing, I like being good at my job. I also plan 2 years out and intend to have $X wealth by specific deadlines. I’ll work harder to reach it.

For me, as I’m only 27 (but have been doing this since I was 14) my goal is to be able to “retire” by 35. That means I need lots of money in the bank.

After that I can choose what I want to do, but before that you’re right, I don’t want to think about life choices. It’s hard to work when everyone else is having fun. But I’m also on track to be financially free (I.e. high enough passive income for lifestyle) by 35. So I can have a much more fulfilled life for 50 years or so.

Remember investments grow exponentially- meaning you want to invest as much as you can while you’re young(er)

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#158

Post by sjg007 »

grecy wrote: post #128
0kl wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your takeaway? What did you mine from really thinking about the meaning and direction you want to take with your life? *clarification: I mean it earnestly, as I have not done anything that you have.

My takeaway is that I must make decisions and take action if I am to live the life I want, in a manner that makes me happy. Nobody else will do that for me, and if I live my life on autopilot I will be extraordinarily disappointed when I look back over my life and see that I never took life by the horns and charted my own course. It's on me, and that is equal measures exciting and (some days) terrifying. I lost my Mu…

Well you can make money alleviating other people's suffering. I mean the work you do should have some utility in someone else's life.

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#159

Post by sandoooo »

Here's a common sentiment amongst those with too much time on their hands:

"When I am on my deathbed, I don't want to look back on my life with regret."

The deathbed part of your life isn't even that long. Probably a week or something. And probably you'll spend much of it being distracted by morphine and excruciating pain, leaving no room for feeling sad about how shit your life was. Maybe you should just tell future-you to suck it up and let you play your xbox in peace.

Re: What happens when your career becomes your whole identity

#160

Post by jdsalaro »

alexpetralia wrote: post #44
nugget wrote: post #7

In my experience extreme workaholism can often be a way to avoid or defer major life decisions that someone doesn't want to make or even consciously recognize. High status careers are often structured, full of positive feedback loops, and well compensated, all of which can strengthen the urge to defer existential questions about meaning, purpose, community, and identity until some unspecified future date, even (perha…

To play devil's advocate, what is to come of deliberating on existential meaning at great length? Do you think you'll find an answer, rationally speaking (that is, using the tools of reason and logic)? Notably, Godel's incompleteness theorems suggest these tools may be insufficient. More specifically, if you try to rationally "justify" what you ought to be doing, you will always be able to - legitimately! - impugn it…

Thanks for this comment, it puts into words some ideas I've been considering in a very concise manner. Also, the replies are quite interesting.
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